numbers and letters
By the numbers…
In the last 7 days
· 7,000,000 (feels like) Legos picked up off the floor
· 3 Pal babies born and baby gifts given
· 6 books on Ancient Greek life and culture read and discussed with Noah, Tim and Elias, 15 math sheets completed, 2 dozen ‘Hamantaschen’ cookies made in observation of Purim and the boys’ study of the Persians and Queen Esther.
· 3 villages hiked to
· 70 hours of intensive work on preparations for our literacy kick-off
and (drum roll please)
· 6 vowels and 15 consonants approved for the Pal alphabet!
No longer unwritten…
Many of you have heard us say over the years that Pal is a completely unwritten language. No longer! This week we received word that our proposed alphabet for the Pal language has been carefully checked and approved. We are praising God for this good news! Many, many hours of labor have gone into this seemingly simple step as we have had to sort through every sound we know in the Pal language, and, with the best techniques and insight available to us, make decisions about what our Pal friends are thinking as they make various sounds. To get an idea of the difficulty of this, think about our phrase “Dijeet yet?”. Oh wait, we say that, but what we MEAN is “Did you eat yet?”. The same thing happens in Pal. If we had taught our children to read ‘Dijeet’ instead of ‘Did you eat’ we would be lousy teachers! Please pray for us as we finish some final preparations for our literacy kick-off (Feb. 25th-March 4th). We will have two literacy consultants coming in to help us create our first set of reading primers in Pal along with two citizen believers who will be helping with the process.
Whether or not you enjoy reading, the ability to read and write in our own language is a tremendous privilege we take for granted. Stop and think for a minute what it would mean if you were unable to read this post, a bill from a restaurant, an email from a friend, your Bible. This week, for the first time, Elias read and memorized a verse from God’s Word on his own. Nate and I had tears in our eyes as we thought about the fact that he is now literate. Able to read and understand what God has to say to him. We celebrated as a family! We have great anticipation as we look forward to the day when our Pal friends are able to read and write as well.
May His name be lifted up and glorified among the Pal people in years to come as they, too, become able to read and understand what the Almighty God of the universe has to say to them.
Prayer points:
Praise Him with us for His sustaining strength through 2 intensely busy weeks. Two more to come – thank you for praying for praying for our family and for our team!
For good health for us all through very busy days
For a grandma sick with malaria and a precious little malnourished baby here in Pal.
For wisdom, vision, unity and balance for our team as we talk through and plan out the next non-stop 18 months. We want to do His work with His strength lived out in us.
Thanks for praying,
Elizabeth for us
Posted via email from PNG Time
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