Christmas 2010 Newsletter

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made;...The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:1-3,14 NIV

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matt 28:18-20 NIV

Over 2,000 years ago, Jesus was sent into this world. He sent His followers to the nations. To this day, we are still sending His word into the world. At Christmas, it seems fitting to reflect on some of the progress that has been made. Since I started working with Wycliffe at the end of 1988 (with the help of many prayer and financial partners), 437 New Testaments and 24 Bibles have been completed. Over 1,665 language groups now have at least the New Testament available. Join Lynée and me in praising God for this progress!

Reflecting on the past year, my main work-related highlight was releasing the Gentium Plus font. It empowers Bible translation by supporting all the European-style alphabets, as well as the Russian, Greek, and phonetic alphabets. Lynée helped orient six new Wycliffe leaders and took part in orienting 21 teachers. Personally, we really enjoyed visiting with many ministry partners and having a vacation at Myrtle Beach in September. In November, we went to my grandfather’s 95th birthday party in Seattle. Please see our website (http://rev79.wards777.net) if you want more details on the above.

While we rejoice in the progress made, let’s not forget that the task Jesus sent us into the world to do isn’t complete. Bible translation has not even begun for 2,078 language groups that have a likely need. To continue doing our part, we need more financial partners. (We trust in God working through individuals and churches for our income.) Our committed giving is $475/mon short. Thankfully, occasional gifts have covered the shortfall for this year, but those gifts are running low. Please pray for these needs. “Thank you!” to all who have prayed and given this year.

We trust you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and pray that you’re celebrating Christmas with great joy! We’re looking forward to visiting with our families soon. May God grant you a blessed and fruitful 2011!

PDF

Persecution in the Americas

Dear Friends and Family,

We have been enjoying the cooler weather of autumn and hope you have as well. We’re about to go on another trip - a shorter one. Below is a prayer update for a group of believers who do not live far from another group where Lynee’s uncle and aunt have been working on a Bible translation for decades. After that is a personal update.

Pray for freedom of religion: Americas

A group of indigenous people who have put their faith in Christ are being persecuted for not following traditional religious rites. The country guarantees freedom of religion. But, the Constitution grants autonomy to this people group on their own land and the government has not wanted to interfere in the group’s internal affairs. Those who follow Jesus may need to leave their homes and purchase land in a safer area, in order to grow crops and build houses and a school. There are signs that some government agencies seem open to helping the believers with their needs. Decisions made could/will have significant impact on other indigenous groups in the country and the Americas. Please pray for their safety and well-being. Pray for God’s strong intervention for His people.

Personal Update

We had a wonderful visit to Georgia back in September. We were able to contact about 28 families and spoke to four groups. It was encouraging to see so many people and catch up on their lives. Afterwards, we enjoyed a week of vacation in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (Thanks to some friends!) Here’s a link to a few (7) photos.

Since getting back to Dallas, I’ve been busy finishing up the last work on our Gentium Plus font, which is now available on the Web. Lynee has updated the training catalog her team provides, which lists the training events worldwide for our members and partners. She’s also getting ready for two directors coming for orientation in December.

Tomorrow, we are leaving for Seattle for a few days (Nov. 4 - 9) to celebrate my grandfather’s 95th birthday. It will also be a good chance to see my dad’s side of the family, which I don’t know as well as my mom’s side and most of whom Lynee has not met. My parents and sister’s family will be there too. Please pray for a good trip and visit.

May the Glory and Goodness of God sustain you today.

Wards are coming to Georgia

Dear Georgia Friends & Family,

We hope you're surviving the summer temperatures! Our cat prefers to be in when it's 115+ degs on our front porch (in the sun). We are looking forward to leaving the brutally dry Texas heat for the refreshing humid heat of Georgia! We'll be there from Sept 5-19 and would like to visit many of you. We would enjoy catching up on your life and sharing the latest news about our work. Since we'll only be there for two weeks, it would be helpful to schedule some get togethers beforehand...

My team has made good progress on the Gentium font and hopes to release it for public testing before we leave. We're also making progress on a font specifically designed to help people learning to read. Lynee has two people here for director orientation this week. Last week, our offices worldwide had a day of prayer and fasting as our leadership considered some major changes in how we will work.

We just finished working with a colleague to produce a short video of our work. We're also creating a new presentation that shows a different side of our work with photos, stories, and demonstrations. If you're part of a home group or Sunday school class or have some friends who might be interested in hearing about Bible translation or our work, we'd be honored to share with them. Just let us know. (Our e-mail address is in the right sidebar.)

Bible translations on the Internet (Ward newsletter)

Dear Friends & Family,

We’ve been very busy this summer. Thank you for praying for us. Life is getting even busier as we prepare for a trip and try to wrap some things up before we go. Below is a prayer request related to putting the Bible on the Internet. It represents one project among many. After that is a personal update.

Digital publication: Sensitive regions

An agency is focused on helping language communities make information, cultural material, and Scripture in their own languages available on the Internet. As the team works to develop good methods for doing this, they are experiencing many hindrances. Pray that God will protect this agency’s staff, break down the barriers, and guide them into effective and creative ways to publish materials online. Pray that the special expertise they need will be available, along with personnel and funding for this work. For many people in restricted-access countries, the Internet may be the only way they can find the Bible in their own languages.

Personal Update

About a month ago, Lynee helped in the orientation of 21 teachers who are headed all over the world to educate missionary kids (MKs). A few things complicated the preparation. The event was held in Dallas instead of the usual place, and Lynee had jury duty the week before. Thankfully, the orientation went well. The teachers were eager to learn about educating MKs (not all from the U.S.) and about cross cultural issues, and they enjoyed themselves in the process. “I simply couldn’t have imagined it being more successful. I feel much more prepared and can confidently say that I am as ready as ever to move into the field because of this orientation.”

I’m working on a font called Gentium Plus. An earlier version of the font, which we’ve been using in our printed newsletters, was released in 2004. We’ve been enhancing it by adding hundreds of letters and some features that are needed to support a much wider variety of languages. Several weeks ago, we sent it to a group of testers. Thankfully, they haven’t found any major problems. We hope this font will further Bible translation and literacy for people around the globe who may have very few fonts containing the letters of their alphabet.

Do you have a Sunday school class, home group, or church that might be interested in hearing about Bible translation or our work? We would love to share with them. We’re planning to be in Georgia September 5 - 19 to visit our support team, family, and friends. Please pray for more partners to be involved in our work. Our committed support is about $475/month short. (That is an improvement from April!) We are thankful that occasional gifts over the last twelve months have been making up the shortfall. We are very grateful for all of you who support us through prayer, friendship, encouragement, and giving.

May the Joy of Immanuel, “God with us,” encourage you today.

Thank you for praying for teacher orientation

Dear Friends & Family,

Thank you for your prayers for the teacher orientation! Getting ready for it seemed quite overwhelming at times. My manager and I were trying to figure out how to get everything done in time, and then the week before orientation, I was picked for jury duty that lasted all five days. But the Lord amazingly brought everything together anyway, and I know it was because you were praying. Thank you.

I and the rest of the staff worked long hours before and during the orientation, but it was worth it. The group was enthusiastic. One of our goals was to help the teachers understand how missionary kids (MKs) are different from most of the kids they know and therefore how teaching them is different. One person put on the evaluation, "The profiles on the MKs...helped in a HUGE way. Now when I go to the field I can understand their needs and how to address them."

Our other main goal was to help prepare them for living in another culture by doing several simulations. When the electricity went out Tuesday morning, they thought we had arranged it in order to help prepare them for going overseas (we couldn't take credit). We did one simulation to help them experience a possible airport situation overseas. At least one of the teachers thought she might have to spend the night in the warehouse if she wasn’t successful. A comment on that simulation was, "KEEP the airport simulation!"

The group ended their last evening by writing John 3:16 on a chalkboard in every language they could think of, excited they were becoming a part of the Bible translation team. Each of you that prays for us are also part of the Bible translation team.

Here's an album of eight full-sized photos from the teacher orientation. You shouldn't have to login to see it. Use the slideshow button in the upper left for the best view.
http://bit.ly/ICO_album_2010

Thank you again for your prayers.

Ten Things you may not know about Bible translation

Dear Friends and Family,

The temperatures in Dallas are climbing as we move into summer. We've had a couple of 100-degree days and several in the high 90s. May was a dry month, so we've already started "watering" our home's foundation to keep it from settling as the soil dries out.

Below are some thoughts on language and culture learning and a list of Top 10 Things that some visitors to Wycliffe's work in Peru learned. After that is a personal update.

Language learning, West Asia

A worker recently described language learning: "Learning a new language is more than learning new sounds and words; it is learning about how a whole society of people live, think, feel, and view the world. Language and culture come together in an inseparable package. And no culture exists in the abstract; rather each one is expressed by living, breathing people with their own hopes, fears, joys, and sorrows." Several families in West Asia are in the beginning stages of language learning. Pray for insight and understanding of the language and culture as they adapt to their new homes.

A few months ago, Wycliffe's president posted this blog entry:

"For the past few days, we've been traveling around Peru with five people from various Moody Radio stations. Since none of them knew much about Wycliffe before this trip, we decided to check in with them to see what they’ve learned so far."

http://wycliffeusa.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/top-ten-things-our-moody-radio-friends-never-knew-about-wycliffe/

Personal Update

My team has finished most of the work on a greatly enhanced version of the Gentium font and has started testing it. We're checking it with our internal tests and are hoping to send it to a group of about a dozen testers soon. Thank you for praying! The font engineering I had to do (to support such things as placing alternate forms of accents over upper case letters) was challenging for me, but it came out well, I think, and I learned some new things. Please pray that any remaining bugs in the font will be found before we release it publicly. We hope this font will be useful to people around the world who may have very few fonts that include the letters of their alphabet and that it will further Bible translation and literacy for those people.

Lynee is working feverishly on the teacher orientation that is scheduled to start the last week of June. Her team is making changes in the course (which equips teachers to educate missionary children overseas). They are also holding the orientation in Dallas for the first time, so there are many logistical details to work out. Today, Lynee was placed on a jury, which will complicate all of this preparation. Please pray that all will be ready for the twenty teachers who are coming and for the teachers themselves as they become part of the Bible translation team.

We had a great visit with my parents around Easter and enjoyed a brief visit with Lynee's brother and one nephew while they visited Dallas. We're thankful we've been able to get some repairs and improvements done on our home at good prices. Lynee is enjoying the ladies in her summer Bible study. We hope you are doing well and enjoying the summer. Is there any way we can pray for you?

May the glory and wonder of Jesus' presence in your life encourage you today.

PDF links updated

The newsletter posts on this site all end with links to the PDF version of the newsletter. I discovered last night that those links weren't working anymore because the host where I was keeping the PDFs was now requiring a password. I've relocated the PDFs and updated the links to them. When you click on a PDF link, you will get a preview of the PDF (using the Scribd Flash-based service) in your browser. The preview link includes a button to download the PDF as well.

April 2010 Newsletter (pg 1)

Spring in Dallas
We enjoyed a marvelous visit with my parents here in early April. Lynee and I had a great time showing them north Texas in the beautiful spring weather. I think this is the first time we've been together for my birthday since 1989! They were here for Easter as well. (See www.tinyurl.com/y7cbr6f for a slideshow.)

"Extra" Work
The work that we do for Wycliffe goes beyond our primary jobs. For instance, my group just finished switching from one e-mail program (Notes) to another (Thunderbird). To help with that transition, I learned a lot about how to best use the new e-mail program and helped my teammates make the switch.

Other tasks I do for my team include:

• Staying on top of certain computer trends and reporting that info 
• Helping with computer issues that are specific to our group 
• Typing notes during our weekly teleconferences 
• Assisting with technical issues related to fonts

"Lynee, thanks again for your faithfulness to take these prayer notes."
 - Sandy Gould (Chief Human Resource Officer)

Extra activities Lynee does include:

• Typing notes every other month from her group's weekly prayer time 
• Updating a catalog of personnel-related training opportunities 
• Gathering info and publishing a quarterly newsletter on personnel matters 
• Updating the map and nameplates for her office 
• Checking other missionaries' newsletters 
• Coordinating birthday greetings sent to overseas teachers 

Of course, most people do some tasks beyond their primary job. We just wanted to give you a fuller peek at what we do. Please pray for us to have a good balance between these kinds of jobs and our primary work, and for us to keep our eyes on the ultimate goal of giving the Bible to people in their own language.

Finances
We recently reviewed our financial support need for the next 12 months. We were surprised that our committed giving is about $650/month short. Occasional gifts over the last 12 months have made up the difference. We're so thankful for those extra gifts, but we're also concerned that committed giving is declining. Please do pray for more partners. "Thank you!" to all those who support us through prayer, giving, friendship, and many other ways.

PDF

Apr 2010 Newsletter (pg 2)

An Accidental Conversion

During the long dry season, meetings to test the newly translated Moba* Scriptures are held twice a week in the village of Nanergou. Luke, an older man, who was for many years a catechist in his church, is a faithful and enthusiastic participant.

But, today, Luke was going to be late and he wondered whether his nephew Laa-b-kua would be willing to take him there on the back of his bicycle. Laa-b-kua wasn't interested in anything to do with Christianity, but his uncle knew that the translators were not actually testing that day but rather teaching the group the new spelling system that had been introduced some months earlier and with which they were not yet familiar. He also knew that his nephew had always been interested in learning to read but had never had the opportunity to go to school. He suggested to his nephew that perhaps he might profit from these sessions to start to learn to read.

Laa-b-kua was curious but also happy to be able to help his uncle. He came back from the meeting enthused by what he had seen. Could his uncle help him learn to read? He was more than happy to take his uncle to the next meeting which also happened to be the last before beginning the testing of the translation of John's Gospel.

At the following session, Laa-b-kua brought his uncle as usual and was on the point of leaving to return home when the translators invited him to stay for the testing. "No," was his reply, he wouldn't stay as he wasn't involved and anyway he didn't know how to read. The translators assured him it didn't matter if he couldn't read, he could still listen and make comments on the naturalness of the translation. So he stayed.

After that he continued to attend each meeting. Several sessions later, as they were reading chapter eight of the Gospel, Laa-b-kua, deeply impressed, exclaimed, "This Jesus must really be God, otherwise, how could he say the things he said to the Jews and the Pharisees? These words of Jesus are wise and interesting."

The translators then suggested to him that he should give himself to Jesus. He readily agreed to do so. They recommended that he start attending church and this he has been doing ever since. And yes, he continues to participate in the testing sessions. He has learned to read with the help of his uncle and now sometimes reads aloud during the session although still with some difficulty.

There has been a church in his village for many years and some members of his family are Christians but, for Laa-b-kua, it was the Word of God translated into his language that convinced him of the truth of the Gospel and led him to give his life to the Lord.

* Most of the 191,000 Moba live in Togo, Africa. They received the completed New Testament in 2008.

Photo of an African man used with permission, Wycliffe Bible Translators.

PDF

Bible storying in Colombia

Dear Friends and Family,

Spring is well underway here in Dallas. Lynee and I enjoyed a walk in beautiful spring weather this morning. It's quite a change from the 12 inches of snow we got back in February. My parents will be visiting us starting next Tuesday (Mar 30) for a week. We are excited they will be here for my birthday and Easter.

Below is a report from Colombia (where Lynee grew up) and following that is a personal update.

Sharing the Good News, Colombia

Twenty students from three ethnic groups participated in a Bible storying course in January. It was taught by Colombian missionaries in jungle and river communities. Each of the students either became a believer or confirmed decisions for Christ made before. The students translated and told Bible stories to local groups in their own languages. People understood the stories so well that they wanted to dramatize them. Ten people from three of the groups indicated they want to study in a Bible Institute. As Bible stories are shared in the local languages, pray that the message of the gospel will continue to be clearly communicated, sparking new interest in reading translated Scriptures.

Personal Update

Thank you for praying for my team meetings in January. We made headway in planning for the future and solving some technical problems. My team has been making good progress on expanding the number of characters in the Gentium font. The creation of new letter forms by hand is almost done. On Friday, I finished a program we discussed at the team meetings. That program will create an additional 400 letter forms (derived algorithmically from the hand-drawn letters). Please pray for the remaining font engineering work that's needed for the letters to interact with each other correctly (such as accents stacking over vowels).

Lynee and her manager wanted to have an online orientation course done by now for non-American teachers going overseas, but they are having trouble adapting the material to this less interactive form. Please pray they can overcome the challenges they're facing as well as be free of distractions from other pressing matters. They're considering putting this project aside until after a face-to-face teacher orientation in June is done.

Please pray for more partners to be involved in our ministry. Our support need for next 12 months was just adjusted. Our committed giving is about $650/mon short. We are thankful that giving, including occasional gifts, for the last 12 months has met our needs. We are very thankful for all those who support us through prayer, giving, encouragement, and friendship.

May the Love of Christ fill you with joy, praise, and strength this Easter.

NT translation for millions in Africa nearing completion

Dear Friends and Family,

We hope your new year is getting off to a great start. We enjoyed spending Christmas in Nashville with Lynee's family and then having a quiet New Year celebration at home. Here's a prayer request from Africa followed by our personal update.

Translation team, Africa

A team working in a sensitive region of Africa is hoping to complete the New Testament by the end of 2011 for a large language community numbering many millions. They are currently revising and testing the Epistles. Ask God to guide and give them wisdom in their work. Pray for good dynamics within the translation team, especially for the integration of a new mother tongue translator who joined at the end of 2009. Pray that the translation consultant* assigned to the project will remain in good health and be able to keep up with the checking schedule.

* A consultant goes over the translation thoroughly with the team, checking for accuracy, clarity and naturalness, and looking for omissions, extraneous thoughts or possible misconceptions.

Personal Update

My team will meet from Tuesday until next Wednesday (Jan. 19-27). Nine people are coming from remote locations to meet with the eight of us who work in Dallas. Our goals are to renew relationships, review the current state of various projects, and plan for the future. We also will be receiving some training on how to train others and on some new technology. Please pray for us.

Lynee has two directors coming next month. Please pray that she will get their schedules done by the end of this month. She and her manager continue to work on putting teacher orientation online and to plan the face-to-face teacher orientation for this summer. Please pray for creativity and focus.

Thank you for your prayers and support in many ways. May your fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sustain and enrich you.