When Jack Russell recently returned to a Simba village to translate more of God’s Word, he ran into more than the usual problems.

In fact, it took a couple of weeks before he was even able to let his friends and family know what was going on. “It took me awhile to get the radio email going,” he wrote. “Mice had gotten in and chewed through the wires. Also lightning had struck my antenna and it had fallen.”

A bus dropped Jack off in the village at 2 a.m. “I had to carry my stuff from the road, down across the creek, and then out across a field, then up the hill to my house. It was about 78 degrees and very muggy,” he wrote. Then it started raining, but at least that cooled things off.

He really wanted a shower after the long trip to the village and struggle to his house, but the water was off.

“So I got a machete and started cutting a path up to the water tank. It's the middle of summer down here so the jungle had grown up a lot. Half an hour later I made it to the tank and got the water valve to the house open. But when I ran back down to the house I found I had a geyser.”

Jack settled for rinsing in the rain.

He decided that before he went to bed he should get the gas refrigerator going in order to keep the food he had brought in fresh.

“I got the bottle gas hooked up and it lit fine, but I thought I heard something and was crawling around the back for a closer look when – poof! The whole back suddenly burst into flames and there went all the hair from one arm. I rushed out and turned the gas off and decided I'd tackle that one in the morning.”

It wasn’t quite bedtime yet, however. First he had to kill all the spiders in the bedroom and make the bed.

“That's when I discovered that a small tub a margarine had broken open in the luggage and had gotten all over my sheets. No matter. I was so tired I slept until daylight.”

He might have slept longer, but it had started raining again, and the rain was coming into the bedroom through the roof. He went up in the attic and moved the cement tiles around, and that took care of the leaks.

After going back to work on the fridge– “and after burning the hair off of my other arm” – Jack discovered a torn seal that could not be fixed. With his fresh food going bad, he thought about going to town for more, except that his motorcycle is broken down and he’s still looking for parts for it.

Jack hired a man to mow around the house, because the grass was very tall. “He almost made it through the day before the lawn mower broke down. We have two but the other one … yeah, you know,” Jack wrote.

In spite of all the difficulties, Jack has been making a lot of progress on translation – just not at night. “I tried to work late one night, but the house batteries gave out. They are ten years old and are on borrowed time. I have a small generator so I went and got it out, but the cord snapped when I tried starting it,” he wrote.

This week, an NTM expert in Bible translation is supposed to come to the village to help check 1 Timothy.

Pray that Jack is able to continue to make good progress on translation and to keep a godly attitude in spite of the difficulties.

Try to imagine a 60-mile motorcycle drive through virgin rainforest under massive Brazil-nut trees.  Add to that the rather dubious additional excitement of knowing that those huge tree branches over your head are laden with heavy pods in readiness to fall at any moment.  Mike Riepma and his daughter, Jenny, made just such a journey recently as they traveled to a remote village in Bolivia.

They were greeted warmly by the Ese Ejjas who were duly impressed with Jenny’s command of their language.  This was Jenny’s first visit to their village and she quickly gathered a band of adoring children who followed her every move. 

Mike shared God’s Word until late into the night, trying to encourage and strengthen the believers in the village.  Finally, Jenny gently suggested to her dad that a break until morning might be a good idea.

It was a journey of ambassadors for Christ joyfully sharing the Good News.   It was also a journey to treasure in Jenny’s memory, as she heads off to college in a few months.

Pray for the faithful believers in the village to stand united in Christ.  Pray that they will grow in grace. And pray for the God of all comfort to protect them from dismay and to deeply encourage them in their daily lives as they face constant criticism and adversity from their peers.

Ese Ejja children in Bolivia are challenging their parents to listen to God’s Word.

Isidi told her mother, who is going through some rough times, to return to the women’s Bible study instead of just feeling sad and angry. Ichaji told his dad that he needs to stand again for Christ and be a godly man instead of drinking and wasting his life.

Isidi’s mom went to the Bible study and had a long talk with missionary Cher Riepma. Ichaji’s dad is attending the meetings once again and seems to be listening very intently as the Word is taught.

Cher and her husband, Michael, have initiated several outreaches to children, and their kids have been a great help and encouragement to the Ese Ejja kids. They have Bible clubs, youth meetings, Sunday School classes, Thursday night puzzle nights and reading classes.

The Riepmas' daughter Shelly came to help for the summer. She and her younger sister Jenny have started evening soccer games under the bright light of the moon as well as taking part in a weekly “beach day” when they take around 50 Ese Ejja kids for a day of swimming.

Pray for the Riepma family as they minister to the Ese Ejjas. Pray that more adults will continue to listen to the challenge to attend Bible study and will trust in Christ for salvation.

The little boys and girls followed the men everywhere as they worked, watching with wonder. They must have thought the men were crazy.

“Why are they digging those seven big holes? They’re too far apart for house posts. What can they be?”

“Now they’re mixing the stuff they brought with them. They’re making … mud? Some kind of gray mud? If they needed mud, why didn’t they just use the dirt they got out of the holes?”

“Wait, what’s this? Now they’re filling the holes they just dug with gray mud? Crazy. These men have got to be crazy!”

But the gray mud will harden into concrete, and become the anchor points for an 80-meter (300-foot) FM radio tower. The men hope to have it completed by the end of July. Next month these men and others will put up buildings for the transmitter and office.

And then?

Then the station will broadcast Bible teaching in multiple languages to several people groups scattered in tiny villages in the area.

Please pray for Bruce and Jan Johnson as they work on this project. Pray that funds are provided, the work is completed on time, and soon, God’s Word will be on the air in remote southern Bolivia.