Off to Oreo Land!

I’m off again to Oreo Land starting this Sunday morning, March 9, and I will be back home late on the 23rd of April.

Here are some of my plans, and ways you can pray for both Gale and me while we are apart:

• Please pray for the Lord’s guidance in finding and training 2-3 new translation team members. It won’t be hard to find seminary graduates who will be interested in our project. But we need people who have unusually high language skills and people who want to be team members not just for the extra income, but because they feel called by God for this ministry. Of course, the most qualified people are already very busy with other ministries.
• Please ask for God to help me in leading training sessions for all of the team members to work on basics of grammar and basic how-to’s of translation. We also need to continue making decisions on how to translate important key Biblical terms. Our team really needs this training to work efficiently.
• I’m looking forward to revising three newly-drafted chapters of Proverbs with the team, and checking them with groups of native speakers.
• 1 Peter and Titus are ready for revisions and group checking.
• I hope that we have time to check the second half of John’s Gospel with two different groups, then that book will be ready for the final consultant check.
• We plan to hold revival meetings in a remote Oreo village. Satan seems to have been working overtime in poisoning the relationships of a pastor in this village. Please pray that we may bring healing and restoration, and that we will have wisdom in all our plans and activities. Please also pray that the people will be encouraged to keep using their Oreo New Testaments.
• Please continue to pray for Gale remaining here in Arkansas. I will call home almost daily.

Some answers to February prayer requests are found below under February Prayer and Praise.

At the end of February, Isaak and Boas led in a retreat for pastors and others interested in teaching God’s Word. Even though the group picture is fuzzy, to see the people a bit better I have cut it in half for display. There are around 35 in the picture are from the Oreo area. This is the right side of the group, with Boas is in the upper right corner.

Poppy, who is part of our translation team, is standing on the far left. She reported to me that the people were very attentive and asked good questions, and were happy to learn practical things, like pointers for good sermon-making.

May the Lord bless you all with glorious and inexpressible joy! (1Peter 1:8)

Phil & Gale