PBT - Travelin' Miles: MULTIPLY!

May/June 2009

Dear family and friends,

I love the story about young teen who sat on the hillside all day
among a vast myriad of seekers--5,000 men, plus many women and
children, some hungry to know God, some desperate for healing, some
just curious. All day they listened, absorbed, soaked in the teaching
of this amazing teacher from Nazareth --- so much so that they had
forgotten all about lunch. And they forgot about coffee break. And
they forgot about supper. And now the sun was setting over Galilee,
and folks all around him were feeling light-headed, dizzy with hunger.
And it was a LONG WAY back to their respective villages.

Well, no matter! Lucky kid. He reached his hand into his pouch and
patted the nice picnic lunch his mother had packed for him that
morning. 5 little loaves and 2 little fish. His mouth watered in
anticipation!

But God ?in-the-flesh was calling him! Jesus? disciple said, ?Sonny
Boy, the master needs your lunch.? It was a very ordinary lunch, on
the order of a tuna sandwich. He may have thought, ?How little I have
to offer to the great teacher.? But the Lord of the Universe was
saying to him, ?Give me your all, your best, your ordinary little
lunch. I choose you as my vessel. Give me what you have and you will
see my glory displayed.? Sonny Boy said, ?YES! I will give my WHAT I
HAVE to Jesus.?

And Jesus took that little lunch, and he held it up toward heaven and
blessed it. And he miraculously broke it and broke it and broke it and
MULTIPLIED the little lunch, that little LIFE OFFERING--- into a
banquet that fed thousands that day on the hillside.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support this last month, as we
team up with the vision of seeing lives transformed through God?s Word
in every language, trusting HIM to multiply the offerings of our
ordinary lives for his glory.

Here is how you can pray for us this month:

Nathan left this morning (May 31) for Thailand, where he and his
United Bible Society team will be training computer support personnel
and Bible translation consultants in how to use the Paratext 7 Bible
translation software. We are praying that God will MULTIPLY these
efforts exponentially, seeing translations expedited in many countries
through this software. He returns to the U.S. on June 15.

I (Marsha) am involved in the first half of June in our PBT training
programs in Dallas, as we equip our many new missionary recruits to
join our Bible translation team around the world. It is very exciting
to watch the Lord MULTIPLY the efforts or our PBT team in this way.

From June 18 to August 3, I will be in Papua New Guinea. For the
first 2 ½ weeks, I will being working with Bobby Joe and Sue Ellen
Wrenn, Sabra Knape, and Sylvia Smith out in the Aruamu area, We will
be helping with an Interdenominational Crusade, a Bible study course,
a Women?s Day event, Bible distribution, and working with the Aruamus
to assemble Big Books to teach children to read Aruamu. For the last 3
½ weeks Sabra and I will stay on in Madang to work with the Aruamu
translation team in exegetically checking the translation of Genesis.
Nathan will join us for those last 3 weeks. Our team is asking God to
MULTIPLY what we do this summer, so that a passion for him breaks out
and spills over in ways we cannot even imagine, for his glory.

I challenge you this month--let us commit ourselves, our energy, our
everything to the Lord of the Universe, saying, ?Here we are, Lord.
We look to you to multiply our small, ordinary offering, and use it to
bless others, for your glory.?

Partnering with you to reach the unreached,
Marsha Miles
(From Nathan and our whole clan)

Don?t forget to pray for Heather and Philip Ashley on June 12, as they
take their first Med School Boards exam!

P.S. Sylvia Smith?s airline ticket still is not entirely paid for.
If God is prompting you to help with this, please let me know.