Advances in many languages in Africa

Dear Family and Friends,

We are always excited to read about strategic advances in giving the Word of God to people in their own language. The first article below is a description of a major advance happening in Africa. The second article is a reminder of the spiritual darkness that many people still live in. Below the articles is our personal update.

Bantu Initiative, Africa

From the equator to South Africa, about 200 million Africans speak one of 500 languages belonging to the Bantu subgroup of Niger-Congo languages. Of these, approximately 14 million individuals speak one of 250 languages without a writing system. In order to facilitate their development, linguists have designed and implemented three tools which take advantage of the languages' similarities: tools for analyzing the sound system, a resource for developing a writing system, and one that assists in studying the discourse* structure. The fourth, a literacy tool will be released this month. Praise God for this immense progress. [I know two of the people involved in creating the literacy tool.]

* Discourse analysis aims at putting sentences together in such a way that readers can easily grasp the point of a passage. When translation is done without attention to discourse, passages do not 'flow'.

Dzala people, Bhutan*

Pray for God's plans to be realized for the Dzala**. According to one researcher in 1991, there were 15,000 Dzala living in the northeast part of Bhutan. At the town of Duskum, it is said that anyone who can climb the rock face to the top of the hill overlooking the Buddhist temple will be forgiven all the sins they have committed to that point. There is no Scripture yet in Dzala***.

* Bhutan is in southern Asia, between China and India.
** Matthew 24:14, Revelation 5:9
*** Source: Peoples of the Buddhist World, 2004

Personal Update

Lynee's parents (who are also with Wycliffe) came to Dallas for a week in August so her mother could teach a workshop. We enjoyed having them stay with us. While they were here, Lynee presented them with a large album full of memories and greetings from many friends to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We also hosted a reception for them.

I am still working on the next release of our European-alphabet fonts. Recently, I have made some improvements to the process we use for creating the fonts. We've also designed some new features. The computer conference that Wycliffe has every two years is happening at the end of October. My department hopes to release updated versions of our work then. There's a lot of work remaining. After the conference, we are hosting two days of workshops to help individuals with complex script problems.

Lynee is updating the catalog that lists training opportunities for our missionaries. She has also been posting articles to her department's website that should help parents who are teaching their own children overseas. Her new manager moved into a townhouse on our street on Labor Day weekend.

I've started going to a discussion group about once a month for the book "The Divine Conspiracy." Lynee's ladies Bible study has started for the year. And home fellowship groups for our church have started meeting again. We are looking forward to being in Omaha from 9/20 to 9/24 to visit ministry partners and family. It's been three years since we've been there.

Thank you for your encouragement and prayers. We'd love to hear from you.

My the goodness of God grow more real to you every day.