The Higby Herald March 2009 Edition

Dear Friends,

“Can you really train someone to be a language software consultant?” asked a long term Wycliffe member who is a full-time computer consultant for Bible translation teams. “There are so many quirky details to remember for all the different programs, I figured only someone with years of experience could become a consultant.”

In its third year now, the Outilingua [ u-ti-lin-gwa ] consultant training effort has turned this assumption on its head. Now 21 participants from 11 countries, many of whom started with basic computer knowledge, are being trained as the consultants who will deploy software tools across Africa and train translation teams to use them. These new consultants are beginning to master complex operations that even the seasoned consultants have difficulty with. Through the Outilingua consultant training, we are able to bypass the “years of experience”, thrusting Bible translation work in Africa into the 21st century--putting the technology into the hands of every linguist and translator to make their work more effective.

What makes our training effective? Bringing these scattered folks together as peers for 2-3 weeks each year as we worship and learn together enables them to build a sense of vision, community and purpose. Knowing each other in a personal way helps them to collaborate via Internet communication despite the vast distance between them. Already, two weeks after the workshop, there have been several pleas for help – “What do I do when I get this error message?!” But this time, others in the group are beating me to the reply! Praise the Lord for this effective training, and pray “…that the word of the Lord may speed on and triumph” (2 Th. 3:1 RSV) through the ministry of these consultants.

We received a report from our former location in Mali where a gathering of Fulani Christians took place. Mary Crickmore wrote to share, “One thing that was a great joy was seeing each of the Maasina [Fulani] believers with their New Testament. The Pulaar [Fulani from western Mali] believers of course had the Futa Toro NT's. They read the passage in both versions.” She went on to say that they moved all the tables and chairs out of the room prepared for them and brought in straw mats to sit on – Fulani-style!

Just last week our boys took part in World Vision’s 30-hour famine. They fasted together with their youth group to raise awareness of world hunger. You may remember they did this last year and raised almost ten thousand dollars to fight hunger here in Burkina Faso! This year they will again do food distribution. If you’d like to be involved, please email [email protected]

In the past month we received two Christmas packages! It may be March, but we’re ready to celebrate Christmas any time of year. A big thanks to those who were involved!

Prayer and Praise

• Praise God for safety in travel for the 21 participants of Outilingua. Traveling from all over Africa, everyone arrived safely and returned home without incident!
• Pray that the language software consultants will go out and implement what they have learned before it is forgotten.
• We would appreciate your prayers as our workload are becoming difficult to manage. For Doug, the number of training workshops he is planning will greatly increase next fiscal year, and he needs to take care that he doesn’t bite off more than he can chew. This past eight week quarter at school has been full of activities during, after and outside of school hours. Not every quarter is as busy as this one was; pray that Priscilla can maintain a better balance between work and home. We need to remind ourselves that the Lord doesn’t depend on our acts of service, but rather wants hearts of devotion to Him. Pray that we may spend more time “being” in Christ and less time “doing” for Christ.
• The time is upon us to begin looking into colleges for Henry in 2010. Please pray for wisdom and for guidance as we look at colleges, scholarships, and financing options.