In this update, we have several answers to prayer and prayer requests. Thank you for being there for us and joining us in praising and praying.

1. We’re grateful for Pamala, Daniel, and Ariela’s safe travels to Atlanta and for the good progress they made working on Matthew’s house with him. See the pictures below of their work and Daniel’s birthday celebration since he turned 17 while they were there. (Daniel is staying with Matthew for a few extra days and will fly home on his own on Tuesday.)

2. We’re also thankful for safety and good health for me (Todd) during my weeklong conference in Albania. In my last update, I shared some highlights from that conference and the workshops on Oral Bible Translation.

3. We are currently working on Bible translation in five languages and want to restart in two other languages. Let me explain and give some details:

   • For the Arli, Chergash, and Gurbet languages, we have finished doing the quality checks on the translation of the entire New Testament, and the teams are currently working on the final checks, which include formatting and typesetting. They will also begin the audio recording soon. Please pray for them as they work on this and that they can finish the printed and audio versions and schedule the dedication services, hopefully sometime in October or November. During this time, we are also working with them to check their translation drafts of Genesis, after which we will move on to Jonah, Ruth, Esther, and Joshua in all three languages.

   • A new project started recently in the North Macedonian Arli language. That team is currently translating Mark as their first book. When they finish Mark with another consultant, I will begin working with them to check the next book, Matthew. Please pray for the team for a clear, accurate and natural translation and wisdom for me and the exegete.

   • You may recall that we translated 50 chronological Bible stories and the Gospel of Luke in the Bayash language but were unable to proceed with the rest of the NT because we lacked qualified translators and the finances to move forward. Now, the finances have been pledged to restart the project. Please pray that our colleagues who will be traveling and visiting churches where there are Bayash speakers will be able to find God’s choice of two translators.

   • You may also recall that we translated 50 chronological Bible stories and the Gospel of Luke in the Ludari language but could not proceed with translating the remainder of the NT for the same reasons: lack of qualified translators and finances. This was especially disappointing since it is the language spoken in the village near where we used to live and in the main village where we do VBS with our summer teams. As a result of the meetings in Albania, we are now hopeful that we can restart the project, but some particular needs have to be met to be able to do that:

     • Pray for large donors to be found to fund a pilot project to use Oral Bible Translation for either a book of the Bible or excerpts from the Gospels in the Ludari language.

     • Pray for 2-8 qualified Ludari translators (at this point, we are unsure how many we will need).

     • Pray for the funding and logistics to hold workshops to train Ludari translators and begin the work and that this will happen in the Lord’s timing (perhaps in the last quarter of 2025).

   • We had asked for prayer for more people to be able to join us for our June 18-28 outreach in Croatia. Since then, we have pretty firm commitments from four more people, including two adults in their 20s who can chaperone the 16 year old girls on their flights. Now we are praying for at least one more (a male, aged 18-upper 20s). Please pray for the Lord’s provision of personnel and finances so a full team can go with us to Croatia.

Thank you for thanking God with us for the answers and for lifting up the ongoing needs. Enjoy the pictures below.

Gratefully, Todd & Pamala