Picture books, Audio portions of Scripture, safe drinking water….these are just a few of the many projects that are funded by those of us working in Bible Translation. I have been working with Wycliffe Bible Translator project funders in Europe for the last 4 years. It’s amazing to see the wide variety of projects that we help fund all across the world! Check out some of them on this link! Should you be looking for a project or someone else to donate to at the Christmas season, I know that you will be a huge blessing to these people as we reach them with the transformational words from God which will change their lives forever!
Category Archives: Family
Projects Galore!
How Wide and How Deep?
I’ve heard it once said that the African church is a mile wide and an inch deep. When probing further, comments regarding the “health and wealth, name it-claim it Gospel”, lack of commitment, a lack of Biblical knowledge, and/or a lack of a Biblical lifestyle. But, that hasn’t been my experience.
I recently received a though-provoking chat from a mother tongue translator that I deployed a BGAN satellite terminal to and it blew me away.I wanted to share it with you, our readers, knowing that many of our foreign colleagues and brothers & sisters in the Lord minister under less that ideal conditions. Read on, if you will, and then ask yourself the question, “How wide, how deep, is this African servant?
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I’m so pleased to share this few pages of sermon titled: “But I have no regrets.” to you all. (2 Timothy 1:12, The Message). It blessed my spirit and I pray that the Lord will use it to bless yours and keep you till Christ’s return.
While we may not have all the answers to Life’s difficulty, pains and many unsolved mysteries, we nevertheless have no regrets about where we have placed our Faith — in Jesus Christ — nor about the life which that Faith has emboldened us to live in this disturbed world.
What a wonderful thing to be able to say at the end of your days — “I have no regrets.”
Paul is standing in chains before Caesar, about to be condemned to death for preaching the Gospel. His confession was unwavering: “Jesus Christ is Lord. I pray you will not waver in your faith in Jesus name ” This singular sentence spoken in boldness, love, and sensibility so enraged the High Court of Rome that Paul was summarily dismissed and sent to await his execution.
While in his cell, Paul writes one last letter — to his young champion, Timothy. And he says, “It is for the cause of the Gospel I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12,KJV).
Inspired by this scripture, an old Gospel hymn says, “I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me He hath made known; nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for His own. I know not how this saving faith to me He did impart; nor how believing in His word wrought peace within my heart. I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing men of sin; revealing Jesus through the Word, creating faith in Him. I know not when my Lord may come, at night or noonday fair; nor if I’ll walk the vale with Him, or meet Him in the air…..
“But I know whom I have believed in, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed unto Him against that day!”
That’s a life with no regrets! I pray that we will all stand at the feet of Christ to proclaim this, when he will say to us: “Well done my sons and daughters” God’s grace to you.
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Please Pray for Peace
If you’ve kept up on your world news you will have read about some more recent bombings in the northern part of Nigeria. Monday and Tuesday are holidays for the “M” religion. Apparently, the government is enforcing some rules which will not allow people to travel or visit certain areas in order to keep the area peaceful during these two days.
These are the days that Ken is traveling. He leaves Jos Tuesday morning for the 4 hour drive to Abuja. From there, he must sit in the airport for quite a few hours since he will be dropped off earlier than he needs to be there. He then starts his journey home Tuesday night. He will arrive in Charlotte on Wednesday morning after passing through Ghana and New York on his way home.
Would you please pray for peace in this region for Monday and Tuesday? I ask not just for Ken but for all of the citizens who live with so much uncertainty. Please pray, too, that the people of Nigeria would turn to The Peace who came in the form of a baby for them to die in their place. Thank you so much.
Life is like that
It was 1991. Ken and I were in a three-month training course held by Wycliffe Bible Translators on a remote ranch in Texas and making trips into and eventually living in Mexico for one month. Our days were spent in classes learning about living overseas, taking Spanish lessons and doing long and then longer hikes every day. (Ken lost 15 pounds and I lost 7!)
Each day, the staff would do something to us to prepare us for living in another country. The electricity would be off, there would be no water, we’d have to evacuate camp in 20 minutes…that type of stuff. Afterwards, there would be a debriefing.
Our director always asked us to contemplate the following: “What if life turns out to be like this?”
In other words, what if this isn’t just for a short moment, but this is life? What if this is what it is? How will you cope? It was the best training we could ever have for living….well, anywhere. Sure, Mexico was different, Indonesia even more different, and while Germany was fantastic, it still was different from what we were used to! It’s a good question for any of us to ask ourselves each day actually!
Ken is back in that situation. electricity is on and off. Internet is sketchy. Food is very different. It’s hot. And the shower (bucket shower) is VERY COLD!
“But it’s just two weeks” you might say. Yes, but in that two weeks there is so much to be done. And when you are bombarded from all sides with “different” or “stress” it can be difficult to get your task done. And we all like to get our tasks done, don’t we?
Here are some much-needed prayer items from Ken:
“We will have a very full day. I worked on just three computers in nine hours yesterday! All three had major issues. In total, we completed about 7 or 8. Today, we’ll be inundated with another 20! So, pray for …
- a good internet connection. We haven’t been able to get our downloads on the USB stick working so we’ve had to use the Internet. It’s fairly costly and slow but we need to get them updated.
- good team work. We have things going everywhere, with many people in the room. I think I’ll ask people to stay outside of the room today unless we are working on their computer … or at least remain in the back of the room. Otherwise, we trip over them.
- patience.Some times, it’s just a challenge to figure out what the problem is. I had one that had a virus. It had AVG on it. But, the virus wouldn’t allow me to uninstall AVG. I finally used a 3rd party program to uninstall AVG and then installed Microsoft Security Essentials, an anti-virus program. Updating the database file took a long time because I had to do it through the Internet and now I have to scan the entire computer. That takes over an hour itself.”
Life isn’t bad…its just got it’s challenges. Thank you for standing with us THROUGH them!
Thanks for praying!
Ken has arrived safely in Jos, Nigeria. When I asked him about getting the sewing machine through customs he said, “No problem”. The customs guy asked what it was and then asked why he was carrying it. When Ken explained that it had just been repaired and brought back to Nigeria, they all just laughed. So…yay!
Ken is now set up in his room. Someone gave them a small refrigerator to use filled with Cokes and other drinks which is so special. He immediately had a meeting today (Friday) and they will set up and start their training tomorrow.
Thank you for praying for him. So far he’s had no allergy problems and just needs to get some sleep. I’ll keep you updated as I hear more.
And he’s off!
I just dropped Ken off at the Charlotte Airport. He’s on his way to Nigeria once again. This is his third time to this country so it makes it a bit easier to plan. We still found ourselves running around the last two days gathering items for himself and for others. When you live in another country, it’s nice to receive things from “home.” He’s carrying a bit of stuff for others including a sewing machine!
A wonderful thing about living in Waxhaw, NC is our close proximity to Jaars. Jaars is a campus of our “sister” organization, SIL. It is where our pilots train, computer work is done as well as Vernacular media work. They have a great purchasing and shipping department too. Ken was able to take this newly repaired sewing machine and get it boxed up professionally so he could easily travel with it. We hope it gets through customs okay. I’m sure the owners of it will be happy to have it back.
Ken, along with another man, will be helping with some training classes that will be going on. He’ll be gone for two weeks due to some flight constraints. The airline he’s using only flies in and out twice a week so he’s arriving a bit early and leaving a few days after the training is over. I’m sure he’ll keep busy with his training and relationship building.
So, thanks for praying for him in advance. It’s Wednesday here, but we probably won’t hear from Ken until Friday EST. Two weeks are a long time to be from home. Last time he really got hit hard with allergies and eyes almost swollen shut, so we loaded him up with some antihistamines this time. Please pray too that nothing would deter them from their Kingdom work. I’ll try to update you all as I hear from Ken. I’ve just posted our most recent email with some photos from our recent trips.
Back from Germany!
Europe Project Funders Network Conference 2011
I was in Germany the past two weeks while Ken was away for his week-long training session in Nigeria, October is my busiest month of the year. Each year I help organize and facilitate a conference for our European Wycliffe organizations. This year we had 40 participants which included 11 different nationalities!
What a great week we had! Some of the problems and issues that we have been dealing with for a few years were settled in people’s minds and hearts during this conference. We had a special speaker come from the Netherlands who did some great workshops for our fund-raisers. It was a real encouraging time for each of them.
Thank you for praying for me. I really felt your prayers this past two weeks. I got over jet lag quickly and slept well most of the nights! I also just felt a peace as I worked. I have really enjoyed serving in this area the past 4 years or so. I’m so glad you are a part of our team.
The Reason…
Why?
Why do we do what we do? Have you ever asked yourself that question? I have. I’ve asked why I get angry over inconsequential things, why I worry about finances knowing I’ve never gone hungry, and why I enjoy working with computers so much (even when they can be frustrating!). I’ve asked why has God allowed me into His Kingdom when so many others have no desire to know God. Why was the door opened to me? And, why am I privileged to serve Jesus as a vocation, as a missionary?
Sometimes it only takes a letter or email from a colleague to help me understand the answer the question. Today, the answer came in the form of a colleague’s newsletter, sharing how a former animist and cannibal now pleads to God for his wife’s health as the missionary pilot prepares to fly her out of the jungle to the regional hospital. Reading the letter reminded me once again that God’s Word transforms people’s lives. It also reminded me that, just like the former interior jungle cannibal, I’m a sinner saved by grace. No, I’ve never killed someone or eaten human flesh but, as my colleague so eloquently communicated, “..I have hated others in my heart, and the Redeemer has said that I am guilty of murder—I lacked only the axe“. (Click here to read Nate’s “two murderers'” story. You will appreciate what he has to say).
I am flying to Abuja, Nigeria‘s this Saturday (arriving Sunday) and then traveling 4 hours by car on Monday to NBTT (Nigeria Bible Translation Trust), an independent national Bible translation organization, to help install a Spiceworks helpdesk system. Wycliffe Associates, JAARS, SIL, and others have helped install many BGAN satellite terminals in the country to facilitate Bible translation but, as all technical devices, they periodically need support. This helpdesk program is designed to facilitate the support process, critical to expediting Bible translation with so few support.
Would you please pray for me and with me? Pray that I wouldn’t experience any flight delays through the many connections throughout the 24 hour journey. Pray too if you will, that the technological challenges would be overcome and the system would fully functional by the time I depart the following Friday at 11:20 PM.
I love to travel but, as I get older, I like it more when I’m with someone rather than alone. I do what I do though, knowing that these tools and processes are expediting Bible translation and Bible translation transforms lives. That’s good enough for me.
Why are you doing what you are doing?
Just one of 41 Million!
The new fiscal year for Wycliffe Bible Translators starts October 1. While that doesn’t mean much to many people it means a lot to me. A new year means new project fund-raising goals. And for Wycliffe that means we need to find 41 million dollars in the next 365 days!
Yikes! That sounds like a lot of money, doesn’t it? Where will it come from? What will we use it for?
I have a huge Excel worksheet which has every project listed, what country it will go to, what project it will fund along with a myriad of other details. It takes months to write-up a project and then takes lots of work to carry it out all the while writing reports on how the money was spent and how it will aid in Bible Translation.
Much of the money will come from individuals, churches and from some larger organizations. Most of it will come in $25 at a time. This is money above and beyond personal support for missionaries.
These finger puppets are telling a story!
Last year we wrote about one project that a friend of ours was involved with. She works in Guatemala. While this project is not funded by a European (and therefore not in my area) I still have a great interest in it because this friend and her husband went through training with Ken and I over 20 years ago. They are still with Wycliffe, just like we are, but their lives and their work has been completely different.
The Deditos is a small non-profit group that was formed in order to produce audio and video materials for minority people groups. They have really become accomplished as they use finger puppets to tell truths and stories from the Bible. Check out their videos! The first one has English subtitles and looks fantastic!
It’s wonderful to see how God’s people are being so creative as they get God’s Message, the Good News, into the heart language of the people from around the world!
REAL Distance Learning
I woke up halfway and turned over in my bed. Glancing at the clock I read, “2:30 AM”. Wow! Ken sure was getting to bed late. But if you live in India, it was midday and time to be working!
Ken had just finished connecting with some of our co-workers who live halfway around the world. They were interested in learning more about the help desk program called “Spiceworks” that Ken and Wycliffe Associates have been using. It’s free and an effective tool for managing technical support needs, increasingly more important as we, and our national colleagues, rely on computers and computers systems for our daily lives. Could this program be a good fit for them?
Ken’s boss asked him if he’d be willing to do a training session for some of the staff in India and a time was set – 9:30 AM India time. Since the East Coast of the US is 9.5 hours behind India, Ken stayed up late the night before so he could remotely connect with our Indian colleagues.
Sometimes we need to connect with people from home.
At 12:15 AM he made a connection with them. Using Skype for audio and Bomgar remote control for video, he configured the program for presentation mode enabling the staff in India to view his laptop. He demonstrated how Spiceworks works and answered their many questions. Skype dropped the audio connection at 1:45 AM and rather than our Indian colleagues attempting to reconnect, they sent Ken the following chat text –
“Go to bed, Ken. It’s 2:30 AM there and we have a good idea where we’re headed with this program. Thanks for your help.” Ken crawled into bed tired but satisfied knowing that he helped a partner Bible translation organization with their tech needs while helping them become one step to sustainability.
With Ken’s education background, teaching comes naturally. In fact, it’s fun! When you use the gifts that come naturally for you, it doesn’t even feel like work.
And so a connection was made…literally and figuratively, with a new group of people that we may have a long-term relationship with. Thank you for enabling us to connect with others each day as we serve with Wycliffe!
The Haugh Herald 