Laura and Christine, March 1992, Irian Jaya, Indonesia.
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Imitation Psalm 23!
M is for Mommy, I shall not want,
Yea, though I walk through the valleys of Irian Jaya,
She prepares my food three times a day
Surely Mommy and Daddy will follow me to school
12 million people are now richer
We were so pleased that we could attend the Scripture dedication celebration this year! 30 Bibles were dedicated this year. That translates to over 12 million people who get to read the Bible in their own language!
At the celebration in Waxhaw, NC the Bibles were brought in on an African seat usually used to carry a chief into the village. The story was told that the chief insisted that the newly printed Bible in his language be carried in on this seat since it was the most important thing of use for his people. We heard stories and saw wonderful videos of people dancing and praising God because they can now read the Bible in their mother tongue.
This video is of the celebration at our headquarters in Orlando, Florida. Enjoy. You helped with your faithful giving and prayer for many years!
Leading with BSF
Bible Study Fellowship
September is almost here! That means it is time for Anne to get back to her leadership responsibilities with Bible Study Fellowship (BSF). This wonderful, international study has been a big influence on me and how I approach God’s Word. My Michigan friend, Rita, introduced it to me many years ago as we were raising our support to go to Indonesia for the first time.
This year is a new study called People of the Promised Land. We will cover several Old Testament books as shown in the image above. Although I still meet every Tuesday morning with other leaders in Rock Hill, SC, I will be facilitating a virtual class online! Leading the class at 2pm every Tuesday may rule out those who work in the States, but it allows me to have people from other time zones join me.
As of today, I have four ladies in my group from Europe! We’ll be using English to discuss what we’ve learned during the week and to pray for each other. If you would like to join me or another leader either in your own city or online, please check out our online link BSF Virtual Class or www.bsfinternational.org.
Working with Wycliffe Bible Translators and Bible Study Fellowship feels like a perfect fit for me. Getting people into God’s Word is so satisfying!
Sacrificial Support
Ken with two grandsons
Ken just returned from his trip to SouthEast Asia. We’ll tell more stories about that in our monthly newsletter. Although suffering from jet lag, he spent the next morning with our grandkids who missed him very much while he was gone!
Christine & Anne
While he was away, Anne was able to spend a week with our daughter, Christine. She lives on the other side of the country, so it was a special treat to be with her. We only get to be with each other a few times a year.
When I think about how much we miss our children and grandchildren I remember how kind our parents were as we lived far from them in Indonesia for so many years. They missed those critical growing up years but supported us in spite of their loss.
Support comes in different modes. It usually means a sacrifice on someone’s part.
Thank you for your sacrificially prayer and giving month after month. Your support is immeasurable.
Keyboards for ALL!
I like that our partner organization, SIL, has created something necessary for so many people around the world. With technology often favoring well known languages it leaves millions of people at a loss when they want to use the computer.
We love languages! God created them all! Being able to type a language is important for Bible Translation.
So proud that this is now available. Give it a try here if you can use it for your own work!
Equip, Translate, Print, Done!
Click here to watch a short video highlighting Wycliffe’s goal of changing lives in 25 communities in 18 different countries this summer.
The link we lead you to more information and how you can give and pray.
This verse was so special to me as I read it this morning:
“My heart is confident in you, O God…no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart.” Psalm 108:1
When my heart is heavy with the burdens of others, I will try to sing God’s praises today! Oh that others could know these words in their own language!
Thank you for helping end Bible Poverty!
Celebrating 35 years of Marital Bliss
Got your attention? Anyone who has been in any kind of relationship knows that there are good days and bad days. We’ve had our own ups and downs, but 35 years ago we committed to each other publicly and plan on staying married for many more if God so wills it!
We’re taking time to REST and just enjoy each other’s company this week. 35 years ago, when we were newly married, we had moved from the east coast to Wyoming. Camping in the many national parks out west became the norm for us. While we no longer sleep in tents, we are enjoying the Great Smoky Mountain National Park this week. It’s so close to our home, yet Anne had never spent any time here.
Thank you for your care when we are working and when we are getting rejuvenated.
How will you rest this year?
Worth VS Time/Effort/Finances
In the 27 plus years that we have worked for Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT), we have never heard the phrase “They are not worth it”.
When we joined WBT in 1990, we shared that over 2000 Bibles still needed translating. That number has crept up and down over the years.
Up? How can that be? As language workers toil alongside nationals, they often find that languages that they previously thought were similar to another language, have big enough differences in their thoughts and meaning so that they need their own translation. What good is giving them a Bible when they are no closer to understanding it than before? So sometimes translation needs go up.
Down? Well, we expect the numbers to go down as many people work hard at giving God’s words in their own heart language and there are new publications like the 27 listed above.
Why do we care? Because God’s words are vibrant and living and give information about a God who wants to be in relationship with people.
I want everyone to have what I have every day: A Bible I can read or listen to in my own language.
This morning I wrote this verse to a dear friend who is struggling with some issues:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
What a verse of HOPE! I could share that because we both know English.
We just celebrated some recent Bible Translations. Look at the image above. Check out how many speakers are in the Abadi language. Then check out how many are in the Yemba language. Big difference, yes?
Both need God’s words. They are both worth the time, effort and financial input to make it happen.
Won’t it be great to meet people from both languages groups one day in heaven? You are making this possible! Thank you!
2033 is just 15 years away!
Photo by Samantha Sophia on Unsplash
So who cares about 2033? Up until a few minutes ago, I didn’t, but then I read these statistics:
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95% of the global population will have access to a Full Bible
(languages with greater than 500,000 speakers)
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99.9% of the global population will have access to a New Testament
(languages with greater than 5,000 speakers and less than 500,000 speakers)
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100% of the world’s population will have access to at least some portion of Scripture
(portion estimated at 25 chapters in languages with less than 5000 speakers)
These numbers were provided by our partners at Every Tribe Every Nation.This organization was started by 10 leading business people (including Hobby Lobby). They have come together to provide strategic leadership and funding to advance the Gospel.
In the meantime, there is work to be done. 1900 languages still have no translation under way.
What could you personally do to help remedy this? Ideas include the normal ones like prayer and finances, but perhaps God is moving in your heart to go somewhere either on a short term or long term basis. Every job, profession or skill is needed!
Contact us! We’ll help you get plugged in! It’s the best job ever!
One Happy Customer
Photo by Štefan Štefančík on Unsplash
Ken and his colleague recently received this note from someone that they had counseled about their retirement accounts:
Hello Ken and Jerry,
You’d be happy to know that I wrote to the retirement office and increased our monthly amount we contribute. Isn’t that a switch from wanting to withdraw funds?
This is all because of your wisdom and advice.
Pray we can sell our home here in PNG soon (we leave here on Dec. 15) and in Dallas and invest some more funds into our retirement and help boys go to school debt free.
Thanks for all your help.
E——
Every member that comes for advice has different issues depending on their age, where they live, how much money they have put aside for retirement and many other things. Each are different and need to have recommendations that fits their scenario.
Thank you for supporting Bible Translation as we serve those who serve on the field. They really appreciate it!
The Haugh Herald 