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

(This has been posted way after the fact.)

To all or our friends and family:

It’s nearly Christmas!

We are adjusting to our new home and having the dogs back with us.

Here are our prayer concerns:

1. There is the possibility of civil unrest as the leader of a West African country died last night and the military is taking control. This could impact some of our missionaries there.
2. We are traveling today to Albuquerque for Christmas. We will be returning Monday. Pray for travel mercies and safety.
3. Both of us have some health issues for God to heal. Josi has shoulder pain and Richard has been struggling with sinus infections.
4. Pray for our dogs to be safe and not do anything dumb while we are gone. Our friend Pete is keeping an eye on them while we are gone.

Last of all, Merry Christmas to you all! We wish we could be with you this year, but look forward to being with you again.

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

Praise and all Glory to God! We began moving into our new home today. We will finish moving this weekend and will have our dogs with us once again.

Some prayer concerns:

1. Friends who need to keep properties rented and sell or rent an empty building.
2. Wisdom and discernment as we work on our budget for 2009.
3. Praise as the final portions of a West African Bible come to completion.

This list is created weekly (usually) but not necessarily on the same day. If you would like us to pray for any of your concerns, please send us a note.

In Christ’s Service,
Richard and Josi Ingram

Boy, once you get off track, it’s hard to get going again. We’ve missed several weeks this time. Pray for me to have better consistency.

Since our last update, several things have happened:

• Richard attended a Men’s Retreat and was blessed
• Richard was sick twice with the flu
• The Pioneer Bible Translators Second Annual Banquet went spectacularly well
• Financing for the house we were trying to buy fell through
• We are now searching for an appropriate rental home
• We’re once again living in the Guest House on campus

As we look back at our adventures trying to buy a house, we are disappointed. However, we praise God for the blessings He has given us and know that His timing and His plans are always better than ours.

As this is being written, we’re attending the National Missionary Convention in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This is an anniversary for us! A year ago we attended the Convention in Cincinnati and began our relationship with Pioneer Bible Translators. Now we are attending as representatives of PBT! God has brought us a long way.

Here are some prayer concerns for you:

1. Richard’s sister Sharon was in the hospital and had some surgery done. She did not react well to the anasthesia and spent several days there. She is recovering now, but it has been no picnic. Her doctors are looking at a kidney transplant for her in the next year.
2. Josi’s niece Andrea has been having some serious health issues. Please lift her up in your prayers for healing and God’s will in her life.
3. We are working on our new budget for 2009. Please keep us in prayer for wisdom and discernment. Also pray for God to bring us more partners in our ministry.
4. We are seeking rental housing. Please pray for God to lead us to the appropriate home.
5. We will be traveling home from Tulsa on Sunday, November 23. Pray for safe travel for us and all of the others who will be traveling home from the convention.
6. Praise! Pioneer Bible Translators signed the papers for the new property. Interior walls for the new office were constructed last night by teens at the National Missionary Convention. They will be transported tomorrow to Dallas. We’ll let you know when ground breaking and construction begins.
7. Praise! The Second Annual PBT Banquet went off without a hitch. Many people stepped up to the plate to support PBT.

Keep in mind our mailing address here in Texas:

445 E. FM 1382
Suite 3 PMB 204
Cedar Hill, TX 75104

This list is created weekly (usually) but not necessarily on the same day. If you would like us to pray for any of your concerns, please send us a note.

In Christ’s Service,
Richard and Josi Ingram

Good grief! I’ve missed a week, somehow… Things have been moving on.

The trip to Galveston was good. Philip and Heather (the couple Richard helped) lost a lot of stuff, but their house was not destroyed. Pray for them to recover. They are in an apartment while they wait for their house to be repaired and continue med school in Galveston.

Praise the Lord! Our search for a house has come to a conclusion! We sign papers today on a new home. It’s a great looking house, priced lower than what we paid for our house in Globe! Pray now for a good inspection. We are looking forward to doing the little bit of fix-up (painting, carpeting, and the like) and moving. This home will be dedicated to the Lord’s service. This is His house and He has given it to us to the caretakers.

By-the-way, we moved this past weekend from the one-room Guest House accommodations to some friend’s house while they are away for three weeks. (Yes, they know we are here.)

There was one scare we had yesterday. We were notified that there had been a fire in the building where one of our storage units is located. Turned out to be no danger to our stuff (smells a little smoky, but will be fine), but eight other units were totally destroyed by the fire that was determined to be arson. Pray for the people who lost everything in the fire.

We are keeping the PO Box address:

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

This is a long-term address. Please send all correspondence to us here.

Here are some other prayer concerns:

1. Richard’s sister Sharon begins the process for a possible kidney transplant. Pray for the right donor-Richard and her children are the most likely candidates.
2. Amy Carter has been moved to Kindred Hospital for therapy and continued radiation treatments for the brain tumor. She is recovering, but it is very slow.
3. Our friend Vickie in Albuquerque had surgery yesterday to recover the joint in her hip. She will require four months of healing before therapy can begin.
4. Now that we are here, our finances will be taking a hard hit preparing a new home. Pray for more partners to come alongside us to help us with our monthly expenses and support us in prayer.
5. Josi’s niece Andre is having serious health concerns. Doctors are working out treatments.

This list is created weekly, not necessarily on the same day. If you would like us to pray for any of your concerns, please send us a note.

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

Keeping this short because I’m (Richard) heading for bed at 4:30 in the afternoon. Keep a group of us from the office in prayer tonight and tomorrow. We are leaving at 11:00 pm this evening for Galveston to be there in time for the lifting of curfew at 6:00 am. We are helping a newlywed couple who are med students there to try and salvage some of their belongings off Galveston Island. We have one day to get as much stuff as we can. The wife of the couple is the daughter of Josi’s boss, Marsha.

Also, the house we made an offer on went to a higher bidder. We will continue to wait on God’s will for a new house here in Dallas and keep looking.

We are both adjusting to our new jobs here at Pioneer Bible Translators and having a great time!

Like I said, keeping this short.

In Christ’s Service,
Richard and Josi Ingram
Pioneer Bible Translators

445 E. FM 1382 Ste 3 PMB 204
Cedar Hill, TX 75104