Apr 19, 2018
Hi everyone!
I tried to record this update
here in Jakarta and failed miserably! The audio editing app that I
tried to use on my tablet wasn’t able to export the finished
product. So all I can do is post this text update. See two pictures
of Gale by viewing this post at the website: http://dailybiblereading.libsyn.com/website/news-from-jakarta-19april2018
I took my wife (Gale) to the
airport in the middle of last night. She is now in a plane on the
way across the Pacific bound for Chicago. Tomorrow at a similar
red-eye time, I will be on my way to Makassar in South Sulawesi,
and after a couple of days I will go from there to
Papua.
This was Gale’s first time back
in Indonesia since 2005. And this was a totally new experience to
her, because she never spent any time previously in Jakarta, the
capital city. The main event was (of course) spending time with
Hannah and Brandon’s family, including Ava (9), Joel (8), and Devin
(2). I read Tales of the Kingdom and Tales of the Resistance (by
David and Karen Mains) to Ava and Joel. (Those books are included
for your listening pleasure in the Joy Sightings series, starting
at episode 012. When I recorded them, I didn’t anticipate that I
would ever get to read those books to Ava and Joel in person.) All
our time with the kids was precious. Devin is increasing in his
vocabulary daily, but unfortunately he never mastered the
difference between saying Gramma and Grampa. He knows Grampa
better, because I am here more than Gale. So I am sure Gale will
want to come again, so that she can hear him say Gramma.
One special highlight with
Hannah’s family was visiting the Safari Park (Taman Safari) in
Bogor. (There is another similar park in Bali.) The Bogor Safari
Park is a world class attraction and we would have gladly spent
another day there.

I want to make a couple of
announcements:
- This
announcement is only for people who are a few days ahead in the
yearly 3D schedule: Tomorrow I leave for Papua for almost 2 weeks,
and right now Papua does not have Internet because of a break in an
undersea fibre optic cable. So I have queued up episodes in the NL
and GN series through May 6. The problem is that when I rename an
episode and place it in the queue, that episode is no longer
available under the old name. So if you are one who is listening
ahead of schedule and looking for one of last year’s episodes
(let’s saya you are 10 days ahead), you may need to pick one of the
older episodes with the same day number. The newer series has names
that start with NL and GN, and the older ones have names that start
with NLT and GNT. (The difference is between NL and NLT.) Sorry for
this temporary glitch.
- Second: This announcement is for those who
listen to DBRP episodes using the YouVersion Bible reading app: On
some devices (like my Android tablet), the automatically generated
search string is not specific enough. Let’s say (for example) that
I hit the Podcast Choices link in the YouVersion app for day 114.
The search string that will appear at the top of the results page
is _114. But unfortunately, that will return results that include
the episodes where Psalm 114 was read, and any other episodes that
include the number 114 anywhere in the devotional text. So, from
now until we finish the book of Psalms, it will help you find the
episode you want if you put one or more letters of the file name in
the search string. If you are searching for one of this year’s
series, put a y (or the whole word ‘day’) before the underscore. If
you are searching for an older episode, put the letter p before the
underscore. (Older episodes have the letters DBRP before the
underscore.) My tablet will only show about 6 search results, and
that often isn’t enough for me to see the episode I want. Make a
more specific search string, or use the dailybiblereading.info web
site. The website shows more results when using an abbreviated
search string.
I want to share some prayer
requests with you:
- I
will soon be in Papua. There are five of my translation team
members who live in Papua. It will be more difficult to work with
the team members without the aid of the Internet. I think that the
Lord may have other plans for my time in Papua. Perhaps the Lord
would like for me to spend more time in Orya villages. The Orya
people are the ethnic group we worked with for 21 years, and I am
more and more convinced that continuing contact with me is
important in encouraging them to continue walking with the Lord.
Another project is to work with my team in developing a new online
Bible translation course. This new course is needed to make it
possible for more volunteers to be involved in checking and
revising our Old Testament translation.
- Please pray that the draft of the Old Testament
will be finished sometime in 2020, and that it will all be checked
so that we can publish it in 2022. Such quick progress would
normally be considered impossible. Let’s pray for miracles to
happen.
- I’ll
be 72 in 2022. This is one reason Gale prays daily that someone
will be appointed by the Lord to continue my work here. It would be
best if the Lord would provide someone NOW, so that he or she could
be mentored to lead our Bible translation organization into the
future.
- Hannah’s husband (our son in law, Brandon)
leads the Roshan Learning Center, which is a ministry to refugees
who get stuck in Indonesia on their way to some other country. Most
of them want to go somewhere like the USA, Canada, or Australia.
Now is not a great time to be a refugee. I am thankful that the
Lord has given a ministry to Brandon that perfectly fits his
talents and is fulfilling as a ministry helping these
people.
-
- My
main prayer request right now is for Hannah and Ava and Joel. There
is one American family that is their close friends here. They have
kids that match the gender and ages of Ava and Joel. But that
family will return to the USA in June, leaving Hannah’s family
rather friendless. Having few friends, and having to say goodbye to
very close friends is a part of mission life. Trying to make
friends with different families is difficult for them in this big
city. Most often there are deep cultural differences between the
families, or huge economic differences, or if they find an American
family with kids the right ages, they may live hours away. So
please pray for the Lord to give wisdom and help, and provide
friends for Hannah’s whole family, including Brandon, and
especially for Hannah herself, and Ava and Joel.
Thank you for praying for
us!
May the Lord bless you ‘Real
Good’.