"The king shall have joy in Your strength, O Lord; and in your salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! You have given him his heart's desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah."
Psalm 21:1-2
PUNAN CHURCH LEADERS MAKE TEACHING EASIER
Rachel Searcy spending time with some of the Punan women.
Missionary Rachel Searcy is finding teaching translation principles to Punan church leaders easier than anticipated.
Rachel wrote, "The first day after I finished up a lesson in the middle of the afternoon, I asked if they had sat and listened long enough. No way. They wanted to keep going. As Porida said, 'This is talking about the Word of God; I never get tired of that. When talking about other things I can't last more than two hours.'"
The Punan leaders were patient and listened to what Rachel was saying, realizing how important it was to them.
"When we got done," Rachel wrote, "the church elders weren't laughing at my mistakes, even though I made my fair share." They instead were discussing including neighbors, the value of having the whole Bible in their own language even if Rachel grew to be gray-headed and crippled, and were pondering the details of the commitment to do the job well.
"After the two days of teaching on translation, the leadership from the two Punan churches sat (more like sprawled) together in our living room and prepared the lessons for the Christmas conference. They could have used old lessons, but instead felt that it was time to make up their own so that they would no longer be dependent on the missionaries. Praise the Lord!
"They are definitely knowledgeable enough to make up their own lessons for a conference and regularly teach their own lessons during Sunday services. However, they are fearful of making up lessons for a bigger gathering like [a] conference."
The church leaders presented these lessons from Dec. 24-26.
Please pray that the lessons were clear, that the attendees listened, and that the Punan elders will gain confidence in preparing lessons for large gatherings of their own people.
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