2015DBRP_032notes

Greetings. Thanks for reading or listening to this special announcements podcast.

As I prepare these podcasts, I find get worried about details like recording quality, the length of pauses, or things I may say too often. If you find something annoying or if I have missed something in editing, please tell me about it using the Send us a Message link (<— here) or at  dailybiblereading.info.

I leave for Indonesia on February 9! And I won’t be home until April 2. So this trip will be a full seven weeks long. Here are prayer requests that you can send up to our Father even now:

• The focus of this trip is to find and train the people who will be on our team for translating the Old Testament into plain Indonesian. Anything I do without the Lord’s leading in this will just be a waste of time. God doesn’t evaluate people and gifting the way people do— especially comparing my way of evaluating! Please ask for God to lead me in every interaction with people, and especially those whom God is calling to be our team members.

• There are 450 languages in Indonesia that need Bible translations. These are the languages of ethnic groups like the Orya— the group in Papua that was our first translation project from 1984 to 2005. Our new, little Bible translation organization in Indonesia (called Albata for short) wants to help reach some of those ethnic groups with God’s Word. But if we are to grow to take on such challengers, we need people within the organization who will be able to lead, administer, and mentor people who do the actual work of translating the Bible for ethnic groups. Please ask the Lord to introduce me to people who might become part of our organization’s operational structure.  

• One of Albata’s principles is that Indonesians themselves need to catch the vision for Bible translation, supporting it with their own funds and sending their people out as missionaries. Please pray that we will do a better job spreading the vision for Bible translation, and that the Lord would bring more Indonesian supporters to Albata.

• I will be living in a different place in Jakarta this time. I’m looking forward to it. I will be near a mall and will have many opportunities to meet people. In more than one way, I will be more exposed. Please pray for God’s protection and for wisdom in choosing the places where I will frequently visit. Also, please pray for wisdom in where I will eat. As is my normal practice while there, I won’t cook in my rented room, other than making coffee.

• For years now, Gale does not come with me on my trips to Indonesia. These would be very hard for her because of her health. We talk daily by phone. She is very involved in the way she is ministering here in our town. Please pray for the Lord to be with Gale while I am gone.

• More about other requests when I am there.

In February, you will hear our daughter Rachel reading one of the Psalms. (And I am sorry that the recording quality of her voice is not better!) In the corresponding 2014 podcast, she also gave the testimony. I have taken her testimony from that podcast and will play it for you now.

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Rachel is still single, and has struggled for years with the same health challenges that Gale has. For that reason, she took 9 years to graduate from college. We rejoiced with her to see her move out into the work world and find that she could hold down a full-time job. Then, I must admit my doubts when she wanted to be a missionary. How would she be able to raise support? The Lord did it! Our shy daughter went out trusting the Lord, and the Lord brought in her support. She left for East Africa in April instead of March. If you would like to get Rachel’s e-mail updates and pray for her, just send me a note via the Send a Message link at  dailybiblereading.info. Or if you pray for her now, she is struggling with some mysterious additional illness with fevers and headaches, which might be malaria.

I’m thrilled that we have 29 members at our forum, dailybiblereading.info/forum. The forum is a place with an open door and warm welcome to any of you who would like to share with us. It could be that some passage of Scripture will really bother you or really bless you, and you would like to check out what others think about it. We’re happy to hear from you. Also, my friend Ben is posting his Digging Deeper challenge questions there every week. These are things to be on the look-out for in next week’s readings. I also am using our web site’s Announcements page less and more often posting announcements at the forum.

 

May the bless you richly! Thanks for your prayers for Gale and me.

Check out this episode!