Hi friends,

We arrived in the St Louis area on Saturday night and spent yesterday at church preparing for a week of VBS. Today was the first day, and wow, we are tired.

We’ll be sharing about the needs, the challenges and the process of BIble translation all this week – Monday through Friday from about 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

We’d appreciate your prayers for this adventure. We’ll have all the age groups (Pre-K through Jr. High) coming through our classroom at different times throughout each morning. Pray that they are open to learning about God’s heart for the Bible-less peoples of the world.

Here is what we hope to cover this week -

• Monday – Creating an alphabet (for languages that don’t have one) – so far so good!
• Tuesday – Teaching people to read (importance of access to translated Scripture)
• Wednesday – Making a draft (what kinds of challenges do Bible translators face, especially cultural challenges)
• Thursday – How do you make sure the translation is a good one (making sure a Bible translation is accurate, clear and natural)
• Friday – Using the Bible (why all the work to do a translation anyway)

We are using curriculum that is available from http://www.wycliffe.org/Resources/Kids.aspx

Thanks for your prayers for us this week – for wisdom and strength and that we will be a blessing to these kids! We’d also appreciate your prayers for Becky’s staff who are covering for her this week up in North Dakota! And for her students!

Also, our financial need is down to $550/month. This week we’ll be connecting with at least two other churches in the area. Pray for God’s grace as we share with them our ministry and ways they can be involved.

We head back to North Dakota on Sunday afternoon.

In Christ,

Hugh and Becky

Dear partners,

This afternoon we received an urgent phone call, telling us about the dire need for a Linguistic Field Methods instructor at the Wycliffe affiliated training program at the University of North Dakota (SIL-UND). Linguistic Field Methods is required before anyone can serve as a Bible translator with Wycliffe. Becky taught this course last summer and was part of the staff the previous year.

SIL-UND

Teaching at this training program is part of the vision that God has given us in ministry… to enable translators with skills and knowledge. Currently there are 20 students signed up for this course.

As we shared in our last newsletter, we are not allowed by Wycliffe policy to “work” in our ministry roles until we are 100% supported. We are currently at 76%.

You might ask, “Is there someone else who can teach this course? After all, Wycliffe is a big organization, isn’t it?” We’d like to offer two answers to these questions; both are valid.

1. No, there is no one else to teach the course. If this is the ministry that God has called us to, then he hasn’t called someone else to teach this course.
2. Yes, Wycliffe is a huge organization. And there are other qualified people to teach the course. However, there is a great need for developing qualified people to teach courses like this. This is part of what Becky will be focused on as the Professional Development Coordinator.

There are two things you can do. You can give and you can pray.

If you want to become part of our financial team, please let us know at http://www.pro.thejourneyler.org/give (This links to Wycliffe’s secure online giving for our ministry).

Otherwise, please pray with us with focused prayer that:

1. God would move us from 76% to 100% supported.
2. God would provide a Linguistic Field Methods teacher for these 20 students. And that through the process God would give these students the successful preparation (inside and outside the classroom), which they need to be successful Bible translators.
3. The Professional Development Coordinator will be able to help grow people who can fill these needed academic roles that prepare Bible translators for fieldwork.

Feel free to invite others to become part of God’s solution to this situation.

In Christ,
Hugh and Becky