Bible Storying in the Philippines

Dear Friends & Family,

"It is simple, but it can change people's lives," said April, a Manide speaker sharing oral Bible stories in her own language. Together with local partners, the Manide translation team in the Philippines is involved in events where people can listen to Bible stories in their own language. At a recent youth camp, storytellers shared oral Scripture with young people from several Manide communities.

"I thank God for the opportunity to hear the gospel through Bible storying," said Michelle, a participant at the youth camp. "It is the best way to reach our communities. It was the best experience -- to learn more about God, appreciate his creation and realize that we are important to him." Oral communication is preferred in the Manide culture, and many people don't read. Bible stories will be used to start a Bible storytelling movement. Less than one percent of the people are Christians. "Manide Christians need God's Word for their transformation and for sharing the gospel with others," says a project adviser.

The Bible stories represent the first time that the Manide people will have God's Word in their mother tongue!

Through a series of workshops, the translation team will produce 35 oral Bible stories in the form of digital audio recordings with a written transcript. They will invite local believers to participate in the storytelling process -- crafting stories, testing and revising them, and providing feedback.

excerpted from: www.wycliffe.org/resources/publications/frontlines/2018/fall/bible-storying-is-changing-lives-in-the-philippines

Personal News
The face-to-face team meetings my (Alan's) group had this year didn't go as smoothly as previous years. Four of my team got sick, two of those with the flu. We went to a different retreat center during our first week where we had some problems with Internet access. During the second week, we met at our office in Dallas along with the larger group (about 50 people) that we are a part of. It was great to interact with the larger group, but that left less time for our own technical meetings.

But everyone was well enough to make their return flights home, we found ways to work around the Internet problems, and we still made good progress on a couple of technical issues we need to resolve in the coming year! Four of the five sessions I led went well. The fifth one was a bit rough but came out okay in the end. Thank you for praying! After our discussions, we produced a list of about 80 possible actions. Please pray we can prioritize all these tasks, adjust our plans for the year, and effectively implement the most important ones. Also, please give thanks for the joyful and fruitful time we had seeing each other face-to-face!

Lynée is responsible for her department's website, and the content will be moving to another site soon. In anticipation of that, they are reevaluating everything, and then, because of the technology used on the website, they will have to copy each page and do some reformatting. She would appreciate prayer for a way forward on all of it.

In February, Lynee made a quick trip to Chicago for her sister's birthday (thanks to a special gift). Her brother and parents were also able to come. It was a great surprise for Laurie! In early March, my sister and brother-in-law visited us briefly on the way to see their son. We enjoyed seeing the Museum of Biblical Arts with them.

In the Love, Joy & Peace of Christ