From Marsha Relyea-Miles from Pioneer Bible Translators

Dear family and friends,

Floods...

The Aruamu people have a flood story. This summer when I was in PNG, part of our Aruamu team was working on the book of Genesis. When we were talking about the Noah flood story from Genesis chapters 6 through 9, the Aruamus told me again about their traditional folk tale. In their flood story a brother and sister climbed up in a coconut tree to get away from a raging flood. Rangai, their spirit-god, caused the tree to grow and grow, and the brother and sister survived the flood. When the earth dried out they came down and re-populated the earth. Then we talked through aspects of translating the Biblical flood narrative -- about how God saved Noah and his family in the Ark when the whole earth was destroyed by a flood.

Now our family has flood story. As you know, Hurricane Ike tore through the Galveston area 2 weeks ago, leaving destruction in its wake. Our Heather and Philip have been living on Galveston Island, both studying medicine at UTMB. They evacuated to our house in Dallas right before the hurricane. Ten days after the hurricane, residents were allowed back on the island, and they returned to assess the damage, accompanied by Philip’s father James Ashley, as well as several wonderful PBT co-workers. The house they have been renting had been flooded, leaving most things in their house damaged by sewage-laden floodwaters or by layers of mold. They spent one day trashing many items and salvaging things that they will try to de-mold or repair, and returned to Dallas that night with a load of things, as there was no place to sleep there. Then a day later Philip, James and I returned to Galveston to finish the trash-or-salvage job. They are currently going through what they salvaged, steam cleaning and disinfecting...and crying some...and trying to put an eternal perspective on the whole traumatic thing. Even though the loss of sentimental things brings tears, it’s just STUFF! God is in charge. He knows what he is doing. Thankfully, Heather and Philip have been able to reserve a temporary apartment in Galveston by phone, so they will have a place to lay their heads when classes at UTMB resumes classes in a couple of weeks.

Thank you very much for your prayers this last month. We are grateful that Heather and Philip are safe. We are grateful that the Aruamu translation team is progressing on translating the book of Genesis. We are grateful that God used Nathan this last month to help lead a course in Stuttgart Germany for Bible Societies computer support personnel working in places like Norway, Holland, Finland, Coatia, Czech Republic, Portugal, North Africa, and several former Soviet republics. We are grateful for a week of much-needed vacation time -- we used our frequent flier miles so that I could join Nathan near the end of his course, and then we relaxed in Switzerland for a few days. Whew. We SO needed that break! (I was especially thrilled to walk around the streets of Bern, Switzerland, where my ancestors are from.)

Please continue to uphold us in your prayers. Our Pioneer Bible Translators’ team is working diligently on many things, one of which is the PBT Annual Banquet to be held on Thursday October 30 at Valley View Christian Church in Dallas, with Max Lucado and Greg Pruett speaking. If you live close enough to attend, make sure you get tickets SOON at www.pioneerbible.org. This will be an unforgettable evening devoted to the Bible-less peoples of the world. I hope you can share it with us.

As we walk through this next month, may the declaration of praise expressed in Psalm 29:10 be true in our lives: "The Lord sits enthroned OVER THE FLOOD; the LORD is enthroned as King forever."

Blessings,
Marsha
(for Nathan and our whole clan)
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