It’s hard to believe we have spent the last nine months in our upcountry home. We thank God for His sustaining grace that helps us through the daily challenges of life and ministry in Africa. Nevertheless, we are looking forward to a two-week trip in Monrovia for Christmas. It will be great to reconnect with our coworkers there, as well as John-Mark’s parents.                                                                      

John-Mark had an exciting break from his normal routine when he hosted a film crew from the U.K., who are producing a series for Animal Planet. Some years ago when he first started working in Lofa County, John-Mark began hearing reports of a very large and dangerous reptile called “gbahai” in the local Bandi language. After interviewing numerous eyewitnesses, he came to the conclusion that it must be a crocodile-like species unknown to science, and reported what he found online. John-Mark spent a few days in November traveling to remote locations with the film crew gathering evidence. He will have a leading role in the show when it airs next summer. While the film crew didn’t find anything concrete, another team of wildlife experts from South Africa is planning to come next year to definitively prove the existence of this “living dinosaur”.           
           
The translation and recording work continues to move forward. We are now in the process of reviewing the multi-voice recording of Genesis and working on a single-voice recording of Matthew. Our partners at Faith Comes by Hearing have agreed to help us produce a multi-voice dramatized recording of the four Gospels and Acts, even before the rest of the New Testament is completely translated. In preparation for this, we just completed the second draft of Acts. We now need to do comprehension testing on this book with other native speakers, as well as have a consultant review John and Acts.  
           
We thank God for the generosity of our ministry partners that enables us to do the work He has called us to do. We have however lost a few supporters recently while SIM’s administrative costs increased. Reviewing our statements from the last year, the average giving towards our ministry was $410 short each month. Looking forward to the coming year, would you consider joining our monthly support team?