Update from Dick & Alma Dole, retired missionaries from Brazil who moved to New Jersey.
Yes, we finally made it......and six weeks later, so did our stuff.
Now we have the challenge of trying to fit what is "essential" into this wee apartment... and give up the useful/meaningful things that don't. "Hard on the judgment," as the old story goes.
This has been a tough assignment---—perhaps the toughest one yet, in our 42 years as His missionaries. I confess that I`m still trying to recover from the hurricane of this humongous international move... the earthquake of moving from my beloved Brazil to this strange land... the landslide of moving from a city of 20 million to a town of 10,000... PLUS the shock waves of moving from a very active life to a retirement community... where the median age is, would you believe, 87!??!! Not to mention that everything is so EXPENSIVE in this country, and trying to live on Social Security & pension alone is a challenge! But God is still on the Throne, and one of these days we'll feel "at home," right? Pray for us?
I don't suppose retired missionaries are of much interest, but if ever you need someone to substitute or fill in, we'd sure love to try to work it out. Meanwhile, give our warm THANK YOU to any that still remember us? How faithful you folks at Myrtle Grove have been, and how we praise the Lord for your loving support.
May we keep on keeping on, pressing on to know Him, our Wondrous Lord!
Yours to see Him glorified,
Dick & Alma
11 Heath Village
Hackettstown, NJ 07840-4039
(908) 269-6046
Friday, November 19, 2010
Update from Doug and Beth Wright
Dear family and friends,
THANK YOU for praying! I picked up an exhausted Doug. Grizzled beard, "fragrant" after days of travel, and hungry. Oh, and his suitcase arrived the next morning. Due to the original flight out of Wilmington being canceled a month ago, somehow all of Doug's return flights were a mess. A stressful mess. In addition, he just made the mission's plane in Bunia DRC by 5 minutes, to find out they had made a booking error (booked him into the DR Congo twice, with no return out of Congo!). They fit him in anyway somehow. Then there was a housing adjustment again in Entebbe Ug, and when he went to check in for his international flights (Entebbe-Brussels-Philadelphia...), his reservations on all legs had been canceled!! With the gracious help of a Ugandan employee, Doug was able to restore all the return flights... and he's home. And by this weekend, now rested and recovered. This has had everything to do with God's grace and many prayers for him. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR PRAYING for him!
Gratefully,
Beth
Here's part of Doug's final trip report:
Through God's grace and the faithful prayers of many, the Logo team and I have much to be thankful for after my 8 Oct - 7 Nov consultant trip to DR Congo. The 20 working days were divided equally between the Central Sudanic Discourse Workshop at Muhito (near Bunia) and a Logo translation checking session in Isiro. Here are the highlights:
1. At the C. S. Discourse Workshop, I gave presentations and facilitated the work of the six teams for three days. All six teams, working with their assigned consultants, discovered much about the structures and functions of their languages especially at the narrative discourse level. The Logo team and I discovered and documented about 15 rules for telling stories more naturally. These rules will be of great help when we do final polishing of the gospels (narrative genre).
2. The Logo team and I completed checking of the first 8 chapters of Romans. Although the quality of the first draft had suffered due to inadequate time for the team to prepare between my previous visit and the workshop, we were able to bring the translation up to publishing quality. We dealt with a number of key theological concepts like justification "God's putting us straight (just) before his eyes", redemptive sacrifice "Jesus' sacrifice given by God to buy us back from sin", and being controlled by the Spirit "walking by the power of the Spirit". We have now first-drafted 82% and consultant-checked 80% of the N.T. and we are exactly on track with the plan (revised two years ago) to finish translation by the end of 2012 with publication by the end of 2013.
3. The team and I updated the translation plan, including a planned visit by Adara and Madrakele to Todro in January to coordinate reviewers' committee checking, do community tests, collect more natural texts (including hortatory/expository genre) and coordinate the literacy workers' plans. My next trip is planned for 4 weeks beginning the last week of February 2011.
4. Aguma, Adara, Madrakele and I all had many opportunities to see God's grace and power at work in our lives and those around us. We continue to see God's Word transforming us, which as Aguma says, it must do before it can transform the Logo people. We were also aware of the prayers of many faithful partners, including more and more Logo believers.
Dear family and friends,
THANK YOU for praying! I picked up an exhausted Doug. Grizzled beard, "fragrant" after days of travel, and hungry. Oh, and his suitcase arrived the next morning. Due to the original flight out of Wilmington being canceled a month ago, somehow all of Doug's return flights were a mess. A stressful mess. In addition, he just made the mission's plane in Bunia DRC by 5 minutes, to find out they had made a booking error (booked him into the DR Congo twice, with no return out of Congo!). They fit him in anyway somehow. Then there was a housing adjustment again in Entebbe Ug, and when he went to check in for his international flights (Entebbe-Brussels-Philadelphia...), his reservations on all legs had been canceled!! With the gracious help of a Ugandan employee, Doug was able to restore all the return flights... and he's home. And by this weekend, now rested and recovered. This has had everything to do with God's grace and many prayers for him. THANK YOU AGAIN FOR PRAYING for him!
Gratefully,
Beth
Here's part of Doug's final trip report:
Through God's grace and the faithful prayers of many, the Logo team and I have much to be thankful for after my 8 Oct - 7 Nov consultant trip to DR Congo. The 20 working days were divided equally between the Central Sudanic Discourse Workshop at Muhito (near Bunia) and a Logo translation checking session in Isiro. Here are the highlights:
1. At the C. S. Discourse Workshop, I gave presentations and facilitated the work of the six teams for three days. All six teams, working with their assigned consultants, discovered much about the structures and functions of their languages especially at the narrative discourse level. The Logo team and I discovered and documented about 15 rules for telling stories more naturally. These rules will be of great help when we do final polishing of the gospels (narrative genre).
2. The Logo team and I completed checking of the first 8 chapters of Romans. Although the quality of the first draft had suffered due to inadequate time for the team to prepare between my previous visit and the workshop, we were able to bring the translation up to publishing quality. We dealt with a number of key theological concepts like justification "God's putting us straight (just) before his eyes", redemptive sacrifice "Jesus' sacrifice given by God to buy us back from sin", and being controlled by the Spirit "walking by the power of the Spirit". We have now first-drafted 82% and consultant-checked 80% of the N.T. and we are exactly on track with the plan (revised two years ago) to finish translation by the end of 2012 with publication by the end of 2013.
3. The team and I updated the translation plan, including a planned visit by Adara and Madrakele to Todro in January to coordinate reviewers' committee checking, do community tests, collect more natural texts (including hortatory/expository genre) and coordinate the literacy workers' plans. My next trip is planned for 4 weeks beginning the last week of February 2011.
4. Aguma, Adara, Madrakele and I all had many opportunities to see God's grace and power at work in our lives and those around us. We continue to see God's Word transforming us, which as Aguma says, it must do before it can transform the Logo people. We were also aware of the prayers of many faithful partners, including more and more Logo believers.
November 2010 Update from Douglas and Jennings Boone
Dear friends,
Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya! We are here – together, in the same country, after three weeks apart – until our next house-sitting opportunity begins in Congo in early December. It has been good to catch up with friends here. We’ve also had some work meetings and lots of (routine) medical visits. Next week we’ll be on vacation at the coast! Thank you so much for your prayers for our travel and work over the past month. Here is an update:
Douglas’ trip to Asia: Thank you for praying for Bagamba Araali and me as we traveled to Penang, Malaysia for Language Assessment Community meetings. For the first week, I was one of six facilitators at a survey report writing workshop. The four people in my small group exchanged extracts from reports that they were writing. In the last two days, each participant got input from three colleagues (and me) concerning clarity, organization, and sound argumentation. Meanwhile, Bagamba was meeting with other consultants in sociolinguistics. During the main conference, he and I gave three presentations: "Handling Qualitative Data" (for the newer workers), "Depth and Scope of Research Planning" (for those with more experience) and "Cross-Cultural Sensitivity" in a session for everyone. We learned about developments elsewhere in the world, and enjoyed lots of interaction at break time and in the evenings with other sociolinguists and language researchers. One evening, we met with the other participants in the colloquium on language vitality in March 2011 for which we are preparing a paper. The next evening I was emcee for the "Do It Yourself" show; Bagamba's anecdotes about cultural misunderstandings in the Congo were a big hit! This time in Penang was valuable and fruitful; we'll be considering the things we learned for a long time to come.
We are thankful for safe travels and for the opportunity to see many old friends and to make new ones. Thank God for raising up language assessment workers among the citizens of countries in Asia and Africa! Bagamba and I have many opportunities to serve: please pray for wisdom to prioritize and to plan, and to apply what we learned.
Jennings’ translation-checking trips: Thank you for your prayers for my back-to-back trips – to Ibambi to check half of Matthew with the Budu team with our Translation Coordinator Dave Bradley, and to Goma to check Mark with the Tembo team. Both trips went very well. Thanks to the high quality of the translations, we were able to finish both checking sessions with time to spare! The Budu team will soon be able to publish trial copies of Matthew. It was very interesting to be in Ibambi, a large village deep in the Congolese forest… quite a change from urban Bunia! Then, I spent a weekend back in Bunia, staying with a friend, before leaving again for Goma. This was my third trip to work with the Tembo team, but the first one since their head translator Masumbuko Shabani left for graduate studies in Bible translation. The two remaining Tembo translators – Ndeshi Jimmy and Mwanjale Robert – are determined to keep the translation work going at a good pace. They have been using an adaptation program to produce first-draft translations based on a closely related language. The results are very encouraging – they have adapted most of the New Testament using this method! Adaptation is just the first step in a long, careful translation process, but it is still very exciting to see such progress.
Please thank God with us for the hard work of the Budu and Tembo translation teams and for the successful completion of these Gospel translations! Please pray that they will be encouraged in their work, in spite of financial and logistic challenges, and that the local communities will be blessed by the Scriptures in their language.
Something new…: There is so much to see and think about in Congo, and we wanted to be able to share it without making our updates excessively long, so… we have started a blog! It’s called “This Congolese Life” and the address is www.thiscongoleselife.blogspot.com . Our hope is that it will be a good way to share photos, stories and daily life in Congo, and to interact with you.
We appreciate your prayers and support so much! We would love to hear what you’re up to and how we can be praying for you.
Douglas and Jennings
Mailing address:
SIL
PO Box 750
Entebbe, UGANDA
For Wycliffe info or financial gifts:
Wycliffe Bible Translators
P.O. Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862-8200
Dear friends,
Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya! We are here – together, in the same country, after three weeks apart – until our next house-sitting opportunity begins in Congo in early December. It has been good to catch up with friends here. We’ve also had some work meetings and lots of (routine) medical visits. Next week we’ll be on vacation at the coast! Thank you so much for your prayers for our travel and work over the past month. Here is an update:
Douglas’ trip to Asia: Thank you for praying for Bagamba Araali and me as we traveled to Penang, Malaysia for Language Assessment Community meetings. For the first week, I was one of six facilitators at a survey report writing workshop. The four people in my small group exchanged extracts from reports that they were writing. In the last two days, each participant got input from three colleagues (and me) concerning clarity, organization, and sound argumentation. Meanwhile, Bagamba was meeting with other consultants in sociolinguistics. During the main conference, he and I gave three presentations: "Handling Qualitative Data" (for the newer workers), "Depth and Scope of Research Planning" (for those with more experience) and "Cross-Cultural Sensitivity" in a session for everyone. We learned about developments elsewhere in the world, and enjoyed lots of interaction at break time and in the evenings with other sociolinguists and language researchers. One evening, we met with the other participants in the colloquium on language vitality in March 2011 for which we are preparing a paper. The next evening I was emcee for the "Do It Yourself" show; Bagamba's anecdotes about cultural misunderstandings in the Congo were a big hit! This time in Penang was valuable and fruitful; we'll be considering the things we learned for a long time to come.
We are thankful for safe travels and for the opportunity to see many old friends and to make new ones. Thank God for raising up language assessment workers among the citizens of countries in Asia and Africa! Bagamba and I have many opportunities to serve: please pray for wisdom to prioritize and to plan, and to apply what we learned.
Jennings’ translation-checking trips: Thank you for your prayers for my back-to-back trips – to Ibambi to check half of Matthew with the Budu team with our Translation Coordinator Dave Bradley, and to Goma to check Mark with the Tembo team. Both trips went very well. Thanks to the high quality of the translations, we were able to finish both checking sessions with time to spare! The Budu team will soon be able to publish trial copies of Matthew. It was very interesting to be in Ibambi, a large village deep in the Congolese forest… quite a change from urban Bunia! Then, I spent a weekend back in Bunia, staying with a friend, before leaving again for Goma. This was my third trip to work with the Tembo team, but the first one since their head translator Masumbuko Shabani left for graduate studies in Bible translation. The two remaining Tembo translators – Ndeshi Jimmy and Mwanjale Robert – are determined to keep the translation work going at a good pace. They have been using an adaptation program to produce first-draft translations based on a closely related language. The results are very encouraging – they have adapted most of the New Testament using this method! Adaptation is just the first step in a long, careful translation process, but it is still very exciting to see such progress.
Please thank God with us for the hard work of the Budu and Tembo translation teams and for the successful completion of these Gospel translations! Please pray that they will be encouraged in their work, in spite of financial and logistic challenges, and that the local communities will be blessed by the Scriptures in their language.
Something new…: There is so much to see and think about in Congo, and we wanted to be able to share it without making our updates excessively long, so… we have started a blog! It’s called “This Congolese Life” and the address is www.thiscongoleselife.blogspot.com . Our hope is that it will be a good way to share photos, stories and daily life in Congo, and to interact with you.
We appreciate your prayers and support so much! We would love to hear what you’re up to and how we can be praying for you.
Douglas and Jennings
Mailing address:
SIL
PO Box 750
Entebbe, UGANDA
For Wycliffe info or financial gifts:
Wycliffe Bible Translators
P.O. Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862-8200
Update from Steve Kohl (Letter laying out a plan)
11-17-10
Dr. John,
I believe that it is vital that we serve the Lord by getting the dental project in Belize off the ground as reasonably soon as possible. As I indicated to you on the phone Annette and I need to go.
I need you to support and encourage us in the following activities which are necessary to complete this dental and chiropractic project. As you and I are aware the building needs to be completely enclosed, interior finished including electrical and plumbing and installing and organizing all dental equipment and making ready to host dentists and dental hygienists and others to serve.
I would ask that you approve me to do the following as soon as possible:
1. Go to Belize to obtain NGO status for Global Outreach Mission and titling or conveying the Global lease for the property into Global Outreach Missions name.
2. Go to Belize and obtain quotations from people that I know who can completely engineer load bearing walls to support a second floor when we add and enclose the bottom floor and finish the interior. I will get quotations also to just enclose the bottom and make it ready to occupy. We will employ local help wherever possible and bring from Myrtle Grove teams to come where locals may not be available. I do have a team of electricians who will come to do all of the electrical work. The electrical team will do the costing of supplies needed based on equipment needs for power including air conditioning and receptacles etc. We will need three phase electrical to keep power usage down. We will have hard costs for you to make a decision to get the building enclosed and ready for equipment.
3. I will continue to secure funds for all equipment or used or refurbished to make ready the dental clinic. It is my desire to equip this dental clinic with the best equipment to serve the needs of general dentistry and than find the dentists who are qualified and want to serve. I believe there are many. We hope to also secure at least 3 mobile units to take to the jungle as we promised Dr. Samos.
Could we discuss this track and if it needs to be modified in any way let's ask The Lord. I think that we must keep our eyes on the vision and that is to share the Good News with the people to whom we minister employing this critical need of dentistry. We are in prayer and we thank God that he has already showed us a plan and now is ordering every step with confirmation which we recognize. He will also supply the needed monetary requirements. We trust in Him and His timing.
Sincerely,
steve and annette kohl
11-17-10
Dr. John,
I believe that it is vital that we serve the Lord by getting the dental project in Belize off the ground as reasonably soon as possible. As I indicated to you on the phone Annette and I need to go.
I need you to support and encourage us in the following activities which are necessary to complete this dental and chiropractic project. As you and I are aware the building needs to be completely enclosed, interior finished including electrical and plumbing and installing and organizing all dental equipment and making ready to host dentists and dental hygienists and others to serve.
I would ask that you approve me to do the following as soon as possible:
1. Go to Belize to obtain NGO status for Global Outreach Mission and titling or conveying the Global lease for the property into Global Outreach Missions name.
2. Go to Belize and obtain quotations from people that I know who can completely engineer load bearing walls to support a second floor when we add and enclose the bottom floor and finish the interior. I will get quotations also to just enclose the bottom and make it ready to occupy. We will employ local help wherever possible and bring from Myrtle Grove teams to come where locals may not be available. I do have a team of electricians who will come to do all of the electrical work. The electrical team will do the costing of supplies needed based on equipment needs for power including air conditioning and receptacles etc. We will need three phase electrical to keep power usage down. We will have hard costs for you to make a decision to get the building enclosed and ready for equipment.
3. I will continue to secure funds for all equipment or used or refurbished to make ready the dental clinic. It is my desire to equip this dental clinic with the best equipment to serve the needs of general dentistry and than find the dentists who are qualified and want to serve. I believe there are many. We hope to also secure at least 3 mobile units to take to the jungle as we promised Dr. Samos.
Could we discuss this track and if it needs to be modified in any way let's ask The Lord. I think that we must keep our eyes on the vision and that is to share the Good News with the people to whom we minister employing this critical need of dentistry. We are in prayer and we thank God that he has already showed us a plan and now is ordering every step with confirmation which we recognize. He will also supply the needed monetary requirements. We trust in Him and His timing.
Sincerely,
steve and annette kohl
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Steve Kohl Update of the Belize Dental Clinic
Check out construction progress on the Belize Dental Clinic!
Go to the link below for Update #7 Youtube Video
Go to the link below for Update #7 Youtube Video
Doug Wright Update
Dear Praying team,
Doug's been working on the Logo translation of Romans, a very difficult New Testament book to translate, for the last month-long consulting trip of the year. The first two weeks of the month will be spent in a Central Sudanic Discourse workshop. Doug will land in Congo and the next day begin his three days of teaching (in French) the next morning! He'll be teaching six language teams, including the Logo team, how to better identify and use certain grammatical features in their translations. Then the last two weeks of the month-long trip will be spent solely with the Logo team in translation checking, beginning the book of Romans.
Please would you cover this trip in prayer? We (the Congolese translation teams, missionary colleagues, and Doug) covet your prayers so that we can fight the spiritual battle together in Christ, in bringing God's transforming Word to millions of Congolese who have never heard it in their heart languages.
Thanks for standing with us!
Doug called from an isolated Catholic conference center on Saturday. He said he was sitting on a veranda, overlooking a widespread valley, holding his cell phone out and praying it connected with a cell tower somewhere! (There were no electric lines or cell towers in sight, just lots of tropical rain forest.) And it did connect.
He thanked you for praying, saying that his teaching in French went well and that he and the Logo guys are now working together in the seminar. On Friday they fly to Isiro to begin translation checking of the Logo book of Romans. They'll spend the last 2 weeks in checking work.
Thank you for praying for his travels and for his initial days at the seminar. Please would you pray that his shoulder heals: apparently he pulled something while carrying two computers through about 5 different airports and it's causing pain. And add that to the metal spring bed (little support) and he's not sleeping very well. Thanks for continuing to pray.
Oh, and Doug's mentioned that he's seen the big "bird" spiders. If these are the same ones we had in Todro, they're about the size of a small adult hand :-) . He considered killing the ones in his room but then thought he might let them live to kill the mosquitoes!
Thanks again!
Blessings,
Beth
p.s. I'm feeling very well! (Three weeks in a row - yipee!) Thanks for praying. Will be heading to see the grandbabies for a week.
Oct 11-22: Muhito Center - Doug to help in training six teams of Congolese translators to better understand their own languages in order to produce more natural Bible translations
Oct 22: MAF small plane DRC: Bunia – Isiro
Oct 22 - Nov 5: Isiro - Doug & Logo team to check the first half of Romans in Logoti, always including informal training; the whole team will continue to focus their devotionals on living "in Christ"
Nov 5-6: Entebbe UTB Guesthouse - Doug to rest during long trip home
Nov 6–7: travel
Doug's been working on the Logo translation of Romans, a very difficult New Testament book to translate, for the last month-long consulting trip of the year. The first two weeks of the month will be spent in a Central Sudanic Discourse workshop. Doug will land in Congo and the next day begin his three days of teaching (in French) the next morning! He'll be teaching six language teams, including the Logo team, how to better identify and use certain grammatical features in their translations. Then the last two weeks of the month-long trip will be spent solely with the Logo team in translation checking, beginning the book of Romans.
Please would you cover this trip in prayer? We (the Congolese translation teams, missionary colleagues, and Doug) covet your prayers so that we can fight the spiritual battle together in Christ, in bringing God's transforming Word to millions of Congolese who have never heard it in their heart languages.
Thanks for standing with us!
Doug called from an isolated Catholic conference center on Saturday. He said he was sitting on a veranda, overlooking a widespread valley, holding his cell phone out and praying it connected with a cell tower somewhere! (There were no electric lines or cell towers in sight, just lots of tropical rain forest.) And it did connect.
He thanked you for praying, saying that his teaching in French went well and that he and the Logo guys are now working together in the seminar. On Friday they fly to Isiro to begin translation checking of the Logo book of Romans. They'll spend the last 2 weeks in checking work.
Thank you for praying for his travels and for his initial days at the seminar. Please would you pray that his shoulder heals: apparently he pulled something while carrying two computers through about 5 different airports and it's causing pain. And add that to the metal spring bed (little support) and he's not sleeping very well. Thanks for continuing to pray.
Oh, and Doug's mentioned that he's seen the big "bird" spiders. If these are the same ones we had in Todro, they're about the size of a small adult hand :-) . He considered killing the ones in his room but then thought he might let them live to kill the mosquitoes!
Thanks again!
Blessings,
Beth
p.s. I'm feeling very well! (Three weeks in a row - yipee!) Thanks for praying. Will be heading to see the grandbabies for a week.
Oct 11-22: Muhito Center - Doug to help in training six teams of Congolese translators to better understand their own languages in order to produce more natural Bible translations
Oct 22: MAF small plane DRC: Bunia – Isiro
Oct 22 - Nov 5: Isiro - Doug & Logo team to check the first half of Romans in Logoti, always including informal training; the whole team will continue to focus their devotionals on living "in Christ"
Nov 5-6: Entebbe UTB Guesthouse - Doug to rest during long trip home
Nov 6–7: travel
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)