Translating the Bible into a new language is not an easy task. It takes time and there are many critical junctions along the way. Check out this short four-minute video to see the path our translators must take.
Click here.
Can you see your role in this task? We couldn’t do our part without you. Thanks so much!
The next two days are moving days. Ken starts traveling tomorrow from the southeast of Nigeria back to Jos (9-11 hour car ride). The next day he travels from Jos to the Abuja airport (4 hours). He waits for 8 hours or so in the airport and then he starts the long ride home. Prayer for his safety and that of his drivers would be much appreciated.
My daughter Laura and her family are traveling the next two days also. The photo is a little hard to see but these are the vehicles they are using as they drive from New York to North Carolina to resettle here and start their new life together. Josh is driving a 26 foot truck while pulling a car, and Laura is driving a truck while pulling a trailer. Inside are four children and lots of questions like, “Are we there yet?” You get the picture! Please pray for their safety and peace as they start anew. This is a very brave move for all of them.
Ken arrives home on Saturday evening and then on Sunday we leave for a week of much-needed vacation. We’ll update you all when we return. I know he has some wonderful stories and photos to share. Thank you again for standing with us in prayer. You are loved.
This is why we must continue to pray for our colleagues and co-workers…
An IT team (not Ken’s) was robbed last week while traveling in Nigeria. Thanks be to God that no one was badly hurt and all of the computer equipment was saved. If you click here you can read the whole story or listen to the radio interview of David Reeves, Ken’s boss. Look on the top right side of the page for audio.
Ken attended a local Nigerian church yesterday. He told me that when they took the offering, people stood up and danced down the aisle while putting their money in the basket. How cool is that? I can’t remember ever dancing as I turned in my tithe!
The joy of giving! May we all have that same enthusiasm this week! Giving in funds, giving in our time, giving in our prayers…you can even dance while doing it!
Sleeping quarters
On Wednesday, Ken finally arrived at his final destination. He spent the two previous days helping clean up viruses on computers while in Jos. The recipients were from 16 different language groups attending a workshop.
Here is a short account of his trip:
“We left Jos for Taraba at 8:00 this morning and arrived here around 4:30 PM. The drive wasn’t too bad. The Bible College we are staying at is something like 2 miles down a rain-erosioned dirt road off the main road. My room is small with a mattress on the floor and mosquito net covering it. There is a large drum of water outside of the bathroom where we will be dipping buckets of water in and showering via bowls of water poured over our heads. Same method for toilet flushing. No electricity but the generator runs from 7-10 each night. I can send/receive email though via a cellular modem. Mosquitoes are bad so I’m using repellant. The people are very friendly. I’ve attached a picture of my bedroom for the next 8 days.
We will be meeting Friday afternoon to go over next week’s schedule to maximize our time together but it seems that I am already planned to teach File Management on Friday morning. They are in the beginning stages of computer utilization.” (Most of these mother tongue translators are new to using computers so the lessons will include the basics like opening and closing windows, saving data, and things like that.)
Please continue to pray that all of the translators will make it to the training and that all of the hardware and software would work. It’s amazing how often things break down when we are trying to work on getting God’s Word into a new language! This work does not make Satan happy! Thank you for praying!
Road trip anyone?
Ken is now in Jos, Nigeria. He is at the center that he usually stays in while in Nigeria. When he arrived, there was a workshop in session in Jos and his help was needed right away. He’s jumped in to help out while waiting for another translator to arrive. Together they will be driven down south tomorrow, Wednesday, to a place called Zing. It’ll be 11.5 hours apparently. They will be in Zing for the duration fo this trip.
Here’s how we can all be praying!
Thank you so much. If I hear more, I’ll let you know.
Driving home this morning, I came across another turtle trying to cross the road. With Ken’s image in my mind, I pulled over, ran back and helped it get to the other side. It’s just a small thing in the course of life. But I think it made a big difference to the turtle!
That’s how many of you minister to us each day. Sometimes it’s a prayer, an encouraging word or a financial gift. It may not be much to you, but it sure means a lot to Ken and I! Thanks so much for standing with us, sometimes rescuing us even when we don’t realize we need rescuing!
Just got a text from Ken. He has arrived safely in Abuja, Nigeria. Yay! He left late from Dulles, arrived late in Frankfurt, but had time to get to his next flight. Now he’ll get a night of sleep (they are 5 hours ahead of us on the East Coast), and then he said he was driving to Jos, 4 hours away, tomorrow morning. I’m not sure when he starts the 11.5 hour drive to the training site. I’ll keep you posted when I know more.
Thanks again for praying. It was such an encouragement to me to hear the folks from our church were praying him over. I know it will be also for Ken. Thanks so much!
Ken holds his passport and visa delivered from FedEx.
Ken’s passport arrived this morning. Inside his visa, good for 6 months, will allow him to travel to Nigeria tomorrow. He’ll be training mother tongue translators over the next two weeks.
Thanks for praying. Now for the long trip across the world!
Thanks for praying! Ken’s visa is stamped in his passport and its being sent to us by overnight express. Please continue to pray that we get it tomorrow. It’s the last day before he leaves on Saturday morning. If he has internet connection, he’ll try to post some updates while in Nigeria.
I’ve been known to have a weak spot for turtles. Yep, turtles. And, in particular, turtles attempting to cross the road. (Where the turtles are going is anybody’s guess. I suspect that will be one of those “Why God…” questions when we get to heaven). In the past, I’ve helped mostly box turtles but also an occasional snapping turtle or two, both in various sizes. The box turtles hiss and sometimes urinate on you as a defense when you attempt to help them not knowing that I have their best interests at heart. I’m not so generous with the snapping turtle though. I cherish my digits so I help them with a rather long stick. But, I digress.
For whatever reason, while others fail to notice turtles waiting to cross the road, my eyes zero in on them. And sure enough, it happened twice just yesterday. The first time didn’t turn out so well.
I saw the movement on the road just ahead and, as usual, stopped to help the little guy across the road. Much to my dismay, I noticed the right side of his shell broken and his insides exposed, the body beating rapidly to the pulse of his heart. Blood was coming out its’ mouth.
It looked at me as if to ask for help. I kid you not. Seeing the cracked shell, the exposed little turtle body, and the blood coming from its’ mouth I figured it wasn’t going to make it. Within seconds, it turned to the side of the road and slowly crawled into the weeds. I doubt that it will survive. I know this really sounds corny but seeing this helpless, innocent little mangled and bloodied turtle really bothered me.
I returned to my car, started the engine, and shifted into first. Before I got the car into second gear, the thought immediately struck me. “You are concerned about turtles. Are you equally concerned about the millions of people that perish each day without Jesus?” I felt convicted and slowly advanced through the gears, pondering what I had just experienced. Some distance passed and I wondered how I traveled so far without really being cognizant of it.
Then, it dawned on me. This rings a bell. “Didn’t God ask a similar question of someone in the Bible?”, I wondered. I’m sure He did but couldn’t remember where while returning my focus to the road. When I returned home, I immediately walked to our living room bookcase and looked it up in the Bible. Indeed, it’s in Jonah, chapter 4. I’ll summarize …
Jonah runs from God and finds a place east of the city. He makes himself a shelter, sits in its shade and, with eager anticipation, can’t wait to see what will happen to this ungodly place. God graciously raises up a leafy plant up over Jonah to give him shade and ease his discomfort. Jonah is comforted and pleased but the next day God provides a worm which eats the plant. When the sun rises, God sends a scorching east wind and the sun blazes on Jonah’s head so much so that he grows faint. Jonah pouts and whining says it would have been better for him to die than to live.
God, ever the teacher, asks Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah surprisingly says yes. (I think maybe for the first time in my life I would have shut my mouth as this point!). Jonah responds and tells God that he is so angry he wishes he were dead.
Then God goes for the jugular.
“You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
Sound familiar? Should I, like God, not be more concerned for the billions of people of the world that are without Jesus than I am for turtles? I think so. And, although I don’t need plants or scorching winds to learn that, an injured turtle is a good reminder.
I will still help turtles cross the road. I just have to. But Anne and I will also remain committed to Bible translation just in case I have a tendency to forget.
The Haugh Herald 