Balangao Project 2011: Update from Poblacion Natonin Mountian Province

<> <>

Balangao and Majukayong translation office

Dear Praying Friends,

I am thankful to God for His sustaining grace upon me and my family as well. Thank you, all of you who pray for us.

One of the important steps in doing Bible Translation is checking the translation with the community, seeking their input and understanding. It is the nature of our work that although something is clear to us, it may not be to the reader. We want the community to not only help us with the work but to feel the excitement of discovering what God has to say. We thank God for providing Neil and Roselyn, new members of the Balangao translation team, who are actively doing this community checking. Please pray for them and for God to make His Word alive and real to the community.

In our house church, we use the translated scripture every Sunday. We do bible Study and we finished the book of Exodus last Sunday. In our study, we have seen how God has kept his promises. God is faithful even if the people are unfaithful. As we compared our lives with the lives of the Israelites, we have seen that we are not different from them. The only difference is that they are the chosen people of God. But the same in a way that even if we see God’s blessings and power, when trouble comes in our lives, we tend to grumble and blame God instead of trusting him. We also have seen that God is a God of order. We need to follow what he has commanded us to do.
Another aspect of translation is what we call “Partner checking.” I have finished partner checking Leviticus and have now finished the first draft of Song of songs. Thank you for praying for me in that.

We have had some very strong typhoons here lately. Many granaries blown, fields destroyed due to slides. Thanking God for His protection from some very severe destruction that has touched much of the country. Some parts of the Philippines are still flooded from typhoons weeks ago; lives were lost, houses destroyed, crops were lost.

I have asked you to pray for Aaron, my fiancé in India. He has been invited by the Asia Area IT to be part of that department, working in Manila staring Nov. 1. But his passport has not yet arrived. He is waiting for his passport to be released. Then he will need to get a visa for the Philippines. Word is that the passport will be dispatched on Oct. 23^rd.

We are having a retreat for the Northern Philippine Mother Tongue Translators Association (NPMTTA) this November 8-12.

Thank you all for your support. To God be the Glory.

With a thankful heart,

Robyn Lucasi

Prayer Request:

Ø Pray for us, the Balangao translation team. We need God’s wisdom for this work. And also pray for good health as we continue to work on the OT. Grace is drafting Psalms, Joanne is partner checking Jeremiah and I am working on second draft of Numbers. Neil is doing community check on II Samuel and Roselyn community checking Nehemiah.)

Ø Pray for us as we work on a proposal to the Seed Company for funding for the Balangao project.

Ø Pray for Neil and Roselyn as they do community checking. It requires a degree of courage and much perseverance. Pray for an excitement and God’s Spirit to speak to people involved. We long for Balangao people to have the Word of God ignite their hearts.

Ø Please pray that Aaron’s passport will be finished in good time and that he will be able to get a visa in time to begin work here in the Philippines on Nov. 1.

Ø Pray for the NPMTTA retreat, that God will encourage our hearts and give us wisdom and fruitfulness as we pray, plan and build up each other’s faith.

Ø Continue to pray for God’s leading in regards to my desire to become a Consultant-in-Training. I need God’s guidance and wisdom if this is what He wants me to do. Pray that if this is what He wants me to do then He will provide a senior consultant to mentor me.

<> <> <> <>