Tag Archives: mission

by | 4 Aug 2025 · 4:12 pm

August 2025 Newsletter

FROM THE HEART OF KAREN

Sometimes it takes longer than I expect to process what I’ve experienced: understand what happened, name the feelings, feel them, and move forward into a new normal.  I’m still processing my health scare of April 2024, and I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned.  A year ago, we shared with you that I was diagnosed with massive blood clots in my right leg and both lungs.  My healthcare providers didn’t explain much at the time, but now that the crisis is over, every new doctor looks at me like I’m a ghost, clearly surprised and unsettled to see me alive.  Eventually I understood that I had not “almost died”, but I “was dying” then in the ICU.  Clearly God reached down, intervened, and gave me my life back.

Of course, I praise Him for that healing and the opportunity to continue to serve Him by teaching leaders about child safety!  But there’s more.  I was in the ICU for 3 days, waiting until the new meds reached a therapeutic level.  Just like John Bunyan found prison a good place to get his writing done, I’ve usually found hospital stays to be a great way to get work done!  But I hadn’t planned this to be a long visit, so I didn’t bring any work with me.  Many of our family came and kept me company one day, and Gary was there as long as he could be, but there was still a lot of free time.

Apparently, the ICU was slow during my stay, so my nurses had time to hang around more than usual.  And each one of them was a Christian.  They instantly connected with me and wanted to know about our missionary work, especially my work in child safety.  They went out of their way to make me as comfortable as possible on total bed rest and looked for excuses to come in and rejoice in our shared love for our God.  It really felt like one long praise and worship service!  One nurse even asked me to share how we knew God was calling us into missions, because she was feeling God tugging on her heart to do the same.

At the time, I was just surprised to be surrounded by fellow Christians and enjoyed it.  But now that I know the full extent of my health situation, it’s clear that there was a lot more going on.  God knew I was dying. He was fixing the problem, but He made sure to be there IN PERSON, in the form of His Body, so I would be well cared for, protected, and loved during such a vulnerable time. God knew ahead of time and went to a lot of trouble to organize staff scheduling and who-knows-what-else to literally be there with me bodily, by surrounding me with His Body, members of His Church.  As I look back, His presence with us was so real, it was a sacred time.

But that wasn’t the end of the lesson.  By September, I was well enough to travel with my friend Nancy to the Getty Sing! Conference in Nashville. Most of you know that my college training was in Bible and music.  I treasure God’s Word, and music is one of the most significant ways I commune with Him.  A Getty conference is a lovely blend of both!  I treasured the time singing God’s praises with 4000 people, a professional band, and orchestra!  But more significantly, if you take a quick survey of the Gettys’ music, you’ll notice that most of their songs address our own death and resurrection.  The words are expressions of faith in God’s sovereignty and wisdom, and the hope we have in Him.  So for 3 days, just as I was starting to grasp how close to death I’d been, and how suddenly it had happened, I found myself singing song after song filled with words of faith in God’s victory over death: “Sing the vict’ry of the Lamb” , “I know how the story ends, we’ll be with You until the end”, “Now and ever we confess, Christ our hope in life and death”. (If you look at “Christus Victor” on YouTube, it was recorded there with all of us singing in the background.  The other two songs I quoted are Shane and Shane’s “You’ve Already Won” and the Gettys’ “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death”.)

But there’s more! Gary wrote a commentary on 1 Corinthians, and lately he’s preached several sermons on chapter 15, the resurrection chapter. Last Sunday, preaching about it in Ocean City, New Jersey, Gary commented that he thinks it’s a very important doctrines, but is woefully under-preached. That struck me. My own husband being used of God to continue the lesson He’s teaching me, reinforcing that “everlasting life” means that at Christ’s return, we will all be given our permanent, real body.  What joy it will be after death living life in a body with our loved ones in their bodies, enjoying eternity together, wholly body and spirit, in the presence of our God. 

God has allowed me to understand what happened to me and taught me to interpret it in the light of the truth of His Gospel.  I’m sharing this with you because I suspect you too have experienced very difficult things, and I know God was working behind the scenes during them to sustain you and provide what you needed.  I hope you will ask Him to show you how He took care of you, highlight the members of His Body who provided for you, and interpret what happened through the truth of His Word.  Then please take some time to praise Him for what He has done for you and worship Him using your own beloved songs, hymns, and spiritual songs.

Blessings! Karen

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by | 8 Dec 2024 · 3:24 am

Shogrens’ Christmas 2024 Newsletter

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by | 7 Aug 2024 · 10:38 pm

August 2024 Newsletter

Karen Shares about her Ministry

I (Karen) would like to share about my recent ministry trip, and the organization with which I was working. The Child Safety and Protection Network (CSPN.org) is a consortium of mission agencies and international Christian schools who have come together to empower similar organizations to have an effective child safety program. It is a non-profit that uses mostly volunteers (member missionaries like me!) to accomplish its goals. WorldVenture is a member of CSPN, and I have found it to be the most similar organization to my own Levanta La Voz (Raise Your Voice).



So, my involvement with CSPN gives a double reward: in CSPN I can learn from like-minded people and extend the reach of Levanta La Voz, and I am able to use my own knowledge and experience to spread the word to missionaries around the world through CSPN. I am one of their educators, and last month I had the opportunity to help teach 20 mission agency executives how to set up or improve their own child safety program. Afterwards, I joined 4 others to spend 5 days editing that same training program.



We will continue editing and re-writing for the next 6 months before leading the next training in March in Orlando. Please pray for us as we finish the job, as it is a program that has the potential to protect thousands of children worldwide for many years to come.



Here are some more prayer requests for Karen:
* I am also in the middle of my certificate program at ESEPA Seminary. In addition to teaching 4 students this year, I am training a new co-teacher and compiling all the student notes into a properly formatted workbook, complete with searchable Table of Contents. A big job!
* A former student has gathered a group of people who want to take my virtual 8-week course in Spanish, and we’ll begin August 8.
* I am still teaching my virtual 8-week course in English to a group of church leaders from India. Since they translate it as we go, we can only cover about 30 minutes of material each week, which turns it into a 48-week course! But I’m willing to keep at it if they are! I’m getting great feedback from them: the information is new, biblical, and helpful to them personally. The pastor said he’d looked for this type of information, but our program was all he could find. That encourages me that truly this is needed!
* We are still sorting out various health problems in the aftermath of my serious blood clots. I need good medical professionals, wisdom, pain relief, and patience.

ALSO! Gary’s new book just came out, for now only in Spanish – an English version under the title Myths that Christians Believe and Pass Along might take place in the future! It has to do with myths and rumors that circulate among believers, and how to be more discerning. Here is a blog post from 2012, which later germinated into a book: Christians and myths – Open Our Eyes, Lord! (openoureyeslord.com)

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by | 3 Jun 2024 · 8:46 pm

June 2024 Newsletter

We give the headline to Karen’s health issues.
 
Karen’s health. Karen had a health scare at the end of April, and we wanted to wait until we knew more before sending out information. In brief, it turns out that she has multiple blood clots in both lungs and a very large one in her leg. She was hospitalized in ICU for several days, put on medication, and released. The specialists said that she could act normally so long as she did not tire herself. Since it is Karen we are talking about, that’s not always easy! She has continued at a slower pace but is still teaching her Saturday classes to India and presenting her work with Gary on some Sundays. Here we are last week at New Beginnings in Ambler, PA!


Karen’s online classes at ESEPA Seminary (San José, Costa Rica) begin this week, so she’ll be teaching Wednesday evenings 8-11pm through October.
 
Karen will also be traveling to Indiana in July to do some training and curriculum development for the Child Safety Protection Network. This is a part of her own ministry, “Levanta La Voz” (Raise Your Voice!), which aims to prevent, recognize and respond appropriately to abuse, especially in churches and ministries.

Our Anniversary! Gary and Karen celebrated 44 years together on May 17. Not coincidentally, they have also been in ministry together for 44 years: in 1980 Gary began doing teaching and some preaching, and Karen music, in a church in Penndel, PA.


 
Gary’s Teaching. He is currently teaching “Canon and Text of the Bible” online Monday nights. He and the students do some detailed examination of ancient Bible manuscripts (for example this one, the Isaiah scroll from the Dead Sea Scrolls) and show how we got our Bible. He is also creating a new course on “The Development of the Believer’s Identity”, based on 1 Corinthians.

See us this Summer:

  • June 1 – we will be at Calvary Church in Baldwin, NY, to attend their anniversary dinner
  • June 9, 10:30am – we will see our long-term friends at Christ Evangelical Free Church, Lehighton, PA, where we will update our ministries and Gary will preach
  • June 16, 10am – Central Ocean City Union Chapel, Ocean City, NJ – Gary will preach
  • June 30, 10:30am – Gary will visit solo and preach at St. John’s, Compass, PA – a Bible-preaching Episcopalian church
  • July 7, 14, 21, 28, 9am – Gary will teach a series in the adult class at Paradise Bible Fellowship, Paradise, PA. He will help us “drop in” to first-century “Sacred Spaces” – visiting the Temple, a synagogue, and various (illegal!) house churches


Gary’s Birthday was May 27! If you care to donate, he has set up a birthday fundraiser for Wycliffe Associates. They work with local churches worldwide to translate the Bible into languages that have none. Gary has worked part-time with them for a number of years, especially in the production of the SUN Bible for the deaf nonreader. Gary set the goal at $350, which we’ve already surpassed – there are a few days left to keep pushing it higher!
 
Gary’s Newest Blog Teaching: “When ‘I do not know’ is the best answer a Bible teacher can give.” So, there was the pastor of a megachurch in the Midwest USA who never changed his mind – or at least would never admit it! He stated emphatically, A preacher should never correct himself. Even if he was wrong. He never strayed too far from standard Baptist doctrine, but he created and presided over a cultic following.

PRAISE AND PRAYER:

  • We thank the Lord that Karen’s health issues were quickly detected and stabilized Please pray for answers as to why this happened and what is the best way to move forward safely in the long term.
  • We are very grateful for 44 years together, both in marriage and in ministry
  • Thank you to two new churches on our financial support team: Stony Lane Baptist/A City on a Hill (North Kingstown, RI) and Paradise BFC (Paradise, PA)

Thanks! Gary and Karen

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by | 7 Feb 2024 · 2:20 pm

GARY IS A PROFESSOR! WILL HE “DO THE WORK OF AN EVANGELIST”?

God willing, yes!

My dream?
Over the last 3-4 years I have had a very specific dream: to start an evangelistic/discipleship small group for Spanish-speaker, as a side ministry, once we were relocated in the US.      



North Chester Baptist in Chester PA has recently invited me to do this very thing. There are 9000 Hispanic people within a couple of miles of the church. After prayer and consideration, I said Yes, and we plan on starting February 13 under the banner: “Come and Get to Know Jesus!”
 
What is the plan? We will be meeting on Tuesday nights, every other week, for an hour, entirely in Spanish: to study selected passages from Mark’s Gospel; to meet the needs of people who come: from introducing them to the gospel for their very first time, to inviting believers to a deeper discipleship and Bible study.

 “Why, Gary, bring this up now? Why not wait until it’s actually up and running?”
 
Good question, and one I have mulled over.

A. I could wait a few months and give an “after” report on what is happening

B. I could tell you a couple of weeks “before” we start, and tell you what I hope will happen

Scenario A – would be a request that you give thanks to God.
Scenario B – would be a request that you pray for the group before it even exists
 
I opt to ask you to PRAY NOW, BEFOREHAND. And also give thanks later.
 
What is my hope? For people to come to know Christ; to bring their friends; to grow in Christ; to integrate members into North Chester or another church. And very specifically – I do not believe in mystical numbers, nor in “ordaining” reality. I am simply using the number 12 to give direction to my prayer: “Lord, in faith I ask that 12 people turn out.”
 
Will you talk with the Lord? And mention the number 12? Many thanks!
 
PLEASE PRAY!

  • Gary and Karen have just started a new academic year with ESEPA Bible College and Seminary
  • Karen will be attending an international conference on the theme of her work
  • Gary is now working on editing the New Testament for deaf non-readers – he’s up to Acts!

FINANCIAL PICTURE: Our major church donor has ended its support, but a couple of other churches are coming forward. Will 20 individuals pray about supporting us at $50/month? JUST TAP HERE!

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by | 1 Oct 2022 · 8:24 pm

OCTOBER 2022 NEWSLETTER

FINANCIAL UPDATE

Since this is a short announcement, we’ll put it at the top: we are calculating our budget for the coming year. Due to inflation, etc., etc., we have a $1223/month shortfall in our pledged giving. We encourage our friends to be regular backers of our work. You can start at https://worldventure.com or call WorldVenture at (720) 283-2000 or write them at info@worldventure.com. We do not give away tote bags or mugs, but each new regular donor will get one of Gary’s books in the mail. Many thanks!

THIS MONTH, IT’S GARY’S TURN TO SHARE


Gary! You are a regular professor at ESEPA and just gave an online course on how to read ancient Greek manuscripts! And you are editing the Old Testament in SUN, for deaf non-readers! So, what do you do in your spare time?

GARY: Well, go to the gym. Read a lot, sometimes at the gym. Watch foreign movies while Karen teaches online. Do the New York Times crossword puzzle.

And importantly, I just finished a new book in Spanish:

MYTHS THAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE. AND CIRCULATE.

As a kid I was captivated by stories of pirate treasure, Bigfoot, UFOs. Years later, we visited Loch Ness. And one of my pet topics lately has been to either confirm or debunk those stories that get circulated among believers. So when my publisher in Spain asked, “What is the next book you want to publish with us?”, we hit upon that theme.
 
In the book I examine about 35 such stories. A few turned out to be true, but most were false rumors. Several have to do with Hebrew and Greek. Some have to do with the Bible. Some have to do with current events or the End Times.
 
Why is this book important just now?
 
First, because we are living in a crisis of truth, where we tend to accept a story if it agrees with what we already think. We then circulate them without determining if they are fact or fiction. Second, as Christians, we should be a model of telling the truth in love, of not bearing false witness. My book is not just to fact-check past or present myths, but to teach Christians how to value the truth, and how to be discerning when the next one lands in our In-Box.
 
Here are a few of my topics. Which do you think are True and which False?

  • The Soviets dug a well so deep that they broke through into hell and heard the screams of the damned.
  • “The Eye of the Needle” was a low gate in Jerusalem.
  • NASA proved Joshua’s account of how the sun stood still.
  • The Hubble spotted the New Jerusalem approaching the Earth.
  • There is a computer in Belgium called The Beast and it contains all your data (the picture that comes with that rumor is on the front cover of my book).
  • Archaeologists have found Egyptian chariots and horse skeletons under the Red Sea.
  • Christian pilots are always paired with non-Christian ones. “In case of Rapture.”

Each one is False, as I go to great lengths to demonstrate.
 
My publisher liked the book and said, “Why don’t we also publish it in English?” So possibly we will see that in a couple of years. In the meantime, go to my blog, openoureyeslord.com, and look up “myths” to see a few.

PRAYER:

  • Gary is planning to teach a course in Cuba in mid-October. Pray he gets his visa and travel plans settled
  • Pray that our support level comes up to 100%
  • Pray for Karen’s course from Levanta la Voz

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by | 7 Jun 2022 · 9:19 pm

June 2022 Newsletter

Karen: “I will never look at kazoos the same way again!”


Perhaps a bit of background on that one!

March and April were extremely busy for my ministry. One conferences after another, presenting material on all sorts of subjects and age level. .

When that combined with the involved spiritual warfare, travel, lack of time to regroup between events  – and most of our belongings still in boxes – it was an extraordinarily stressful time that left me feeling isolated, exhausted and disoriented.

Then came my last event, the spring women’s retreat of Woodlyn Baptist Church at Camp Sankanak. I didn’t have much to do except to give a very short ministry update and to be a small group leader. The 4 of us in our group enjoyed lively discussions comparing Bible passages in various translations and applying them to our lives.  Soon we all felt so comfortable together that one woman shared some personal concerns. The rest of us rallied around her with prayers and offers of help and it was a special time of ministry. It wasn’t until later that it dawned on each of us how perfectly suited that particular group of women had been to help our sister. It was a group so perfectly put together that only God could have done it. And that got us thinking.

Usually small groups are pre-organized. But this time it had been different: each small group leader was given a differently colored kazoo ahead of time (my kazoo was red).

During our first large group meeting everybody else picked a kazoo from a large bag without looking or understanding the significance of the different colors. The colored kazoos assigned us to groups. But obviously, it was God who grouped us together. So God used a bag full of kazoos to make sure we were all in the right place at the right time to be his voice and arms so he could love and help one of his precious daughters.

We will never look at kazoos the same way again. We will never look at God the same way again. Praise him!
 
Welcome to new newsletter friends from:
Faith BFC Harleysville women’s retreat
Woodlyn Baptist Church women’s retreat
North Chester Baptist Church
 
Upcoming Presentation:
June 12—Tasker Street Missionary Baptist Church morning service, 9am at 2010 Tasker Street, Philadelphia, PA, or online https://www.facebook.com/TSMBC2
 
Prayer Requests

  • Household focus: Finish and move into Karen’s home office, finish unpacking and organizing
  • Karen’s ministry focus: website and social media presence for recruiting new students
  • Gary’s ministry focus: doing the final edit of the SUN Old Testament for the deaf non-reader; giving ESEPA courses.

In April, all of the WorldVenture missionaries from the Americas got together in Orlando. A milestone, after years of COVID!


Blessings,
 

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by | 1 Mar 2022 · 9:35 pm

Extra, extra February newsletter!

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by | 30 Oct 2021 · 5:11 pm

EXTRA, EXTRA! SHOGRENS SPECIAL NEWSLETTER

Hello friends,We have some news for you that just can’t wait until our scheduled newsletter!

For some time, we have been asking for God’s guidance about when would be the right time to relocate back to the US and continue our missionary work from there. Now it’s obvious that God’s answer is NOW. We will permanently return to the Philadelphia area on November 15.

Please click here to see a VIDEO (click the link) that explains our decision in more detail, and we are also including the script of the video below.

We want to emphasize that:

We are not retiring.

We are not changing jobs.

We are not changing what we do,

But we are changing where we do it.

We will still be missionaries, supported by you, the churches and individuals that have been behind us financially and spiritually all this time.

We will continue to work full-time: we’ll both still teach at ESEPA Seminary (virtually, still, because of COVID), Gary will continue to write and to work on the SUN Bible translation for Wycliffe Associates, and Karen will continue to develop her ministry Levanta La Voz.

We have a few requests:

From here on, send all mail to our new address: 49 Germantown Avenue, Christiana, PA, 17509.

Please consider giving a special donation towards our moving expenses. As you might imagine, this will be a very costly transition. If God puts it on your heart to do so, you can donate through WorldVenture in several ways:

  • Send a check payable to WorldVenture, 20 Inverness Place, Englewood CO 80112. If you send a check, please do NOT write our name on the subject line of the check, but instead include a small note indicating that your donation is intended for the work of Gary and Karen Shogren, number 4000-055, as well as your own contact information.
  • OR Make a donation online at www.WorldVenture.com. Click on the following buttons beginning on the first page: How to Give, under Support World Venture click Give Now, select an amount, click Next, click on Select a Worker or Project, scroll down the list to find and click on our account 4000-055 Gary and Karen Shogren, click Next, and fill out the remainder of the form and information.
  • If you have any questions, please contact WorldVenture directly at 720-283-2000 or Giving@WorldVenture.com


Please pray that God will continue to smooth our way as we continue working full-time. Many blessings, Gary and Karen

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

When we first talked about moving to Costa Rica, we emphasized that we were not changing what we were doing (Gary was teaching in a seminary, and Karen was homeschooling the kids), but we were changing our location. Long before online education, there was more of a need for seminary professors outside the US, and God led us to work at ESEPA seminary in San José, Costa Rica.We have been serving there, face-to-face since 1998. During that time, Karen too joined the faculty and started an entirely new ministry training church leaders about the prevention and intervention of sexual abuse.

We have the same important message for you now, 23 years later: we are not changing what we do, but we are again changing the location from which we will do it. We are moving back to the United States, and will both continue teaching overseas, online, full-time.There are a variety of reasons why this is the smart decision:

Online education is becoming the norm worldwide – it reaches people far beyond what was possible in-person, it is cost-effective, and it is efficient

We now have been working exclusively online for a year and a half, and it has proven to be a game-changer for both of us, expanding our ministry scope and efficiency in ways we never could have imagined.

Gary is now doing all his teaching online, also conferences, as well as his writing and Bible translation work with Wycliffe AssociatesKaren’s work with her ministry Levanta La Voz has been exclusively online, and that allows people to be involved from all over the world

COVID is still a significant threat to in-person communication, and will continue to be so for quite some time, especially in underdeveloped countries

Costa Rica’s incidence of COVID is still very high and the new variant is now present. 1 in 10 Costa Ricans have had COVID.

We have been in quarantine for a year and a half. It does not look like that will change in the medium term.

Our living expenses will be cheaper for us back in the US, making it easier to maintain full missionary support during this time of economic uncertainty.

Our employers are convinced that allowing us to work from the US will be a benefit to everyone. WorldVenture (our mission agency) and ESEPA Seminary (the organization to whom we are seconded) have given us the go-ahead to move back to the US and continue working with them.

We will be in Costa Rica until Nov 15.

From then on, we will continue to work full-time from Pennsylvania, training Costa Rican church leaders and leaders in all other countries of the world, writing resources for them, and being involved in the Bible translation efforts of Wycliffe Associates. With both of us continuing to work full-time, we expect that God will use us to have an even greater impact on the world in the future!

To sum up:

We are not retiring! Just relocating.

We look to be financed by our donors for the long-term.

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by | 2 Aug 2021 · 12:56 am

August 2021 Newsletter

Gary’s turn this month.

We have seen many, many of you in the past few months! We popped up to Pennsylvania in April to get vaccinated and see the family, and decided we should make the rounds of some of our supporting churches. There were only so many Sundays, so we are sorry we didn’t see all of you: you will be at the top of the list for next time!

For those we did not see: all summer I have been preaching on the Two Great Commandments – to love God and to love our neighbor. My sense has been that while the church always pledges allegiance to those two priorities, we often get diverted into other crusades.

You can watch our missionary update and read my whole sermon HERE (https://openoureyeslord.com/2021/08/01/the-two-greatest-commandments-do-we-really-believe-that-the-bible-got-it-right-luke-1025-42/).

A portion:

People who tell you or even imply by their tone of voice that before doing the First and the Second you need to, that before Loving God with all your being some other box must be checked, to create a political or family or cultural or social environment and THEN we can begin to do Commandment One and Two, is telling Jesus he got it wrong. He or she is like the man who is plowing the field and keeps looking back over his shoulder. It doesn’t matter if you zig left or zag right, you’ll be plowing a crooked row. And the apostles agree on this: look at Romans, 1 Peter, 1 John, and even Revelation: the church of Ephesus was perfect except for this: they had lost their first love; and Jesus said he would snuff out their candle for that one error.

The Good Samaritan

The Good Samaritan demonstrates his love for his neighbor

No, Commandment One, Commandment Two are correctly labeled and in the right  order: Love for God – by developing intimacy with God (which would require a whole series of sermons) – concrete steps to know him intimately, spend time with him, learn his ways; for the first commandment is to love Him with  all your being – can you begin to find and help your neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself – spend  time with them, learn about them, put yourself in their shoes, and love them as God  does. Jesus did both commandments perfectly, and it sent him to the cross. And both these commandments we do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and only through the power of the Holy Spirit who teaches us to love.

I realized that not everyone was up to date on my work with Wycliffe Associates. I am the final editor through the entire Old Testament in a new symbol-language Bible for the deaf-and-blind and the deaf illiterate. (My final exam was to translate Jonah 1 into SUN). The SUN Bible New Testament is already available, and the Old Testament will be out as soon as possible. HERE is a full description (https://www.mnnonline.org/news/symbolic-universal-notation-a-new-way-to-reach-the-deaf-and-blind/). And you can take a look here (https://bibleineverylanguage.org/processes/sun/) and you can download a book to see what it looks like (actually, for the deaf-blind, feels like – they read it with their fingers!).

Blessings this month! Gary and Karen

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