Greetings, sisters and brothers. We’ve had a lot happening, so thanks for reading this delayed and longer than normal post!

It’s been almost a year since I (Rebekah) have transitioned into the role of being Islands Regional Director of language programs. I must admit, the task has been overwhelming at times, but I’m constantly amazed and inspired by our translation teams who work so diligently in the provinces of Manus, West New Britain, East New Britain, New Ireland, and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. Each team has a practiced dependence on the Holy Spirit for careful guidance in their unique situations. Thank you for praying for these 35 adults I’ve been called to support here in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Your support and prayers over me have a direct influence over their work in the translation and use of Scriptures.

One of my favorite aspects of this job is attending New Testament (NT) dedications, two of which just happened in April. Both of these NTs took decades of diligent prayer, study and checking to complete. The first was the MeraMera dedication. This is a language of West New Britain spoken along the north coast of the island. The village experienced the unusual situation of two volcano eruptions within the past 12 months. In spite of these major setbacks, the community planned the dedication and hosted 40 visitors.

The family who has been dedicated to facilitating the translation is a missionary family from Korea, with their older child now residing in Australia, and their younger child still residing in Papua New Guinea, finishing Grade 12. Visitors were from Australia, Korea, Japan, and Ukarumpa (Papua New Guinea).

The family’s big day!

The dedication was beautiful and meaningful, with breathtaking displays of the MeraMera culture in song, decorations, and dance, and encouraging speeches. Most of the Ukarumpa grade 12 students also traveled along to support their dear friend, Sungkyung, who they’d been in school with nearly all of their lives. This was doubly special for me, as a 12th Grade Community group leader and the Islands RD. This language group is fairly close to our family’s allocation in East New Britain, so it was easy to feel at home here. Evie was also able to raise enough money to attend! She even helped with the videoː watch it on Facebook here.

Just two weeks later, I was off again for another New Testament dedication: Nalik, a language community in New Ireland Province. Zeke attended this one with me. Again, it was an incredible privilege to watch the joy and gratitude of these beautiful people who now have Scripture in their own language. See more Dedication photos on Facebook here!

Thanks for praying with me that God will use the Scriptures to inspire the deepest and most lasting kinds of changes that only the Holy Spirit can bring. Thank you for supporting us so well. It has been an indescribable privilege to witness these sacred events, and I always sense your prayers.

Another important work that I did was another favorite part of my new role: to visit teams serving in their villages. Having known the impact of receiving visitors in our own village, I have a deep desire to spend time in different villages our teams are serving in. On this trip I was hosted by two teams.

The Gentrys are a Scripture Use team living in a Tigak village. They’re developing a team of Papua New Guineans from many denominations who desire to teach communities how to apply Scripture to their lives.

One of the blessings of being a part of SIL is that we work with multiple denominations. This gives us the ability to be neutral territory that can bring divided groups together for training or Bible workshops.

As always, thank you for your prayers and support. We couldn’t possibly have enough energy to support each other and our kids, and serve other missionaries here without the Holy Spirit helping us through every moment of our lives. May you all keep tasting and seeing that the Lord is GOOD.