[Donna:]

This month of January has been marked by the arrival of the Wuhan corona virus. It has changed the way we operate, changed our priorities and changed our plans. The virus, a strain related to the SARS virus that was present here in 2003, continues to spread and more and more precautionary measures are being put into place daily. The government has suggested that people stay inside their homes and keep away from public venues except for absolute necessities. All public events for the Chinese New Year annual celebrations were canceled. All schools are closed until further notice and working hours have been compromised. In addition, Many employers are allowing their staff to work from home as much as possible. These, along with the required wearing of masks and increased hygiene regarding hand disinfection are all measures put in place to stop the spread of the virus which has been confirmed as human to human transmitable. We are very thankful indeed that we live outside the city center and we are able to go out for walks, having activities in the local parks, etc. also, there  are very few people out here and the air is always circulating due to our proximity to the sea.

In spite of this, Philip and Julie had made plans to come for a long awaited visit during the Chinese Spring Festival and before things developed into a global health concern, they bravely decided to step out and carry through with such planned journey! It was such a great time together with their precious family . Everyone was excited to meet 1yr old Riley and interact with 4yr old Zak again! We actually spent a lot of family time together since we were granted extra work holidays and not able to visit any public venues.

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God has been gracious, and although a few of us have colds, no one has, as of yet, any symptoms related to the corona virus. More good news is that Philip and Julie are safe back at home and are putting themselves under a voluntary quarantine to be sure that they haven’t carried anything with them.

We are doing what we can and trusting in the Lord’s protection. Psalms 91:1-16:
‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.
Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. Amen.

While at home, we were able to work on several DIY projects.With the help of Gabriel and Jason some more home improvements were accomplished before the CNY.

Wordproject is in constant demand. At this very hour there are at least 200 users accessing our pages, mostly from  countries like India, Brazil, Emirates, Tanzania, South Africa, Colombia, Kuwait, Japan, Italy, etc. It takes permanent update and maintenance to keep it up.  This month accomplishments:

1.Many hours were spent to update the website and make it easier to navigate.

2. We corrected many errors and format issues in several languages.

3. The Portuguese BR audio is in progress and the 4 Gospels have been concluded.

4. Filipino (Tagalog) audio Bible recordings of Psalms and Proverbs are now being done (We finished NT last month).

5. The new WP Plus App for Android devices has been ‘on the air’ for less than two months. The results are coming in – currently there are 1070 permanent users. Here are some reviews from the users:

– ‘I  liked the text scrolling alone and the audio also works with the screen off’ . M.O.

– ‘A high quality playlist. At home, on the street, in the car, on the train, training, he is always playing. Faith comes by hearing. Thanks to the creator (s)’  V.M.

– ‘Excellent! You can listen and read at the same time, the texts have large letters and read the entire book that one chooses, especially recommended!’ F.C.

– ‘Best app. Only the Lord’s words without any distractions. Love it!‘ C.P.

6.  The ‘old’ App is still going and of course, for the moment it contains many more languages than the ‘new’ one. Some users’ reviews:

‘WORDPROJECT is a very important application for me, I will rate it with five stars because I liked it so much. I can choose my preferred language and replace it whenever I want.‘  B.R.

‘Great service to the whole world, best gift ever‘  J.J.

‘Amazing app. Praise the Lord keep up the good work. One feature that would benefit your app is so you could make highlight.’ Thank you:) God Bless!!!‘ S.P.

7. Our SR600 audio Bibles are being distributed in large numbers to the Nairobi Blind community. Here are some of the most recent pictures we received.

8. Also, in Portugal our friend Teresa is reaching out to the blind community there.

9. As you can see from the volume of audio downloaded from our servers (40 Terabytes, this month – see stats page), our leased servers are being put to test and as the number of users of our Audio Apps increases, the volume of audio served will certainly increase in the same proportion. We are counting on Philip’s help to set up a new and more efficient audio server for us.

10. We are hoping to be able to get back into mainland China to resume our activities there and particularly to produce the new batch of audio Bibles (sr600) for Africa. Thanks for your prayers.