Pray

Ralf and Elli Schlegel minister among the Dinangat people of Papua New Guinea. “It was an exciting day as we got to watch 12 people follow the Lord in baptism. Ten teens and two elderly ladies took the plunge and declared their faith publicly, including our Mimi. Such a blessing to get to see them honor the Lord this way.” Pray for these believers that their lives would show God’s love.

Ralf and Elli Schlegel minister among the Dinangat people of Papua New Guinea. “While Jeremiah was busy with the translation check, Ralf got to spend a whole week hiking through the beautiful mountains of the Uruwa language group, which is bordering the Dinangat people group. With two new missionaries (Luke and Nathan) and three Dinangat believers (Felix, Ronny and Pol), they visited every single village in this people group and were overwhelmed by the welcome and positive responses like, ‘Yes, please come and translate the Bible into our language!’ Or them saying, ‘We are like rocks who understand nothing of the Word of God! Please come and explain it to us!’” Pray for good results of this survey.

Ralf and Elli Schlegel minister among the Dinangat people of Papua New Guinea. “A couple weeks ago our co-worker Jeremiah was able to get the whole book of Matthew checked. With the help of two of our translation consultants and two Dinangat helpers, they spent several days working over the 900 verses. We're excited that after a few minor adjustments, it will be ready to print and be given to the Dinangat church! Praise the Lord with us for His grace in giving strength and perseverance through this whole process.”

Auro and Benita Vibanco work with Etnos Bolivia. Auro is legal representative for the mission there. So often we think we are wasting time waiting for something, but Auro is making the most of every situation while he waits and waits . . .

“Quite frequently I, Auro, have to stand in lines for many hours to wait my turn in doing paperwork for our missionaries, as well as paying bills for the mission. God gives me opportunities to strike up conversations with others who are also standing in line. Sometimes they’re believers, and we have a time of sweet fellowship together. Other times they’re unbelievers, and occasionally they’re even antagonistic. I’d appreciate prayer for wisdom in these interactions, that my attitude and conversation would always be pleasing to my heavenly Father.”

Josh and Erin Verdonck minister with Ethnos360 Aviation in Papua New Guinea. Josh is a pilot specialist. “Thanks for your continued support and prayers for our ministry here in Papua New Guinea.

“The last few months for us have been extremely busy and without a doubt the most stressful period of ministry for us so far. Since taking on the roles of Flight Operations Manager, Training and Competency Manager and Ground Operations Manager, my workload for the Aviation Department has been very high. When I took this position, a fellow co-worker encouraged/reminded me by saying, ‘Your success is not in in your strength — even you don't have enough reserve to grunt through the next months — but the Lord is able to fill you, and He will. Be encouraged. Rest in Him moment by moment.’ Boy, has that been true, and we have leaned heavily on the strength of the Lord these months! We are unable to do this on our own — we rely on the Lord and covet the prayers of you and our team here.”

Jeremiah and April Markley minister among the Dinangat people of Papua New Guinea. “Jeremiah was just in [Dinangat] for two weeks, and Alayna and I joined for the weekend. It was an exciting few days as we got to watch 12 people follow the Lord in baptism! Ten teens and two elderly ladies took the plunge and declared their faith publicly, including our co-worker's youngest daughter, Mimi. Such a blessing to get to see them honor the Lord this way. The church is not without their problems, and we are continually asking the Lord to raise up more leaders, but overall, we were excited to see the elders teaching faithfully and the believers growing in their understanding of the Word. One major area of concern is the young people in the village as they seem to really struggle with living out what they say they believe, especially in the area of relationships and marriage. My co-worker, Elli, Alayna and I had a unique opportunity to do a little teaching on this area just through sharing pictures of a family wedding that took place this summer. Please pray that God would stir the hearts of parents to be active teachers in their teenagers’ lives, [a concept] which historically has been anti-cultural."

Bobby and Sandy Jank minister among a people group in Latin America. Mateo, one of the believers of that people group, attended a meeting to discuss cross-cultural evangelism. “Mateo did great, sharing his testimony and experiences. He also had much to say [about] his burden for his people and the many challenges the Yanomamö church is facing. … He kept commenting to me that they really seemed to want to know about his situation and that of his people. It wasn’t lost on him that all these people had taken the time and effort to come together not to discuss and resolve their own problems, but rather to learn how to better reach out to others, and specifically, to groups like the Yanomamö.

“Within the Yanomamö culture, there are reasons why the church has been slow to grow in the area of Christian community. … Please pray with us about this. Pray that the Yanomamö believers will have the courage to open their hearts to other Yanomamö believers who are not from their own family group and who don’t have the same official ties. Pray that they will choose the family of God, even when it seems to mean rejecting their own earthly families. They are facing difficult choices that most of us have never had to consider.

“In Luke 14:26, Jesus told his followers: ‘If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison — your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.’ Wow! What a challenge. And this is exactly what the Yanomamö believers are facing.

“Pray that God will raise up disciples among our Yanomamö believers.”

Jeremiah and April Markley minister among the Dinangat people of Papua New Guinea. “Jeremiah is tired! Last week, two of our Dinangat Bible teachers flew out of the [village], a translation consultant and his family flew in from the Sepik region and another consultant drove over to our mission center. The purpose? To spend four days together checking Jeremiah's translation of the book of Matthew. Each day they read more than 200 verses, and the consultants would fire comprehension questions in the trade language to the Dinangat speakers to see how they were understanding the translation. Now, after ‘some’ years of blood, sweat and maybe even a few tears, the book of Matthew has finally come through its final consultant check! Every single verse, meticulously exegeted, translated, checked and rechecked with multiple Dinangats, has now been worked over by two consultants. And after a few final adjustments, it will be ready to print and be given to the Dinangat church! Praise the Lord with us for His grace in giving strength and perseverance through this whole process.”

Jotham and Maria Van Der Decker minister as tech specialist and education consultant in Papua New Guinea. “Praise the lord with us! A new team of missionaries is officially getting ready to build houses soon with the Uruwa (pronounced oo-ru-wa) people. [Probably at the] end of this year/beginning of next, we will be helping them build their houses in the bush. Continue praying for their team as they make preparations. Pray for us as well as we advise and help with house planning and purchasing materials. Praise the Lord that His timing is perfect as we see things falling into place now that had been delayed for an unknown amount of time before.”

Joe and Kandi Depue minister among the Baniwa people of Brazil. “Joe and I are so glad to be here in the jungle with the privilege [of starting to] teach God’s Word. Because our level in the language still has lots of room to improve, we use language helpers to check over the Bible lessons we are preparing. This is tedious for sure! But one thing I noticed is that, as we are developing our lessons with those helpers, we are discipling them in one sense. They are being taught and fed in a personal, intimate way, one on one! So, we want to specifically ask that you pray for our language helpers: Valedrie and Erasto, whom Joe works with. I mostly work with Docinaia, a young girl around 20 [years old]. She is very interested in understanding God’s Word and values that it be taught clearly. I do not think she is saved, but that could very possibly change with her growing understanding as we study God’s Word.”

Ethnos360 Bible Institute is a two-year Bible institute with campuses in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and online. It is part of the church-planting mission organization, Ethnos360, and the initial phase of Ethnos360’s missionary training program. EBI offers a dynamic learning experience with the purpose of preparing you for effective ministry. At EBI, you will have the opportunity to study all 66 books of the Bible. You can expect to rub shoulders with people from a variety of countries, cultures, and backgrounds, many of whom go on to be missionaries around the world. This energetic community will present you with many opportunities to grow in your faith.

MISSION STATEMENT: The purpose of Ethnos360 Bible Institute is to establish believers in the foundational truths of the Bible with an emphasis on church planting among people groups without the gospel. Pray for the Spring semester as students that will be starting back up in January.

Is Ethnos360 Bible Institute part of what God has for you? Watch this video.

David and Angie Kern minister at a school for missionaries’ children on the banks of the Amazon River in Brazil. “A few weeks after we started with our responsibilities of teaching, Angie and I headed out on a trip (1 hour and 20 minutes by jet, approximately 6 hours by bus, and then a bit over 2 hours by boat) to be with the Wari' people (also known as the Pacaas Novos) and to celebrate with them as they received their very own Wari' New Testament in one volume.

“Here is a picture of my dad handing out the Wari' New Testaments to the Wari' pastors. Words fail me to describe what it was like to be among these beautiful people again and to witness the result of the many years of hard work in Bible translation — something especially, to which my mom had dedicated her life in ministry, among the Wari'. I imagine that she was rejoicing [over it] in heaven!” Watch the video.

Bart and Emily Allen minister among the Amdu people of Papua New Guinea. “If you've been reading our updates and following along with our story for very long, you should know plenty of details about the Amdu people and the work that the Lord is doing in our remote location. But we are just one small part of a broad network of ministry that is being done in Papua New Guinea by Ethnos360 missionaries (known in PNG as New Tribes Mission-PNG). It's a privilege to be part of a great team of the Lord's servants who minister in a variety of roles and locations.

Lindy and Carol Drake minister itinerantly among the Guanano people of Brazil and Colombia. “The Guanano Old and New Testaments and Bible lessons for evangelism, which we had stored in São Gabriel when we left, began the long river trip into Colombia. Some will be distributed to the Guanano villages along the way. Others will be stored at the mission base in Colombia for later distribution. The trip is long and treacherous. You will remember [that] our good friend and Bible teacher Jhoni died by drowning in one of those rapids. So please pray for safety. Orlando and Efraim will need God’s protection and physical strength to complete the task. Those boxes are heavy and need to be portaged a myriad of times to get around the worst rapids. Because of your faithful giving, the Drakes and Spors were able to finance this trip by river. We are grateful. Thank you for your prayers.”

Chad and Janeene Mankins minister among the Tobo people of Papua New Guinea. “It's exciting to look back and see God's faithfulness in accomplishing His work among the Tobo. And it's even more exciting to report that looking ahead, we are getting ever closer to the day when the entire New Testament (along with hundreds of foundational OT Scripture portions) will be completed and ready for publication and distribution! This is in a language that was not even written when we first arrived in the area in 2002!

“Please pray for us and with us as I (Chad) am leaving again for another PNG village trip on Saturday (the 28th). I will be in PNG until mid-November. Pray for health and stamina for our translation team as we try to finish the rest of the book of Luke (the second-to-last NT book on our list)!

“Pray also for the small Tobo church as we touch base together to see how their current study of 1 Timothy and Titus is going. I am bringing in the newly finished lessons for 1 and 2 Thessalonians, the next books for the church to study, once their current study is complete.

“Pray that God will continue not only to add more people into His church in Tobo but also to use the existing church to equip each other for effective ministry and (spiritual) growth as a church body.”

Lindy and Carol Drake minister among the Guanano people of Brazil. “Marlon, a Brazilian missionary working with the Nyengatu people, has asked me to continue checking the translation of certain passages from the Old Testament he has done that will support the chronological teaching he does from the Bible study series, Creation to Christ. He has made a back translation into Portuguese; Lord willing I will start checking that. Eventually this check on the translation will lead to sitting down with Marlon and some Nyengatu helpers to read the Scriptures and listen to what they are understanding. It is unclear right now whether this will take place online with Zoom or will require my presence back in Brazil.” Pray for wisdom for the Drakes and for all the planning to fall into place in God’s timing.

Christian and Megan Hall minister in the Asia-Pacific region. “After thinking we had all the permissions needed to begin working with the 'K' people group, we have hit a roadblock. One of the leaders that we need permission from is refusing to sign our paperwork. We know that our true enemy, the ruler of this world, has blinded the eyes of this official and that he will do whatever he can to stop God's Word from coming to these people. We know the Lord holds all authority though, and He works through the prayers of His bride. [Would you] please join us in praying for an open door for ministry here.

“We heard that the official who is opposed to our ministry retires later this month. Please pray for his replacement to be supportive of our organization and ministry among the 'K' people group.”

Lindy and Carol Drake minister among the Guanano people of Brazil. “Lately my days have been spent on a final orthography check on the Guanano Old and New Testaments. We need to confirm that the way words are spelled in our Old Testament Scriptures are the way they are spelled in Wycliffe’s New Testament and vice versa. This will facilitate making one volume from the two books that we have now. This would be tedious on any day, but with the help of the software called Paratext, it is actually kind of fun (in a weird way). Paratext can find every occurrence of a particular word throughout Scripture in seconds and bring them together for comparison, making corrections quite easy. Once all corrections have been made, then Barry, our co-worker, will use the Guanano Scriptures as the basis for making a Guanano spell checker. The spell checker can then be used to check spelling throughout all the lesson materials we have prepared for the Guanano Bible teachers. That way what they read and study in the lessons will be consistent with what they read and study in the Guanano Bible. It’s a big job, but we’re on our way to getting it done.” Continue to pray for the process and patience as they have fun (in a weird way).

Ryan and Chelsea Farran minister in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Ryan works as an Ethnos360 Aviation Pilot/Mechanic. “Your support empowers our mission to share the gospel and provide aid in PNG. Whether it's your prayers, time, or financial contributions, you're a vital part of our team.

“Together, we've transformed lives and brought hope to countless people, giving them the opportunity to hear of Christs sacrifice for their sins. Your involvement is invaluable. To see the impact of your support, watch the video highlighting the Simbari people's Bible dedication.

“Thank you for your commitment. Your generosity in all its forms sustains us in this journey. May God bless you abundantly.” Watch a video.

Alexander (Sasch) and Charissa Schwendich minister in Asia Pacific. “The translation check went very well. Three men from the village (Soni, Jani and Neles) joined Sasch and Julie to meet with the consultant, Steve. The guys were very enthusiastic, so they were done much more quickly than expected. The Buru Bible now has six more chapters [translated].

“Once they got back, the last few weeks were a flurry finishing up [three] teaching series (1 Samuel, Women of the OT, Exodus), touching up translation things, finishing up schoolbooks and prepping Sunday School lessons. The whole team will be absent for the next few weeks.” Pray for wisdom for the missionaries to manage their time well and that, in their absence, the church will continue to grow.