Flying the flag of missions to children; checking Matthew chapters 10-13

Last week our church held our vacation Bible school and Pam and I led the missions class. We had 35-40 kids, ages pre-K through 5th grade. Pam did an amazing job teaching. She taught the kids (in an age-appropriate way so they could grasp it), why and how we do Bible translation for Roma. In the top picture she’s showing the kids the translation of the Bible story book in Arli and Croatian.

We also hosted two other missionary families our church supports as they shared about their ministries and told the kids about the other missionaries supported by our church who couldn’t be there. And on the last evening she taught them how to share the gospel themselves using the Wordless Book (pictured above). You’re never too young to learn!

Please pray for these young hearts that they all would know Jesus and that many would catch a vision to be missionaries through their prayers, giving and going.

The last couple weeks I have been looking over and checking the translations of Matthew chapters 10-13 in three Roma languages (Arli, Gurbet and Chergash). Starting tomorrow morning we will meet online over Zoom as teams to discuss the translations and make needed corrections and adjustments to get the translations up to the level where they can be published. Please pray for me to have much wisdom as I lead these consultations and for the Roma translators as they make decisions in editing their translation drafts. Please also pray for good health, all the technology (Internet, software, laptops) to work well, and for us to make good progress toward our goal of translating 500 verses in each of the languages this quarter (July-September 2022).

Along with their work of translating, each of the Roma Bible translators is taking classes to earn a Diploma in Bible Translation. Please pray for me as I grade their Serbo-Croatian homework for two classes they recently took, “Process of Bible Translation” and “Principles of Bible Translation (part 1)”. And please pray for the Lord’s wisdom and enablement as I prepare to teach “Sociolinguistics” to them in Serbo-Croatian in Slovakia in September. I’m currently preparing the 15 hours of lectures and would appreciate your prayers.

We so appreciate your prayers and support!

Todd & Pamala

Our daily prayer calendar for July 2022

To download this prayer list formatted as a calendar for printout, click below:

Price-prayer-letter-for-07-2022-page-2Download

July 1 Pray for wisdom for Todd consulting for the translation of Exodus in three languages spoken in Tanzania

July 2 Praise God for providing a second car for us! Pray Todd will be a blessing to his mom, driving down to visit her this weekend in Okla. City

July 3 Praise God for Pam getting almost done setting up our home & for His provision of rugs, curtains, etc.

July 4 Praise God for the freedoms we enjoy! Happy Independence Day!

July 5 Praise that Ariela & Pam can help our neighbor by watching her three children during the birth of their fourth child

July 6 Pray for wisdom for Todd grading Bible translation course assignments from Roma translators

July 7 Pray for wisdom for Todd as he prepares to check the translations of Matthew chapters 10-28 in Arli, Chergash & Gurbet

July 8 Pray for good learning for Todd attending online training for oral Bible translation today

July 9 Pray many Roma would read & listen to the new translations of Luke & 50 Bible stories in their languages

July 10 Pray for edification & rest for us on Sundays; praise for the joy it is for Pam to sing regularly on our worship team

July 11 Pray for Todd & Pam presenting how missions is done around the world this week at our church’s VBS

July 12 Praise God for Ariela helping lead song actions at VBS & Pam helping lead singing

July 13 Praise God for helpful consultation training for Todd via Zoom with translators in Tanzania last month

July 14 Pray for the Arli, Gurbet & Chergash teams as they edit their translations of Matthew, 1-2 Timothy & Titus

July 15 Praise God that Matthew’s outstanding hospital bills from Jan./Feb. 2020 were resolved in his favor!

July 16 Praise God for kind neighbors & peaceful atmosphere in our new neighborhood

July 17 Pray for good home church for Elizabeth & Stephen, good friends there & good involvement regularly

July 18 Pray for quality summer school time for Daniel & Ariela this month after moving house in May

July 19 Praise for Pam’s mom’s (Barbie’s) heart doing so well & for medication to prevent arrhythmia

July 20 Pray for Timothy’s job to be full-time with insurance benefits. Pray for good friends & interaction at church

July 21 Pray for the love & light of Jesus to shine through us wherever we live

July 22 Pray for the Roma village of Slavonski Brod that many will gladly receive Luke & Bible when they are handed out

July 23 Pray for the salvation of family members and loved ones who still need Jesus

July 24 Pray for Gospel of Luke & Bible stories to be well-received next weekend in Sisak, Croatia

July 25 Pray for Todd checking Matthew in 3 Roma languages & preparing to consult translators on those passages

July 26 Pray for health & safety for Jonathan & for the Lord to work powerfully in his life

July 27 Pray for Kirsten to discover the kind of work she enjoys & to experience Jesus & His joy firsthand

July 28 Pray for safety traveling & for us to be a blessing to Todd’s mom tonight in Oklahoma City

July 29 Praise God for visits in TX & for time this evening with Pam’s family gathering there

July 30 Pray for God’s special blessing on our niece, Victoria Morrison, getting married today in Denton, TX

July 31 Pray as we speak today at Cedar Creek Baptist Church, Whitney, TX, for God to be glorified & many to gain a vision for missions

Bible stories are now printed in Ludari language; God provided a second car; Matthew’s hospital bills resolved

Our list of things for which to praise God just keeps growing! Thank you for your faithful prayers. See how God is answering!

ANOTHER BIBLE TRANSLATION UPDATE:

The full-color, illustrated book with 50 chronological Bible stories in the Ludari Roma language has now been printed! We also printed these same stories in a diglot (two-language version) that has Ludari and Croatian side-by-side. The books clearly present the storyline of salvation from Creation to the return of Christ in a format that is easy to understand, both for children and for adults who are just learning to read in their Roma language.

We printed 50 copies in the Ludari language
We printed 30 copies with Ludari and Croatian side-by-side.
We printed 400 copies of Luke and these same Bible stories (but without pictures) in the Ludari language. It is the book on the far left. This shows all three books together

We praise God for reaching this milestone which officially completes phase 1 of the Bible translation project.

  • Please pray for the teams who will be handing out these books in the two largest Ludari-speaking villages in Croatia: Slavonski Brod where we lived, and Sisak where we also did regular summer ministry.
  • Please pray the Lord will open hearts and eyes to the Gospel and that through these Scriptures and stories, the Lord will bring many Roma to Himself and bring deeper spiritual growth to those who already know Christ.

MORE FAMILY UPDATES:

The car the Lord provided

For quite some time we have been praying for a second car that Todd could use when visiting his mom in Oklahoma City and that Pam could use for early Sunday worship practice at church. (We had a different “second car” that we just passed on to Kirsten since she needed to have her own wheels in her own name). In the providence of God, Pam had mentioned this need to our new neighbors who are becoming fast friends. The next day, the wife found out that her grandmother was going to sell her car back to the dealer in a few days. We asked her to wait over the weekend and after we checked it out and found out that it was a fantastic deal (a few thousand dollars less than asking price), we bought it! Praise God. It is a 2010 and only has 80,000 miles so should last us a good long time. And it will get much better mileage than our main car (the van which we love!) which is a blessing with the rising gas prices.

You all know about Matthew’s motorcycle accident, hospital stays and surgeries from January 2020. After all the paperwork and things were done with insurance, there was still a possible outstanding bill of $60,000 which we “might” be responsible for. We continued to pray for the Lord to resolve these, and we found out last week that that bill has now been reduced to $0. Praise God for this answer to prayer.

Matthew still has expenses for his prosthetic arm and hand which are still being developed, but thanks to your generosity through the 2020 Go Fund Me campaign, we still have funds toward that.

Ariela (10) and Pam in their matching dresses
Todd being spoiled on Father’s Day
Daniel heading to a week of Bible camp with friends

Translating Matthew & Exodus; visiting Mom; setting up our house

BIBLE TRANSLATION UPDATE

There is so much to praise God for and so many answers to prayer:

Over the last two weeks, I met by Zoom with the Roma translators each work day. We were spread out between me in Kansas City (seven time zones away) and the translators in various cities in Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. I consulted and gave suggestions, corrections and training on their translations of the Gospel of Matthew, chapters 1-10, in the Arli, Chergash and Gurbet languages.

Pictured above are Goran, Marjan and Mihal. On the screen we are looking at Matthew with the Greek New Testament, several Serbian and Croatian translations, and four versions in Roma dialects.

This week and next, as part of my training as a consultant, I am meeting over Zoom with translators in Tanzania, Africa, and consultants in South Africa, to consult on Exodus in three Baantu languages spoken in the Tanzania southern Highlands. The languages are Matengo, Mpoto and Ndendeule.

In the above screen shot, we are working on Exodus chapters 4-6.

There are many exciting things we are learning as we translate Matthew and Exodus and I so wish I had the time at the moment to share some of them with you, but hopefully I will be able to when the pace slows down.

FAMILY UPDATE:

Kirsten and I were able to travel to Oklahoma City to visit my mom, Geri Price, in the nursing home and also catch up with my sister, Tracey Burton.

Though my mom sleeps a lot and does not have much strength, we are thankful that she is doing okay these days.

We are enjoying setting up our house. We recently celebrated our 33rd anniversary, which was a joy! Daniel (14) is enjoying the trampoline and Ariela (10) is enjoying playing with our new neighbors as well as the summer reading program in two local libraries.

33 years and counting
Daniel (14) setting up furniture to help Kirsten (18) move into her room at our house
Ariela showing me her log of 1000 minutes of reading for the summer library reading program

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support!

Todd & Pamala

Our daily prayer calendar for June 2022 (The Prices Write)

Click below to download this prayer list formatted as a calendar for printing out:

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June 1 Pray for wisdom for Todd as he prepares to check the translations of Matthew 1-9 in Arli, Chergash & Gurbet

June 2 Pray for wisdom for Todd preparing to check translations of Exodus 1-20 in 3 languages in Tanzania, Africa

June 3 Pray for a car for Kirsten, for full-time work & to walk with God

June 4 Pray God will provide a second car for us that Todd can use on trips to Oklahoma City to visit his mom

June 5 Pray for strength & wisdom for Pam unpacking & organizing our new home & for parenting

June 6 Pray for Todd & the Roma translators as we check early chapters of Matthew each day this week

June 7 Pray for good health, stamina, good communication & good Internet connection this week checking Matthew

June 8 Pray for wisdom for Todd grading Bible translation course assignments from Roma translators

June 9 Pray for good home church for Elizabeth & Stephen, good friends there & good involvement regularly

June 10 Pray many Roma would read & listen to the new translations of Luke & 50 Bible stories in their languages

June 11 Praise God for all the friends & family who helped us move last month!

June 12 Pray for edification & refreshing rest for us on Sundays

June 13 Pray for Pam’s mom, Barbie Hughes (91), living near us in Belton, MO

June 14 Today is Stephen & Elizabeth’s anniversary! Pray for strong marriage amidst highly stressful jobs.

June 15 Pray for Timothy’s job to be full-time with insurance benefits. Pray for good friends & interaction at church

June 16 Pray for the Arli, Gurbet & Chergash teams as they edit their translations of Gospel of Matthew

June 17 Pray for Matthew’s outstanding hospital bills from Jan./Feb. 2020 to be resolved in his favor

June 18 Pray for Todd’s mom, Geri Price (83), in the nursing home in Oklahoma City

June 19 Happy Father’s Day! Thank God for the good fathers he gave to us.

June 20 Pray for Daniel at camp this week for spiritual growth, social & skill development & fun

June 21 Pray for Todd & African translators as we check Exodus 1-20 each day this week & next week

June 22 Pray for good, steady Internet connections for the African translators these next two weeks

June 23 Pray for team in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, to have wisdom & grace working daily in the Roma village

June 24 Pray that God would open hearts of many Roma to understand the Gospel & follow Jesus

June 25 Pray for the salvation of family members and loved ones who still need Jesus

June 26 Pray for Ariela at camp this week for spiritual growth, good friendships, learning & fun

June 27 Pray for Todd & the Roma translators as we check early chapters of Matthew each day this week

June 28 Pray for health & safety for Jonathan & for the Lord to work powerfully in his life

June 29 Pray for good learning for Todd & that he can complete his consultant training in a timely fashion

June 30 Pray for God’s timing to provide translators to finish New Testament in the Bayash and Ludari languages

Pray for upcoming Bible translation consultations

Roma translators meeting for training in Croatia

The Roma Bible translators have completed the assignments for their Principles of Bible Translation class which I will be grading soon.

From June 6-9 and June 27-July 1, I will be meeting over Zoom with the Roma Bible translators in Croatia and Serbia for the Arli, Chergash and Gurbet languages for the consultant check of Matthew chapters 1-9 in these three languages.

From June 13-24 I will be meeting over Zoom with translators in Tanzania as part of my consultant training to help check Exodus chapters 1-20 in three African languages (Matengo, Mpoto and Ndendeule).

Please pray for much wisdom as I prepare and then consult for both of these consultant checks.

Thank you for your faithful prayers. We are encouraged as we see God continue to answer them.

Todd & Pamala Price

Kirsten’s graduation; Ariela’s baptism; our move to new house

Kirsten (18)
Associate of Arts, Calvary University

On May 7, Kirsten (18) graduated from high school and Calvary University (Kansas City) with a two-year Associate of Arts degree in Ministry Studies. We’re so proud of her for her hard work!

Moving her tassel!
Graduation reception

On May 7-8, Ariela (10) acted, danced and sang, and Daniel (14) ran sound for the production of “Honk. Jr.” at their Wednesday school, Mighty Roots Academy.

Ariela (right) as a swan
Ariela (far right) as a frog
Ariela (far right) as snow

On May 15, we moved into the house we bought in Belton, MO. After living in rentals in a couple dozen places for all 33 years of our married life, now was the time to purchase a home and we are so grateful for the Lord’s provision. We’re so thankful for all the friends and family who helped us make the move.

Loading up our stuff out of the rental home
The house the Lord has blessed us with

On May 16, I (Todd) had the privilege of baptizing Ariela (10) at our home church, CrossWay Bible Church. We’re so proud of her for taking this step and for her enthusiastic love for Jesus!

Our daily prayer calendar for May 2022 (The Prices Write)

Click below to download this prayer list formatted as a calendar for printing:

Price-prayer-letter-for-05-2022-page-2Download

May 1 Pray for repairs on our car Kirsten uses & that it will serve her well until she can get a car of her own

May 2 Pray we can finish Daniel’s bedroom & the sunroom before we move in & for God to bless Patrick & Dan for all their work doing it

May 3 Pray for Ludari speakers in Slavonski Brod & Sisak, Croatia, to receive printed Luke & 50 Bible stories with eagerness and read them

May 4 Praise God that Pam’s mom’s heart shock treatment was successful. Pray for good heart health at age 91.

May 5 Pray for healing for Pam’s sister, Val, who injured her foot and unfortunately won’t be able to come to KC to visit for this special weekend

May 6 Pray for Ariela performing & Daniel on sound booth tonight & tomorrow at “Honk Jr.” play at Might Roots Academy

May 7 Praise God for Kirsten graduating from high school & with an Associate of Arts degree from Calvary University

May 8 Praise God for loving moms who love God & us & pray for us. Happy Mother’s Day!

May 9 Pray that many Roma will listen to audio recordings of Luke in the 5 Roma languages we published

May 10 Pray for wisdom for Todd grading the translators’ assignments from their Bible translation classes

May 11 Pray for an apartment for Kirsten to move into this month, & for full-time work & to walk with God

May 12 Pray for strength & wisdom for Pam packing & organizing our move, & for needed helpers

May 13 Pray we will stay healthy & for God’s enablement moving house from Independence to Belton, MO

May 14 Pray for good weather & safe & successful move to Belton today. Praise for friends to help!

May 15 Praise God for Ariela’s desire to obey Jesus in baptism today & for her spiritual growth

May 16 Pray God will provide a 2nd car for us that Todd can use on trips to Oklahoma City to visit his mom

May 17 Pray for Timothy’s job to be full-time with insurance benefits. Pray for good friends & interaction at church.

May 18 Praise for Jonathan’s new job working for Khan Academy. Pray he will walk with God.

May 19 Pray for good home church for Elizabeth & Stephen, good friends there & good involvement regularly

May 20 Pray for Matthew’s outstanding hospital bills from Jan./Feb. 2020 to be resolved in his favor

May 21 Pray for safe trip for Todd to Oklahoma City & to be a blessing to his mom

May 22 Pray for $200 more in monthly pledges which we lack for our missionary support.

May 23 Pray God will work mightily among Roma in Slavonski Brod, esp. in one girl with apparent demon possession

May 24 Pray for wisdom for Todd as he consults on the translation drafts of Matthew in Arli, Chergash & Gurbet

May 25 Pray for wisdom for Todd preparing to help check a Bible translation of Exodus virtually in Tanzania, Africa

May 26 Pray for the Arli, Gurbet & Chergash teams as they edit their translations of Gospel of Matthew

May 27 Today is our 33rd anniversary! Praise God for the huge blessing our marriage is to each other!

May 28 Pray for the salvation of family members, loved ones & Roma we know who still need Jesus

May 29 Pray for God’s timing to provide translators to finish New Testament in the Bayash and Ludari languages

May 30 Pray for strength to finalize cleaning the house we rented & to organize our new house in Belton

May 31 Pray for godly friend for Daniel who likes computer coding. Praise God for his reading lessons.

Kirsten graduating; Prices moving to Belton, MO; training Roma in Bible translation

Kirsten (18) graduates from home school high school and with her Associate of Arts degree (Ministry Studies) from Calvary University, Kansas City, MO, May 7, 2022. Congratulations, Kirsten and praise to God! After May she plans to be living on her own in KC and working.

Shout out to our friend, Patrick Berthof (https://breakstuff.net/), and my brother-in-law, Dan Sharp (https://www.integrityroofingllc.com/), who are putting in insulation, drywall and electrical wiring in Daniel’s (14) bedroom, and in the sunroom of the house we bought in Belton, MO. We’re so grateful for their kindness & hard work!

Ariela is third from the left

Ariela (10) is getting baptized this month! Todd will do the honors at our home church, CrossWay Bible Church. This week she has her final performance with her American Dance group.

Pamala, Ariela (10), Barbie Hughes (Pam’s mom)

Pam’s mom, Barbie Hughes (91), lives just minutes away from our home in Belton. Driving her for errands and doctors’ appointments is a privilege (pictured above: Pam, Ariela, Barbie). Todd visits his mom, Geri Price, in the nursing home in Oklahoma City about once a month. She is content there, though not mobile.

The Roma Bible translation teams for the Arli, Gurbet and Chergash languages met recently in Vukovar, Croatia, for a week of intense training, taking classes on the principles and process of Bible translation. Todd will be grading their work at the end of this month. They are also currently working on editing the draft translations of the Gospel of Matthew in these languages Todd will be meeting with them over Skype to check these with them chapter by chapter as they are ready.

I recently read to Ariela a biography of Mary Slessor, who was a missionary to Africa for 40 years in the mid-1800s. At the end of the book, the author concludes: “The key to Mary Slessor’s life was prayer. She called it ‘the greatest power God has put into our hands.’ She herself believed that she had been used more than most because she had so many friends who prayed for her.” We are blessed to have you as our friends and we covet your prayers, that God will do great things and glorify His name through His translated Word among the Roma. Thank you for praying; please continue to do so!

Todd & Pamala Price
(Kirsten, Daniel & Ariela)

P.S. Please pray for a smooth move this month, especially May 14, when we move the furniture to the new house.

Praise God for finishing phase 1 of the Bible translation project

The story of Creation and the Fall (from Genesis 1-3) in the Ludari language, now in print!

Today I filled out the final quarterly report for progress on the Gospel of Luke and 50 Bible stories in the Ludari Roma language. This completes phase 1 of the Bible translation project!

In the report, I answered the following question, and gave the following prayer requests, which I wanted to share with all of you, our faithful prayer partners and supporters:

Q: What was the biggest translation challenge that the translation team faced this last quarter and how did they respond?

A: We chose a female to do the audio recording of the 50 Bible stories. She was a good reader, except when it came to reading numbers for verse references, which we list to show where the stories are taken from in the Bible. She was struggling with that but then she and Sergej figured out that if they wrote everything out in letters it would be much easier to read than the Arabic numerals. Once they made that change, she showed real improvement in reading speed for the audio recordings.

For Luke, we wanted a male voice. We hired someone that we thought would do a good job. But Luke is a long book to read and we found that he was having a very hard time reading and had to repeat things numerous times and make numerous recording attempts. He eventually told us that he hadn’t been speaking Ludari at home for years (he had been using Croatian) so he was having a hard time reading in Ludari. Sergej did the math and saw that with the time remaining there was no way this reader could finish the project by our deadline. He approached another potential reader who agreed. We were so encouraged to see that he read much faster than the previous narrator, so we were able to bring him on and finish the audio recording of Luke by the deadline.

Screen shot of the audio recordings of the Gospel of Luke in Ludari on YouTube

Please pray for the following:

  1. The Pioneers team in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, has plans to go door-to-door in the two largest Ludari villages to offer the printed copies of Luke/50 Bible stories/glossary that we printed. Please pray that many Ludari would be interested and that the Lord would use His Word powerfully both to bring Ludari to Christ, and also to strengthen the few Ludari believers.
  2. Pray for the two churches who have Ludari speakers. One is very supportive of the project and we ask prayer that the believers in that church will greatly benefit from having Luke and the Bible stories in the language. One of the churches has people who have been extremely critical of the translation. Please pray that the Lord would soften hearts, that He would use the translation among people in the church, and that we could forge a good working relationship as we desire to see the rest of the NT translated into Ludari.
  3. We have printed business cards that give the website address and YouTube channel name which the Pioneers team will hand out so people will know where to go online and listen to Luke and the 50 Bible stories in Ludari. Since we think people will find that more usable than reading (at least at this point), please pray that many would listen online to these audio recordings of God’s Word.
  4. Pray for the long-term goals, that God will raise up two or three Ludari translators who can commit full-time to the project and a Diploma in Bible Translation so that we can complete more of the NT as soon as possible.

Thank you so much for your prayers and faithful support!

Showing the business cards that will be handed out so people can know where to find the audio files of Luke and 50 Bible stories