Greetings all,
I know it has been a few weeks since you have heard from me. For much of the last few weeks I have been in remote locations and thus out of contact with the outside world. I do want to thank each of your for your prayers during this time. Our time in Wana was great…..we were able to finish the “read check” on the selected Old Testament Scriptures and have set a date for the final check with our NTM translation check for September. We also had a wonderful Wana Bible conference with our Wana churches which was held in the village of Paramba.
From there we proceeded on to the another tribal work located on an island to the east where we met with the missionary team offering some encouragement and direction to them as they are in their final stages of culture and language study. This kind of brings me to the prayer request of this email.
Two of our missionary families there are expecting babies in June. One of the families, Donny and Tia Podarang, had to be taken to the hospital across the straight from this island just before our arrival as Tia was experiencing contractions. She was kept in the hospital for nearly a week and then released as the doctor felt that it was just false contractions. However the doctor said that she needed to be near a doctor until the baby was born.
Thus on our return trip after our consultant visit we brought them back out to the provincial capital with us – that was last Friday. On Sunday Tia was again experiencing contractions and was told by the doctor on Sunday afternoon that there was no longer a heartbeat. The following day they took the baby by C-Section and we held a funeral & burial later that afternoon.
Tia is still in the hospital but is expected to be released sometime later today. We would appreciate your prayers for this dear family as this is the second baby they have lost in the last the past year and a half. Below are a few pictures from the funeral.
The pastor nailing the coffin shut (The Pastor here is also a Wana fellow from the same village as Donny)
Our pastor standing with Donny at the gravesite. (Donny the one with the hat)
Pastor offering some final words of encouragement from 1 Thess. 4, Donny is standing on his left
Thanks so much for your prayers for this family,
Ed n Jeanne