1. Pray for chief language consultant Glenn Kerr who plans to leave tomorrow for a translation workshop among the Songhai people in Mali. Pray for safety in travel to this remote part of the world. Pray too for good interaction with the national translators there and with missionary Ken Beckley.

2. Praise the Lord with us for a refreshing time at the Shack as we held our annual meeting there. Thank the Lord too for an instructional time for the consultants in their seminar held here at the office last week. We are grateful for safety in travel for those who came from various parts of the US and Haiti for one or both of these meetings. The Lord’s blessings were evident.

3. Continue to uphold Chadian missionary Jody Davis and Beth Wittenberger, wife of text editor James Wittenberger, in your prayers. Both of these ladies have ongoing health issues. Pray for wisdom for the doctors as they seek effective medical treatment for both of them who have complicated medical conditions.

4. Continue to uphold those who are working on preparations for the Harvest Dinner to be held in the facilities of Calvary Baptist Church in Grand Rapids on October 16. The costs of this dinner have increased at a time when the Michigan economy is struggling. Pray for those in the stewardship department who play a pivotal role in the planning and execution of this event, particularly Cheryl Elmer.

5. Pray for editorial coordinator Don Block as he continues work on the text of the Falam Chin New Testament. With corrections recently added, he will have to reformat the entire NT.

6. Praise the Lord with us that Chadian consultant missionaries Joshua and Barb Hedges have finally been able to get their truck out of customs, in spite of $12,000 in additional charges for duty on the vehicle. Pray with them that the Lord will bring in the funds to cover these additional expenses necessitated by the hardships of life in that country.

Prayer Requests from August 21, 2008

1. Thank the Lord with us for the safety He provided Chadian missionary Susan Hossack as she traveled to Grand Rapids for strategic meetings with personnel in the headquarters here. Pray for her as she travels back to Chad, Africa, on Friday and Saturday, August 22 and 23, and then as she rejoins the translation work there in Chad. She and a national translation consultant, Ouya Bongo, will be conducting translation workshops there September 8-12. Pray for good interaction between the national translators and those leading the workshops.

2. Praise the Lord with us for a time of physical and spiritual refreshment for those who attended the annual meeting at the Shack, August 18-20. The Lord’s hand on us was evident as we studied His Word together under the teaching of Pastor Maxime Pierre-Pierre, a Haitian led to the Lord years ago through the ministry of our editorial assistant Don Block. We also reviewed the Lord’s working throughout the past fiscal year, while seeking to know His mind for our ministry throughout the coming fiscal year.

3. Continue to pray for an effective Consultant Seminar to be held here in Grand Rapids August 22-29. This is a strategic time of discussion, education and planning for the next fiscal year’s activities for the Text Production Department of our office.

4. Continue to pray for the health of Chadian missionary Jody Davis. She has seen an improvement in her physical stamina during the past several weeks. Pray that she might soon regain full strength in order to return to their work as translation center coordinators in Balimba, Chad.

5. Continue to uphold those who are working on preparations for the Harvest Dinner to be held in the facilities of Calvary Baptist Church in Grand Rapids on October 16. The costs of this dinner are increasing at a time when the economy in this part of the US is suffering, perhaps more than ever before. Pray especially for Cheryl Elmer who has a pivotal role in the planning and execution of this event.

6. Pray for editorial coordinator Don Block as he continues work on the text of the Falam Chin New Testament for Myanmar. He is now entering last-minute corrections before reformatting the entire text.