As for the next 15 hours, we’re getting ready for a 2 week trip to the US.  We’ll visit supporters in the Bay Area and in Chicago, some of whom we’ve not seen since 2001 (shame on us!) Mark will be preaching Easter Sunday at Devon Church of Jesus Christ in English and Japanese. This is the church that kept him sane when he was a college student at Moody 30 years ago, and had a strong influence in Andrew's life when he was at University of Chicago. We’re looking forward to touching base and thankful not just for Devon, but for all those who have faithfully given and prayed, allowing us to be here.

The Genesis recording is done through chapter 35. Thanks for praying, and keep Mr. Ogata and his editing equipment in your prayers as he prepares our recording for DVD distribution.

With a little leeway now, Mark’s focused some time on his studies, and the translation team gets excited as they see him discovering things about their language. One thing we're looking for is a series of natural language examples of what happens in Genesis 24--the narrator tells the story of person A telling a story to person B which includes a conversation he has with person C. Natural eyegaze and role shifting in a passage like that proved to be a real challenge for the translation team, and we're hoping to gain a clearer understanding of the natural processes by which that kind of story is told. Anyway, pray for Mark as he studies. 

Mary Esther has had some excellent coaching and is looking forward to working on the structure and various functions of the wheelchair project.  Pray for wisdom and for God to continue to send Japanese to join the project team and that we will expand our impact in local churches.  

Some final touches on the website and it’ll be ready to show you, hopefully before too much longer.  Pray as we seek to work out details with the website manager.

Thanks for praying. We recorded Genesis 29-33 on Tuesday in the best recording session yet--great delivery, and many sections recorded in just one take. I've checked most of it already, and only found one mistake to re-shoot.  Its also the most we've recorded in one day ever. Tomorrow (Friday) Pastor Minamida comes in again to record the rest, chapters 34 and 35. I will do the final check, with plenty of time to re-shoot any portions if I find mistakes. When we're done, who knows, maybe we'll start in on draft one of chapter 36.

Wheelchairs of Hope packed its first container (113 wheelchairs, 83 tire pumps, 3 walkers, 8 canes, 1 Hoyer lift.) Ten people were there to help load it. Thank you God! It is headed for Mongolia.

Also on the 20th--Mark will be at ViBi where we'll be recording Genesis 29-35 after five months of translation work. Pray especially for Pastor Minamida that his signing will be fresh and alive, clearand understandable. Pray also for clarity of mind as Mark makes the final accuracy check on the final draft.

Last week, Mary Esther was home before 7:00 a total of one (1) days, her day of Sabbath rest.

Monday was the last day of Mission fellowship conference.

Tuesday Mrs. Minamida came to Chiba and a group cleaned chairs there.

Wednesday Mary Esther went across town to the Deaf church and another group cleaned chairs there.

AfterThursday's cleaning day in Higashikurume (across town in another direction), 99 chairs were wrapped and ready to go.

She took her Sabbath rest on Friday this week, because . . .

On Saturday was another cleaning day at Higashikurume. That day, new people kept showing up, and they set a new record of 16 chairs cleaned and repaired in one day. It was a long day, but brought the total number of chairs to 115. The magic number that we're told will fit in a half-container is 125, but we're still hoping to fill it.  Nine of the chairs do not fold up, and several are large, fancy specialized chairs that still take up a lot of space even after being collapsed.  In addition, we have a hoyer lift, a couple of walkers, and some crutches.

March 20 is the big day. Pray that all the logistics of the container's arrival, maneuvering the small area, packing, and inventory listing will come together, and the chairs arrive safely in Mongolia.,

Today 9 wheelchairs went with a Japanese short term mission team to Cambodia.  The airline granted free excess baggage, we are thankful.  Please pray for the team and those receiving the chairs

One week from today Wheelchairs of Hope packs it’s first 20 foot container of chairs.  It’ll be heading for Mongolia.  Right now there are 80 chairs in the storage area, wrapped and ready.  We have lots of cleaning and repairing still left to be done this week.  Pray that God will give strength and send the right people to help.

Today we finished the semi-final draft of Genesis 29-35. 29-31 is error-free, 32-33 are checked, but have a few adjustments to be made, and I check 34 and 35 when I come to work on Friday.

 

Just to give you an example of what we do, in Gen. 33:19, the signer lingered just a hair too long on "Shechem" before moving on to sign "father", so the meaning changed from "Shechem's father" to "Shechem and his father."

 

Pray especially for Pastor Minamida, our signer, as he faces the final preparation for the recording session. With a perfect draft, even the smallest glitches edited out or new versions patched in, it looks to be easier on him than previous recording sessions, when he was still having to make last minute corrections on the fly, but a lot can happen between now and the 20th. Pray for health and strength.