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.
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