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Two "Kokonas" Kids
(Coconut Kids)
We are heading into a major construction project, as the pictures
on the right show. We will be building a new house in the village.
It is nice to have a new house. But we're not building it to
have something new. We're building it so that we can stay out
in the village as a family for the long term. How long will
we be living there? We don't know. But we know that it is all
worth it, so that children like the "Kokonas Kids"
have a chance to hear about Jesus in their heart language.
(Click on the thumbnail to expand
the picture.)
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Above is our village house which needs to be replaced.
(Click on the thumbnail to expand
the picture.)
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This is a sketch of the house that we hope to build in June and
July, with the help of many financial and prayer supporters, and
through a construction team from Ukarumpa and Minnesota!
Stage 1: February - discuss house plans.
Stage 2: March - order house.
Stage 3: March - May - assemble kit house.
Stage 4: June - transport house to Madang and on to village.
Stage 5: June 19-27 - Build foundation.
Stage 6: July - Build rest of house.
(Click on the thumbnail to expand
the picture.)
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The Latest News
Getting
ready to go to the village
February
is almost finished, and we are looking ahead to a village visit
in March and April. Before going to the village we are going to
pack up everything we will need, such as food, clothes, and language
work. On March 4th we will fly to Madang, and then on March 6th
we will helicopter to the village. In the subsequent six weeks
we hope to test some literacy primers that Sarah has written and
also run some English refresher courses for the five Sam speakers
that will take the Translator's Training Course in April and May.
Dave will be hiking down to where the truck is stored, to check
on its condition and to try to assess whether we can drive it
to Madang yet.
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Prayer
Letter Download
We have a lot more news to share with you, which you can
read in our latest prayer letter. Click here
to download our January 2008 prayer letter.
This file is in .pdf format, and is viewable with Adobe
Acrobat Reader. If you don't have this program, click here
to download it at no cost. If you would like to receive our prayer
letter by email or post, please send
us an email.
Calendar (February to June):
Present - March 4
From now until March 4 we will prepare for going to the village,
finalize village house-building arrangements so the builders can
start working on it in March, and tie off loose ends that can't
wait until we come back in April.
March 4 - March 6
First we will travel to Madang and then we will buy everything
we will need for our upcoming village stay. Also we will see the
place where we will keep the village house until we are ready
to transport it to the village in June.
March 6 - April 15
We will fly by helicopter to Buan village, where we will stay
for about six weeks. During this time we will run a trial literacy
class to check some literacy primers that Sarah has made, check
the translation of Luke 2:1-20 with an SIL translation consultant,
and carry out an English refresher course for the Buan translators.
This is also the last time we can be in the village before we
go out with the house materials in June, so it is important to
make sure we and the village people agree on what will happen.
April 16 - May 29
After
settling back into our house in Ukarumpa, we will begin to mentor
five Sam translators who will take the first of four translation
training courses (five weeks in duration).
May 30 - June 7 (approximately)
We
have a bit of a breather before driving down to Madang, meeting
the truck carrying our kit house, and arrange for transportation
to the village (still not finalized because the rivers have destroyed
the road to the village).
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Our
Family
Birthdays:
Joanna, 28/Dec/00
Samuel, 29/Oct/02
Matthew, 10/Oct/04
Rebekah, 23/Aug/07
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