Did you know the Bible was composed to be listened to?  Duh, of course, you say?  Not so fast.  Actually many of us think of the Bible as something to be read individually, silently.  Only infrequently is it read aloud like in a worship service.

However, the Old and New Testaments were both composed more often for the ear than for the eye.  There is careful attention to rhythm, plays on words, even rhyme schemes.  Too often, we Bible translators have translated trying to get the meaning across forgetting about how the thing sounds.  Actually artistry of composition is part of meaning.  Artistry communicates!

So what? Well the Komba people are very attuned to artful sounds and structures (poetics) in their speech.  So when our team translates we want to try and make the thing sound especially in places where the original sounded lovely to its original hearers.  This is no easy task.

Read about a friend, Rev. Scott Schmieding, who pastored a partner church of ours in Baton Rouge, Louisiana before starting at the church he now pastors in St. Charles, MO St. Charles preacher with no tongue speaks wisdom

Happy Birthday Church!  Its Pentecost where we recall the linguistic miracle that occurred to birth the Christian church when the Holy Translator spoke through the apostles in unknown languages and translated so that everyone there heard the wonders of God in their own language!  As we do the “The Esalas on tour” (see our speaking schedule) Pentecost provides a fat fastball right down the middle so that we can easily hit a Bible Translation homerun by talking about how the Holy Translator (Spirit) is still at work using humble people to translate his Word so that the Komba also may hear the wonders of God in their own language (Acts 2.8). Read the rest of this entry »

Sarah Karissa and Nathan had the great experience of seeing the magnificent Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit which is at the Milwaukee Public Museum until June 5.   Get thee to the exhibit!

Here are some of the highlights of  what we saw

• many original Dead Sea Scrolls fragments. (I nearly set off the alarms leaning over the glass case trying to read the Hebrew on one manuscript!)
• facsimilie of the great Isaiah scroll – awesome!  (Find out how it was purchased through an ad in the Wall Street Journal here.)
• John C. Trever’s fortuitous photography of the great Isaiah scroll.  His story was very interesting. Many small details seemingly hap and stance resulted in what is now the best facsimile of the original mansucript of the Isaiah scroll. His photos remain the best source for study of the scroll. You can read about Dr. Trever’s life here. Scroll down to the Introduction to read about the production of the facsimile through the work of Dr. Weston Fields
• According to the exhibit presentation we very likely saw the ossuary of Simon of Cyrene (Mark 15:21-22)
• Great archeological pieces of the intertestamental era and an enlightening presentation of the history that led up to the New Testament era and the production of the DSS manuscripts and their storage near the Dead Sea and the community of Qumran.
• A nice representation of the continued life of the Bible and Bible Translation including German, English, Algonquin and Ho Chunk (native American language translations) and even a nice display of the new St. John’s Bible being produced on parchment in a similar fashion to many of the Dead Sea Scrolls themselves.

We’re settling into the groove of life in the USA again. I get to experience the wonder of modern conveniences again through my children. Here are a few things that have made impressions.

Drinking water straight from the tap: Even after 3 weeks the kids are tentative and double check first. (We filter ours in Ghana.) More than once I’ve heard, “You mean, you can just drink it from there (pointing to faucet)?”

Drinking fountain: We first came across this phenomenon at the airport. Suddenly the kids were very thirsty and had to get drinks every 5 minutes until our flight left (delayed by an hour). It’s still very exciting to come across them at other places. We’re still learning how to use them.

Ice maker/dispensers: The kids were really giddy when they saw that you could put a cup up to the freezer door at their cousins’ home and magically fill the cup with either water, ice cubes, or crushed ice. We rarely have ice in Ghana. It’s kind of a treat. I might make a couple individual ice cubes for the kids to use as they please. They don’t last long. To get a full cup of ice at the touch of a button is almost beyond comprehension.

Still to be experienced at their grandparents’ home—the hot tub and sauna.

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We finally unpacked after being here now about 10 days or so.  We have all seen our family doctor and all received some lovely booster shots and given blood for tests.  We have been so blessed in already having a vehicle kindly given to us by some generous supporters, already registered in our names by my dad.  The kids are set up with warm clothing.  And we have enjoyed some sweet fellowship time with Nathan’s family and even a brief visit by Sarah’s sister and niece as they hit a homeschooling conference.  Now it’s time to move out to Wisconsin to see Sarah’s dad and brother and then visit our LBT office in Chicago.  Thanks to so many who have prayed for us and helped us along the way.

We arrived safely in the States and were so kindly met by Nathan’s parents, brother Joel and sister Andrea at the airport. The kids survived the flights with minimal disturbance to the other passengers. It was so great to be with my family, I Nathan, despite travel exhaustion had to stay up talking rather than going to bed that first night!

Our theme this past month was keep moving forward, even when we were ready to collapse. And we now have left Nasuan, closed down the house for 6 months – thanks to the help of my mother Deb and the tireless (or should I say tiring!) work of Sarah.  Now we are in Accra and have had a few team meetings and an end of term debriefing.  There is definitely the feeling that a weight has been lifted from our tired backs.

Now we are preparing for a one week missionary retreat for West Africa LBT missionaries.  In another week we will be departing Ghana for our furlough in the USA with a few day stay over with our friends and fellow missionaries in Germany.  Please keep this time of transition in prayer for us and for our kids that flights would go well, that we stay healthy as we travel.

Without having watched a ‘bounce’ of college basketball this season, this bush missionary gives his pick to win it all. I like teams that have good guard play to do well in the tournament. And having a great go to guy who gets hot in the tournament is crucial as well. So who is my pick? Let me tell you I used to be a seasoned college basketball fan though my in depth knowlege this year is admittedly low – Got to go with the Buckeyes. Evan Turner is the go to guy and their guard play is excellent. They are going to have to rebound and if they can do that, they are going to win it all! Esala – out.