Friends and Family,

It’s been a long time since I updated these pages. I apologize.

Here’s the updates:

Josi was able to get a follow-up exam through an organization that provides funding for un- or under-insured women to have breast examinations and for all following procedures—no matter the outcome. However, her results were negative—the earlier diagnosis was “overly aggressive” without looking at previous results. In otherwords, Josi’s fine.

Richard was diagnosed in May with diabetes. His blood sugar was way out of line and is now on medication. Other than that, he’s doing fine. His blood sugar is under control and he’s reduced his intake of Dr. Pepper by about 95% to about three or four sodas a week. He’s also trimmed about 3o pounds.

Back in November we were informed that the house we were renting would be sold in 2010. In June we were given notice to move out by the end of July so the owners could sell the house. We had previously discussed buying the house, but had not been able to raise the down payment. Within a week of receiving the eviction notice, God had led someone to loan us the down payment amount. WooHoo! We closed on the house and signed all the papers August 3 and are now living in our own house. Don’t worry, our address is still the same! Now we get to truly make it our own.

In July we travelled to the North American Christian Convention in Indianapolis. On our way we stopped in Columbia, Missouri, to attend church with some friends. After the convention we travelled and shared our ministry with friends in Indiana and Ohio. We also got to spend time with some of Richard’s family that he has not seen in many years. It was good to reconnect to all of these friends and family members!

The new office building for Pioneer Bible Translators is well under way. The trusses should be arriving anytime now. Richard is preparing to head up the installation of the network wiring—over three miles of cable!

That’s all I have time for right now. I’ll do a little more later.

In Christ’s Service
Richard and Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bilbe Translators

Dear friends, partners, and family,

Saturday, we got word that one of our supporters, Nita Hall, passed away to be with the Lord on Saturday morning. Later that same day we received a check from her with a note. It was very bittersweet getting to read the last thing she had to say to us, knowing she was gone. Please pray for Juanita’s family, especially her husband, Charles.

Sometimes it makes me think about how I meant to say something to someone, but never got around to it. Josi and I want to make it very clear to you how much we appreciate your prayerful support. It cannot be expressed in words how you affect our lives with your prayer. Your prayers are part of our strength.

Some of you are also financial partners. That is something that you do as an added blessing to us. Our finances are dependent upon your financial blessings to us. Without you we would not be able to work in our ministry with Pioneer Bible Translators—we would be working in a regular job, unable to work full time, helping to reach the Bible-less.

We ask all of you reading this email to prayerfully consider financially partnering with us in our ministry with PBT. We have been living at 50% of our annual budget and supplementing from our savings. Those funds are almost depleted. We are seeking 100 people who would be willing to commit as little as $10/month to our ministry. Please make checks out to Pioneer Bible Translators and send them to us at:

Richard & Josi Ingram
445 E. FM 1382, Ste 3 PMB 204,
Cedar Hill, TX 75104-6046.

Please share our ministry with your friends, family, and coworkers.

We do have praises in all of this! We are now waiting for our grade from the Perspectives classes and have a book review to complete for PeaceMakers . Then all of our classwork for PBT is completed!

We have posted a new video on our website, www.omrisson.com, that tells of the ministry of Pioneer Bible Translators and a little about our part. Please give it a view and tell us what you think! Copies of the video for viewing by your church are available upon request.

As always, our prayers are with you. You are a blessing to us.

In Christ’s Service
Richard and Josi Ingram

Josi and I are in Louisville for the North American Christian Convention, helping to man the booth for Pioneer Bible Translators. This has been a good trip.

I have not done an update for several weeks and I apologize.

Please be in prayer for our finances. We are still at 50% of our budget and really need help increasing our support.

We received a message from Ed Carter overnight: “Amy went on to be with Jesus . . . She crossed over peacefully with her family standing by. It was about 10:55, July 1st, 2009. She was much loved and cherished and will be sorely missed. My thanks to you all for your prayers and encouragement. May God bless and keep you in His grace.” Amy was Rusty Howard’s sister.

We also learned that Gary Metz’s father recently passed away. We lift his family up in our prayers.

Please continue to pray for Walter Hilton, who is dealing with a lot of pain.

We’re preparing for another day at the convention. Keep us in your prayers for travel mercies on Friday and Saturday as we head home. I’ll do a more complete update when we get home.

In Christ’s Service
Richard and Josi Ingram

Dear friends and prayer partners,

We are passing this on to you to lift up to the Lord. Our friends Mark and Roberta Collins in Green River, Wyoming, called to let us know that their daughter, Jennifer, was found unconscious and rushed to the hospital. She was diagnosed with septic pneumonia and is being transported to Salt Lake City, where she can be placed under the care of specialists.

Mark and Roberta have gone to Salt Lake City to be with Jennifer there.

Please pray for God’s intervention and healing and the wisdom and discernment of the doctors there. Please pray for peace and safety for Roberta, Mark, and Jennifer’s sister Katie and brother Christopher.

Join us as we pray for Jennifer’s life and health.

In fervent prayer,
Richard and Josi Ingram

We’re now in Albuquerque, preparing for the last leg of our trip. We will be sharing Pioneer Bible Translators at three get togethers on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We will also be at New Life City, attending church Sunday morning.

Last week we were in Southern California. We spent Wednesday night with old friends, Gary and Betty, in Rosemead. On Thursday, we shared PBT at the Los Angeles Ministerial Brotherhood (LAMB). We were encouraged by their response to our message. We look forward to going back and sharing with their churches and possibly working with them for some activities with PBT.

Thusday evening we got to spend some time with Walter and Diana at the hospital before he went home. Then got to spend more time with them and Gary and Betty on Saturday over Big Boy hamburgers for lunch. It was a great time for old friends to catch up on a lot of things! We praise the Lord for Walter’s return home from the hospital and pray for his continued recovery.

On Friday we got to have lunch with Michael and his wife, Jennifer, in Riverside.Then moved on to Fullerton to join Linda and her husband, Ernest, for dinner. Spread out, but had another good day sharing with old friends. With all of these friends, it was fun to catch up with each other.

Saturday evening was spent with Richard’s sister Sharon in West Covina. She packed her house with friends from church so we could share PBT with them. They were great listeners and we were able to share with many of them one-on-one over dessert. Great blessings for all of us!

Finally, on Sunday, we shared PBT with the adults at Westside Christian Church in Long Beach. Several of them are anxious to get more information about volunteering with PBT. A few committed to some financial support and many committed to prayer support for us and PBT. Westside has always been a great prayer partner in our ministry.

On Tuesday (4/21) we arrived in Phoenix to spend the night before heading to Albuquerque, the battery died in our car. We had AAA try to jump it, but it was completely dead. Praise God He didn’t let it die at some rest stop in the middle of the desert between California and Phoenix! Also praise for putting us across the street from an Autozone where we could get the battery! Because we’re still trying to find an available wheel well liner, it made changing the battery easier.

Here are a couple of prayer concerns:

• Continued safe travel and for blessings during the remainder of our visits on this trip.
  
• Pray for blessings in the three gatherings this weekend and at church.
  
• Pray for us to find increased financial support.
  
• Walter, home now, but continuing to battle the cancer. Pray for his doctors’ wisdom and discernment in treatments.
  
• Joe and Vickie, struggling with work and financial hardships.
• Our car. Pray we can find the replacement liner where we can get it and install it before we head home. (There is a forecast for rain on our way home. This will protect the battery and the engine compartment from water on the road. And no, it had nothing to do with the battery dying–it was just it’s time to go!) Also pray that we can find it at a reasonable cost.
  

There are many others that we are aware of. God will accept your prayers for these, knowing who they are.

We’ll continue to keep you updated.

In Christ’s Service
Richard & Josi Ingram

We spent Easter in Phoenix with Josi’s family. It was a relaxing time for a usually busy Sunday.

While there, we spoke at a dinner on Saturday night and shared a little at a Bible Study on Tuesday. We got to visit and share with some friends Monday morning and evening. Time well spent catching up.

We left Wednesday morning for Southern California and spent the night with Gary and Betty, high school friends from forever ago.

This morning we are heading to Inglewood to share Pioneer Bible Translators with the Los Angeles Ministerial Brotherhood, a group of pastors from various churches around the area. Please pray for us while we speak with them about PBT.

Please pray for:

• Continued safe travel and for blessings during each of our visits on this trip.
  
• Pray for us to find increased financial support.
  
• Walter, who is going through treatments for lymphoma, had a fight pneumonia and is now struggling with congestive heart failure and some other complications from his medications. Pray that he is well enough for us to visit next week.
• Bernie, who is looking for work.
• Joe and Vickie, struggling with work and financial hardships.
• John, dealing with prostrate cancer.

There are many others that we are aware of. God will accept your prayers for these, knowing who they are.

We’ll continue to keep you updated.

In Christ’s Service
Richard & Josi Ingram

Here we go! Just finished up the newsletter, new Information Packets and getting ready to send out the Prayer update in the morning.

I’m going to be trying to make regular updates here to keep everyone informed of how the trip is progressing. Maybe it’s a little egotistical, but I need to try and get into a better habit of updating here.

Later,
Richard

Dear friends,

We would like you to lift Greg Pruett, president of Pioneer Bible Translators, and his family up in prayer. His sister died suddenly—we do not have the details at this time. Greg is heading down to San Antonio with his family.

Pray for safe travel for them and pray for Greg’s parents as they struggle with this development. Also pray for wisdom and discernment for Greg as he has a trip scheduled to several places in Africa on Wednesday.

Our hearts are wrenched when we get news like this from close friends and co-workers. We are much like a family here in Dallas, and this hurts.

Prayerfully,
Richard and Josi Ingram

Josi and I are making arrangements for our Partnership Development trip April 9-27. We will be traveling to Phoenix, Southern California, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque. During the twelve days we aren’t on the road we will be doing “Dessert Nights” at various homes. These are casual get-togethers where we can meet new friends and develop new partners who can prayerfully and financially stand alongside us as we work to transform the lives of the Bible-less people of the world. We are excited for this trip and are already planning the next trip to Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and North Carolina to meet more friends.

Here are some things you can lift in your prayers to the Lord:

1. Praise! We have received notification that Southwest Christian Church will be supporting us, beginning in April. This is the church we are attending in Fort Worth.
2. Pray for our meeting with the group of ministers we meet with on April 16. We are sharing the ministry of Pioneer Bible Translators and our work to fulfill the Great Commission.
   
3. Seth, the son of a friend of Josi’s has been going through some serious emotional stresses and physical problems recently. He has recovered some through new medications, but is still battling several issues. Pray for God’s healing and peace.
   
4. Richard has been making a lot of contacts with old high school and college friends recently. Pray that old relationships can be renewed and strengthened.
5. Pray for continued healing for Andrea, more work for Joe, wisdom and discernment for Bill.
6. Pray for continued guidance for Richard’s sister Sharon as she makes life-changing health decisions.
7. The groundbreaking for PBT’s new offices was a huge success. Pray that construction begins soon and that God bless the work so we can be in our new offices by the end of this year.
   

In Christ’s Service,
Richard and Josi Ingram