New videos have been added to the video page. Titles include, “Community” and “Foxes and Rabbits.
Videos
Please take some time to watch some of the videos that illustrate the unique challenges to translating the Bible into the heart language of the people.

Harmattan blew in hard these past couple weeks. Evenings and mornings have found us bundled up in long sleeves, pants, socks, and now gardening gloves. With temps of 74 F and a humidity of 30%, even are hands get cold. The other day when Karissa was baking bread she realized that oven mitts are pretty cozy too.

(by Sarah) Isaac just “wrote” his first poem, inspired by the picture on his dad’s shirt. It goes like this, “The world is a ball.”

(by Sarah) We celebrated epiphany with a campfire and hotdog roast. For dessert we roasted caramels (yep-you read that right) and eased them between Ritz crackers that were already housing Hershey chocolate squares.
We then sat back and enjoyed the fire and night sky and the idea that the Magi also probably sat under the stars around campfires during their journey towards the Christ.
Happy New Year and joy in your journey through 2012.

(by Sarah) Last week Aili endured a terrible stomach virus. For 2 days she couldn’t even keep a sip of water down. For a couple days after that, every sip put her back on the couch cradling “her bowl” that to our relief she didn’t need. With our harmattan humidy at 30% and such limited food/drink retention I was especially worried about dehydration and actually dug out oral re-hydration powder to mix in whatever liquid she was willing to consume (I think I’ve used it 1 other time–we’re mostly healthy when it comes to tummy issues). At one point she moaned, “I’m so hungry and thirsty and tired of being sick.”
Then suddenly she was better. She went from tiny bites of food one day to triple helpings the next. She was eating my “planned” left-overs, smiling and batting her eyelashes at me as she asked for still another helping. It was a happy sight.

(by Sarah) Christmas and the days surrounding it found us with other Ghana LBT missionaries for a mini-retreat. This may sound like an odd time to gather, but with translation offices and many businesses closed during the holidays, it allowed us to gather without cutting into normal work schedules. Plus, it’s like getting together with family (some actually are related).

We enjoyed worship services, Bible study, and focused prayer times. Our family had a great time caroling in the wards of the Baptist mission hospital, handing out oranges and big smiles to patients. We even took a few decorations for the place we stayed, creating a festive background for favorite family holiday foods and gift opening.

Mid-day on Christmas, about 45 people gathered for a grand feast. Our “special -order” ham from a new meat store in Tamale greeted our empty plates (it didn’t look like ham but mostly tasted like it). By the end of the line, there was no more room for the watermelon exuding Christmas cheer. Don’t worry, I went back for it. In my opinion, a Christmas feast in Ghana would be incomplete without juicy watermelon joy.

(by Sarah) Sunday lunch is usually soup. Church services in Nasuan can be pretty unpredictable in their start and end times. Soup is flexible.
I generally consider 11 a.m. to be the target start time for church. Today we headed out the door at 11:15 because my cheeseburger soup was particularly popular and 2nd and 3rd helpings were being consumed. When we arrived at church, I wasn’t surprised to see 2 sets of drums sitting outside and rows of empty pews inside; sometimes it’s like that, but I decided not to wait out my time in the church. I took the kids and headed for some shade where I read aloud from a children’s Bible. Around 11:45 the song leader passed by and wondered if I was going to church. I asked if it was going to happen. He gave me a funny look.
I finally started hearing the drums–our call to come to worship. I was the 2nd woman to sit down. The choir was sent on a mission to collect more benches. This confused me because we had quite a few benches in the church already with very few people to fill them. We usually don’t plan ahead like this but wait until it’s standing room only to rally up some more seating space.
Then I saw them–empty grain bags next to a young man holding a notebook and pen. Somehow I missed the memo that it was harvest Sunday. What a great surprise! (But not for the kids–they knew that Harvest Sunday was another way of saying “extra long church service.”) As people entered, they gave their gifts, which were written down. I hadn’t brought any head-pans with grain, but they were happy to take my cash. There was so much singing and dancing. I wish you could have been there. For some reason these types of celebrations transport me back to OT times when I imagine people might be worshipping as they present their harvest offerings to the Lord.
And wouldn’t you know it–before long every bench was packed out with people; kids sat on the the floor and many laps.
I let my kids head home before the announcements, and I soon followed. By the time I arrived home, they had all helped themselves to more soup. It was 2:45.

Here is a nice link to a great interview by Krista Tippet with Mr. Binyavanga Wainaina which I have resonated with for a number of years now.  Mr. Wainaina says that, “Many people arrive in Africa to assume that it is a blank empty space and their good will, and desire and  guilt will fix it. And that to me, is not any different from the first people who arrived and colonized us. This power – this power to help is just about as dangerous as hard power.”  I find his approach very sensible, and a clarion call to all involved in ‘acts of mercy’ or ‘development’ or ‘mission’ of any kind.

It’s a great interview if you have the time, called “The Ethics of Global Aid: One Kenyan’s Perspective”. Mr. Wainaina gets at the same tension that Dr. Herrmann is speaking about in my previous post in more secular terms.

Dr. Erik Herrmann, a friend of mine, recently posted a nice article on compassion and mercy here.  I particularly enjoyed this quote, “Care for the poor and disadvantaged begins to move beyond charity to community when the flow of gifts can move in both directions.” I find this idea resonates with the stance or posture I want to have working in Ghana doing Bible translation.  Dr. Herrmann continues, “Compassion means that we too are “needy” with self-sufficiency giving way to solidarity. And from this vantage point we are in a better position to point beyond ourselves to the One who has had mercy on us all.”  Even the words “poor and needy” usually lock us into the benevolent helper mode, which moves us out of  bi-directional, reciprocal relationship.  The attitude of ‘benevolent’ helper who unilaterally acts, is in danger of usurping God’s role and leads missionaries or merciful do gooders perilously close to Adam’s first sin, when he ‘over reached’ and wanted to become like God. Read the rest of this entry »

I promised to write more on skopos theory, I know all two of you who read this are waiting with bated breath.  Actually I think the wiki sites may do a better job of saying it simply than I can.

Here’s the definition from Wiktionary for skopos theory: (translation studies) The idea that translating and interpreting should primarily take into account the function of both the source and target text.   I also like this description from wikipedia on skopos theory. Read the rest of this entry »