Hi everyone,
Things are in full swing here at Wycliffe. This weekend I was so pleased to see my sweet friend, Lisa Wiley, who happened to be here in Orlando on a vacation with her dad. We made our way to a Tampa Bay baseball game on Saturday against the Marlins. Being with Lisa gave me the feeling of home for a little while and it was just what I needed after a long week. I also tagged along with them on Sunday too.
This week will be pretty short. Our offices are closed on Friday, July 3rd. I also came to work late, at 3:30 in the afternoon, on Monday. Claire and I, plus a few other interns, helped with a large college group from Indiana last night. They were 150 and had an evening program. I really enjoyed meeting them and sharing about my time here so far. A bunch of them asked about what the internship is like.
And tonight begins the big switcharoo! What's happening is the staff who've been coordinating our internship are officially stepping down and passing the baton to us. So, each activity team-Evangelism, social events, leadership training, and praise/worship- will now be planned by us and for us! Several interns are also taking on jobs like logistics and maps, finances, Bible studies and others. Dan and the other staff have decided to give me the responsibility of leading the evangelism/outreach team. I'm not sure exactly how this will look yet, but I am excited. This was an area of weakness for me that I wanted to develop this summer, so I know God has a plan for our team.
The first event we're planning together as interns is a sort of a going away party for the staff-even though technically they'll still be around in the building during the work week. That dessert night is this Thursday and I get to decorate!
I'm sure it'll be a challenge to make this shift so please pray for the other interns. Some feel differently than others about taking on more responsibility and about their specific roles. I know I personally have a lot to learn; I've never really done any event planning so I'm definitely going to grow!
Also, I'm doing even better as far as homesickness goes. The second and third weeks were a little hard when I finally sat down at night, but I'm getting pretty close to a few of the girls, really all of them, and that combined with my weekend "away" with Lisa makes another month+ away from family, friends and home seem do-able
Thank you so much for your prayers!
-Joy
Language is More than Words
Many cultures around the world do things differently than western cultures. For instance, when we hold up a closed fist with the index finger raised, that means the “one.” But to the Gadsup people of Papua New Guinea (PNG) it means “four " They count the fingers that are down. Another people group in PNG—the Kewa—communicate numbers up to 24 using their hand, arm and face!
Every time I look around....
Language survey seems to be the topic of every other conversation and presentation around here. I think I need to stop wondering how I can be a part of Wycliffe. Case in point-this email:
Take 59 - 06/24/09: Nigerian Language Survey Training (Public)
“‘I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in Me through their message’” (John 17:20, NLT).
Four Nigerian interns, including a Lutheran pastor and an Anglican priest, have doubled the size of a language survey team working to determine the need for Bible translation in their country. The newcomers, who supplement four Wycliffe surveyors, have received six weeks of intensive classroom training. Following this training, they were able to complete their first sociolinguistic survey trip, investigating the dialects spoken in their state. Their internship will continue for three years.
There are over 300 Nigerian languages needing assessment, and a typical team might assess six languages in a year. Rather than a small number of teams taking over 50 years to assess all of these languages, efforts can be multiplied by training more Nigerians as language surveyors. Likewise, when local Nigerians get involved, the Nigerian Church feels a greater sense of pride and ownership in their own translation projects.
· Praise God for these four interns and ask Him to bless their work. Pray that more Nigerians and other local people around the world would display an interest in conducting translation-related work.
Take 59 - 06/24/09: Nigerian Language Survey Training (Public)
“‘I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in Me through their message’” (John 17:20, NLT).
Four Nigerian interns, including a Lutheran pastor and an Anglican priest, have doubled the size of a language survey team working to determine the need for Bible translation in their country. The newcomers, who supplement four Wycliffe surveyors, have received six weeks of intensive classroom training. Following this training, they were able to complete their first sociolinguistic survey trip, investigating the dialects spoken in their state. Their internship will continue for three years.
There are over 300 Nigerian languages needing assessment, and a typical team might assess six languages in a year. Rather than a small number of teams taking over 50 years to assess all of these languages, efforts can be multiplied by training more Nigerians as language surveyors. Likewise, when local Nigerians get involved, the Nigerian Church feels a greater sense of pride and ownership in their own translation projects.
· Praise God for these four interns and ask Him to bless their work. Pray that more Nigerians and other local people around the world would display an interest in conducting translation-related work.
Translation Tidbit:
Bible translation requires meticulous attention to detail. For example in the Tarascan language ‘tsipika’ means life but ‘tsiipika’ means death. And in the Cakchiquel language ‘ana’ means life while ‘aña’ means hairy caterpillar! Get this wrong and you could end up translating John 10:10 as “I have come that you may have death (or a hairy caterpillar) and have it more abundantly”.
Busy Bee, That's Me!
With so much going on, I'm sorry everyone-it's been a while since I last wrote.
To update as briefly as possible (and many of you know what a challenge brevity is for me, so give a little grace here please) Thursday included a really exciting first planning meeting here where I took on some work for a big project coming up in the Discovery Center; we're starting Night at the Museum to bring Bible translation to life! I'm thrilled to be in charge of the "front of house logistics." Please pray for the people we need to make it happen. Right now, we're all working on some of the first steps, like setting a project timeline, finding actors and writing a script. (Claire's recent theater degree is definitely more than valuable right now!)
The week ended with a big rush in the Discovery Center! Even without any special groups scheduled to come in we gave 8 tours in one day!
On Friday I also saw the new Pixar movie "Up" with our group of interns and the staff supporting us. We took a cool survey afterwards about the themes in the movie, and I enjoyed some great conversation with girls interning at Disney parks this summer, kind of like me.
Saturday Kathy and Rachel (friends from work) took Claire and me to the farmer's market in Winter Park. We bought fresh veggies and homemade pasta. I had lunch with them at a great local place. That evening, I got to swim with Sung Ah, David and Amy by the clubhouse.
Sunday after church 5 of us had lunch with part of an outreach group from Indiana. Two of the Wycliffe interns from Indiana have been part of that same group before so it was fun meeting them.
I'm looking forward to meeting the last inten. Rachel arrives this afternoon and we're all really excited. In fact, we're having a little party complete with brownie sundaes!
And thanks for the cards; I really appreciate them!
To update as briefly as possible (and many of you know what a challenge brevity is for me, so give a little grace here please) Thursday included a really exciting first planning meeting here where I took on some work for a big project coming up in the Discovery Center; we're starting Night at the Museum to bring Bible translation to life! I'm thrilled to be in charge of the "front of house logistics." Please pray for the people we need to make it happen. Right now, we're all working on some of the first steps, like setting a project timeline, finding actors and writing a script. (Claire's recent theater degree is definitely more than valuable right now!)
The week ended with a big rush in the Discovery Center! Even without any special groups scheduled to come in we gave 8 tours in one day!
On Friday I also saw the new Pixar movie "Up" with our group of interns and the staff supporting us. We took a cool survey afterwards about the themes in the movie, and I enjoyed some great conversation with girls interning at Disney parks this summer, kind of like me.
Saturday Kathy and Rachel (friends from work) took Claire and me to the farmer's market in Winter Park. We bought fresh veggies and homemade pasta. I had lunch with them at a great local place. That evening, I got to swim with Sung Ah, David and Amy by the clubhouse.
Sunday after church 5 of us had lunch with part of an outreach group from Indiana. Two of the Wycliffe interns from Indiana have been part of that same group before so it was fun meeting them.
I'm looking forward to meeting the last inten. Rachel arrives this afternoon and we're all really excited. In fact, we're having a little party complete with brownie sundaes!
And thanks for the cards; I really appreciate them!
Here's an email from Wycliffe to staff that I learned a lot from:
Take 59 - 06/22/09: Differences in Dialects (Public)
“Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you” (Philippians 3:15, NLT).
Once, in the forests of a far-off land, there lived two language communities: Alpha One and Alpha Two. The languages were closely related, in fact, Alpha Two was a dialect of Alpha One. One day, translators arrived and began to study the two languages so that they could bring God’s Word to them. After much linguistic research, it was decided that Alpha One would be the language into which Scripture would be translated. Since the two languages were so very similar, Alpha Two speakers would be able to easily understand the Alpha One translation.
But Alpha One was historically perceived to be the dominant language community and Alpha Two speakers felt devalued compared to their neighbors. As translation progressed, the two communities began to disagree. One language used both /sh/ and /s/ sounds, but the other used only /s/. The two groups argued endlessly over the difference. One group even refused to meet with the other to discuss a resolution. Translation came to a stand-still.
· This is a fictionalized account, but it represents a real challenge facing some translators. Differences in dialects can cripple a translation project. Please pray today for translators who struggle with this complex issue. Ask God to soften hearts and bring godly resolution to disagreements.
“Let all who are spiritually mature agree on these things. If you disagree on some point, I believe God will make it plain to you” (Philippians 3:15, NLT).
Once, in the forests of a far-off land, there lived two language communities: Alpha One and Alpha Two. The languages were closely related, in fact, Alpha Two was a dialect of Alpha One. One day, translators arrived and began to study the two languages so that they could bring God’s Word to them. After much linguistic research, it was decided that Alpha One would be the language into which Scripture would be translated. Since the two languages were so very similar, Alpha Two speakers would be able to easily understand the Alpha One translation.
But Alpha One was historically perceived to be the dominant language community and Alpha Two speakers felt devalued compared to their neighbors. As translation progressed, the two communities began to disagree. One language used both /sh/ and /s/ sounds, but the other used only /s/. The two groups argued endlessly over the difference. One group even refused to meet with the other to discuss a resolution. Translation came to a stand-still.
· This is a fictionalized account, but it represents a real challenge facing some translators. Differences in dialects can cripple a translation project. Please pray today for translators who struggle with this complex issue. Ask God to soften hearts and bring godly resolution to disagreements.
Thankfulness
Here's what I learned from the Discovery Center today:
Although you’ll never find them all in your local Christian bookstore, there are more than 500 English translations of Scripture.
A vast amount of Bible translation has been done for the 10% of the world’s population who are mother tongue English speakers, while only 6% of the world’s languages have a complete printed Bible.
I think most of the time I'm not as grateful as I should be for this gift. I have always known that God speaks my language, but around the world millions of people still don't. And that leaves many of them wondering if He cares at all, or even exists.
Although you’ll never find them all in your local Christian bookstore, there are more than 500 English translations of Scripture.
A vast amount of Bible translation has been done for the 10% of the world’s population who are mother tongue English speakers, while only 6% of the world’s languages have a complete printed Bible.
I think most of the time I'm not as grateful as I should be for this gift. I have always known that God speaks my language, but around the world millions of people still don't. And that leaves many of them wondering if He cares at all, or even exists.
Where's the need?
Nearly 80% of the languages without any scripture are found in these 3 areas of the world:
Central Africa and Nigeria
Southeast Asia
Indonesia and the Pacific Islands
*According to Wycliffe.org: The Pacific Islands area, sometimes called Oceania, encompasses: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, thousands of coral atolls and volcanic islands of the south Pacific Ocean, including the Melanesia and Polynesia groups, and Micronesia—widely scattered group of islands that run along the northern and southern edges of the Equator.
Countries with Greatest Translation Needs
1. Indonesia
2. Nigeria
3. Papua New Guinea
4. India
5. China
6. Democratic Republic of Congo
7. Cameroon
8. Malaysia
9. Tanzania
10. Nepal
11. Vanuatu
12. Vietnam
13. Sudan
14. Iran
15. Myanmar
16. Chad
17. Central African Republic
18. Mexico
19. Russia
20. Pakistan
Please pray for these people to receive God's Word in a language they can understand. Pray for personnel, nationals, technology, and resources to accomplish it.
Central Africa and Nigeria
Southeast Asia
Indonesia and the Pacific Islands
*According to Wycliffe.org: The Pacific Islands area, sometimes called Oceania, encompasses: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, thousands of coral atolls and volcanic islands of the south Pacific Ocean, including the Melanesia and Polynesia groups, and Micronesia—widely scattered group of islands that run along the northern and southern edges of the Equator.
Countries with Greatest Translation Needs
1. Indonesia
2. Nigeria
3. Papua New Guinea
4. India
5. China
6. Democratic Republic of Congo
7. Cameroon
8. Malaysia
9. Tanzania
10. Nepal
11. Vanuatu
12. Vietnam
13. Sudan
14. Iran
15. Myanmar
16. Chad
17. Central African Republic
18. Mexico
19. Russia
20. Pakistan
Please pray for these people to receive God's Word in a language they can understand. Pray for personnel, nationals, technology, and resources to accomplish it.
Our Founder
Wycliffe's founder, Cameron Townsend, had a pretty incredible story and his legacy is really actively living on still. He was just 21 years old in the early 1900's when he first went around selling Spanish Bibles in Guatemala. There he realized that many of the native people could not read these because they didn't speak Spanish! One man asked him, "If your god is so great, why can't he speak my language?" That question started his translation work on a Bible in the Cakchiquel language. In ten years he and his wife completed the New Testament translation! This is remarkable time, even by today's standards, and it was done without computers or modern technology. He went on to begin training others to translate for other people groups.
In 1942, Wycliffe was founded with the goal of putting God's Word in the language of every person's heart-the language you dream in, the language you think in, the language you pray in, the language you worship in.
In 1942, Wycliffe was founded with the goal of putting God's Word in the language of every person's heart-the language you dream in, the language you think in, the language you pray in, the language you worship in.
"Sunny" Orlando
Well, one of our internship directors told us that she has never been rained out of Universal Studios or Cocoa Beach, but now our group has seen both of those. My first week of work ended with a great weekend. Saturday's outreach on the beach was a total success. We gave away lots of food and made some great friends. Even more than that, we practiced just being aware of the people around us instead of acting as if they're scenery. Isn't it amazing how you can sit on a beach towel not five feet from another group, but to acknowledge them and get into a conversation is somehow culturally "wrong" or "weird"??
Yesterday the interns made a trip out to Wekiwa Springs State Park. After an eventful drive, (we're so good at U-turns now) we finally arrived and enjoyed some peace. The water was freeeeezing! Our canoe trip wasn't dull either. Claire, Melissa, and I joked about the "Jurassic Park" plants and eerie quiet for the first few uncertain minutes in the water. Then Claire got her adventurous wish: splashing drew our attention near to the right-hand shore where a NINE-FOOT LONG ALLIGATOR was floating about 15 feet from our canoe! Being without an oar in the front of a dinky aluminum boat not even one foot above the water and floating ever closer to my crunchy end, I begged Melissa (in the back) to steer us away or back up, but all she wanted to do was stand up and get a picture! Images of gnashing teeth and sprays of water kept flashing through my mind. He sat in front of us for several minutes, almost showing off his size, but eventually swam into the weeds. He came back out a few minutes later, just as our pulses calmed down while we started to paddle away, and this time only stuck his head above water. He stared straight at us though. Needless to say, we did survive. But the memory is vivid to say the least.
I'm about ready to give the tour here in the Discovery Center and feel pretty well-acquainted with all the procedures. Next time I close in the afternoon though, I will remember to check for any remaining guests before I shut the roll-down museum doors. It was just one couple left inside on Friday, and I hear this happens to all the employees at some point, but I can't help being a little embarrassed. (For your information, we did have a side door which I casually propped open with a sign, and the visitors may not have even known this was out of the ordinary.)
My fellow interns are settling into the office really well, but I'm honestly very glad not to be in a cubicle all day. People seem so intrigued by the stories and exhibits. I hope we make an impact and our guests get involved because of what they learn from us.
Yesterday the interns made a trip out to Wekiwa Springs State Park. After an eventful drive, (we're so good at U-turns now) we finally arrived and enjoyed some peace. The water was freeeeezing! Our canoe trip wasn't dull either. Claire, Melissa, and I joked about the "Jurassic Park" plants and eerie quiet for the first few uncertain minutes in the water. Then Claire got her adventurous wish: splashing drew our attention near to the right-hand shore where a NINE-FOOT LONG ALLIGATOR was floating about 15 feet from our canoe! Being without an oar in the front of a dinky aluminum boat not even one foot above the water and floating ever closer to my crunchy end, I begged Melissa (in the back) to steer us away or back up, but all she wanted to do was stand up and get a picture! Images of gnashing teeth and sprays of water kept flashing through my mind. He sat in front of us for several minutes, almost showing off his size, but eventually swam into the weeds. He came back out a few minutes later, just as our pulses calmed down while we started to paddle away, and this time only stuck his head above water. He stared straight at us though. Needless to say, we did survive. But the memory is vivid to say the least.
I'm about ready to give the tour here in the Discovery Center and feel pretty well-acquainted with all the procedures. Next time I close in the afternoon though, I will remember to check for any remaining guests before I shut the roll-down museum doors. It was just one couple left inside on Friday, and I hear this happens to all the employees at some point, but I can't help being a little embarrassed. (For your information, we did have a side door which I casually propped open with a sign, and the visitors may not have even known this was out of the ordinary.)
My fellow interns are settling into the office really well, but I'm honestly very glad not to be in a cubicle all day. People seem so intrigued by the stories and exhibits. I hope we make an impact and our guests get involved because of what they learn from us.
And if you direct your attention to the exhibit on your right
I'm becoming pretty comfortable with the 15-20 minute tour script now and really enjoying it too. There are five main areas in the Wycliffe Discovery Center, but my personal favorite is called Language and Culture. That's where today's translation tidbit comes from:
Did you know at least 70% of the world's languages are tonal?
This means that changing the pitch or tone of a word can give it completely different meaning. Mazateco (ma-sa-take-o) of Mexico is a tonal language that can be not only spoken, but also whistled! (English, of course, is not tonal. Thank goodness, I couldn't even get Andy Griffith right.)
Everything's going great, I really appreciate all of your prayers. As I meet and reunite with the Wycliffe staff I knew previously, I can't describe it better than family. And in one of those ways that just doesn't even make sense, I know I belong here. Working, doing what I'm able to right now so that other people can be free to go make Bible translation happen. And so that more people can catch the huge vision of a Bible in every language by 2025.
Please pray for the interns who are missing home (I only get a small chance for that at the tail end of my action-packed days) and dealing with challenges in their depts, like computer viruses. Praise God's goodness; we see Him everywhere, in all these people and tasks. Thank Him for incredible supervisors who are really encouraging, helpful and understanding.
Miss you and love you guys!
Joy
Did you know at least 70% of the world's languages are tonal?
This means that changing the pitch or tone of a word can give it completely different meaning. Mazateco (ma-sa-take-o) of Mexico is a tonal language that can be not only spoken, but also whistled! (English, of course, is not tonal. Thank goodness, I couldn't even get Andy Griffith right.)
Everything's going great, I really appreciate all of your prayers. As I meet and reunite with the Wycliffe staff I knew previously, I can't describe it better than family. And in one of those ways that just doesn't even make sense, I know I belong here. Working, doing what I'm able to right now so that other people can be free to go make Bible translation happen. And so that more people can catch the huge vision of a Bible in every language by 2025.
Please pray for the interns who are missing home (I only get a small chance for that at the tail end of my action-packed days) and dealing with challenges in their depts, like computer viruses. Praise God's goodness; we see Him everywhere, in all these people and tasks. Thank Him for incredible supervisors who are really encouraging, helpful and understanding.
Miss you and love you guys!
Joy
Cool factoid
SIL International (formerly Summer Institute of Linguistics) actually has more phd's than NASA! Linguists are nerds :)
Fun Facts!
So, I've started work at the Wycliffe Discovery Center and I love it!
Each day, Ill try to post a fun fact about Bible translation.
1) In the world today there are 7,000 languages and 6.5 billion people! Of those languages, approx. 480 have a complete Bible, but around 2400 have no scripture.
Each day, Ill try to post a fun fact about Bible translation.
1) In the world today there are 7,000 languages and 6.5 billion people! Of those languages, approx. 480 have a complete Bible, but around 2400 have no scripture.
Translate this....
Orientation week has flown by and all the interns are exhausted but looking forward to work tomorrow.
The second full day, Wed, started with a scavenger hunt around Orlando. It really did help us get familiar with the city. My group (Amy, Melissa, Katie and I) went to a church, a McDonalds with a golden Ronald, Walmart, Ikea and the Mall at Millenia. We had some items to collect too: business cards, price of an egg, photo of a bus and a bad parking job, etc. It was a really good time, which is a good thing because we definitely lost! All the other groups finished before us. We took full advantage of the photo opps though :) Plus I had loved being the navigator and map reader. In the afternoon, the activity teams met with staff for the first planning meetings. Our evangelism leader, Dan Dillard, worked for Campus Crusade for Christ and Wycliffe for a long time. He's a really awesome guy-really humble and flexible and gentle, but also hilarious! I know we're gonna learn a ton from him. And he's a UT alum too! In the evening a wonderful tradition started; almost everybody comes over to our house for ice cream sundae/movie nights! I like it, great practice for me as a hostess, finding the balance between serving and having a good time myself too.
Thursday we visited Universal Studios! It was great, buuuut all this talk about "sunny Florida" turns out to be bologna. Everyday it rains at least once, and that day it poured off and on 4 times! At one point on the way to another ride, it started raining so we ducked inside a cheesy Sinbad stunt show. As it went on people kept scooting farther from the open side of the outdoor theater where the rain blew in almost horizontally. And after it was over, no one left. We huddled in a mass and waited for it to pass while Karen made hurricane jokes, I asked our ride to come early (it was only 4 p.m.) and everyone shivered. Definitely not what I expected of Orlando weather. My favorite rides of the day were Men In Black, Simpsons, Rip Saw Falls and the most insane roller coaster I have ever experienced-The Hulk. We did have one assignment that day while at Universal: each person had to meet someone, anywhere in the park and just initiate a conversation. In preparation for the rest of the summer, we just needed to get comfortable talking to new people and stop seeing people as scenery.
Friday brought a bunch of information, but I enjoyed it a lot. We got the full tour of the Word Spring Discovery Center (where I'll be working), along with the headquarters grounds and all its departments. At lunch I met my supervisor, Pat, for the first time. Working with her will definitely be a happy experience, I can tell. And she gave me some relief by telling Claire and me that we'll first shadow tours for awhile and take on pieces little by little. A high point of the day was our evangelism training (which was really a discussion about what evangelism is and our experiences so we could agree on the message and why we'd even bother sharing it.) It was cool to hear from all the other interns. Martha and Jason had us over for bbq and we enjoyed some silliness.
Yesterday we slept in! It's been a complete miracle for me to be able to get out of bed so early all week, God really does give good gifts and that's one of em for me! Our first out-reach was at Florida Mall and we mostly practiced listening to people tell their story and how they're doing. We used a really simple, cool survey where you choose an image, from the set of 50, that describes you, and they're awesome photographs that can be interpreted a thousand ways. Everything from a flower to a set of bright, messy paints and brushes, a man with to-do post-its stuck to his head, scenes in nature, roads, a bridge, an airplane on the runway, some different animals, people, and a lot more. My favorite part is people can go online and see which cards other people chose to answer how they're doing and what represents something they wish were part of their life, etc. The website is: mysoularium.com
This morning most of us went to church with Karen to Cross Pointe. I enjoyed the service; it actually reminded me a lot of mine, Austin New Church. Sundays will generally be my free day, no work at least, so I'll be using them to catch up with yall back home. If you wanna call, that's you're best bet for an answer!
Thanks for reading my novel :) I'll be in touch sooner next time I hope!
Lovin and missin,
Joy
The second full day, Wed, started with a scavenger hunt around Orlando. It really did help us get familiar with the city. My group (Amy, Melissa, Katie and I) went to a church, a McDonalds with a golden Ronald, Walmart, Ikea and the Mall at Millenia. We had some items to collect too: business cards, price of an egg, photo of a bus and a bad parking job, etc. It was a really good time, which is a good thing because we definitely lost! All the other groups finished before us. We took full advantage of the photo opps though :) Plus I had loved being the navigator and map reader. In the afternoon, the activity teams met with staff for the first planning meetings. Our evangelism leader, Dan Dillard, worked for Campus Crusade for Christ and Wycliffe for a long time. He's a really awesome guy-really humble and flexible and gentle, but also hilarious! I know we're gonna learn a ton from him. And he's a UT alum too! In the evening a wonderful tradition started; almost everybody comes over to our house for ice cream sundae/movie nights! I like it, great practice for me as a hostess, finding the balance between serving and having a good time myself too.
Thursday we visited Universal Studios! It was great, buuuut all this talk about "sunny Florida" turns out to be bologna. Everyday it rains at least once, and that day it poured off and on 4 times! At one point on the way to another ride, it started raining so we ducked inside a cheesy Sinbad stunt show. As it went on people kept scooting farther from the open side of the outdoor theater where the rain blew in almost horizontally. And after it was over, no one left. We huddled in a mass and waited for it to pass while Karen made hurricane jokes, I asked our ride to come early (it was only 4 p.m.) and everyone shivered. Definitely not what I expected of Orlando weather. My favorite rides of the day were Men In Black, Simpsons, Rip Saw Falls and the most insane roller coaster I have ever experienced-The Hulk. We did have one assignment that day while at Universal: each person had to meet someone, anywhere in the park and just initiate a conversation. In preparation for the rest of the summer, we just needed to get comfortable talking to new people and stop seeing people as scenery.
Friday brought a bunch of information, but I enjoyed it a lot. We got the full tour of the Word Spring Discovery Center (where I'll be working), along with the headquarters grounds and all its departments. At lunch I met my supervisor, Pat, for the first time. Working with her will definitely be a happy experience, I can tell. And she gave me some relief by telling Claire and me that we'll first shadow tours for awhile and take on pieces little by little. A high point of the day was our evangelism training (which was really a discussion about what evangelism is and our experiences so we could agree on the message and why we'd even bother sharing it.) It was cool to hear from all the other interns. Martha and Jason had us over for bbq and we enjoyed some silliness.
Yesterday we slept in! It's been a complete miracle for me to be able to get out of bed so early all week, God really does give good gifts and that's one of em for me! Our first out-reach was at Florida Mall and we mostly practiced listening to people tell their story and how they're doing. We used a really simple, cool survey where you choose an image, from the set of 50, that describes you, and they're awesome photographs that can be interpreted a thousand ways. Everything from a flower to a set of bright, messy paints and brushes, a man with to-do post-its stuck to his head, scenes in nature, roads, a bridge, an airplane on the runway, some different animals, people, and a lot more. My favorite part is people can go online and see which cards other people chose to answer how they're doing and what represents something they wish were part of their life, etc. The website is: mysoularium.com
This morning most of us went to church with Karen to Cross Pointe. I enjoyed the service; it actually reminded me a lot of mine, Austin New Church. Sundays will generally be my free day, no work at least, so I'll be using them to catch up with yall back home. If you wanna call, that's you're best bet for an answer!
Thanks for reading my novel :) I'll be in touch sooner next time I hope!
Lovin and missin,
Joy
Travel and My First Full Day
and boy was it full! To start off, thanks for reading me :)
So, my flight into Orlando wasn't eventful yesterday. I arrived on time and got window seats the whole way. Happiest moment on the flight was when I realized you can see the shadow of the plane on the clouds below, and it's beautiful when the clouds are fluffy and the sun's shining bright. I prayed that the girl who gets back on a plane in 2 months is not the same girl at take-off yesterday.
My mentor Aleesha picked me up from the airport, took me to register at the Clubhouse, and dropped me at the house I'll be sharing with two other girls-Melissa (Univ of S. Indiana) and Claire (recent college grad from N. Carolina). We had dinner where I got a chance to meet all the other interns and a bunch of great staff. There are 10 interns here now and one more will arrive in a few weeks. Later, we successfully navigated the new city to grab some coffee and cereal at Albertson's so we'd be ready for a big day today!
We started early with an intro of the schedule and other general info before some interesting activities to illustrate miscommunication and the necessity of community. The staff shared their expectations for us, and after lunch we listed our personal and professional goals for the summer as well as questions we'd like answered. To hit the high points, we want to: develope devotion to spiritual disciplines, seek God's next step for our futures in ministry with Wycliffe, practice being genuine and living in community, determine or allow God to use our strengths and weaknesses, and above all make a direct impact on the Bible translation movement between now and Aug 7.
Jamie Farr and Karen Snyder -the internship directors- also dropped a huge bomb on us. Apparently in 4 weeks, after lots of training, we actually take over the internship and the staff step down. We've been divided into activity planning teams. My team's responsible for planning outreach events. The evangelism team includes our staffer-Dan, Melissa, Amy, and myself. Pray that we learn well these first weeks! That team will have its first planning meeting tomorrow. The 4 activity teams are praise & worship, social activities, leadership/Bible study, and evangelism.
Tonight we split up to grocery shop and make dinner with housemates-chicken alfredo for us, pretty yummy. And as far as team building, it was definitely a success.
Overall the group's pretty diverse and hopefully soon I'll have the energy to write about each one. I'm excited to learn from who they are and how they do things.
As a pointless side note, my skin's already tanning.
I should've started with this
THANK YOU
So many people are supporting me right now with prayers and finances and I want you all to know that God has completely just eliminated all the concerns and insecurities I had about the foggy details of the internship and my abilities. Bible translation is why I'm here. 200 million people around the world who can't read God's incredible, life-giving truth in a language that speaks to their heart. I'm here because God loves them. I'm here because after last year's experience in Guatemala I know I'll be miserable if I don't go wherever God wants, if I don't pursue that. I'm here because I needed time away from my everyday life to learn and change. I'm here because God has a place for me in His dreams for the world. I'm praying tonight that everyone who reads this will want to know theirs too.
I love and miss you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you for praying.
In case you'd like to write this summer, here's my address:
Joy Washburn - Recruitment
c/o Wycliffe Bible Translators
PO Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862-8200
So, my flight into Orlando wasn't eventful yesterday. I arrived on time and got window seats the whole way. Happiest moment on the flight was when I realized you can see the shadow of the plane on the clouds below, and it's beautiful when the clouds are fluffy and the sun's shining bright. I prayed that the girl who gets back on a plane in 2 months is not the same girl at take-off yesterday.
My mentor Aleesha picked me up from the airport, took me to register at the Clubhouse, and dropped me at the house I'll be sharing with two other girls-Melissa (Univ of S. Indiana) and Claire (recent college grad from N. Carolina). We had dinner where I got a chance to meet all the other interns and a bunch of great staff. There are 10 interns here now and one more will arrive in a few weeks. Later, we successfully navigated the new city to grab some coffee and cereal at Albertson's so we'd be ready for a big day today!
We started early with an intro of the schedule and other general info before some interesting activities to illustrate miscommunication and the necessity of community. The staff shared their expectations for us, and after lunch we listed our personal and professional goals for the summer as well as questions we'd like answered. To hit the high points, we want to: develope devotion to spiritual disciplines, seek God's next step for our futures in ministry with Wycliffe, practice being genuine and living in community, determine or allow God to use our strengths and weaknesses, and above all make a direct impact on the Bible translation movement between now and Aug 7.
Jamie Farr and Karen Snyder -the internship directors- also dropped a huge bomb on us. Apparently in 4 weeks, after lots of training, we actually take over the internship and the staff step down. We've been divided into activity planning teams. My team's responsible for planning outreach events. The evangelism team includes our staffer-Dan, Melissa, Amy, and myself. Pray that we learn well these first weeks! That team will have its first planning meeting tomorrow. The 4 activity teams are praise & worship, social activities, leadership/Bible study, and evangelism.
Tonight we split up to grocery shop and make dinner with housemates-chicken alfredo for us, pretty yummy. And as far as team building, it was definitely a success.
Overall the group's pretty diverse and hopefully soon I'll have the energy to write about each one. I'm excited to learn from who they are and how they do things.
As a pointless side note, my skin's already tanning.
I should've started with this
THANK YOU
So many people are supporting me right now with prayers and finances and I want you all to know that God has completely just eliminated all the concerns and insecurities I had about the foggy details of the internship and my abilities. Bible translation is why I'm here. 200 million people around the world who can't read God's incredible, life-giving truth in a language that speaks to their heart. I'm here because God loves them. I'm here because after last year's experience in Guatemala I know I'll be miserable if I don't go wherever God wants, if I don't pursue that. I'm here because I needed time away from my everyday life to learn and change. I'm here because God has a place for me in His dreams for the world. I'm praying tonight that everyone who reads this will want to know theirs too.
I love and miss you all. Thank you, thank you, thank you for praying.
In case you'd like to write this summer, here's my address:
Joy Washburn - Recruitment
c/o Wycliffe Bible Translators
PO Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862-8200
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