thank you

We’d like to say thanks to all of you who have been faithfully standing with us! You have been praying for us, financially supporting us, and cheering us on from our arrival here in Toboland in 2002, through the spiritual battle we saw unfold these past months (and which still continues in the hearts of many here), and now as we have a brand-new group of followers of Christ here! We just want to say “Thank you” from the bottom of our hearts!

These are exciting days, but rather than seeing this initial harvest of souls as the end, please realize that this is just the beginning! The previous years of hard work have been preparation for these years to come here, as we take on the task of discipling the new Christians, encouraging them as they grow through studying the Bible, continuing the mammoth job of translating more and more of the scriptures to “keep them fed”, and also doing our part to cheer them on as they reach out to others in the community and beyond over the next several years.

Thanks again so much for the part you have played in our lives, and for your valuable role in advancing the gospel into this remote corner of the world!!

Grateful to Him for you,

Chad, Janeene & Elijah

A new kind of Easter

How did you celebrate Easter this year? We had a wonderful gathering as believers in the great outdoors. The worship was tremendous as we thanked Jesus for his sacrificial death for us, singing to the tune of guitars and the beat of wooden hand drums!

Several people expressed their praise to Kiwu (God) for what Yesu (Jesus) has done for them. We concluded our time by drinking tea and sitting around enjoying each other’s fellowship.

A special treat for us was the visit of some elders and their wives from one of the churches of our partners Jason & Kellie. These men and women were a big encouragement to the believers by sharing testimonies and letting them know how much people back in the US were praying for them!

Easter has been observed by many Tobo in the past (along with Christmas). But now for the first time, rather than being a solemn time of fear and restrictions and taboos (like staying around one’s village area during the several days of the holiday to keep out of trouble with the spirits), many are appreciating the wonderful meaning the resurrection of our Lord Jesus has for them personally as sinners saved by grace!

We were recently encouraged by some thoughts that one of our neighbors and Janeene’s good friend Lanisa expressed: “This has been a good time for us now to see what Christ has really done for us! He died and his blood spilled out for our sins and then he rose up from death and stomped on Satan’s head and crushed it. Now I am not afraid any more, and my insides are no longer heavy. I am so happy. Before I understood that Jesus died for me, my sin—it was like I was carrying a huge string bag not full of sweet potatoes, but full of stones. I was hunched over under all the weight, staggering around walking on all fours like a pig because of the heaviness I was carrying. But Jesus just took the bag off of my back side, and now I can stand up straight and walk with ease like a woman and not a pig.”

It has truly been a blessed Easter for us this year! We hope that you, too, were blessed this Easter!

He is Risen Indeed!!

Chad, Janeene & Elijah (and some very happy new brothers and sisters in Christ)

the first Tobo translation workshop

(Back row standing- left to right): Rigo, Kips (Ankle), Joshua, Alis. (Middle, seated): Harmbocks.

(Front row, seated- left to right): Tingon, Jason, Welsen, Chad

(Not pictured): Polas (who helped with the check in my last update).


This past week (first week of April), I had the privilege of being part of the first-ever Tobo translation course. What was particularly exciting during the three days we met together was that I was there in a “support and advisory” role, and I did not need to actually teach this course. This is because our 2 capable translation helpers Tingon and Rigo did all the teaching, using the notes from the course they took during our translation workshop a year ago.

The course notes were in Pidgin, but they did a beautiful job using them to teach the 6 students in the Tobo language! These 6 men, who are all believers, took lots of notes, and now have an even better understanding of the importance of translating the meaning of God’s Word faithfully and accurately, yet in a clear and natural way which will communicate to their hearts as they read it.

These dear brothers have a real desire to see God’s Word in their language! Please pray for us as we will be transitioning into using these believers as new helpers to translate the Bible, especially for wisdom in training a new main helper from among their ranks who will help me with the first drafting of the Scriptures.

Please also remember to pray for Rigo, who alone of those involved in our course has sadly still opted to remain with his religious sect and their erroneous teachings rather than choose to trust Christ alone for his salvation. My heart aches for my good friend of almost 5 years now, and I am still hopeful that through our continued witness and the testimony of the believers in our area and the powerful truth of the Bible that has been translated, he will come to faith in Christ one day soon.

We are encouraged by the tremendous progress that is being made here as we continue to carry on the work of translation working hand-in-hand with our new brothers and sisters in the faith here!

Thanks also for working “hand-in-hand” with us, in spite of the long distance!

Chad, Janeene & Elijah

PS- We’ve included the names of those involved in the course for those of you who would like to pray for one, some, or all of these men.

sharpening the Sword

Greetings again from “down under (at least 5 degrees under the equator) and the other side”!

The last two weeks of March “roared by” like the proverbial lion! What a blur of activity! Not counting evenings and Sunday afternoons of work, the translation check involved 8-9 days of long hours in the office as Linda, Polas and I went over about 1200 verses with a ‘fine-tooth comb’.

Here’s how it worked, in a nutshell: I would read the passages paragraph by paragraph (and sometimes by verse in more difficult passages) in Tobo, then Polas would translate what he just heard into Pidgin for Linda’s benefit. Linda was there to ask Polas questions about what he heard to determine that the Scriptures communicated clearly, as well as accurately. Then we would make minor changes on the spot and also take notes for other minor changes needed to be made and re-checked with another helper later.

In the end, we were encouraged to see that most of the Scripture checked is ready. Some of my Tobo translation helpers and I will be going over some minor changes during the following weeks, and after those are made, we will have the green light to begin printing in a more “permanent” form portions of Genesis and Exodus and the entire book of Mark! We count it a privilege to be a part of seeing these portions of God’s Word get into the hands of Tobo men and women.

We also count it a privilege to have you standing behind us and with us in this task, which has implications not only for now, but for eternity, as the teaching of God’s Word transforms lives and adds Tobo people to His family for forever!

Thrilled to be part of His “forever family” with you,

Chad, Janeene & Elijah

please pray for Ellie!

Greetings to you all from the south Pacific!

We apologize for the lengthy lapse in correspondence. So much has happened (and continues to happen) since our last update, volumes could be written! We know you’re all very busy yourselves, so over the next several days we’ll be sending you a series of brief updates to fill you in.

This update is centered on events back home in the US. We need to ask for your fervent prayers for Ellie.

Many of you already are aware of this as you check her blog on the internet, but for those who haven’t heard, Ellie is currently fighting for her life, and has been for over a week now. She underwent septic shock due to infection and other complications, and had to be revived from cardiac arrest as well as placed on a ventilator to assist her breathing. There have been several attempts to remove the tube placed into her throat to get her to breathe on her own, but these have failed and the tube reinserted. The last attempt, she struggled for over 24 hours before doctors had to reintubate her.

The latest we have heard is that Ellie is now sedated and in a drug-induced coma in an attempt to stabilize her. Our precious Ellie is critically ill, please be praying! Long story short, due to paperwork problems both leaving and returning to PNG, we find ourselves here in the country with no way of returning to the US in the near future, so this has been very difficult for us. We must leave Ellie in God’s hands where she belongs, and trust Him! He is faithful, and we are so glad to report to you that His love and grace have been showered over our family. To understand more of what I mean by this, check out Ellie’s blog!!! (ellieskees.blogspot.com) God’s grace comes when we most need it, and we want to thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement over these hard days!

Clinging to our Rock,

Chad, Janeene & Elijah

Papua New Guinea