Hans and Liliana Frank minister in the Koreguaje church of Colombia. “We noticed in this first village the leaders’ understanding and desire to study God\'s Word. We noticed that the pastor used the Bible in the Koreguaje language. However, most people do not study or understand it. It was remarkable that a boy could say John 3:16 from memory in Spanish, but when asked what it meant, he could not explain it. Others read a text from the Bible in Koreguaje and Spanish but did not understand what they were reading either. Then we were able to conclude that there is good soil for the seed of the gospel, but it is necessary to work on discipleship in their native language since most of those who were in the community had a very basic knowledge of Spanish. … [When visiting] the villages, we have decided to use the Jesus film that has already been available fully narrated in Koreguaje. It was exciting to hear their comments and to see their faces so attentive to what they saw and understood; it is so exciting when the gospel reaches [people] in their native language. … We have received an invitation from the chief of a downstream community who wants us to go and present [the film]. This village is one of the largest; we call it the capital of the Koreguaje people. … As before, pray for safety in the midst of risks of all kinds.”

Hans and Liliana Frank minister in the Koreguaje church of Colombia. “We were able to visit the Cocorá community with our teammates Milton and Julieta and their children. In each visit to the villages, we learned a lot but also made some mistakes. Last time we learned that we should not throw food at dogs because they are considered nonimportant. Feeding the dogs offends the community because in their eyes it is throwing away food that could benefit their children. This time we learned that it is incorrect for women to wear pants instead of skirts; they … think that every believing person who visits them is going to teach them something from the Bible, and they have been taught that Christian or missionary women should wear skirts. That\'s a shame because mosquitoes bite a lot, and going through so much mud and water is easier with pants than with dresses or skirts. But Julieta and Liliana will find a way to adapt to that. We don\'t know for sure who or how many are believers, but some of them are very kind, and we were able to enjoy fellowship time. We are learning the daily details of this culture…. Sometimes you feel like a child depending totally on [the people’s] wisdom to move in their ground. … Pray for safety in the midst of risks of all kinds, as Paul explains (in 2 Corinthians 11:26) inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that our faith rests only in our faithful God for everything that may concern us.” Watch a video.

David and Joyce Hilt minister as representatives for Ethnos360 in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the USA. “We don’t sugarcoat or glamorize the hard work associated with establishing a thriving church when we speak to churches or young people about the need for laborers. You might think that would hurt our efforts in seeking to find those who would serve with us, but we want to be clear and up-front about what it takes to plant a church. What employer hiring workers for a specific job would not disclose the qualifications necessary to do the work? The same goes here. You should know just how important it is for every believer to be a team player in what God is doing today for the glory of His Great Name. Perhaps you may never serve in missions, but you can share a part by praying for God’s work around the world. … And you can equip and send others. There’s a place for every believer to serve, just as Jesus gave the commission to every believer to participate in the Great Commission. What will you do?” Read more.

Levi and Robyn Lenz minister among the North Wahgi people of Papua New Guinea. “In God’s perfect timing, He had our translation consultant coming to our support base on his way back from Australia. We had two of our translation helpers come from the village and complete the final check of the final book of the North Wahgi New Testament with our consultant. After nearly 11 years of translation work as a team, the North Wahgi New Testament is completely translated. Now we are in the process of spelling and punctuation checking and gearing up to begin the formatting process so that we can prepare the New Testament for the printers. This will still take quite some time, but we are so thrilled to have come to this point. Please continue to pray for us as we work on these finer details. Pray also for us to get the necessary funding for the upcoming printing.”

Levi and Robyn Lenz minister among the North Wahgi people of Papua New Guinea. “Levi was able to return to the village for the first time in two years! He was warmly welcomed back by our brothers and sisters in Christ (and our dog Socks). ... During his visit he met with the Bible teachers and walked with them through the process of beginning to seek out the ‘Lost Sheep’ as well as modeling to them how to have team meetings so that they can work together in unity rather than each one pursuing their own ideas. He was even able to tackle some general maintenance and clean-up on our home, preparing it for our whole family to return in the weeks ahead. please continue to pray for the Wahgi Church, that they would be seeking their Heavenly Shepherd to lead and guide them in their everyday lives and not allow grievances to rise up between them to cause division.”

Chad and Janeene Mankins minister among the Tobo people of Papua New Guinea. “The Gospel of John plus 566 verses of Acts make up 18% of the New Testament, and [the verses] have recently made the digital voyage of 8000 miles to a consultant who [has] checked them over for accuracy of content. He\'s actually checked the Back Translation of the Tobo Scriptures into English as it would be pointless for him to try to read and evaluate anything written in the Tobo language. So technically, you could say that we\'ve translated 18% of the New Testament into Tobo and then translated it back again into English. Once the consultant has finished this content check, he will send back any and all areas of concern that need to be addressed and revised. After all of the changes have been made and approved, there is yet another key step — the comprehension check, which needs the involvement of Tobo speakers. And which brings us to the following ... The End of Waiting? It appears that the answer to this question is a still tentative but a very hopeful ‘yes.’ We are looking at the end of waiting for my (Chad\'s) next trip back to PNG. At this time, the plan is for me to fly back there in January. While there, that 18% of the Tobo New Testament can be checked with the consultant and our Tobo friends to make sure that it communicates well before we add these Scriptures to what\'s already printed and in use thus far ... and this would bring the total to 72% of the Tobo New Testament and more than 1000 verses of the Old Testament. We\'d appreciate your prayers for all the logistics involved.”

Jason and Nisae Williamson minister among the Iski people of Papua New Guinea. “This last month, my co-workers and I were able to spend a good long month in the G village, working closely with the church in there. We spent a lot of our time in disciple-making training and lesson-writing training with our Bible teachers. In the past, our teachers would use the word-for-word lessons we would write in the Iski language. These lessons are designed to be kind of \'training wheels\' for the teachers in training, to help keep them on track. Now that our teachers are growing in their ability to teach, it\'s time for the training wheels to slowly come off. Currently the church is being taught again through the book of Romans. Every week, my co-worker, Andre, and I met with the guys and walked them through a passage, talked about how it fits into the larger scope, discussed the problem passages and main points and then had them write their own lesson and teach it. This is totally new territory for them; however, so far, they have loved the process and are learning so much, and they\'re really doing amazing. A few months ago, when we were getting ready to leave Georgia and head back here, so many of you gave over and above to help the Iski with the printing and shipping of the Iski Bible portions. Even when we were hit with extra charges along the way, so many had given that we were able to cover all of it! We were so blown away by the response. We were able to share with the church here that these Bibles were funded by fellow believers who have a heart for their Iski brothers and sisters. We put together a short video of a couple Iski believers expressing their thanks to all those who gave to make this happen.”

Wes and Penny Chappell minister among the Menya people of Papua New Guinea. “One of the main responsibilities we are undertaking in order to see a thriving church established [among] the Menya [people] is to translate the New Testament for them into their heart language. There are literally about 30 steps to move drafted Scripture along to the point where we can have it checked by a translation consultant and then printed for the people. This last month we [had a] consultant check Romans 1-8 and key portions from the book of Acts, over 500 verses total. There are 7957 verses in the New Testament. So already having over 500 various gospel portions checked puts our total over 1000 verses! Over one-eighth of the Menya Tepatiqu New Testament [is] complete. (Tepatiqu is the main dialect of the Menya language that we have learned and are doing translation in. The Tepatiqu dialect makes up about 75% of the Menya language.) We still have a long way to go, but this is an exciting step for us. It will be a really exciting day when we can put a completed New Testament into the hands of the Menya Church in the future.” Pray for the progress of the translation toward that end goal.

Jonathan and Heidi Bamford minister among the Isnag people of the Philippines. “I finished entering the corrections from my last translation check and have been able to start drafting the book of Revelation. It is encouraging to see forward progress. Heidi spent much of the week doing the month end inventory and checking the books of the little local clinic. She is looking forward to resuming Bible studies with the teachers who lead small group studies in their homes. The ladies are coming to the end of their rice harvest work and will be free to meet again. Heidi also has plans to begin working with Florence to record Romans and Ephesians so they can be put on the MP3 players that we share with all who are interested. We are thankful that we have been allowed to continue having church services.” Pray for the progress on the translation.

Tim and Rebecca Ingles minister among the Wano people in Asia Pacific. “Temiton … has been a literacy teacher for the last few years, and a couple of years ago, he started teaching the kids Sunday School class. He is a quiet guy but has always been a good teacher. This past Sunday he taught part of a lesson at church to the whole congregation. He did an amazing job, and I was so proud of how loudly and clearly he taught. Praise the Lord for new Bible teachers being raised up amongst the Wano. Pray that Temiton will keep growing in his walk with the Lord and remain faithful in leading others.”

Tim and Rebecca Ingles minister among the Wano people of Asia Pacific. “We wanted to pass on some exciting news from the outreach in P. The team taught the final evangelistic Creation to Christ Bible lesson last Monday. Since then, they have been spending lots of time talking to those who faithfully listened over the last three months. They told us via [short-wave] radio that they have heard 78 clear testimonies of faith in Christ’s work that He did on the cross, redeeming them from the penalty of sin and giving them eternal life! Join with us in praising the Lord for this great news.”

Tim and Rebecca Ingles minister among the Wano people in Asia Pacific. “The long-awaited translation check has finally started! After waiting almost a year and a half for COVID restrictions to ease and allow the translation consultant to be able to come, we moved on to plan B: a translation check via Zoom. We’ve never done a translation check over the internet before, and not only that, we’ve never done such a large translation check before either. The goal is to check over 2,500 verses so that we can print the complete books of Matthew, Mark and Luke for the Wano. This is a massive task before us, and doing it over the internet adds yet another complication to everything. Despite all that, technology has been cooperating (for the most part). We are really happy with how everything is going so far, but we ask for your prayers that everything will continue to work well and that we will be able to continue to make good progress. We are doing the check each day from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m., and if everything continues according to plan, we should [have wrapped] up the check in early November. … Pray for health and stamina and that the end result will be Scripture that is fully communicating the meaning of the original Scriptures to the Wano in a way that will impact them deeply and help them to continue to mature in their faith!”

Jim and Kathy Tanner ministered among the Elimbari people and taught the Scriptures chronologically to many church leaders in Papua New Guinea. “Not long before we left Papua New Guinea, a special group of people from our community came to farewell us. Special because they had been taught through the first three Bible lesson courses, got saved and were now studying the epistle of Ephesians. Special because they are so enthusiastic about knowing Christ and wanting to spread the gospel. Special because they have started taking up offerings to encourage and support their future outreaches (they paid for the books and food for the 11 people they sent to attend our last teachers’ training course). They came to encourage us and thank us for bringing the gospel to them. We didn’t teach their Bible class, but two teachers whom we trained did a great job at teaching the group. … A spokesman for the group wanted to assure us that that they would carry on the work of spreading God’s Word. He said, ‘We will not let the peanut die. You planted the peanut, and it will produce many new ones.’ We had never heard that illustration used before, but it was spot on as far as God’s plan for not only preaching the gospel but also for making disciples of all men. Every missionary’s goal is to work himself out of a job before he leaves. By God’s grace we had reached that goal, and the living proof stood before us. Continue to pray for these disciples and many just like them that are multiplying around the country. Even though we are in the USA for this season of our lives, we would like to continue to produce Bible lessons for the people of Papua New Guinea. However, for this short season, we are waiting for God to show us what He wants us to do and where to do it. Thank you for sticking with us.”

Lance and Laura Ostman minister as translation helpers for the Higaunon team of the Philippines. “We received an email the other day from our field leadership team that the Higaunon Old Testament is 49.1 percent complete. We’re getting there! Thanks go to each of you who partner with us in making this possible. Please pray for wisdom for us and our co-workers as we continue working on the translation. Our co-worker Ron has been working on having the Scriptures recorded for the people to use on their phones and on audio players. I keep track of time spent on my work and this past month included 164 hours of work on translation, eight hours were spent in partnership development and another almost two hours in inter-mission communication. This is how I spend my time in a typical month, and we began to realize just how tired we are. By the time Friday afternoon rolls around, I feel braindead. Well, maybe ‘dead’ isn’t the right word, but you get the idea. So, we are going to take a break! … Pray for our time away, for safety [and] that we’ll be refreshed and return rejuvenated.” Read more.

Jamie and Char Hunt minister as Bible translators in Paraguay. “Jamie, along with our co-worker Erwin, went to a community about an hour away to do a comprehension check with a young man. After hearing about God\'s design for church leadership, the man exclaimed, ‘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 the qualifications of elders and deacons. The next day, Jamie and Erwin headed to a different village to again check 1 Timothy with a different individual. This young man has pastored his church, [has] 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? My people have never heard that before!’ He then added, ‘This book needs to be read right away from start to finish in all our churches!’ 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 young men 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 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 312 W. 1st Street, Sanford, FL 32771-1231.

Ed and Jeanne Casteel minister itinerantly with the Wana people of Asia Pacific. “Besides going down to Florida this past month, I also made a trip to South Carolina to represent one of our Wana churches at a missions’ conference in Greenville. This church has felt led of the Lord to partner with one of our Wana churches in a joint effort in a cross-cultural outreach to the ‘Da’a Language Group.’…. It was a blessing for me to be able to represent our Wana church and to work out the details of this partnering relationship which will be through prayer and support matching. We have actually been working on this with the Wana pastors for the past number of months, taking things very slowly so as to avoid any misunderstandings. It is super exciting for us to see how God is working and using the Wana people in outreach and how He has raised up yet another Wana family to help with the teaching needs in Da’a. At present there are six different groups being taught in this Da’a village, all in different stages of the teaching. The team has been overwhelmed with all the demands placed upon them, so [they are] very excited to have this new family join the team. Sofyan and Riana graduated from our missions training center a few years ago. Since then, they have been involved with their local Wana church and [are] waiting on the Lord to show them where they should serve. During this time in their local church, they have also been attending our discipleship training for cross-cultural outreach, so the church and we are confident they are ready for this next chapter in their lives. Isn’t it exciting to see the Lord use this second generation to expand the reach of the gospel in this region?”

David and Shari Ogg minister among the Simbari people of Papua New Guinea. “In our last update we mentioned the multi-language-group Bible conference the Simbari believers were planning to attend. It turns out that 28 Simbari people hiked over the mountains to attend, and they were greatly encouraged. David’s translation helper, Raymond, was one of the speakers. Five people groups were represented. Pray for these dear brothers and sisters in Christ who are living in very remote places, that they would treasure the gospel of Christ above all else.” Read more.

Peter and Pam Van Der Decker minister among the Kaulong people of Papua New Guinea. “We organized a schedule for working on translation with the Kaulong helpers. Several days each week, a couple of men came to work all day in the office with Peter on the exegetical rough draft of previously translated Scripture portions, making certain that they sounded natural in the Kaulong language. Pam then progressed these same Scripture portions through several steps (recording, content checking) to the point that she could begin checking for how well the translation was communicating. Both young and old, male and female came to work with Pam on checking whether the passages of these various Scripture portions are able to be comprehended. And on days that Peter didn’t have helpers, he prepared additional exegetical rough drafts of other Scripture passages. You may remember that each portion of the translation of Scripture that we work on goes through quite a few steps. And we’re thanking God that, during our time there, He made it possible for us to complete some of those steps which require mother tongue Kaulong speakers. Pray for us as we work on translation and for our upcoming translation check.”

The International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians, November 7, is a day for families, groups and churches across the United States and around the world to focus on prayer for our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters. Will your family, group or church serve our persecuted Christian family members by praying for them on this important day? Visit the site.

The International Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians (IDOP), November 7, is a day for families, groups and churches across the United States and around the world to focus on prayer for our persecuted Christian brothers and sisters. Will your family, group or church serve our persecuted Christian family members by praying for them on this important day?

To help you and your group pray more specifically for persecuted believers, The Voice of the Martyrs has developed a number of downloadable resources, including a new video, “Finding Life.” The short film, available for free on DVD or as a digital download, tells the story of Sabina and Richard Wurmbrand, who abandoned selfish pursuits to obediently advance the gospel in Romania in the face of persecution from Nazi oppressors. “Finding Life” will inspire your family, group or church to walk that same path of bold obedience. Many other resources are available to help you pray for persecuted Christians.

Make sure this special Sunday is included on your calendar — and your church’s — and request IDOP resources that will help you pray specifically for our persecuted brothers and sisters on November 7.

Visit the website.

Craig and Shelly Schafer minister among the K people of Asia Pacific. “One exciting thing … is about our friend Brian who flew into the village a few weeks ago. He is one that we see God using to stir the hearts of the K towards Himself. Brian right now is helping out with teaching on Sundays and has also decided to teach a few groups of people through the book of Ephesians. Right now, he is teaching four to five nights a week to three or four different groups. He also wants to take the gospel across the valley to his relatives that live over there. He has talked to them about doing this, and they say they want to hear, but they are in the middle of a move and want to wait till they are settled into a different location, and then he can come and teach them. Please pray that they really want to hear and that this is not just a ploy to stay away from the gospel. Please keep Brian in your prayers as he has a lot on his plate at the moment.”