David and Joyce Hilt currently serve as representatives for Ethnos360 in the Southwestern region of the USA. “Long before the internet existed, I had 26 different translations of the English Bible in my office. Today, websites like Bible Gateway, Bible Hub and others offer an array of more than 60 Bible translations in English. While some individuals will make arguments over specific translations, most people fail to investigate the purpose behind each translation and why it was made. Beyond translating Scripture portions used in teaching, our missionary teams will eventually translate the entire New Testament for the people group where they minister. Can you imagine not having any of God’s Word in your own written language? … Or what if you couldn’t read? Have you ever considered the immensity of the task of translating the Bible? Each book provides its own challenges. Consider how you would describe the elaborate decorations for the banquet scene in the book of Esther when such items don’t exist in the culture you are working among. Or what about theological terms, or metaphors such as ‘crucified with Christ’ and ‘putting on Christ’? It can be a little daunting when you realize there are 7,957 verses in the New Testament and more than 23,000 verses in the Old Testament. As of September 2020, the entire Bible has been translated into 704 languages; the New Testament has been translated into an additional 1,551 languages and Bible portions or stories into 1,160 other languages. About 2,200 languages remain without a Bible.” Pray for the translation efforts of our missionaries. Read more.

Ethnos360 is partnering with a church on the border of Myanmar that is reaching out to many refugees who are fleeing the military conflict. Many have lost their homes and are living out in the jungles or in caves. Being able to help them during this time of need also gives opportunity to reach out with the gospel to them. If you have interest in how you can be involved, Visit our Myanmar Refugee Releif page

Matt and Karissa Long sent an update from their co-workers, the Williamsons, about the Iski church in Papua New Guinea. “What a blessing and privilege it was to finally hand … these 200 initial copies of the Iski Scripture portions over to the church this last week while my co-worker and I were in the village. After receiving his copy, [one church leader] said, ‘Thank you … for leaving your homes and coming here, living among us and working so hard to bring us God’s talk in our language!’ What a gift to see their faces light up as they fingered through the crisp new copies of their books. This process of getting these books [into] the hands of our friends here has been truly a team endeavor, from us working with the Iski church to draft and translate, to those who have given so sacrificially to see these books printed and shipped. [It’s] so amazing to see the body come together! Praying these books will be a catalyst of growth in the Iski church!” Read about the Longs.

Jamie and Char Hunt minister in Paraguay. “Jamie, along with our co-worker Erwin, went to a community called ‘Field of Happiness’ about an hour away to do a comprehension check. After hearing about God's design for church leadership, [one of the leaders said], ‘Wow, this is all so new to me! I have never heard this before.’ He has been serving as a leader in his church for years, and this was the first [time] he had heard with understanding of the qualifications of elders and deacons. The next day, Jamie and Erwin headed to a different village to again check 1 Timothy with [another leader]. [He] has pastored his church, held evangelistic campaigns and has been a youth pastor for more than ten years. The reading of 1 Timothy was a shock to him. [He] said with a heavy heart, ‘All our churches are so very far from this teaching!’ He couldn't believe what he was hearing: ‘Parents are to make their children obey? That's what the Bible says? We … have never heard that before!’ He then added, ‘This book needs to be read right away from start to finish in every … church!’ [He] was amazed at all the truth contained in 1 Timothy that he was learning for the very first time. To see eyes opened and understanding dawn in the hearts of [these two leaders] as 1 Timothy was read to them is evidence that the powerful Word of God is communicating to the minds and hearts of the hearers.”

To give toward the ongoing printing of completed Bible books there is an account set up at Ethnos360 USA home office in Sanford, Florida, for tax deductible donations toward this project. Make checks payable to ‘Ethnos360’ with a note for ‘Nivaclé Translation.’ The checks can be sent to the address in Florida.

Doug Schermerhorn, now retired, ministered among the Emberá people of Panama. “Praise the Lord that the audio of the published Emberá Old Testament portions is now available online at Bible.is. This is the audio that we recorded in Panama last October through December. Due to COVID-19, it has taken the audio techs at Faith Comes by Hearing longer than normal to do the final mixing and [to] prepare it for upload to the internet. However, only a small portion of the Emberá population will have access to the recording because in many places where they live, no internet or cell phone service is available. So, we are now in the process of requesting the solar-powered audio players called Proclaimers that can be distributed in those remote places. Please pray that these will soon be provided, and that God’s Word can be spread even further among the Emberá people. I also have been in contact with the Emberá Church, and we are praying about the possibility of [a] recording of the Chronological Bible lessons in the Emberá language. Those lessons contain all the doctrines that are foundational to truly understanding salvation by grace. We plan to meet together in October to discuss exactly what we would like to do and also make plans to accomplish those goals.”

David (and Crystal) Knapp is a representative for Ethnos360. He commented on what God is doing around the world. “The last 18 months have definitely affected how many of our missionaries continue with reaching … people with the message of God’s love and salvation. Missionaries in Mozambique write that they have needed to make ‘teaching videos’ to be shown in many remote areas due to travel restrictions. Others have indicated that they have had to rely more on the village believers to teach each other how to read. Then, of course, there are the normal human conflicts that arise [among] village dwellers that the missionaries are often asked to help solve. The need is great {in Papua New Guinea]. The current list of needs [that] Ethnos360 has published has 71 skills/jobs on it. See where you fit. Do you know someone who could help? My heart and focus, [as] I am continually in prayer, [is] that God will protect the new missionaries. Their challenges are different than when I first joined the mission. But the obstacles they face are often greater. Presently, I continue to share about the mission at every opportunity and pursue stewardship relationships. May God bring the increase.” Watch this video.

Ron and Michelle Jennings minister among the Higaunon people of Asia Pacific. “After much time spent [working] on the phone app and help files for the leaders, Ron is finally finished … and [is] back to translating again. Right now, he is revising the New Testament for the phones. After 13 years of the New Testament having been in circulation, the language has changed quite a lot, owing to the younger generation no longer understanding many terms that are now considered 'old Higaunon,' and also, after having worked through so much of the Old Testament, many phrases have evolved to much clearer language. We have chosen to revise the New Testament now before moving on to further Old Testament translation because we can give it to the church leaders on the phone app without waiting for a reprint. We want them to have the revised New Testament as soon as possible.”

Leah Joslyn minsters among the W people of West Africa. “I want to inform you that we continue to meet once a week at each location; at present, however, you may have noticed that the days that we teach are occasionally changed. Our aim is to teach Group Two on Mondays and Group One on Wednesdays. However, these days may be modified depending on the weather or other major events taking place in the village. Thank you for your concern and continued support. We appreciate it. Group One: During the lesson, Jakob [our co-worker] was able to highlight that God understands that we human beings are not perfect and make mistakes but that He wants to build a relationship with us and work through us to accomplish His purposes. We had a really good turnout for this meeting, and there were also a few people from [my] side of the village who attended, which was encouraging since they rarely attend any of the meetings. Group Two: There was a really good turnout, and the group seemed more settled and focused on listening compared to the previous meeting. There were also a few young children from [my] end of the village who also attended. We also plan to share with them a memory card with all the lessons taught thus far. Even if many remain unmoved to attend, pray that they can at least listen to the lessons on their phone or radio.”

Grant and Marianne Bayfield minister among the Manobo people of Asia Pacific. “There are five literacy classes ongoing, both in [the] village [we are in] and the next one, taught by graduates of previous classes. There are at least a dozen men who take turns reading the Scripture at our Bible teaching times, and they are becoming more and more active in the evangelistic lessons on our porch, commenting and reinforcing truths as the lesson is taught and handling all of the review questions, with a bit of help from Grant on the answers. The high school scholars are not only doing well learning English so they can do well in school, but they’re also showing growth in the devotion times our coworkers have with them and are eager to volunteer when we’re having a prayer time as a church. Pray for Marianne’s Manobo language study and her students’ English study to go well. Pray for Naomi’s development both educationally and socially. We would appreciate prayer for wisdom for Grant as he translates and teaches and for God to plant His Word in people’s hearts to produce fruit in their lives.

Doug Schermerhorn, now retired, ministered among the Embera people of Panama. “I was contacted recently about the alphabet for Embera language that we used in the Scripture translation. As you may be aware, that alphabet never was accepted officially, although it has been used for many years by the Embera Christians, in the Bible … and other related materials. They read it well and would like to see it become the official alphabet. There is an organization that recently was chosen to investigate the … alphabet and make recommendations to the Ministry of Education about which … would be the best to use for bilingual education in the public schools. I have provided linguistic research and analysis done by various linguists that support the use of [it]. Please pray for this situation to be resolved in favor of the alphabet that was used in the Scripture translation. That would allow the church more freedom to teach literacy with the goal of seeing more Embera people read the Scriptures. This decision is not imminent, and they do not expect to be able to make any formal recommendations until sometime next year. I also was recently contacted by an Embera man who works in the Ministry of Education in Panama. He has an interest in examining all the materials that the church has used over the years and to use it to make a presentation to the Minister of Education. I will be meeting with him in October, so pray that it will be a profitable meeting and that God will touch his heart.”

Adam and Julie Martin minister among the Akolet people of Papua New Guinea. “We are delighted to share that the young man we’ve been praying for, Sayeng, has shared that he placed his faith in Christ’s death on the cross as the way to have his sins forgiven and to be made right with God. We are so thankful for this. Praise the Lord for Sayeng’s salvation, pray for growth in his new life and pray for the more mature Akolet believers to be intentional in pouring into him and the other new believers in the church. Please also pray for the Bible teachers and their wives to be growing in Christ and growing together. Pray also for Gili, whose wife (and our dear friend) Waklo, went into the presence of Christ almost exactly one year ago. Pray that Gili would continue pressing into the Lord and feeling the comfort of His love and that that would empower him to continue on in ministry.”

Penny ministers among the J people of Senegal, West Africa. “Mammadu is working on the draft of 2 Samuel in my absence as well as some comprehension checking of epistles for me. I wrote the questions before I left. He is also working at the guest home part-time. Please pray for him as he works on translation and property maintenance. The Lord also worked out all the details for the translation check. All of us arrived … July 4th. We began checking the morning of July 5th. God challenged my faith regarding the translation helper as [he] was engaged to help Sunday afternoon. That was cutting it close, but God knew he would do it. We weren’t sure how well he would do as there was very little time to let him practice. However, he was an answer to prayer through and through. Though shy and a bit halting at the beginning of the check, by the end of our time together, he was offering an idea here and there as to how we could better say things. He was also beginning to pose some questions of his own. Pray that he will think about the Word of God that he has heard, and let God speak to his heart. At the end of the check, I gave him a copy of Genesis and the 580 verses we had done in Exodus so that he could read some of the stories and material mentioned, in Hebrews especially. During the check we were able to check Numbers 13, 14 and Deuteronomy 34 to help introduce Joshua, which is being prepared for a future check. Then Ruth, Galatians, 2 Timothy, 1 Peter and Hebrews were also checked. I would like to continue to focus on translation even while here in the USA. My desire is to draft Matthew. Pray for that.”

Brian and Arlita Burnham minister with Ethnos360 Aviation of Papua New Guinea. “An important part of being a church planter in Papua New Guinea is being properly prepared and equipped to live among a people group and learn their culture and language. First, our new church planters go through an orientation program to get oriented to the country of PNG. After around five months of getting their ‘feet wet’ in language and culture study, the new missionary family participates in a ‘bush orientation.’ During bush orientation, families in training move into a remote village location for six weeks where the national church shepherds them in gaining a deeper understanding of the national culture and language. Families within the local church will take turns hosting the missionary family each week, making sure they have all that they need. They’ll arrange to have several culture and social events lined up so that the missionary family can take part and learn from the community. The local church in these locations takes ownership of seeing the missionaries learn and grow and views it as part of their role in the Great Commission. As a mission, we currently have seven missionary families or singles finishing up or getting ready to go through bush orientation in remote village locations like Amdu, Menya, Kuman and Mibu. Pray for these families and the churches who are training them, that their ministry would be fruitful.”

Jason and Nisae Williamson minister among the Iski people of Papua New Guinea. “A highlight from our time in the village was being able to hand out the Iski Scripture portion books that we brought in. As my co-worker and I unpacked the boxes and handed the first copies out to the Bible teachers, they couldn't help but smile and giggle (like little kids) as they fingered through the crisp, clean pages of God's Word in their language. A couple of the teachers (who had a big part in the translation process) said to us, ‘Jason and André, thank you for being faithful and coming here to work among us. Now as we are standing here holding this book, we see the fruit of all your years of hard labor.’ We were able to tell them that this was a team effort, and without their help there was no way this could ever be done. As many of you know, we had these books printed in the USA, and we recently brought them over on our way back here. So many of you sacrificially gave to see this happen. I was able to tell the Iski that this work of translation not only involved them and the missionary team, but also many of our churches and friends who were burdened to give of their finances to help make this happen. We couldn't have done it without you! If you gave to help with this project, I hope you feel blessed, and a vital part of the great commission being fulfilled in Iski. I want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. The Iski church also wants to pass on their thanks.”

Matt and Starr Arnold ministered among the Tepehuan people of Mexico but are now serving at Ethnos360 Training in Missouri. “The five weeks with the Tepehuan and Mexican friends was a special treat and gift from the Father. God is doing something new and exciting. Since the New Testament dedication in November of 2019, there continues to be a growing interest in the Bible and the Bible teaching. This trip, 2021, we distributed another 60 ‘memory cards’ that are installed in cell phones (which everyone now carries). On that card we have put the Creation to Christ Bible Lessons in audio format and 15 praise and worship songs in the Tepehuan language. Most of the 60 memory cards were given to people we had (?) never met. They heard we were distributing the teaching. Some of these folks walked four to six hours to get to town and seek us out! We distributed many New Testaments as well.” Pray for the growth of the Tepehuan church.

Wayne and Patsy Gibson minister among the Piapoco people of Colombia. “As a team, it was decided to reach out to the more than 3,000 Piapocos in the many communities in a neighboring country. Since you were praying, the Lord led the team to bring a group of them to where the team could teach them the foundational lessons in their own language. Including Wayne, there are 10 trained men on the team and three ladies. The kitchen crew is also a part of the team, working hard to provide good meals for the large group. The teaching went very well, with the ladies enjoying the review times separate from the men. Some commented on how clear the teaching has been, especially regarding God’s character and the continuity of His message to them. Wayne taught the last lesson on the overall review. One of the younger teachers on the team commented to him later, ‘That is good how you tie the themes of God’s character from the Old Testament history all together. I haven’t been able to do that yet.’ He is learning though and [learning] very well. It was encouraging to hear of the impact God’s Word in their own language had on their hearts and understanding. With tears, one man shared, ‘I didn’t deserve for Jesus to come and die for me, but He did, and now I am forgiven from all my sins.’ Most of the Piapoco visitors also took the Teacher Training Workshop, to be equipped to teach the foundational lessons. Pray for the future discipleship of this new team of teachers in reaching Piapocos in the many villages in their country.”

Susie Locklin ministers among the Jula people of Senegal, West Africa. “A few weeks ago, I started seeing the streets of this huge city transformed into what looked like the State

Fair! The animals in the picture are sheep, not goats, and they started to be seen everywhere: where you normally have the outdoor market, the street corners, and even the beach where they were getting baths! On one street that I take regularly, you could go for blocks, and all you’d see on one side of you were sheep. So, was this some kind of sheep-only State Fair? On the days that I thought it would be fun, I pretended like it was. But it was actually the preparation for the biggest holiday of the year here. Well over 90% of the population is of the majority religion here, and every year they have to buy (if they have the means) and sacrifice one of these sheep in memory of the sheep sacrificed in the place of Abraham’s son. A few days before the holiday, there were still lots of sheep on the streets, so it was rather eerie to go out the day after the holiday and see all but a few of them suddenly missing, especially after smelling the smell of the meat (and other not so tasty parts of the animal) for the last 24 hours. What a great reminder to pray for those who don’t yet know that the ultimate sacrifice was already provided 2000 years ago. Will you take time with me to pray today that the good news would reach them before it’s too late?”

Read more.

David and Shari Ogg minister among the Simbari people of Papua New Guinea. “We completed the textual proofing on the translation and have begun the formatting process with Doug Lotz at our home office in Florida. He has been sending us all kinds of questions about printing that we need to make decisions about. Things like text sizes and spacings, divider lines, headers and footers, cover texture, cover color, etc., etc. After locking down the layout choices, he has been applying those formatting choices to our text as he imports it into the publishing software. He sends us proofs to review and make any needed corrections. We are also working on maps with translations for the back of the Bible. Earlier in the summer we were able to meet with him at his office in Florida and talk about the project and see samples which were very helpful in the decision-making process.” Pray for the Oggs and Doug as they finalize the translation. Read more.

Lindy and Carol Drake minister among the Guanano people of South America. Recently, Lindy wrote, “For three weeks in July, I was in a Yanomami village, doing a comprehension check of Genesis as it has been translated by missionary Coy and Yanomami co-translators Ezequiel and Raul. This was a completely different experience from past checks. In the past, Yanomami young people who listened to Coy reading from Genesis were reluctant to respond freely to what they were getting out of it. Their most common responses were ‘I forget’ or ‘That was really long. Can you read it again?’ When I get these responses, I know that more work needs to be done. So Coy and his helpers worked together to improve the flow from one thought to another, from one paragraph to another. They also worked hard to switch out ‘literalisms’ in favor of expressions which are more natural to Yanomami readers. This was our second time reading through Genesis. In 14 workdays we covered chapters 1-34, a total of 980 verses. This time the three young people that listened to the text of Scripture were animated, discussing the meaning among themselves, correcting each other when mistakes were made and telling back long episodes of the stories that were read to them. This is clear evidence that significant comprehension is taking place, the goal of all good Bible translation! Coy and I were greatly encouraged.”

Dave and Nancy Brunn minister at Ethnos360 Training in the USA. Dave teaches Bible translation courses and serves as an international Bible translation consultant. “We are thankful that the Lord worked out all the necessary details for us to take a nine-week trip to Papua New Guinea to work toward completing the translation of the Old Testament into the Lamogai language. The New Testament was published in 1996. We are hoping to publish the complete Lamogai Bible in the next couple years. … While we were in PNG, we worked with a team of three Lamogai believers to bring the last several Old Testament books up to the next level. We were able to accomplish all our goals for the trip. And we came home with a mountain of follow-up work to do here in the USA. The entire Bible is translated into Lamogai.” Pray for Dave as he continues with the translation work to see it completed and in print.