A Preview of Things to Come

This portion of scripture and illustration are taken from the Mesem New Testament. Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus that God's Light (Asakng) has come into the world.  While in the US we have many translations of the scriptures, available in soft cover, hard cover, vinyl or leather....the Mesem people will get one version of the scripture and it the one that so many have worked together to provide for them.  The cover will be blue, with a fold over flap to protect the pages, and a snap that is "rain forest friendly".  One of the things we learned in our years in Papua New Guinea is that cockroaches love to eat books.  So Carolyn, at Life Publishers suggested a cover to discourage digesting the Word for the wrong reasons.

Neil will depart November 3 for PNG where he will meet with church leadership to coordinate the dedication and then go to the port to get the scriptures and bring them through customs. He will need to find a place to store them as well.  We have some challenges: we don't own a vehicle anymore and he has no easy way to move 3500 copies of the scriptures.  We need a safe storage facility.  He will need a place to stay and he hopes to work on a book about Bible customs as well.  While he is gone, I will keep our previous ministry commitments.  Tony is away at school, so I may be bribing one of you to drive me when I need to travel a longer distance.  Feel free to volunteer :).

We are looking at our direction for missions after PNG and have need wisdom concerning our next step.  For several years there has been a need for a study Bible in Melanesian Pidgin and we are well qualified to take on that project. At the same time, we have looked forward to this stage when we could pursue a long held call to Southern Europe.  Should we try to do both at the same time, or should we begin the study Bible and then go on to Southern Europe?  At this point we are seeking the Lord for His direction.  We know our call to missions continues. Thanks for faithfully staying the course with us. Together we can say, "Hitherto hast the Lord helped us".