July 2022

On the Road Again August 2022

Dear praying friends, We would like you to know about our upcoming travels to be in prayer for us. We have a brief "Triptik" description below. (Our apologies to AAA!) Jim: August 19-20. To Cusco, Peru to meet with the Quechua Sponsorship Committee. We will discuss the recording of the Gospel of John and plan for a week of literacy training, probably the end of September, using the new primers. Jim & Becky: August 23 - September 1. To Mexico. August 23-28: In the southern state of Chiapas researching the Tojolabal language. August 29-September 1: Farther north in San Luis Potosí to meet with the Tenek Old Testament translation team and their Sponsorship Committee. Jim & two visitors from the US: September 4-10. To Peru's northern jungle in Amazonas. He will be researching the need for a New Testament in the Wampís language. (Yes, this was where Becky and I were headed last December when we tested positive for Covid!) Jim & Becky: Last of September or first of October. To Cusco, Peru to help with a week of literacy training, watching and learning from our colleagues Bethany and Rosanna as they work with Quechua literacy training. Please pray that these trips will glorify our Lord and advance the use of the Scriptures in the native tongue of these four languages. Thank you for your prayers. Warmly in Christ, Jim and Becky

August 2023 Letter

Dear praying friends, Thank you very much for praying for our travels in the US during June and July. God blessed in helping us accomplish even more than we had planned. 1. We presented our current ministry with Bibles International in 6 supporting churches. 2. We also shared this ministry as we visited with 16 individuals/families who support us. 3. We had a meeting with a young couple who had questions about the possibility of serving as translation consultants with BI. 4. Jim met with a retired missionary who expressed interest in having BI assume the responsibility of a translation he had done over 40 years while in Africa. 5. We visited the Global Ministry Center of Baptist Mid-Missions in Cleveland and the office of Bibles International in Grand Rapids. 6. We saw all of our children, grandchildren, and Becky's family over the Fourth of July and helped our oldest son and his family move from Wichita to Kansas City. To be honest, I had to tell Tom to "phone-a-friend" when I tried to help pick up his couch. Those days are past! While we were in the States one of the men on the sponsorship committee of the Old Testament translation into Quechua printed 2,000 copies of the Gospel of John that BI helped to translate about 12 years ago. (A photo of the Gospel of John is at the top of this prayer update.) They have begun to distribute those Gospels in the mountains of several departments of Peru. A radio station in the mountains also contacted me the first week of August asking for the Quechua recording of John that was finished earlier this year. They want to use it for their Quechua radio programing. This August and September will see more travels for me. Saturday (August 19) I will go to Santiago, Chile for two weeks to teach a course for the Arriba program. After I return in September, I'm planning a trip to the jungle of northern Peru to meet with some pastors about starting a possible translation of the Old Testament into Wampís. I first met with them a year ago. Thank you again for your prayers as we traveled many miles this summer. It was encouraging to be in churches and talk to individuals who wanted to know how God is working in Bible translations around the world. Thank you for your prayers and support. Warmly in Christ, Jim and Becky

May 2023 Letter

Dear praying friends, In June and July we will be taking a mini-furlough to visit 6 churches and some individuals who have supported us for years. Since our last furlough we have begun working with Bibles International, the Bible Society of Baptist Mid-Missions. We want to present what we are doing with BI and introduce churches and invividuals to that ministry if they are not already aware of it. We also want to share how El Manantial Baptist Church is progressing now with our Peruvian co-pastor. Please pray for safety as we travel many miles to visit the 6 churches, the headquarters of Bibles International in Grand Rapids, the office of Baptist Mid-Missions in Cleveland, and several supporters. We hope to be able to answer any questions and interact with some who might consider missions and in particular, Bible translation. And of course, we will take some time to visit our 4 children and their spouses and our 7 grandchildren. Would you please pray that these two months will accomplish what God desires? Thank you! Warmly in Christ, Jim and Becky PRAISES 1. Our national pastor, Alberto Gallardo, to lead the church while we are gone. 2. For the opportunity to present the ministry of Bibles International: their current projects, possible projects, and the need for Bible translators/consultants. 3. This opportunity to visit supporting churches, two of which have supported us now for 40 years. (We must be getting old!) PRAYER REQUESTS 1. The need for additional language consultants and translators in this hemisphere. This is a slow process requiring much training, and as a result some translation projects are deferred. 2. Pray for the Warao and Wampís ethnic groups who desire to have their translation projects begin. 3. Pray for the timely printing of the Gospel of John in Quechua to be used in an upcoming evangelistic campaign in the mountains of southern Peru.