| Thomas gave me permission to post this. I loved his kids' phrases. Read through it all, and to the end. -Randal September 8, 2011 Goracke Newsletter Greetings from northwest Nebraska,
Almost 4 months have passed since my last report and for this delay I give you my sincere apology. Since April (my last report) the weather has allowed for me to start on several of my construction jobs and it seemed every time I intended to write a report, something came up to distract me from getting it done. Nevertheless I am happy to report that much progress has been made in our translation work on the book, “The Case For Historic Christianity.”
At last report the preface and chapter1 were complete and chapters 2 & 3 were both being worked on by the translator and the first proof reader. On May 14th these two chapters were completed including the bilingual formatting.
The next completed chapter (4) was given to me on June 29th. I remember this longer span of time in receiving chapter 4 was due to vacationing workers. But as of July 3rd, when I received the final revision of chapter 5, I knew our translator and proof reader were back at it full time and that we would see speedier progress soon.
On August 12th I received the completed revision of chapter 6 and was given the first proofing for chapters 7 through 9 on August 29th. It was during late August that the translator reported to me that she was then working on chapter 11 of the 12 chapter book! So as you can see this first study resource is almost complete except for my plan to have it proof read one more time. After this book is completed, we are ready to start with the next study resource which I will announce to you soon.
I have been contacted about the possibility of others who are interested in getting involved in helping with Chinese translation work. As this develops I will keep you informed. Certainly the more quality workers (translators, proof readers, ect.) that we can partner with the sooner such bible study resources can be made available. With my involvement of working with the Chinese, for nearly 12 years now, I have been invited to stateside meetings that involve different China ministries. As time and scheduling allows, I will consider attending such meetings.
We continue to serve with the church in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. We drive more than 80 miles one way each Sunday to study and worship with the church that meets there. Both Nancy and I are teaching classes… Nancy teaches a children’s class and I teach an adult class. After completing a study of historical Christian evidences in the late spring, now I am about half-way through a study of the epistles of John.
Family notes & Kiddo quotes
As far as our report for the Goracke family’s going ons…. God has blessed us with an abundance of carpentry related work to do. I mentioned that my construction work finally was able to get started after what seemed to be an extra long winter, but due to an unusually wet spring I was not able to start on most of my outdoor work until July. Yet I was fortunate to have some cabinet work to do indoors during the rainy months of May and June. After that it has been non-stop trying to catch up before the snow flies once again. That’s right, I said snow. We have already had night temperatures in the 30s It is common for this area of northwest Nebraska to see a first freeze sometime in September and from then on snow is always a possibility. Of course there seems to be what many refer to as “Indian Summer” during this later time of the year…. times of pleasant warm days.
Due to the busyness of my carpentry work, I have not set up anticipated internet bible studies with Chinese students I know in China since February. I do have a few who have expressed their desire to do so and with the fall and winter season approaching I plan to start some studies then. I know for certain that I will not be traveling this year to China for any group studies, but will consider such for next year.
Then of course you need to know that we have been also working constantly with our vegetable gardens. We planted two plots here at this rental farm and even worked a third garden when house sitting for some neighbors of ours. It has been a very good year for gardening for us. Right now the harvest has been coming in fast and furious… broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, peas, potatoes, onions, okra, winter squash and more!
The most recent exciting news the kiddos would probably want to share with everyone is that our chickens are finally laying eggs. Ever since we watched our chicks pecking out of their shells, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the day when some of them would provide us with eggs for breakfast and baking. A few weeks ago we found our first egg in the chicken house. It took us a while to get a dozen eggs and the eggs are still pretty small but the kiddos are excited to search for eggs each day now. Jaydon and Shayla didn’t want me to use any of the eggs at first. They thought the eggs were cute (too cute to eat) and they wanted to compare the first egg with subsequent eggs to note any size differences. I’m happy to report we are now eating the “cute” eggs and our hen’s eggs are gradually getting larger. The novelty of gathering eggs hasn’t worn off for the kiddos yet. They still fight over whose turn it is to gather eggs A few days ago we hit a record for the most eggs gathered in one day. Jaydon came in with seven eggs. As he pulled them out of his pockets one by one, I was thankful our fresh eggs weren’t freshly scrambled.
I’ll leave you with a few kiddo quotes. Know that we love you and that God loves you even more. He loves you the most.
KIDDO QUOTES:
“I don’t just have a sweet tooth, I have sweet teeth!”—Shayla
“I’m overhappy.”—Jaydon
“I’m thinking upside down.—Shayla (variation of thinking outside the box?)
“I didn’t bite him. I just opened my mouth and snuggled my teeth on him.”—Shayla
“I like reading so much maybe I’ll make a living from it.”—Jaydon
Our overseeing church… 12th street Church of Christ
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