| Consultant Checking is Underway! |
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Dear Family and Friends,
We’re so excited to tell you that the final phase of Scripture checking, called consultant checking, is underway for our translations of Genesis 1-11 in all four languages! Martha Wade, a Scripture consultant with Pioneer Bible Translators who works in Papua New Guinea is lending us her skills this month in doing the final check on these Scripture portions. Martha’s education, experience, and certification are valuable to our project and her approval is the final thing we need before we can begin preparing these Scripture portions for printing. Praise God with us that soon we will be able to print and distribute mother-tongue translations of the story of the beginning of the world in Sa, Hano, Apma, and Havai!
Currently, Martha is working with our partners Gregory and Rondalyn Ohrenberg on the Sa language. Tomorrow, our family will travel to meet them in our village, Waterfall, where we will spend the next two weeks working on the Hano and Apma translations. After that, Martha and the Ohrenbergs will travel to the island of Ambae to complete the checking for the Havai language. Please be in prayer for all of us and our students as we travel. Also, during this process we will be sharing the translated Scripture with native speakers who have not yet heard it. We will then ask them questions about what they heard and understood and use their input to improve the translated Scripture. Please be in prayer for the selection of these men and women and for their part in the translation process. Ask God to bless and encourage our students as they continue the hard work of bringing his word into their native languages. Pray for our team and for Martha as we spend this month working hard, being away from home, and eating island food; ask God for peace, rest, good health, encouragement, and success in this work. |
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| We’ve Moved! Praise God for a New Home |
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| It has been apparent to us for quite some time that the tiny apartment we had been living in was not adequate for our now-larger family of 4. That, in addition to several other issues such as lack of a yard for Elijah to play in, deteriorating road conditions, and the large, steep hill that led to the apartment, we decided it was time for our family to look for a new home. We began praying about this issue back when we learned that we were expecting Josiah, but nothing we looked at met our criteria for budget, size, and proximity to town.
About three months ago our teammates, the Thompsons, told us about a house that was being restored that they were considering renting. I (Katy) viewed the house with them about 2/3 of the way through the restoration process and fell in love with it. For a number of reasons the Thompsons lovingly decided to pass on to us the opportunity to rent the home. The restoration is about 90% complete now, and we were able to move in one week ago as the workers finish up a few projects. The owner is a Christian and graciously gave us a very reasonable rental payment as a way of supporting our ministry.
This new home is much more suited to the needs (and wants) of our family. It is approximately 3-4 times the size of our old apartment and has a large fenced-in yard. We now have an office for Craig, a playroom for the boys, a real kitchen (our old kitchen was just a widened hallway), 2 bathrooms, a small open garage area, a dining room, and a secret hideaway under the stairs for Elijah’s “big kid toys.” Thank you so much to all of you who prayed for our housing situation. Praise God with us for this new home and for the way it meets our needs and provides for so many of our wants! Please be in prayer as we try to work out a few “kinks” in adjusting to this new home such as a wiring problem that keeps flipping 2 of the breakers, waiting for an internet connection to be installed, a large colony of ants living inside one of the walls, and a brand-new oven that doesn’t work quite right. |
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| Meet Marshall!
Say hello to the newest member of the Bennett household! Marshall is a young island dog (i.e. a mutt) who has joined our family as both pet and guard dog. He is already growing attached to both Elijah and Josiah and is a fierce enemy to wash cloths and cardboard boxes everywhere! Elijah chose the name Marshall in honor of the fire rescue dog from the children’s TV show Paw Patrol. |
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January 4: Elijah turned 4
January 18-February 1: Trip to Waterfall Village on Pentecost Island for consultant checking of Genesis 1-11
January 22: Katy turns 29
February 15: VISTA module 5 begins |
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The Word for the Month
Matthew 8:20
“Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.'”
Even though Jesus had no place to call his home during his ministry He has graciously provided us with a new home here in Vanuatu. Thank God with us for this blessing for our family. |
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