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Touring Terraces
Everyone once in a while, Ken gets to be a tourist while traveling. Check out these beautiful rice terraces!
Sweet Notes
We recently spoke at a church in Pennsylvania which included speaking to a children’s group. Before we left the state two children gave us sweet notes. While they didn’t get our roles exactly right, we love the sentiment.
And now, a word from our President
Bum people of Cameroon
While we try to update and thank you on a regular basis, sometimes it is nice to hear from someone else.
Click here to watch a brief video from the President of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA, Bob Creson and his wife Dallas.
Traveling Mercies from a Merciful God
If you travel much, you become a person who prays. Although accidents can occur close to home, the very act of spending hours in a speeding car or airplane puts you at a heightened risk for injury or death.
Ken and I traveled up north over the Thanksgiving holiday. We’ve driven the 13 hour drive up to family a hundred times or more. Usually we get up early and plow through the whole day arriving just in time for dinner. For the first time, we split the trip up into two days with a much needed hotel rest in between. Ken has been so busy this year, that we haven’t taken much vacation together. It was nice to talk together off and on and relax a bit.
Part way into our trip, a truck drifted into our lane. Ken had been eyeing the driver because he had been weaving a bit, but when we went to pass him, he suddenly lurched over into our path. Ever the alert driver, Ken was able to jerk the wheel over and an absolute disaster was averted! That truck was inches away from our right side mirror. We both gasped and looked back to see the man trying to get his jacket on while driving. His distraction almost ruined a trip or our lives!
Ken leaves shortly for his next trip. It’s his last for this calendar year. As my neighbor said, “Well, my dear, there isn’t much year left, is there?” No, I guess not. He’s packed on the miles this year.
Safe miles. Traveling mercies. Each time I hear that he’s arrived safely to his next destination, I breath a prayer of relief. The same prayer goes up when he texts me that he’s landed once again in Charlotte.
With all the uncertainty in our world, I take each trip seriously. Some people have said, “I’ll be glad to hear when you are done traveling so much. You go to unsafe places.” Yes, but it’s in those very places that people need to hear God’s words in their own mother tongue so that their lives will be changed!
Thank you for praying for Ken this week:
1. Safe travels
2. Wisdom and clarity as he teaches
3. Changed lives for the participants and their safety too.
Photos: Typical view packing Ken’s tech gear before a trip and the new pastor and his wife from our supporting Michigan church. Click on photos to see the caption.
Typical view before a trip. Packing is a challenge with all the tech gear!
We met the new pastor of our Michigan church. Pastor Kevin and his wife are settling well!
Who Knew? Deaf People Need Bible Translations Too
Even though we’ve worked with Wycliffe Bible Translators for over 25 years, I had no idea that 1. There were so many languages for the deaf and 2. each of them need a Bible Translation. I thought they would just read from their own “mother tongue.” But their mother tongue is their deaf sign language! For a fascinating video that explains the process and a way to help fund these translations, please watch the video below.
From Wycliffe USA’s post:
“There are 978,000 Deaf in the Americas alone, but not a single, complete Bible translation exists for any of the 30 sign languages used across the continent. This video contains testimonies of how encountering the gospel in sign language has radically changed lives for Deaf in South America. Watch the video and then visit the Wycliffe Gift Catalog to support this sign language project and more!”
Click here to watch the video.
Look how far we’ve come!
Photo source: thinga.com
The data we carry on our mobile phones is equal to about 850 computers from the 1970’s! Can you imagine how that impacts Bible Translation? Our translators have so many tools at their fingertips and people from different language groups can now listen or read the Bible in so many ways.
Click here to see how children (humorously) respond to seeing and using a computer from the 70’s!
Being Light
Get up.
Go to work.
Eat.
Go to sleep.
Tomorrow…repeat above steps.
Sometimes this feels like our day. Repetition. Eating well, loving well, serving well.
There are days that we wonder if it’s enough. Are we doing our best? Does God notice?
Obedience takes practice; it’s a discipline.
Yesterday as I drove my five-year-old grandson, Luke, to school, we were discussing him learning an instrument, like the piano, one day.
I said, “Maybe next year I can start teaching you to play the piano.”
Luke: “Why can’t I learn now, when I’m five? Why do I have to be six?”
Me: “Well, learning an instrument takes discipline and hard work. You might be able to do it better when you are older.”
Long conversation ensues about what “discipline” meant, since he only now knows it in the context of getting a punishment!
Discipline couples with obedience as we serve God each day and reflect His Light. We do it consciously and unconsciously some days.
Ken recently got an email from one of his colleagues who he used to travel with. Both of their roles have changed somewhat so they don’t travel together as they once did. His colleague was reflecting on their shared past service and said these words [Edited for sensitivity of our work]:
Those are good memories of our time in Nigeria, along with the many other memories of what we did, where we went and the people we worked with. I miss the travel and the opportunity to engage with you and others directly with people in other countries that are on the front lines of [deleted word] translation. You are leaving soon for another opportunity to make a significant impact… . It sounds like it is going to be a difficult trip in terms of communicating… Thank you for being willing to be on the front line and struggling to learn all you have to learn to teach others. Be encouraged, you are making a significant difference in the lives of many here and abroad.
Wow, if that doesn’t encourage our hearts, nothing else will!
I’m getting an Advent devotional in my email box twice a week this season. The title is “Stewardship: Transforming Generosity.” I was humbled as I read the devotional on Angels, and how they can’t help but reflect God’s glory in all that they do. Is that reflected in my giving and my generosity throughout day?
Credit: Stewardship-news.org
Your gifts to us cause us to give praise and worship to God our Savior who humbled Himself and came as a child in order to give us LIFE! We try to reflect that in our work each day both here and abroad.
Thank you. Your Light in our lives makes such a difference.
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