The Bible Translator's Assistant

Most of the languages in the world without a Bible translation are minority languages with few resources. The Bible Translator’s Assistant is a cutting-edge software to help bridge that gap. Developed by Wycliffe Bible Translators Canada in collaboration with partners like Wycliffe USA, The Bible Translator’s Assistant (TBTA) is speeding up Bible translation!

The Bible Translator’s Assistant (TBTA) is able to combine grammar analysis of a language with templates of books of the Bible and create an initial translated draft. The software can be used with any language that has been analyzed to work with the program. Local translators then polish the draft through a variety of team and community checks.

Language communities who have used TBTA report that it reduces the overall time and cost of translating a Scripture up to 40%. This means an Old Testament could be translated in only half the time or an entire Bible translation could be completed in 12-13 years rather than the average of 20 years! Praise God that he continues to bring his Word to the peoples of the world so their lives might be transformed. This is what we are a part of in the "big picture" of Bible translation. That is a thrill to me!

Translators at Work, Story and Photo: wycliffe.org/blog/posts/innovation-for-minority-languages-the-bible-translators-assistant

Thank you for your continued faithful prayers and gifts for my Wycliffe ministry. The member finance tasks have been going well and I've enjoyed the mental challenge of completing them. The member care opportunities are beginning to expand as we have better access to information to keep in touch with our members.

There were a couple of delays for my move, but everything is now in the new house. There is still some sorting and rearranging to do, but I'm settling in and things are functional. It's beginning to feel like home. I'm so thankful for help from family and friends/partners/small group folks. The whole process has been such a gift to me. I'm in the stages now of finding gas stations and grocery stores and the post office and a hair salon and... you understand. :-) Once again, I am aware of and grateful for your prayers as I begin to find routine for this chapter.

I'm Moving!

So much has happened in the last month! God has been answering your prayers as I have been learning some complicated tasks for my member finance role. It will take some time to execute the routine smoothly for these tasks that will come up each month, but I am trusting that the Lord will help me become better at it with practice.

God has also answered your prayers about housing for me. I had not intended to move this quickly, but I closed on a new-to-me home on Wednesday. Lord willing, I'll be moved in before the end of March!

Almost Home Sweet Home

I shouldn't be surprised. You all have prayed so faithfully over these years and God has moved when the time was right in so many situations. I look forward to beginning to settle into new patterns of life soon.

My family and I are grateful for your continued prayers as we work through things for Mom's estate. All is going well. It all just takes time. Thank you also for your prayers for my continued service with Wycliffe. There are some exciting possibilities that are about to open up in the member care part of my role... but there will be more learning to do there, too!

God is on the Move!

Around the world, people’s lives are being transformed as they encounter Jesus through Scripture in a language and format they clearly understand. But Bible translation today looks very different than it has in the past. Today, local believers and churches are not only asking for God’s Word, they are taking ownership of the work, too. As the global Church has increased vision of and ownership in the work of Bible translation, there has been an unprecedented level of growth and impact.

Through Global Partnerships (a multi-organizational collaboration), Wycliffe Bible Translators engaged with almost 500 new languages in 2022. This was a significant increase from the 150 new languages engaged in 2020.

This exponential growth is bigger than any of us. Bible translation cannot be done without God’s hand at work in the lives of people joining together through prayer, giving, personnel resourcing and local ownership. Through your prayers and gifts for my Wycliffe ministry, you are a part of what God is doing around the world! Thank you!

Story Source: wycliffe.org/blog/posts/god-on-the-move-accelerated-impact-through-bible-translation-today

Personal Update

I am so grateful for the many faithful prayers and encouragements the Lord provided before and after Mom’s passing (Dec 22). God has been gracious to bring the right people to help at exactly the right time for each step of this journey.

To answer questions that seem to be in the minds of many, I plan to stay in Indiana now. Though I loved Florida and the people I know there, my family is here and it is time to be near them. And, with all that I know now, Lord willing, I hope to work until I am 70… and then, I hope to volunteer both with Wycliffe and at Faith Church, as long as I am still helpful and able!

For previous updates, see my Google group.

What do I do now?

You might have wondered what my new roles look like. This past month, the Member Finance team of Wycliffe USA has been a part of facilitating economic helps for those who depend on the gifts of churches and individuals. In this time of uncertainty, many colleagues and their financial partners have experienced financial challenges. Through the provision of gracious donors, funds were made available for those who qualified for and requested help. Our team was responsible to process those requests. It’s a privilege to be a part of the background happenings, knowing that our part of Bible translation is to help other Wycliffe personnel continue to focus on their part in Bible translation, rather than on financial concerns.

In my other role, the Stateside Care team began celebrating anniversaries -- years spent with Wycliffe. This month, we’ll send cards for a 1st anniversary, a 50th anniversary, and several in between! We hope to remind these co-workers that what they do is being used by God. Our prayer is that they will be encouraged to continue serving well.

In just that same way, what you do matters -- your prayers and gifts for my Wycliffe ministry are being used by God to serve others. Thank you for your faithfulness!

 

Personal Update

I’ve enjoyed being in Indianapolis and the opportunities to reconnect with many of you. And, as the “Crossroads of America,” Indiana is on the way to a number of places for some Wycliffe colleagues I coached or taught virtually. It has been a joy to meet some as they come through. I look forward to meeting others face-to-face after spending so many hours online together.

I’ve also been able to enjoy immediate and extended family gatherings. God has blessed me with an amazing family. It’s a gift to be within driving distance of so many now.

For praise and prayer items, visit my Google group.

Last Florida Update

Thank you for your prayers for Wycliffe Stateside Connection (WSC). Things went very well and it was wonderful to be face-to-face with colleagues. As they heard about my coming transition, they cared as much for me as we worked to care for them! It was truly an encouraging week.

Once WSC finished, the packing and sorting process began. All has gone well and I am so grateful for all the help I have had! The moving "pods" will be delivered this morning. We're still planning on a November 19 closing.

In an unexpected turn of events, I have been approached about helping develop a new role with Wycliffe that would come alongside those in the US -- most of whom are not in Orlando -- more fully. It's exciting to think about that! Fulfilling the role from Indiana rather than Orlando would be perfect, too! More details as that begins to take shape.

headed north

Would you pray with me for these things?

• Good closure -- the hard good-byes
• Sale of the rest of my furniture and household goods
• Smooth closing for the house
• Safe travels north, Nov 19-24

Thank you again for your many prayers and encouragements. Please let me know how I may pray with you.

I am so grateful for these 11 years here.

Changes Coming

Thank you for your prayers for Wycliffe Stateside Connection (WSC) preparations. Please continue praying that, November 1-5, we will serve our colleagues well, so they feel celebrated, cared for, and connected to the resources available through the Orlando headquarters. I'll be leaving this week to join that team for my first in-person Connection in 21 months. That's exciting!

Once WSC is complete, I'll be packing my house in Saint Cloud and moving to Indiana. Mom and I decided last week that this is a good time for me to move in with her more permanently. The Lord provided confirmation of that decision -- within 24 hours, I had accepted an offer on my house. Plans are moving forward for a November 19 closing.

My role with Wycliffe as a coach will continue exactly as it has. There is an internal reorganization in process that is changing my role as a logistics coordinator and trainer, but I've been assured that my role can be modified to permit me to serve remotely. If I need to make a change, there are other open remote roles I could fill. I am grateful that I am able to continue to serve with Wycliffe, as together we ask God to transform lives through the translated Scriptures.
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headed north

Before I moved to Florida, a friend encouraged me to "take some time" on my trip south to be able to process the transition I was making. I took four days away before settling into an Orlando routine. That was a highly valuable experience. I will be taking that same kind of time on my trip north. Above, you can see the route I hope to travel, with some "eastern" stops to see folks I likely won't see again soon. It's a lot of miles, but time in the car for me is good reflection time, so I am looking forward to the drive. Lord willing, I'll arrive back in Indiana just before Thanksgiving.

For those of you in Indianapolis, I look forward to many more opportunities now for us to connect. I am so very grateful for the season of life in Florida and will dearly miss the daily interactions with the Wycliffe office staff I have grown to know and love. I am thankful for technology that will permit me to serve alongside them still.

Thank you for your many prayers and encouragements. Please let me know how I may pray with you. It is a blessing to know God hears and answers prayer!

Thankful for God's remarkable grace,

Lisa

Beautiful

Forgive me for getting a bit emotional; I just couldn’t believe that your colleagues would spend many years working on a Nastaliq-style Arabic digital font with the hope that Scripture might be translated into this language one day...Thank you!

So said a potential new funding partner in the middle of a meeting in Asia last year. The font she was talking about is called Awami Nastaliq, and it was developed by the Writing Systems Technology team of Wycliffe’s strategic partner, SIL.

Awami Nastaliq is an Arabic-script font specifically intended for a wide variety of languages of Southwest Asia. Its sloping beauty means that it is a much more complex font to render on computers. Many Arabic characters usually need around four shapes to enable it to be typed, but a Nastaliq character typically has more than 20 shapes as it is so fluid and complex. Font designers and computer programmers from Scotland, the USA and Asia worked together to produce the correct shaping.

The Writing Systems Technology team gives away the fonts they develop in order to provide a service to the wider community. One of the designers noted, “People download an unbelievable number of our fonts – hundreds of thousands of times. So as well as Bible translation, our fonts are being used for tens of millions of webpages around the world to enable communication that otherwise couldn’t happen in that language.”

Read more of Alfred Thompson’s story at wycliffe.org.uk/stories/what-your-team-has-done-for-our-father-and-his-kingdom/

Over the years, I have regularly asked for prayer for those who come through Equip orientation. One past “Equipper” is Becca (wycliffe.org/partner/spalinger), who has been a font/type designer now for ten years. Your prayers and gifts for my Wycliffe ministry have been a part of her journey as she continues to help create fonts and impact language groups just like these. Thank you!

Personal Update

We are thankful for all your prayers and for all the medical care Mom has received, between her primary care, her heart valve replacement, her pacemaker, and even the balancing of the meds that are so important to her daily life. We are confident that “...all the days of my life were written in your book before any of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16, NLV) ...and know that God is present with us through each day, now and in the future.

Thank you for your faithful prayers and encouragements!

Virtual Equip Update

Wow. The Lord has been answering your prayers. Equip virtual orientation is going well. The internet has been generally dependable for all, praise God.

God has also provided grace and strength. The total number of online hours makes this significantly more fatiguing (in a different way) than if we were together. And it's been more challenging to make relational connections.

But this group has been amazing and persistent and flexible and engaging and grace-filled. They've been taking advantage of every opportunity we do have and making the most of them. Those with small children have been especially resourceful when it comes to staying engaged and also keeping the "littles" happy.

The Crew has been brainstorming regularly to adjust and tweak all types of little things. God has granted us enough time and space and mental energy. Very grateful to be a part of this team.

Please keep praying. We'll have most of Saturday and all of Sunday off. Pray for rest and renewal. We will finish at the end of the day next Thursday.

So grateful for you. May the Lord bring you moments of sweet joy today. Let me know of ways I might pray with you.

Video Update

Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragements over the past two weeks. With the current immersion in video conferencing, I thought I'd try a brief video update. There are captions available if it's difficult to hear or understand me. Welcome to my home office!

I am so thankful for you and your faithful prayers. Please let me know how I may pray with you. It's a privilege to stand together in prayer, especially now.

Special Edition

For a personal update, visit my google group.

Equip #44 is coming!

Thank you for your faithful prayers for my trip back to Florida and my settling in here. I've been able to jump right back into routines, reconnect with co-workers, and get lots of things done in the office. Mom has continued to recover well and gain strength these past two weeks while I've been gone, praise the Lord.

We're doing final preparations now for Equip #44 (Sep 28 - Oct 11) when we will be joined by 31 new Wycliffe colleagues and 23 of their MKs (missionary kids). I'm reminded of a quote from a previous Equipper, who said she is teaching missionary kids because she realized God could use her "to be part of the team to reach people I'll never meet." As she taught MKs, their parents were able to do other roles to speed Bible translation and help transform lives.

As you pray and give for my Wycliffe ministry, you are doing exactly the same thing... being part of a team that God will use to reach people neither of us might ever meet. Wow. It's such a privilege to extend your influence for the Kingdom.

I let them know, by the way. The Equippers know you are praying for them... and they are grateful! Please let me know how I may be praying on your behalf. It's a privilege to pray together!

He Needs a Name

Meet my current house guest.  I don't recall inviting him, but he has made himself comfortable and seems to be in no hurry to leave.  He would prefer being under my computer bag or the bag that holds my stationery.  Hiding under the printer seems to be the default when I need access to the other places.

He needs a name, I think.  His cousin keeps looking in the window, trying to decide whether it is better to be out or in.  They haven't asked my opinion yet.