We are settling into life in here. We both are healthy and are very grateful for your prayers for our adjustment.
Hugh spends most of his days helping with the language documentation team. Almost everyday a local speaker of one of the nine varieties of Me’phaa come by for several hours of work. Hugh has been helping get the server set up and get the language databases ready to receive all the data. Soon the information will be flowing, and it really helps to be organized ahead of time. You can read more about the project here.

Becky has been working hard on an article about one of the languages she worked with in Nigeria. That is off to the editor, awaiting comments and now she get to figure out the best way to do her work as Professional Development Coordinator from the middle of Mexico. Praise God with us for the miracle of the internet! Without email and skype, it would be very difficult for Becky to make a contribution in her work while we are down here for Hugh’s work with the language project.

Praise God with us…
-for a great place to live in Tlapa with colleagues. By the time Becky arrived, she moved into a well set up house – with a real bed and running water.
-for several friends who have agreed to house-sit/house-watch for us in Dallas while we are away.
-for a smooth transition and good relationships with colleagues in Tlapa.
-for a group of faithful prayer and financial partners!
-for good health.
-for warm days and cool nights – Becky loves the warm sunshine!

Continue with us in prayer for…
-clarity of our roles in the project here.
-continued good health.
-wisdom for Becky regarding her responsibilities (normally in Dallas) and how to carry on from Mexico.
-for well taken opportunities to increase our Spanish language skills while we are living here.
-for the Christmas season away from family – we chose to come at this time of year, but we miss our families as well.
-for Hugh who is mourning snow and ski slopes (not that we have those in Dallas!)

Thanks for your partnership with us through the years! May God bless us all as we head into a new year with Him! Look for our December newsletter with pictures in the coming weeks.

Hugh and Becky

Serving in Bible translation and language development (in Mexico)

Partner with us at http://www.wycliffe.me/patersons (click to Pray or Give)

Thank you so much for being a part of our team. We have now received word that 100% of our monthly financial need has been pledged. That means that we are free to begin our assignments with the Americas Area of SIL. In fact we are headed out the door to the office in just a few minutes!

Look for details about our new jobs in a newsletter to come. We’ll also include a report about our summer at the University of North Dakota. Would you pray for us as we are in orientation this month? We have so much to learn.

Blessings to you all,

Hugh and Becky Paterson

Serving Bible translation in North and South America

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