[Another email from Bruce Smith in Jos, Nigeria, on Thursday, March 10, nearing the end of the CSTF team’s journey deploying B-TAKs (Bible Translation Acceleration Kits) for The Seed Company’s translation projects there, in collaboration with the NBTT (Nigerian Bible Translation Trust).]
There has been a few days delay in sending this email due to the completion of our installations and training. We left our last BGAN unit with the Maya translation team on Tuesday afternoon. Wednesday we made the long drive back to Jos. Thursday has been a day of meetings with leaders of our partner organizations in Jos. Friday I begin the return trip to the U.S., arriving Saturday.
Have you ever seen CBS’ Undercover Boss on Sunday evenings? It’s about corporate CEOs that go undercover and work at various roles within their organization to observe how things REALLY work outside of office headquarters. What they discover often changes their perception of their organization and their employees in a very positive way.
Recently, Bruce Smith, Wycliffe Associates‘ leader, did the same except he went to Nigeria to see first hand how we are accelerating Bible translation through satellite phone installations. Like Undercover Bosses, what he experienced was life changing.
Blog posts are supposed to be short and sweet, immediately catching the reader’s attention. Bruce’s observations are not like that at all. They are lengthy but I encourage you to continue reading to see what I mean. Bruce’s perspective is truly refreshing. Read the rest of this entry »
Have you ever wondered why you are doing what you’re doing? I have. It was in the mid 70’s when I was working for a major U.S. company. Two of my work colleagues died, the first one week before he retired and the second one week after he retired, that caused me to consider the purpose of life. I was reading the Bible at the same time and came across the Mark 8: 34-36 verses that say, “Then he (Jesus) called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his lifec will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
These verses challenged me to consider my work, my purpose, and my life. It was then I asked God into my life, relocated to Billings, MT and started all over again. God has since led me into missions and, although there were times you could have given me $.50 and a plane ticket and I was “outta here”, I can’t imagine doing anything else.
And here’s why. May I challenge you to click on the link below to watch this video and see how technology is speeding up the process of Bible translation. Providing the technical infrastructure for our national co-translators is the work I’ll be focusing on this year, possibly even installing the BGAN satellites in Africa, India, or other locations in the near future. It’s exciting, give me purpose, and I’m glad I have the privilege of doing what I’m doing!
The Haugh Herald 