Holman Update 11/2020
November 19, 2020
The network in the Waja area in Nigeria has been dramatically better since I asked you to pray last month. We finished checking the set of Old Testament portions from Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Joshua. The two translators are now preparing portions about King David and some Psalms for me to check.
This month Tom has been participating in an intensive three-week course on the book of Proverbs, analyzing the text in Hebrew in the light of the many and often different translations in English. He has learned a lot, and this will be helpful for when the Anufo team in Ghana translates Proverbs.
Thank you so much for your prayers! We pray that you will have a meaningful Advent season and a peace-filled Christmas.
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” (Luke 2:14)
Peace in Christ our Savior,
Mary
Mary and Tom Holman
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COVID-19 Worship Reminders
Please note: we have decided to worship in our parking lot due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in our community.
As we come together for indoor worship, please remember the following:
- Please stay home if you don’t feel well, even a little bit, or if you have been around someone who has not been feeling well. Especially with cold and flu season upon us as well as COVID, the best thing is to love our neighbor! Enjoy worshipping online.
- We ask that you pre-register each week by Friday at noon so we know how to arrange the 75-person COVID seating capacity. We will have some overflow seating available in the gathering area but the seating is limited. Therefore, we strongly encourage you to pre-register.
- Ushers will seat you based on the best seating arrangement to maximize seating for social distancing. Seats will be assigned on a weekly basis, so you may not be able to sit in the spot you normally sit in.
- Facemasks will be required. Masks are provided if you do not have one.
- Please use provided hand sanitizer & practice social distancing while at church.
- We will celebrate Holy Communion weekly from our seats and you will receive individual communion kits when you check-in for worship.
- There will be no weekly bulletin; everything will be projected on the screen. If you need a large print bulletin, please contact the office so we can have one available for you.
- The congregation will not be singing as a full congregation; singing in large groups is strongly discouraged and is deemed unsafe by the CDC, local public health department, insurance company and the ECLA church-wide office. We will have a soloist for hymns, or soloist/duet for the band to share music in worship. This is a controlled safer option.
- We have added air purifiers to the HVAC system in the sanctuary and a portable unit in the gathering area to ensure we ventilate, circulate, and clean the air. We will also have the custodial staff cleaning during the week and before worship with appropriate COVID cleaning supplies in all areas. We know that none of this is 100%, but we are doing our best and ask that you do the same to care for each other.
We thank you for your continued patience. Please know that we are all trying to work together to provide the safest worship environment possible.
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Holman Update 10/2020
October 22, 2020
Thank you for your prayers! I’ve been able to resume checking with the Waja team, but now we are hampered by a poor network connection. We’ve only been able to work by phone, so I can’t even see what they’re doing. Pray for the network in their rural area to be restored. Pray also that the team might be able to go to a nearby city to work for a few weeks. The internet is good there.
Tom completed the checking of Matthew with the Lala team. Pray that it can be printed and distributed soon.
Please also pray for peace in Nigeria.
[We’re so grateful for your faithful prayers and gifts. We’re praying for you, too.]
With love in Christ,
Mary
Mary and Tom Holman
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