The Higby Herald - October 2009

Dear Friends,

Exciting things are happening in our ministry, for which we praise the Lord! Since we began equipping Bible translators with new technology to expedite linguistic and translation work, we have focused our attention on the Francophone countries (where French is the national language). This ministry has been growing, and in March we will have our fourth annual training event for that group of twenty or so consultants from more than a dozen African countries. In Africa, there are actually less Anglophone countries where Bible translation is being done than Francophone, so it was natural for us to start our training in French. However, until now we had done no training for the Anglophone countries and this burden weighed on us heavily as requests for help came in from places like Nigeria and Tanzania.

So for the past two weeks in Nairobi, Kenya, it was a great joy to assist one of my new staff members, Kent Schroeder, in teaching the first group of language software consultants in English. Participants came from five different countries with the aim of learning to train users in their local language projects to use new software. One of the participants reported that he has been doing computer maintenance and repair since 1998 but doesn’t remember a single software training event happening in as much time. Does this mean software from the mid 90’s is still in use?! Technology has come a long ways since then!

For example, the new Bible translation program we taught allows teams to store their translation data in a common repository on the Internet, allowing each team member to create, edit, and improve the Biblical text no matter where they are located! In the past, the absence of a key team member from the project would halt progress until that member’s return. Now? Plug in anywhere in the world and get work done, sending comments back and forth through the software. Such ease of collaboration was definitely not possible in the mid 90’s and the thought energizes us to get these tools and training into the hands of the translators.

We are deeply grateful for your prayers as is evident by the measure of blessing the Lord has been pouring out on our work! We also depend on your financial support to continue on. Lately the dollar has been falling against the local currency making everything more expensive, including the boy’s tuition. We have also outgrown our Nissan double-cab pickup truck, tired of battling with the seat forward and backward to accommodate long legs to no one’s satisfaction! An opportunity came to sell it and replace it with a much roomier Land Rover at a reasonable price increase. Any gifts towards the replacement Land Rover would be appreciated, since this expense is not part of our normal support.

Henry and Kevin are in the middle of a five-day youth ministry trip up to the village of Yako during their October break from school. They will be leading vacation Bible school for a large number of children and assisting with medical screenings. We’ll have pictures and an update on that soon after they get back.

May God bless you as you continue to serve with us as…

Partners in the Gospel, Phil 1:5

Doug & Priscilla Higby

Prayer & Praise

• Praise God for the participants who attended the consultant training workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. Pray for these new consultants as they take cutting-edge technology back to their places of work and train the local translators and language workers in its use.
• Praise God for the opportunity the boys have to participate in this outreach program. Pray also for the childrens' lives that they are able to touch on this trip.
• Praise God for the many mission and relief agencies who are providing aide to the flood victims we mentioned in our last newsletter. Pray that the church's witness will increase!
• Pray for the paperwork process to put our Land Rover on the road, which may take up to a month!
• Pray for relief from the financial pressures we are currently under due to the weakening dollar and vehicle purchase.