| A Busy Month: Youth Group and More! |
|
| It’s hard to think of a month since Elijah was born that hasn’t been busy, but this one has been especially so! A few weeks back we were able to start a new youth group at our house for missionary kids and other expatriate teenagers. Every Sunday night we have a group of about 8 teens and pre-teens meeting at our house. After a study of basic Christian beliefs we are doing an overview of other major religions and exploring how they all fall short of salvation through Jesus Christ. As any of you who know us well is aware, we love spending time with teenagers. This has been a blessing to us and a lot of fun; we hope to continue hosting youth group for many more years to come.
Hosting youth group isn’t the only way we’ve gotten an opportunity to spend time with extra kids lately! Two weeks ago our partner Shawn (who was expecting the family’s 5th child) became quite ill and had to suddenly be med-evac’ed (medical evacuation) to New Caledonia. Praise God the infection that made Shawn so ill has been treated and she is in the process of recovery. Also praise God for new baby Zoe Cheree Thompson! Although she made her entrance a little early (she was due in late June), Zoe is doing well!
Thankfully when Shawn was evacuated her husband Dan was able to travel with her, however their kids were not. As a result three of their children got to spend the better part of 2 weeks with us. We really enjoyed having Daniel (19), Elijah (16), and Kay-Marie (17 months) join us, it was a lot of crazy fun. Kay-Marie and Josiah instantly became partners in crime, culminating in Josiah stabbing himself right next to his eye with a spoon that Kay-Marie “smuggled” into the playroom! Thankfully Josiah missed his actual eye and is recovering quickly as babies do.
The Thompson children joined their parents in New Caledonia and our house is much quieter, a little cleaner, but not nearly as fun. Please join us in praising God for Baby Zoe and the life that he has given to her. Please ask God to be with Shawn as she continues to gain strength after her illness and as she heals from the emergency c-section that brought Zoe into the big, wide world. Please pray for Zoe as she learns to drink from a bottle so that her feeding tube can be removed. Also pray that God would work out all the details for the Thompsons to acquire the necessary paperwork for Zoe to travel home to the US when she is strong enough.
As a side note: we recently received some congratulations from some who thought we were expecting another addition to our family. As much joy as that would bring us, no new Bennetts are on the way at this time.
Images below: Top Left: Baby Zoe Cheree Thompson; Top Right: Josiah; Bottom Left: Kay-Marie Thompson, Bottom Right: Elijah. The pictures of Kay-Marie, Josiah, and Elijah were taken while playing outside at our house last week. The picture of Zoe was taken in the hospital in New Caledonia and sent to us by proud parents Dan and Shawn Thompson. |
|
| VISTA Update: Module 5 Beginning Soon! |
|
| VISTA module 5 is fast approaching! Our translators are scheduled to arrive Monday, May 30 to begin classes on Tuesday, May 31. During this module Craig will be teaching another Hebrew course as well as the translation course, in which our students will translate portions of Psalms and Proverbs. Our partner Gregory will be teaching Exegesis of Old Testament Poetry (the skill of drawing meaning out of the text rather than reading your own meaning into it) and Rondy will be teaching Scripture Use for Adults, where our translators will learn how to engage adults in using the Scripture passages that have been translated into their languages.
Please join us in praying for our translators: that they would arrive safely, on time, and in an attitude of eagerness to learn and work. Please pray for Craig, Gregory, and Rondy as they instruct our students, that they would teach well, with patience and understanding. Please pray specifically for the health of Craig and Gregory; they both have been sick for the majority of the last six months with everything from pink eye, to strep throat, to boils. Ask God to be with our partners, Ryan and Jordan Kopke as they observe this VISTA module in preparation for teaching in the next module in October. Please also pray that God would put a hedge of protection around our team and our translators. In every module so far either someone from our team or one of our translators has experienced a significant death in their family. Please join us in praying that this module would be untouched by the death of a loved one for anyone involved. |
|
 |
A Snake in the House!
Yes, you read that right. Although I guess if I have to have a snake in my house I think this would be the least horrible kind! This is called a Brahminy Blind Snake and Elijah found it in our hallway last week. That’s Craig’s hand in the picture so as you can see this snake is quite tiny, they are often confused with earthworms. However, unlike an earthworm this little guy tried to attack Craig’s hand when he picked it up! Thankfully the mouth of this type of snake is too small for it too bite a human, and its not poisonous even if it could! Brahminy Blind Snakes are common throughout much of the world. This is the second one we have found here in Vanuatu. |
|
| Personnel Needs: Believe it or not working on 4 different translation projects with a team of 10 adults and 10 children can be quite challenging! That’s why one of our biggest needs in Vanuatu is for more personnel here on the ground. Right now we have a family who is praying earnestly about the possibility of uprooting their lives in America to come and join us in Vanuatu. This family’s skill set would meet 3 of our top 6 personnel needs: finance officer, tech support, and Scripture Use. Would you join us in praying for this couple and their 2 sons? Please ask God to give them wisdom in discerning his will for their lives and ministry and to make it clear if Pioneer Bible Translators and Vanuatu is the next step for them.
Paperwork and Red Tape: This is quite a long story so I’ll try to keep it simple. The government here requires all expatriates to obtain an immigration bond, a special savings account with the money to deport us in case we ever do anything terrible. Since returning with Josiah last September, we have been working to update this bond to include him so that we could obtain a residence visa for him (so far he has been staying on a tourist visa). Due to some changes that have happened over the last year, we are now being required to have a considerably larger immigration bond than before. Thankfully a church has already stepped up and agreed to provide funds for about 85% of this need, but we still need about $500 to pay for this bond. If you would like to give toward the purchase of our immigration bond, or if you would like to join our ministry through monthly support or make a contribution to our vehicle fund, you can do so at pioneerbible.org/give/craigandkatybennett |
|
The Word for the Month
Proverbs 18:10
“The name of the LORD is a strong fortress; the godly run to him and are safe.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
Pioneer Bible Translators is accredited by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.
|
|
|
 |
| Pioneer Bible Translators exists to disciple the Bible-less, mobilizing God’s people to provide enduring access to God’s word. Our vision is to see transformed lives through God’s word in every langauge. |
|
|
|
