Higby Herald November 2013

November 2013

Dear Friends,

Two years ago, Dr. Ellis Deibler Jr., an experienced Bible translation consultant, spoke about good consulting techniques at the biennial Bible Translation Conference in Dallas. At one point in his presentation he identified a problem he wrestled with. When meeting with translation teams and checking their Scripture texts, he would make recommendations for improvement. But after he had left, there was no way to check back and see if the team had made those changes or not. It left him wondering if the teams were following his advice. Deibler’s concern, unbeknownst to him, was already being addressed by the ParaTExt programmers.

The Bible Translation Conference just took place again in October, with Bible translators and translation consultants from over fifty different countries. I (Doug) was presenting on how technology in our connected world can have a real impact on our work. At the click of a button, I showed how it was now possible to see which words had changed in a given verse since the consultant inserted a comment. The entire room broke into applause, much to the delight of the software developers who were present. The purpose of my presentation, however, wasn't to put on a good show. The true purpose was realized when afterwards at least a dozen people came up and asked if they could sign up for training. The two training sessions we offered after the conference were filled beyond capacity and we had to turn many away. Now, we are scrambling to meet the demand. Praise God for the strong interest on the part of Bible translation teams all over the world to learn more efficient ways of working.

Black Forest Academy (BFA) is finishing out the first quarter of this academic year. As part of the Personnel Office, Priscilla helped welcome thirty-two new family units to Kandern during August. Some have never lived in a foreign country before and others are adapting to new roles, much like where Priscilla and I were just last year. Already the Personnel Office is recruiting volunteers for positions in 2014-2015. Know of someone interested?

Since we last wrote, we've moved into a new apartment in the same town as BFA and my office. The move went smoothly with the help of many friends and their bucket-brigade of cars that transported boxes and furniture from the old place to the new one. It has a lot more space (including a guest room ;-), and saves us money on fuel since we can go almost everywhere we need on foot. Furthermore, the extra space enables us to host a daughter of close missionary friends serving in Burkina Faso. Lydia moved in the end of August and Roger helped introduce her to the rest of her junior classmates.

Our son Henry is studying French in France as part of a semester abroad program at Calvin College. We’re afraid his French will surpass ours by the time he finishes in mid-December. Recently he was featured on Calvin’s website.

Kevin has a full-time job in Grand Rapids that he is enjoying. This was an answer to a prayer request we mentioned last time and we thank you for keeping his need in your prayers. We’re glad to see more of Kevin’s smile these days—on Skype, of course.

We are approaching a new milestone now that our youngest son Roger is a senior in high school. It’s hard to imagine that this time next year he will be in college. He has a great class and recently enjoyed his senior class trip to Italy by bus. College applications, essays and research are only just beginning. Roger has a role in the upcoming high school play and anticipates a great year playing varsity basketball…as long as the USA government doesn’t shut down their overseas school athletic programs!

We express our deepest thanks to those of you who are standing behind the ministry we are involved in through prayer and financial support. We enjoy witnessing how God works through your giving, and hope that you in turn see the results of your kingdom investment.

Partners in the Gospel,(Phil 1:5)

Doug & Priscilla Higby

Prayer & Praise

• Praise God for the Bible Translation consultants who are eager to receive software training. Pray that Doug and his team would be able to meet the demand and to continue to develop course materials.
• Praise God for the many teacher and staff volunteers at BFA that provide excellent education for children of missionaries. Pray for new volunteers to fill positions for next year and for Priscilla as her office works to make that happen.
• Pray for the Doug & Priscilla's acquisition of German in their spare time. While not required for their work, it is important for the surrounding culture. Priscilla is making progress, but Doug has had less success.
• Pray for Roger as he decides and applies to colleges for next year; for Kevin as he makes it on his own in Michigan; for Henry as he studies French in his semester abroad.