Breaking Ground for Vision Center and Prayer Tower
Dear friends,
We were very happy this last month to participate in the Groundbreaking celebration for Pioneer Bible Translators’ new Vision Building and Prayer Tower. This will be a place to train Bible Translation Missionaries for this next generation to accomplish our vision of transformed lives through God’s Word in every language on earth. The part of this building dedicated to prayer is being named after my late husband John Relyea, so I was asked to share visionary thoughts at the ceremony. For photos of the groundbreaking link: https://www.facebook.com/PioneerBible/photos_stream?tab=photos_stream
I know that many of you have given generously toward .funding this building. How we thank God for you. I know that many of you feel, as I do, that it is very touching that PBT leaders want to name the prayer center in memory of John. I’m sure all of us who knew and loved John would not think that he would have envisioned that ANYTHING would be named after him! But, truly he inspired us all to deeper prayer. It is a very meaningful thing to think that John’s passion for prayer can go on inspiring and influencing Kingdom workers in the future.
Strategy for Aruamu Old Testament Completion
Thank you for your prayers and support this last year, undergirding our Aruamu Translation Team. As you know, in order to rachet up our efficiency and progress, during 2015 we tried, as an experiment, bringing 2 Aruamu translators, Martin Ases and John Igos, from Papua New Guinea to Dallas to work on exegetical checking for 6 months. This actually worked very well. By the end of that time we had 8 books (around 3,000 verses) ready to comprehension check, and then consultant check in PNG.
With this approach, we now know that our large, trained Aruamu team can move about 3,000 verses a year through the translation process. So we have mapped out a plan which maximizes the strengths in our team, that will allow us to complete the rest of the Aruamu OT by 2020. We would like to bring 2 Aruamu men to Dallas for 6 months in 2016, 17, 18 and 19. The other work (in drafting, comprehension checking and consultant checking) would take place in PNG. Much prayer and thought have gone into the development of this approach. Here is a link, if you’d like to see the specifics of our plan: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxyPEs1App1iYWJPY2dfU0I3dmM/view?usp=sharing
We would like to ask you to prayerfully consider an end-of-the-year, special gift to help buy airline tickets and/or room and board expenses for Pais Asefi and Robin Namai, as they prepare to travel far away from their tropical-jungle homes to do this work. Their visas have just been approved this last week. Lord willing, I will go to PNG early February to bring them here. (To give, you can make your check to Pioneer Bible Translators, with a sticky note for Aruamu Translation Fund, and send to the address below. Online giving instructions are in the sidebar to the left.)
We deeply appreciate your love and encouragement as we work to bring God’s Word to this lovely people group. How fabulous it is to finally see “the light at the end of the tunnel!” We look forward to partnering together as we complete the task.
Christmas Blessings to you,
Marsha Relyea Miles
(For Nathan, as well)
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