Richard and Wendy serve in Southeast Asia mainland among the Pwo Karen people. The elderly man that Richard has been teaching is doing much better health wise, and Richard was able to teach him through to the end of the chronological Bible teaching. The man did not make a profession of faith and said that there was much of the teaching that he could not remember. He was happy to start at the beginning again, so that is what Richard is teaching, and it is going much faster and smoother as the has the lessons already written and can occasionally teach him more than once a week. Please pray for this man that he would understand the truth and trust in Christ as his Saviour.
Richard has realised that the lessons need revision as he has developed them over the years, and his understanding of the language has grown. He has also found inconsistencies in terminology and spelling or that some lessons are too heavy with information and need splitting up. Richard has been working on making revisions and changes as needed.
Once a week, Richard continues to teach a couple who live in a remote location. The roads are deteriorating with rainy season in full swing. Pray for safety as he drives his motorcycle to get there. This couple profess to be Christians but have not had clear biblical teaching in their heart language. Pray that as God’s Word challenges them, and that they would trust in Christ alone and not traditions.
Continue to pray for the Bible translation. Finding willing, native speaking, helpers is a challenge. A family that Richard has been teaching over the years has shown willingness to help, but there have been many obstacles to making that work out. Each weekend this family tries to visit them but often are not able to due to work and poor health. Even the times they have made it have not been conducive to doing working on Bible translation. This has been very discouraging; the enemy does not want God’s Word available for these people who are living in darkness. Please pray for the Bible translation, that God would make a way for it to go forward.
In February, Richard and Wendy took a trip down to the beach so that their daughter could attend a camp for missionary kids. She had a great time at camp and has developed a group of friends from all over the region. On their way back from the beach, they visited the village where they first lived on joining Wendy’s parents in the work twenty years ago. Wendy’s Dad had taught the Bible and there are believers there to this day. The village is quite a distance from where they now live and deep in the jungle, thankfully the roads have improved greatly from when they lived there. Having not been back in almost ten years, they enjoyed catching up with friends and seeing how they are doing.
Also in February, their son got engaged to a classmate from Bible school in the USA. They graduated together and this last year they have both been working at the Bible school, in maintenance, and in the cafeteria kitchen. They are excited that God has brought them together. Please pray for them and all the logistics of planning a wedding.
Around the beginning of July, they will start their travels to the USA for the wedding, firstly visiting Ireland to spend time with Wendy’s Mum, and Aunt Betty, before taking them to the USA for the marriage celebration.
Thank you for your prayers.