Keeping this increasingly wide ministry takes a lot of supervision and no small amount of detail. There are things that brake, others that have been broken all along and only now it is brought to our attention. There are shipments to be sent, bills to be paid, communications with developers, distributors and users, etc. etc.

One of our every day’s tasks, one we enjoy the most, is sending out the now almost indispensable ‘verse of the day’ to many people (friends) in 4 Continents. It is rewarding to see that many, who perhaps otherwise would not open the Bible to read the Scriptures, often find encouragement and guidance, which is expressed in their reaction to many of these randomly selected verses.

We also receive reactions, or more accurately, reviews, in the control page of WP apps. Many express the blessing of having the Word of God now available so easily in their lives. Here are just a couple of comments received this month:

“Hello dear friends. This app is a great way to listen to the word of God. It is easy to use and listenable anywhere. I use it regularly to follow Bible reading while traveling. The readers’ voices are exceptional with a very significant flow. Thank you and be well in the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST“. (translated from French – see image below)

“Very nice app with lots of languages and audio available. Adjustable font sizes and night mode are comfortable to read. The section of themes of verses are handy even though that doesn’t have audio for the verses. I will keep using this app as is more stable without a huge download” (see image below –

These two apps, also available for IOS, are going through a constant expanding process. The WP Plus, a more complete and substantial version of the original WP, requires the indexing of the audio (adding timecode for each verse). This is a long and tedious process. Right now we are working on Russian, Hebrew and Tamil. The Tamil work is being done by our dear friend Raj, in India, who has just started it. Please, keep him and this process in your prayers.

After waiting several months for audio material from our friend/brother in the Lord, in Brazil, for the recording of the Old Testament in PT-BR, we have been disappointed for the procrastination, as very little has been done. Thus, we have been looking into alternatives. Recently we found a good recording of the book of Genesis on an app that also offers our audio recordings, which is free for non-profit use, and we have included it in our PT-BR pages. When our Brazilian friend decides to continue the project we aim to replace this recording with his. Please keep this situation in your prayers. Thank you.

Genesis PT-BR:

https://www.wordproject.org/bibles/po-BR/01/1.htm

https://www.wordproject.org/bibles/audio/02_portuguese-BR/b01.htm

New banners have been incorporated in the Portuguese English and Chinese sections of the WP website. We have been inspired to use our own images, taken from scenic locations around our area, which makes it more meaningful and personal.

https://www.wordproject.org/bibles/resources/banners/english/index.htm

https://www.wordproject.org/bibles/resources/banners/index.htm

Not least, we have been flooded with images from our friends in Kenya, especially sister Mary, who has been tireless in distributing the Audio Bibles we sent to hundreds of visual impaired or blind people in that region. We are blessed to be part of this and share here some of the many touching pictures of precious people who find great comfort and encouragement receiving the Word of God. Praise the Lord!!

Among several events, this month we commemorated the birthdays of Cristiana, Emanuel and Philip, who were able to congratulate each other via Skype/Zoom, while the rest of us joined in the fun! For Emanuel’s birthday we organized a picnic and the team of “the cowboy”. We went to a small local farm/park with the children, and really enjoyed the outing. We celebrate the gift of life and the grace that is bestowed upon us. Also, our dear friend and neighbor Joan just reached the age of 91 and is still going strong;). I found it interesting to read the beginning and end of Psalm 91: He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty….With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation!

The good weather has allowed us to do some repair and improvements around the house. Besides the upgrade and installation of aircons we also put some effort making the back of the house a ‘rat-free’ zone, with the installation of stainless steel net and gate.

We are blessed in the fact that in spite of all difficulties and problems around the world we are relatively healthy, and the children (grandchildren) are growing almost as if nothing was going on. We thank God for that.