MICHEALS’ MEMOIRS December 2018 Update
Dear Friends and Family, There are just a few things that last for eternity. We know that among those things are God and people. God is unique in that He never had a beginning nor has an end. People on the other hand have a definite beginning, but no end and that ‘no end’ can be either with the Lord or in the lake of fire. So what makes the difference in where people spend eternity? That is where another eternal thing comes into play. That eternal thing is God’s Word. We know that this Word existed before time and will continue and one of the interesting things about the Word is that the Word is described as Jesus, the Savior. So, this Word that we read about in the pages of the Bible took on flesh and dwelt among us and that is what we celebrate this time of year. And yet there is also the Word spoken as revealed to us in the pages of sacred Scripture and that Word is still yet to be delivered to all of the language communities in the world. Our role in that process is to help individual people who are exploring service with Wycliffe know how and where they can serve and then help people though the process of applying. This can be challenging since each person needs to have a church who is ready, willing and able to send them out. We can help people see what the qualifications for service are, but each person needs a church to send them out and then a team of people to support them prayerfully and financially. For all of you who have stood with us in these ways the past year, we say thank you! We cannot do our work without that support.
A Look Back The Rotokas New Testament was dedicated in 1982 at the height of a spiritual revival in that language speaking area in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea (PNG). This was the fruit of the hard work by Wycliffe Bible Translators, Skip and Jackie Firchow and a team of Papua New Guinea men. David Akoitai from the language community was one of the leading local Bible translators. This team began work in 1965, when we were still in 5th Grade and continued on for 17 years until the New Testament was finished, just three years before we arrived in the country. What a remarkable labor of love!!!
Skip Firchow and David Akoitai finishing the last verse of the book of Revelation (Photo courtesy of Jackie Firchow)
So, what about this community 36 years later? Is the translation still being used and what is its impact? Recently David’s son wrote about what is happening and stated, “Although Skip and David have passed on to be with the Lord, their work is used by the Rotokas people of Bougainville.” He went on to say what a continued great blessing it has been to his family and others in the Rotoka community. As one villager in PNG put it, “We can now pass down God’s Word to our children and grandchildren.” As they say, it is a gift that keeps on giving. It is a gift of eternal consequences! Thank you for making this investment with us.
A Look Forward Our work with Wycliffe continues to keep us very busy. While there are always times when it is slower, most of the time we have more than enough people to work with to keep us very busy. Barb especially stays busy processing Interns and Volunteers throughout the entire year. That has meant that many personal projects like sewing, etc. have taken a back seat. Yet she finds time to co-lead a women’s Bible study for our church and spend time with grandchildren either in person or online for those living far from us. Chuck stays busy with recruits and in his elder work at church. He has also been teaching adult Sunday School regularly and more recently has been preaching at various churches. One of our biggest challenges continues to be our monthly support. It is a challenge that so far has not been met. Wycliffe expects us to be at the 100% support level which they have set for us and at times we make progress in getting close to that 100%. However, these gains of new supporters has been offset by several of our financial partners who have died this past year and others have moved in to retirement and have had to cut back in their giving or who have stopped all together. So, our biggest prayer request is that we would be able to reach our 100% level. We have taken a monthly reduction in what we are required to raise (which Wycliffe allows, but doesn’t want to go on long term), and still our support is not at 100%. We continue to stay at the 90% level, which is an overall improvement from where we were two years ago, but with the reduction we’ve taken, it is not a good long term solution. In our last newsletter we indicated we have discussed and prayed about our work with Wycliffe now that we are coming up on what many would consider retirement age and have decided to continue working with Wycliffe beyond this point. That means we will have continued need for partners in our ministry.
Praises
For our time this past year with our two adult children, spouses and grandchildren who spent their furlough year living in Orlando, Florida near us. These two families are now back overseas and continuing their work with Wycliffe. This past year we had a number of family reunions not only with our four children, their spouses and our 12 grandchildren, but also with Barb’s family.
Barb’s and her sisters (L-R) Jan, Kay, Barb, Brenda
Merry Christmas We wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May God bless you and keep you and make His face shine on you this coming year. FOR PRAYER SUPPORT / OUR HOME ADDRESS Chuck & Barb Micheals - 5167 Poinsetta Ave. Winter Park, Florida 32792 - Tel: (321) 278-2225 Email: Chuck_Micheals@wycliffe.org www.cbmicheals.ning.com FOR SUPPORTING US FINANCIALLY Wycliffe Bible Translators P. O. Box 628200 Orlando, FL 32862-8200 Mark on separate sheet: “Preference For Chuck & Barb Micheals” Give Online at: www.wycliffe.org/partner/cbmicheals
Help us reach 100%!