Tracking with the Millards

Tracking with
the
Millards
A Call to Prayer
Press On
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which
God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14
One Sunday Dave took our co-translator to a local church. It was the denomination that our co-translator
was more used to and it wasn’t completely full of westerners. As Dave and our co-translator sat on the wood
benches, God worked.
That particular Sunday a man was preaching
against the prosperity gospel that is so popular in this
area. He was preaching the actual gospel. He was also
preaching a message of “pressing on”. In whatever God
has you in He wants you to “press on”. This idea of
pressing on that is so prevalent in the Christian faith and
that Paul writes to Philemon about, was exactly what our
co-translator needed to hear.
He had been chosen by the community to do the
work of Bible translation since the 1980’s. He had been
sent for training to another country. The translation had
stopped because of war. Then, finally our director arrived and revived the work and our co-translator started
the first drafts of scripture. Then, as we arrived, we all
felt like the Bible translation could finally get going at a
good pace. However, the war broke out again and he and
the community felt like the translation work would stop
again. But as he sat listening to the sermon, God spoke
to His heart to press on. Press on in the work that God
Himself has called him to do.
Many times over the weeks we spent together he
referenced this call to press on. It was a pressing on in
the translation work, but also in seeking God. It was a
wonderful reminder for us to press on as well. When
times are hard and God has not revealed His plans it may
not feel like there is something to press on towards. But
like our co-translator learned, it is not necessarily the
present task that we are to press on toward, but the everlasting glory with Jesus. We are to press onward so that
when we see Him face to face we can be told “Well
done, good and faithful servant.”
You are welcome to follow our blog at: daveandbre.blogspot.com
Prayer Requests
 Pray for health for our family
 Pray for peace to come to our country of work.
 Pray for our work permits to be processed soon.
 For God to reveal Himself mightily to the people.
 For our team meeting at the end of March.
The Tables Have Turned
As our co-translator stepped foot into our house in the
capitol city, we suddenly remembered how different his world
is compared to this one. This is still Africa, but a much different
place and culture than he is used to.
The first time we arrived in our African hometown we
had to get used to the grass roof huts, the idea that no one ever
met inside unless it was their meeting hut called a paiyot. Entertaining guests was done under a tree or in a paiyot and tea and
food was almost always part of any get together. That is not
quite the way things are done in this African capitol city.
Knowing the culture, we tried to make things smoother.
We increased our sugar stash so that he can have tea with his
sugar. We ate meals that he is used to. We even went to a
church that was more like the one he is used to.
But, there were some things that we couldn’t change.
We had to work in our house, in one of our spare bedrooms. He
had to get used to our two story house here in the capitol. For
instance, after coming from dirt or cracked concrete floors our
tile floors might seem extravagant. We wash our hands in the
sink instead of in a basin over the floor, and we do it before we
have a meal instead of afterwards (unless it is a particularly
messy meal). These things take getting used to, and that is not
even taking into account the city itself.
Our co-translator one day asked to go into a local supermarket which targets westerners in the area. It is like a small
convenience store in the states, but had more selection and
products than he had seen in quite awhile. He chuckled a bit at
all the different western gadgets and products.
There are many differences that we don’t even realize.
Our co-translator came to a new country, on a commercial flight
for the first time, and only saw one member of his tribe for three
weeks. He needed a couple of days to relax and get used to the
ways that we do things. By the end of his stay he went exploring the city a little bit.
Culture is
pervasive in what
we do. It is amazing to realize the
different things
that stress us or
are tremendously
important to us!
We thank God that
He gave us a
chance to get to
know this culture
so that we could
be welcoming.
How can you partner with us?
Make a monthly or one time check out to
Pioneer Bible Translators.
send it to:
David and Breanna Millard
c/o Terry & Ronda Parkkonen
210 North Rd
Negaunee, MI 49866
Give monthly by automatic bank withdrawal:
Click Here to download form, and mail to the provided
address with a voided check.
Give via credit card
Click Here to go to the PioneerBible.org giving page.
Select “teams” in the dropdown menu and “Ministry of
Millard, David & Breanna.”
If you have any questions please feel free to contact
us!
Thank you!!
David, Breanna, Gabriel, Tobias, and Asher
(906) 204-0796
[email protected], [email protected]
Ministry
Our regional teammates
came to help with the work.
Here Dave, our co-translator
and teammate are working
hard.
While our co-translator was
here we got to visit together
with our language helper in a
more cultural way.
“Now the Work will not sleep.”
In January, we had the opportunity to host our cotranslator in order to check the draft of Genesis that he has been
working on. Since the outbreak of violence in our home town, our
co-translator and his family have been living in the bush near their
family garden. They had not been able to return home or have
electricity. Our co-translator would come back to our teammate’s
office that still had electricity but was in an unstable part of town,
in order to make progress on the translation drafts.
After we left in June the people were worried that it meant
the end for the project and they wouldn’t get the Bible in their language. However, when Dave called them to talk about the idea of
bringing our co-translator out they responded enthusiastically with
“Yes! Now the work will not sleep! If he does not go then the
work will sleep.” Him going meant leaving his whole family that
were still not at home. Thankfully his relatives came together to
help with his role in the family.
Our co-translator stayed for 3 weeks. This was a blessing
for us to be able to speak the language with him. More importantly we were able to grieve about what has happened to the people
in our African home town as he related parts of the story that we
did not know. Together we prayed for the situation and especially
for God’s healing.
In the midst of the talk, the tea and the massive amounts of
rice and sauce we worked our way through the first half of Genesis and the song book that they have created. Genesis was very
tough work. There are lots of key theological words that are hard
Our coto explain or translate. But God was gracious and we settled on
translator dis- some ideas that we want to try out in reading groups. We are
cussing the thankful for our co-translator’s ability to press on in all this.
book of John
We are also thankful to give the people more song books.
with our lan- This book contains songs of Bible stories and simple truths about
guage helper. God that the people created themselves. This is a great tool for
literacy and encouraging the people in seeking God.
Jan/Feb. Pics
We celebrated Toby’s 4th birthday!
Dad’s and the kids putting together Toby and Asher’s train set.
Asher loves water, which helps
in the East African dry season!
Asher’s first birthday!
We were able to host one of
our Pastors from the U.S.!
He was such a blessing!
We had 4 birthdays including our neighbors’. This
meant a lot of cake and
dance parties:)
Praise Him for answered prayers! We were so blessed that God brought everything together for our cotranslator to come visit. We were able to also have another teammate come and help check half of the book of Genesis. We also got the song book done and it is actually in the print shop right now! God blessed us by helping us all
to stay healthy through all of our visitors. We were also able to have one of our pastors from the states come visit
us and meet our co-translator. It was such an encouragement to us and to our co-translator for him to be able to
tell our pastor his story. God has blessed us with amazing neighbors and teammates that are gifts of encouragement when we are exhausted from school and work. We have also been blessed to watch our children grow and
learn. Another praise is that Breanna’s parents are going to be able to come visit and help us with some brief down
time in between classes. It will be a great help in letting us as parents relax and maybe even go on a date or two:)