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Category Archives: Family

Safe with Scorpions

12 May

Ken has arrived in Jos, Nigeria once again. I’m always grateful to get a text message or email to let me know he is at his final destination. Today, I got a phone call for Mother’s Day! I love hearing his voice.

Tomorrow Ken and a group of others from Wycliffe Bible Translators partner, Jaars, whose campus is in our town of Waxhaw, NC, will start sharing the duties of teaching and doing tech support for a group of Nigerian Bible Translators. Most will stay for three weeks but Ken’s work will be one week long.

Thanks for praying. He’s doing something new this trip. Although he’s studied the material it’s always nerve-wracking to do work on someone else’s data. He’d hate to lose any of their hard work!

Scorpion!

Scorpion!

P. S. This scorpion was found in the kitchen of the guesthouse he’s staying in. We’re not used to seeing those kinds of insects on the east coast of the USA!

 
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Posted by on May 12, 2013 in JAARS, Ken, Tech Support, Wycliffe

 

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True Heroes

24 Apr
Do you know an unsung hero?

Do you know an unsung hero?

My colleagues and I took a short, two-hour journey to a former Nigerian missionary retreat center established early this century. Don Storteboom, one of my colleagues, had done some history regarding the retreat center.

We toured the center – the pond, the scenic mountain offering a panoramic view of the surrounding valley, and the cemetery. All were enjoyable but the cemetery had the greatest impact.

One cannot walk through a cemetery without reading the headstones. What jumped out at me as I walked up one grave aisle and down the other was the time frame (mid 1900’s) and the ages of the missionaries and children. The deceased missionaries, mostly in their 30’s and 40’s, died overseas serving in the ministry God had called them to. They made a life commitment to serve and died in a foreign land in that service. Chances are, their families grieved not over a coffin, our cultural grieving process, but by a simple memorial service. The children, who died either shortly after birth or within the first 3-4 years, more than likely died from malaria or some other medical malady.

I was awestruck with the commitment, the sacrifice, and the service of those that came before me to Nigeria. To me, they are some of the true heroes of faith.

But I wonder, do I share that same commitment to service? Am I willing to sacrifice? Am I willing to serve knowing that I may not return to “atta boys” and “well dones”? And, am I willing to travel overseas knowing that I might not return?

I haven’t resolved the questions yet. They still linger in the greatest distance in the whole world – the few inches between my head and heart.

How about you?

 
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Posted by on April 24, 2013 in Family, Ken

 

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God Dvu’s you!

11 Feb
Yes, that's someone's head, but here is the group!

Yes, that’s someone’s head, but here is the group!

Last night we had about 25 people over ranging in age from 11-25. It was the youth group from our church, Next Level Church. We had the great opportunity of  sharing with them about the Bible translation process, the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and why God’s Word is important to them too.

One of the stories we told was recently posted on Wycliffe’s web page. The translation committee in the Hdi language in Cameroon couldn’t find the world for “unconditional love,” the kind of love that God has for all of mankind. How could they translate verses about God’s love without this important word?cameroon

They knew that a verb in this language needed to end in an i, a or an u. They knew two words for love already, “Dvi” and “Dva” but would these words work? The coordinator got together with a group of men who spoke Hdi.

“Could you ‘dvi’ your wife?” he asked them? “Yes”, they said. “That would mean that her husband loved her once, but not anymore.”

Hmm, that doesn’t work for God’s love.

“Could you ‘dva” your wife?” “Yes”, they said. “That kind of love depends on the wife’s actions or what she did.”

That won’t work either.

“Could you ‘dvu’ your wife?” he asked? Everyone laughed.

“Of course not!” they said. “If you loved your wife that way, you would have to keep loving her no matter what she did – even if she never made you meals or even if she went to live with another man. No, we would never say ‘dvu.’ It just doesn’t happen.”

The coordinator sat quietly for a moment. “Could God ‘dvu’ people?”

After several minutes tears started running down the faces of these men. They finally responded.

“Do you know what this would mean? This would mean for God kept loving us over and over for thousands of years even while we rejected him and were sinning!”

By changing one simple letter, the vowel at the end of the word, the meaning changed from “I love you because of what you do and who you are,” to “I love you because of who I am.”

Isn’t that a wonderful story about how God created this language so that people could understand the true love of God!

Thank you for supporting us in this important work. It’s so exciting!

 
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Posted by on February 11, 2013 in Family, Uncategorized, Wycliffe

 

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Will we see you?

23 Jan

Ken and Anne will be making two trips this summer. The first trip will be to Long Island, New York and the second to the state of Idaho.

South Bay Bible Church has joined them as a new partner in the work of Bible translation. As mentioned in a previous post, this partnership came out of a friendship from over 28 years ago. Our friend Scott Walker was kind enough to connect us with his church and we are thrilled about this new partnership. We’ll be speaking there the last weekend of May.

South Bay Bible Church

South Bay Bible Church

Ken and Anne’s Charlotte church meets in a highschool. South Bay Bible Church meets in a former Inn! It’s so fun to see where people worship.

Idaho will be the next stop! Jim and Lyn Heath, longtime supporters, invited Ken and Anne to speak in their church. The fun connection is that both the Heath’s and Scott Walker and family were all with us as we started our marriage in the far away state of Wyoming! This will be our first trip to this church. We are excited about making connections and sharing our vision with a new congregation this coming July.

Do you live nearby Long Island or Idaho? We’d love to see you! Send us a note and we’ll connect with you.

If you would like us to speak in your church or to your youth group/VBS…we’re available!

 
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Posted by on January 23, 2013 in Family, Wycliffe

 

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Living with Hope

20 Dec
Credit: Mars Hill

Credit: Mars Hill

I’ve been in a Christmas funk! I just haven’t had the Christmas/Holiday/December excitement that I usually have. The month started off with the death of a church family member. John had cancer so it was not entirely unexpected, but it was still disturbing. I miss him. Then a young 16-year-old girl from our church died. I didn’t know her, but my heart was in pain for her parents. Following that we heard that an old friend, Tanya, who lived her life in a wheelchair and was still too young, died suddenly, leaving her 14-year-old daughter on this earth. And then of course, the awful tragic news of all those senseless deaths in Connecticut. Like you, I’ve cried several times a day, watching the news and thinking about the pain those families are in. In between this news, several friends have found out they have cancer and have a long fight ahead of them.

I have my own pain too. Nothing as dramatic as a death or cancer. But it’s my own burdens which weigh on me daily. I share it with my husband, we try to carry it together, but it is a heaviness indeed.

Each morning, like many of you, I try to read the Bible and pray. And when I am finished, I always feel better. My spirits are lifted up little by little. The other day I read about forgiveness and felt the weight of my own sin of holding on to my unforgiveness of others. If Jesus loved me so much that he came as a baby to die for me, the least I can do is forgive the people around me!

On another morning I was reminded about the sacrifice and the faith that it took for the wise men to travel for two years just so that they could worship Jesus! I was so humbled by their faith. It just renewed my faith and my heart welled up with joy as I remembered how amazing the Son of God really is.

So I live with hope. Hope for the future. Hope that God is still in control. Hope that I serve a God who knows what He is doing. Hope that my Savior will return for me one day in the clouds.

The people we serve and the people you support with your prayers and finances have no hope. They don’t have God’s Words to read each morning to get out of their “funk.” Isn’t that awful? And they still live in darkness.

You make it possible for them to one day live in Light and to live with HOPE. And they will never be able to thank you. But we can.

So, thank you! Thank you for your faith, your love, and your hope. We couldn’t be serving the Lord, helping to bring the hope of Jesus to the world, without you.

Have a Merry, Hopeful Christmas and a Blessed New Year!
Anne and Ken

Wycliffe Bible Translators

 
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Posted by on December 20, 2012 in Family, Praise, Wycliffe, Wycliffe Associates

 

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On Advocates

16 Nov

ad·vo·cate/ˈadvəkit/

Noun: A person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy.

Who doesn’t like to be supported? And to be supported publicly is even better! I hope I’m the kind of person that supports others. I love the verses from the Bible that remind us that both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are our Advocates before our Father in heaven. Some people translate that word in the Bible as “Comforter” which is another aspect of the word.

Ken and Anne with Virginia.

We have so many great advocates in our lives. Just recently we met one for the first time. Her name is Virginia. Virginia is on the missions committee at United Armenian Congregational Church in North Hollywood, California. On November 4, we were able to speak and worship at this church which has been supporting us in our work with Wycliffe Bible Translators for many years.What a great time we had sharing with some of the members in the fireside room! Virginia passes our newsletters on to others in the church, prays for us, and makes sure that we’re not forgotten. What a great Advocate she is to us.

About two weeks ago we discovered another Advocate in Scott. We met Scott and his family almost 30 years ago when we were first married and moved to a distant land called Wyoming (WY-O-Ming!). We lived in the same remote town for two years and worshipped together in a small, country church. We then moved to New York to serve for five-year with Children’s Bible Fellowship before joining Wycliffe in 1990. We lost contact with Scott after we left Wyoming but last week, out of the clear blue sky, he contacted us by phone. What a pleasant surprise! Reminiscing about our Wyoming days with Ken he later said, “I’d like to pass your name on to our church here on Long Island to see if they could take you on as one of our missionaries.” Wow, wouldn’t that be a blessing.

Within two days we received another phone call from Scott asking if we could quickly send to his pastor all the information we had about ourselves and Wycliffe. The pastor, as we discovered, was meeting with the missions committee the next day and wanted to evaluate Wycliffe and ourselves. We gathered our ministry material and sent it off – PRONTO.

Two days later I received a phone call from the church’s pastor. “Where can we send our first gift for you and your husband?”  Wow!  With the ailing economy, our funds have been very tight so what an incredible blessing this will be. And, I simply couldn’t believe how fast this happened.

Just like Virginia, Scott was an Advocate for us. He took the time to hunt us down, gave us a call and then followed through by passing our name on to his church. If he had delayed with any of those steps we probably wouldn’t have this new connection. Isn’t that cool?

Jesus is our advocate to the Father. Where would we be without that? Virginia and Scott have been our advocates to the church. Where would Ken and I be in ministry without advocates to the churches like Virginia, Scott, and yourself?

We cannot thank you enough.

 
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Posted by on November 16, 2012 in Family, Wycliffe

 

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Wweeeellll Ddoooonnne!

21 Oct

I love how God uses people’s gifts and abilities. Ken is a teacher. It doesn’t matter what other title he holds or what work he does, teaching always comes out in all that he does. We’ve all had teachers, some good and some bad. The good ones help us through the hard stuff. Ken has figured out “silly” ways to encourage people as they learn tough tasks, like using a computer mouse for the first time, or figuring out how to use Bible Translation software.

Here’s an update from Ken which shows how he uses his gifts:

I went to class yesterday and it was a tough, but very important, lesson. We worked our way through it and I planned a review. Then I reviewed the review again, as I’ve done the entire week. They seem to pick it up after the review. I’m made games out of it and make noises in the class when they get it right and wrong so we’re laughing along the way. The video that comes with the lessons says real slowly, in a deep voice, “Wwweeelll ddoonnee!” So, I’ve incorporated a “1,2,3” to the class and then we all say, “Wwwelll ddoonnee!” to the person that answers the question correctly. Everyone uses their deepest voice, even the women. It’s hilarious. Now I hear them walking around the campus saying “Well done” in the same way to each other. For an incorrect answer, I hold my nose and say, “Aaaannnt”, portraying the sound a buzzer makes on a game show when you answer incorrectly. Now, they all do that as well. It’s so funny.

What’s your gift and how will you use it this week? I need to find someone to serve since that’s mine! Thanks for praying yet again.

 
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Posted by on October 21, 2012 in Ken, Software

 

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Their words, not ours…

05 Oct

It’s nice to be appreciated, don’t you agree? While we all have a work ethic that keeps us serving each day, it’s always wonderful to know that what you are doing is helpful. Ken was copied on an email yesterday. In it, the consultant from his South East Asia trip was thanking Ken (and his colleague Russ) work that was done last month. I thought I would share it with you because your donations and prayers make it possible for us to do this work.

“I want to express our thanks for all the work that was done by Russ and Ken and also for the generosity of WA in picking up the tab for all of those licenses of Windows7!
 
It was no mean feat to setup 11 computers to the specifications we had set, to tweak each one, to lock them all so that translators cannot get themselves into trouble – all that among other things.  And once the workshop started both Russ and Ken gave themselves to  teaching and problem solving until the time they left.  Even after they had arrived at home they continued to give support via the HelpDesk.
 
As a result, we now have 4 translation teams who can use BGAN, can chat via Pigin, can send email and can enter the text of Scripture using the Paratext program.  I’d say that is very impressive!”

So from Asia to wherever you are, THANK YOU!

P. S. Ken departs next week for Nigeria. We’ll keep you updated!

 
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Posted by on October 5, 2012 in BGAN, Ken, Laptops, Wycliffe Associates

 

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Missing His voice…

18 Sep

This morning I read I Samuel 3:1-10. You know the story. It’s about Samuel who thinks that Eli is calling him. Eli finally instructs him to answer God, who was the one making the house call, by saying, “Speak Lord for thy servant heareth.”

But it was this line that jumped out at me today.

“The Lord came and stood there,

calling as at the other times….”

It got me thinking. How many times has God tried to get my attention but I missed it? How many times did I not recognize his voice because of the din of other things crowding Him out?

It’s time for me to be quiet…and listen…so I don’t miss His voice.

P. S. I’ve been missing someone else’s voice, but today he was back in his chair. (Ken is home. Thanks for praying yet again.)

 
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Posted by on September 18, 2012 in Family

 

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10 Sep

Someone’s missing…

One of my fondest visions each day is looking across my living room and seeing my husband doing his devotions in his Lazy Boy chair. For almost thirty years now, I’ve watched my disciplined spouse get up almost daily and spend time reading the Bible and praying before the start of each day.

One day some years ago, I took a photo of him sitting in his chair. He was in his warm, striped bathrobe, scruffy morning hair, with hot coffee steaming in his mug to the side of him. As the camera flash shot a stream of light across the room, he looked up and said, “Why are you taking my picture?” I smiled and said, “It’s just for me.” I wanted to always remember this special view.I have photos of Ken working, playing with our children and grandchildren, lined up with his brothers and a few awkward studio photos. But none warms my heart more than the one of him in his routine, getting his life lined up with God’s each morning.

The photo above is what his chair looked like this morning. Empty. But it’s empty for a good reason. Ken is on the other side of the world, contributing in the way that fits him best for this time in his life. Fixing computers, teaching about computers, training in software…I couldn’t do any of it! Where are you sitting today? Wherever it is, it’s probably where God wants you today. Working, taking care of children, serving in your community…Thank you for supporting us as we do our part. You are loved! Update from Ken:

We went to church this morning. Three hours. It was nice to hear them sing again …that Hawaiian-style singing. After the service was over, they auctioned off vegetables to help finish the church building. It was so fun to hear the auctioneer tell jokes and try to get them to up the bidding. It was disheartening though to know how much work went into producing the vegetables and hear them receive 10,000, 20,000 [rupiah] or maybe a little more for an entire bowl of vegetables. That’s a little over $2 for a whole lot of work. We have so much.

Tomorrow afternoon I start computer training. The first day will be basic computer skills. The second will be how to use the BGAN satellite terminal. The third day will be teaching email and the final day or two will be teaching Paratext.

More tomorrow!

 
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Posted by on September 10, 2012 in BGAN, Family, Wycliffe Associates

 

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