Thanksgiving in September

When do you celebrate Thanksgiving?

On the fourth Thursday in November (U.S.A.)?
On the second Monday in October (Canada)?
Or on a Sunday in September?

That's when our brothers and sisters in Moldova gather to thank God for the harvest.

This year in the Romany village of Vulcanesti, they thanked God for three whole hours!

And then they had a feast and celebrated some more!
The pastor and his wife went home after two hours; they don't know how long the rest of the people stayed, singing and communing with each other.

A few years ago a couple of friends and I had the privilege to be there over Thanksgiving. (That's what this photo is from.)

No matter when--or how--you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope your hearts are as generous and grateful as our brothers and sisters in Moldova.

Keith (no longer) in Curacao: Recorded, Reviewed, Returned!

This is us, praying a prayer of praise and thanksgiving once every one of the 260 chapters in the New Testament had been recorded, reviewed, corrected, and approved. (Whew!)





This is Keith, some days earlier, recording the very last line of the New Testament.

This is Keith, a number of days later, glad to have been in Curacao but now glad to be back home in the Netherlands (where the weather is much cooler!). 

Also grateful for the entire recording team in Curacao, the folks at Faith Comes By Hearing,  and for the prayer support which made that recording possible. God is good!

Keith in Curacao: Women at Work

There are so few roles for women speakers in the New Testament that our partners at the Antillean Bible Society added two. 

One woman, a biologist by profession, came after work to record the chapter headings for the entire New Testament. In Papiamentu-speaking culture, the grandmothers are the storytellers, so this seemed particularly appropriate to the local recording team. 

Another woman read the book of Hebrews. She did an excellent job with what can be a difficult book. "Some people will understand that passage for the first time," one of the proof-listeners noted after one recording session. Thank God that many more people will hear and understand His Word.

Keith in Curacao: 100%!!!

One of the proof-listeners

The lady is smiling. The butterfly is smiling. We are smiling. This morning we finished the recording phase of the New Testament in Papiamentu!

Smiles from proof-listeners, readers, and recording team!

Now just to listen and approve each of the chapters in that New Testament!

Keith in Curacao: Listening to Ensure Hearing

The volunteers in the foreground here are proof-listening. They read along as we record to make sure a) the reader says exactly what is in the printed Bible; b) the reader says it correctly; c) there aren't any mistakes in the printed text.* They sometimes do this for two hours at a stretch. Tedious? Many do not think so.
"This is a great job, you know," one proof-listener told me after a two-hour session of Revelations. "It fills you every time. You read and you read. It fills you."
Thank God for proof-listeners, and thank God that His Word has impact, even in through a task like this.


*Proof-listeners find one in every New Testament recording project. So far, they've found a missing word and a switch in an apostle's name.

Thank God for Children . . . and For Volunteers!

This is the season of vacation Bible school clubs at home and abroad. 









A huge THANK YOU to all of you who invest in your own children and the children of others!

Photos from previous children's programs.

Keith in Curacao--CELEBRATION!!!

Why do these people look so happy?

Because today we reached the half-way mark of this recording project. We have recorded 50% of the New Testament in Papiamentu. 

We are rejoicing at reaching this benchmark. 

We've only been at it for 3 weeks. Keith has never made such progress on a New Testament recording before. 

A huge thank-you to all who have worked so hard to make this possible. 

And an even bigger 

PRAISE GOD!!

P.S. "These people" are A. Pepito Elisa, head of the Antillean Bible Society; Gwenny Emers, project coordinator; "John;" and in the last photo, the studio with its full compliment of workers.