Friday, October 31, 2014

Palm Trees and Melting Brains

I just returned from a two-week training in Orlando, Florida for Wycliffe Bible Translators. The training was at the Wycliffe headquarters here in the U.S. It was wonderful to hear the other missionaries' stories of how God led them to this organization and their passion for Bible translation, even though they were not all going to be translators. One of my roommates is going to work in Orlando as an accountant, and my other one is going to be based in Germany and travel around Europe and Asia as a journalist.

We learned much, and I often felt like my brains were melting with all of the information. But it was all helpful. Some of the things we learned included:

  • How to make snappy presentations
  • The importance of barriers in relationships while living overseas
  • The difficulties missionary kids experience 
  • How difficult it is to translate Scripture into people's main (heart) language (One language has 26 different ways to say 'to carry'!)
  • The awesome transformation God's word can have in someone's life when they can understand it
Look out for my next newsletter, which should be arriving in the next few weeks with at least one story from my training in Florida. And of course, here are some pictures of highlights from the trip:
Tiffany, me, and Larinda (fellow coworkers/members of Wycliffe)


The Last Translator
A Baby!






One of our teachers preparing to shoot Nerf bullets at the late students
Eating dinner at Bob Creson's house, the President of Wycliffe

Sunset on the Lake at Wycliffe Headquarters

"The most vital Christian ministry we can have is to get God's Word into other people's languages. Whenever we plant God's Word in a society, it will bear fruit."
-Robin Rempey; long-time financial supporter of translation projects
























Friday, October 17, 2014

Finally!

Praise the Lord! He has pinpointed me to an assignment with Wycliffe Bible Translators. I will be traveling to Papua New Guinea for two years as a Language Program Intern. I will be based in the center of Ukarumpa, in the eastern part of the country. As a Language Intern, I will travel around the country and do different tasks, which could include:

  • Analyzing language data
  • Preparing literacy and training materials
  • Assisting trainers in workshops
  • Working with dictionary production
  • Recording scripture in different languages for audio Bibles
Depending on how soon I raise support, I could be going to Papua New Guinea as soon as September 2015 or as late as January 2016. Please pray and consider how to serve the Lord alongside me in this ministry. If you have any questions, or would like to receive my monthly newsletters, just let me know.

Oh, and I will be in Florida for a Wycliffe training the next two weeks, so I probably won't be able to post for a while. Toot-a-loo!


"Our Lord calls to no special work; he calls to himself." -Oswald Chambers

·                                 





Thursday, October 9, 2014

Autumnal Delights

So, I love autumn: the crisp coolness, the crunch of the leaves, and the flaming reds, oranges, and yellows of the trees. Following is a poem from Robert Frost about the beauty of this short season.
October 
O hushed October morning mild, 
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall; 
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild, 
Should waste them all. 
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go. 
O hushed October morning mild,
 Begin the hours of this day slow. 
Make the day seem to us less brief. 
Hearts not averse to being beguiled, 
Beguile us in the way you know. 
Release one leaf at break of day; 
At noon release another leaf; 
One from our leaves, one far away. 
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst. 
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if they were all, 
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost, 
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost--
For the grapes' sake along the wall. 

And here are some pictures from my recent trip to Colorado to see some friends and to talk at a church about my Wycliffe ministry (which went well; praise the Lord!). 


Belmar Park

Amy and Kaleigh; the two friends I visited



Winter Park





Yes, that's snow near the creek

















*I will post next week about my assignment with Wycliffe, so visit back here then!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

More Than Words

So, I'm totally inept at this technology stuff. I was attempting to embed a video on this blog from vimeo about Wycliffe Bible Translators, but it wouldn't work. So you can look at it on the website itself (which only takes about one more click anyway).

But it is a great snapshot of what all translation incorporates, and why it often takes many, many years to finish just a New Testament. Please click on this link to watch this fascinating, short animated video to see some of the intricacies of this difficult, yet eternally rewarding work. (And if anyone knows how to embed videos from vimeo onto your blog, please let me know. Even my upload of it didn't work for some reason). I will have more specific information on my assignment here shortly!