Updates on orientation and meetings

Dear Friends and Family,

Updates
Thank you for praying for the the online teacher orientation and the meetings I was involved in a week ago.

Lynee says the orientation is going well after two weeks. The staff are pleased with how the teachers are responding to the content and interacting with each other. There are two weeks left.

The meetings about publishing Scripture on smart phones did go well, though not in the way I expected. However, two groups were positively impacted. One of those groups was already committed to publishing Scripture in the complex alphabets some language groups use. They learned a lot about how to do that and want to include our technology in their Bible reader software. The other group learned for the first time about the technical issues involved and intends to add our technology to their Bible reader as an optional add-on.

If the groups follow through with these decisions, two of the popular Bible reader apps (on Android-based phones - Bible.is and YouVersion) will be usable for reaching Bibleless groups who use complex alphabets! There were more positive results, so please ask if you want more details.

Mobile Phones & Missions
Here's a quote and a link to a PDF article that describes the potential mobile phones have for ministry around the world.

I realized recently that these nomads were no longer making decisions about where to set up camp on the basis of where they could find water. Rather, campsites were determined by where they could get mobile phone coverage.

I recommend the first section and the conclusion if your time is limited. http://ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/27_3_PDFs/mobile_williams.pdf

Sharing Our Work
Please pray for our upcoming trip to Georgia (Oct. 28 - Nov. 20). We are seeking opportunities to present our work and the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators to Bible study groups, Sunday schools, etc. Please contact us if you would like us to speak or just visit a group.

Thank you for your prayers and please let us know how we can pray for you.

In the deep, deep love of Jesus

Online teacher orientation and strategic meetings

Dear Friends and Family,

We wanted to quickly send you a couple of prayer requests concerning some happenings this week.

On Monday, the online teacher orientation course that Lynee has been working on started up for the first time! Please join us in praising the Lord for its completion. Eight teachers in Cameroon, Australia, and the U.K. are taking it. Please pray that they would learn a lot and provide good feedback. The course should take about four weeks to complete.

The other prayer request requires some background info. Smart phones are in widespread use around the world, including among language groups who don’t have the Bible. These phones could be used to electronically publish translated Scripture to reach such people. However, standard phones don’t work with the complex alphabets that some groups use. One of my colleagues has adapted some of our technology so these alphabets can be used on certain phones (Android-based ones, in apps specifically written to use the technology).

On Thursday and Friday, we’re having some meetings that could be quite strategic. Groups who are already publishing Scripture on mobile devices are coming together so we can show them how to use our technology. Please pray these publishing groups will see the potential for reaching so many Bibleless people and want to be involved.

In closing, here’s a link to a story about how one people group who just received the Word wanted to remember what life was like before.

http://wycliffeusa.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/we-don’t-want-to-forget-what-life-was-like-before-we-had-the-word/

In the Grace and Love of Jesus.