Changing seasons and a new modus operandi --October 2022

Dear Friends,

As we look at the changing season around us, we are faced with our own new season of life. Our last newsletter announced the passing of my (P.J.'s) mom in May, and we appreciated the condolences that many of you sent. We would never have imagined we'd be making a similar announcement so soon. 

The Lord in His perfect timing called my dad home just four and a half months after Mom.  The end of summer was an arduous journey for me–balancing his needs with our household and my office work. Honestly, since his passing on September 27 I feel like there’s just a vacuum in life.

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On Tuesday, September 27, P.J.’s Dad passed away. He was a blessing to our family and ministry. Some of the special memories we have:

• Dad quickly set up a rental house at the New York farm where we stayed after being ousted from Belgium due to visa issues.
• When we were in Africa and our 4WD vehicle order from JAARS was delayed, Dad stepped in financially to complete the build and get it shipped.
• Dad encouraged high standards in our ministry, always representing the view from the pew as to how we presented ourselves.

This photo was taken when Dad and Mom Steensma visited us after our youngest son Roger was born in Côte d'Ivoire.

At the end of September, Doug was due to travel to Orlando to assist at the 2022 Missio Nexus Conference in Orlando, Florida. He had to cancel his flight due to my dad's passing and the hurricane. The conference went on and SIL International received the Missio Nexus Excelerate Award for innovation in pursuing the Great Commission. Three of the tools that Doug's team supports were featured for assisting with literacy and translation. Doug was going to be on hand to explain how these applications work.

In the past few weeks, we both came to Dallas for scheduled meetings with colleagues.  Doug’s meeting was planning strategically how to integrate SIL's multiple linguistic and translation tools to serve Bible translators better. My meeting was with the academic publishing team which met for the first time since 2019. Working through departmental processes is a lot easier when conversations are face-to-face. We also celebrated the transition of a few members into retirement, as well as acknowledging the publishing successes of the year.  One of these was mentioned in a recent Christianity Today article about the author, Katy Barnwell. As a fellow translator/linguist, she wrote the book Bible Translation: An Introductory Course In Translation Principles. We asked you to pray for our production of the fourth edition of this textbook and it is now being distributed worldwide in print and digital form to guide Bible translators in the methodology and best practices for Bible translation drafting, checking, and revision.

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After our Texas meetings, we drove northwest to house-sit in Salt Lake City, Utah. We needed a change of scenery as we processed our recent losses, and what a beautiful change it was! Working remotely, as usual, we took hiking breaks in the afternoon to take in God's glorious creativity of autumn colors.

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Since 2018 our modus operandi has been maintaining a home office in the US with me staying behind while Doug traveled solo for his workshops and conferences. That allowed me to provide the care my parents needed. Then during COVID, neither of us traveled. But now we are looking at a new season ahead. As Doug has a full travel schedule, we want to be good stewards of our resources and have the wisdom to choose which trips to do together.

As the leaves begin to change, we are reminded that Fall is usually a mission-emphasis time of the year. Please let us know how we can engage with your churches to promote Bible translation.

Partners in the Gospel,    (Phil 1:5)

P.J. & Doug Higby