January 6, 2006

When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.
Galatians 4:4

Dear Family and Friends,

“For a long time my goal in writing this newsletter has been to get it done sometime between our two Christmases, Western on December 25th and Ethiopian on January 7. Now that deadline is fast approaching, and so I will make a start at least.” This is the way my letter last year started, and as it is now the same date of 2006, that seems a good way to start this one too.

This year has been spent in revising the Anuak New Testament, and as we have gone through Acts, Romans, and especially Galatians, I am again awed by God’s great gift to us of His son, given as a completely free gift, though infinitely costly to Him, that we, as the verse above says, might receive the full rights of sons (and daughters). It continues to be a rich experience for me to work with the Scriptures day after day, as well as an awesome responsibility. Thank you all for your prayers and interest, for without prayer we cannot accomplish anything.

Our goal for 2005 had been to finish the revision up to Romans, which we didn’t quite make (the Bible Society’s year ends in November), but did finish it by mid-December. And we hope to complete the rest of the revision during this year of 2006. We also have to check each book with the Bible Society’s translation consultant, and with our reviewers’ committee in Gambela. Things that delay us—like illnesses of team members or their families, deaths of relatives, church meetings and seminars which they are asked to attend, as well as political unrest—are always with us, and sometimes I begrudge the time they take up, but have to accept them and try to work around them, as they are all a part of life here.

I continue to be thankful for my two teammates, Ajulo, a mom with two teenage daughters, and Desalegn, a man with a wife and four children, the youngest just over a month old. We get along well and there is a good spirit of teamwork among us. I continue to value the contribution of Niles Reimer as he sends revision suggestions from the States and visits here a couple of times a year to help. He and Ann will be here again at the end of this month and will spend a couple of months here.

A word on the two clinics in the Gambela region. Even though I am not involved in their supervision anymore, I am still interested in their progress, which during this past year has not been very good. We do not have any Anuak nurses working in the two clinics anymore, and nurses loaned from the government health bureau have not worked out well. So the priority this year is training new nurses who will be Christian people of good moral character, and who will feel a commitment to serving the Lord and their people in a remote location and do it well, with minimal supervision. That is a tall order, and we would appreciate your prayers that this goal could be accomplished. Rachel Weller, the present health coordinator, has to balance the demands of that position with her responsibilities to her family.

I want to say thank you to all of you who have sent cards, letters, and email greetings this Christmas. May you each experience His blessing and presence in a special way during this New Year of 2006.

With Christian love,

Breezy