Wycliffe – Page 7 – A Liddle Good News

Chipping away at the future

So here’s a report on our preparing to go to Germany:

Despite uncertainty in the housing market, our Realtor – the fellow who helped us buy our house – doesn’t think that we’ll have a problem selling it. I’m working on replacing the flooring in the family room, living room, and hallway, which he agrees will help the house’s appeal. It’s really nice to finally tear up what I’m certain is the most hideous vinyl pattern on the planet. If you don’t believe me, I can mail you a sample.

One big task that we face is figuring out where the boys will go to school. Not only does it have the obvious effect on their education, but it will also determine where we live. Katherine and I are collecting information on what it would be like for them to go to local German schools – we’re writing and talking to people who have done the same thing, writing to school leaders, and learning more about the school system. My prayers about this matter always revolve around getting accurate information and resisting the development of an unreasonable bias toward one option.

After we make this decision, it’ll be easier to formulate a budget for our ministry in Germany so that we know how our current financial support stacks up against what we’ll need there. Before we go, we’ll need to seek out the people God has set apart to complete the funding of our ministry. In fact, Wycliffe won’t clear us to leave the U.S. until we are fully supported – that’s one of the ways they look after the best interests of their members. Jesus thought it common sense that a person would make sure that he could finish a project before starting it (Luke 14:28-30). Our ministry is no different.

The winds of change are blowing

I’ll just cut to the chase, and then fill in behind that.

Yesterday, Katherine and I officially accepted an invitation from Wycliffe Europe to begin working with them next year. We will leave Dallas, and I will join their small IT staff – Martijn de Vries and Ken Haugh – who are working on expanding their operations.

There are 20 Wycliffe organizations in Europe. Each of these is smaller than Wycliffe USA but no less active in recruiting people for Bible translation. Some of the countries also have active translation projects. Presently, Martijn and Ken support the smaller Wycliffe offices, such as Wycliffe Hungary and Wycliffe Romania. A few of the larger ones have been able to recruit their own IT staff, but some have as few as 2-3 members in the main office. Rather than go to the effort and expense of establishing on-site IT services, Wycliffe Europe will develop a central point for such services at its office in Holzhausen, Germany (see map).

With Wycliffe’s efforts growing at a rapid pace in Africa as well, there are also increasing needs for computer help across the continent. The people and offices in Africa face the same challenges in Europe – it’s often difficult to recruit or fund staff to provide services locally. It’s also hard for these people to schedule help from the U.S. or the major centers in Asia because of time zone differences. Therefore, Wycliffe Europe has been asked to increase their capability to provide timely help to these people, too.

Ken Haugh and I have known each other for a few years. We worked very closely together on choosing and setting up an online help desk system for Wycliffe members to use around the world. At the time, he was assigned to JAARS and living in Waxhaw, North Carolina. After the project became well-established, he and his wife took up their present assignments with Wycliffe Europe.

Toward the end of June, Ken approached me with the question, “Have you ever given thought to returning overseas?” He had no idea that the thought had been developing in our minds and hearts for quite a while!

It didn’t take much prayer, conversation, and deliberation for Katherine and me to be convinced that God was the author of this invitation. We’re both very excited at the prospect of getting more closely involved in meeting the needs of Bible translation. And I’m thrilled to finally be making use of my college major … German!

Our hope – if it is the Lord’s will – is to be situated in Germany in time for the boys to begin the 2010-11 school year there. If we live in the same area as the Wycliffe offices, then J and C will attend a local German grundschule. If they are not able to learn German quickly enough to do that, then we may move to southwest Germany so that the boys can attend the Black Forest Academy as day students. In that case, I would periodically make the four-hour trip to the office to take care of matters that cannot be resolved remotely.

There’s going to be a lot more to share with you over the weeks and months to come, and we have a lot of work to do to get ready. Please start praying now that we’ll find a buyer for our house when the time is right – that’s probably the biggest item on the list!

Keeping our focus on the end result

Last week, during one of our morning devotional times at the office, we watched a video produced from last year’s launch of the Solomon Islands Pidgin† Bible. After many years of hard work, the translators – who were assisted by Wycliffe translation consultants – had finished the whole Bible, and their work had gone through the entire checking and publishing process. Now it was time for it’s release, and I can’t think of any other book in the world that receives such attention at its launching.

Celebrations were planned and put on all over the country, small as it is, and dignitaries at all levels were present to praise the work and the diligent people who brought it about. The event was scheduled to coincide with the day marking the country’s 30th year of independence. This newly completed translation received the highest level of attention and respect that could be given by the nation and the culture.

What struck me the most was hearing government leaders stating, in both the ceremonies and personal interviews, how foundational God’s Word is to the governance, development, and unity of the nation. These leaders are convinced that having the Word in the language of the people is important for the success of the Solomon Islands.

In addition to footage of the formal ceremonies, speeches, and traditional dances, the video also showed scenes of the translation team working together and with the consultants who helped them with the process. The scenes had a few things in common. One was people – you just can’t do a Bible translation without people dedicated to it from beginning to end. Another thing I noticed was that at least one computer could be seen in each instance. There they were, quietly sitting in the background.

Being mere tools in the hands of the translators, computers don’t get much attention. They shouldn’t. But just as a hammer is essential to the work of a carpenter, a computer is now essential for the work of the Bible translator. My colleagues and I work very hard to keep computers in the background of each translator’s and consultant’s work – we only give them attention when they break or need an adjustment. At all other times, God’s Word and the people who listen to it, read it, and translate it should have the focus.

When we “retire” computers from campus use after three or four years, we assess their condition and quality to determine if they might be suitable tools for our colleagues overseas who cannot afford to purchase a new computer. If a laptop is still in good shape, then we breathe new life into it and send it with a translation consultant to a translator who needs a new(er) tool. Perhaps one day I will recognize a computer I serviced in another video – even if I don’t recognize the person using it.

Please pray today for all of the translation workers around the world who need a new computer, and pray that this need will not be a barrier to progress in their work.

† A “pidgin” language is one in which the words from one language have been blended with the grammar of another to form a language significantly different from either. Normally, a stable pidgin that has native speakers is called a “creole” language, but you know how names stick sometimes. English, by the way, is technically a creole language – it has a long history of borrowing heavily from other languages.