The newest addition to our friends at the Baptist Medical Center are the Dickens family.  They have a nice blog we’d like to offer to you.  Joel tells the story of delivering triplets – unexpectedly.  And they have a nice picture albumn of eating fufu!

The KOLIBITRAP (Komba Literacy and Bible Translation Project) team recently held a meeting for area pastors and church leaders. While they wanted to update these people on the progress of the project, they also hoped to challenge the church community to contribute financially. So we weren’t surprised when an announcement was made in our church regarding this.

There was animated discussion of how it should be collected, and finally the decision was made to take an offering the following Sunday. However, there was a twist. The men would give in one basket and the women in another. Yep, it was a competition. The following Sunday the offering was taken accordingly and immediately counted. However, it wasn’t until the very end of announcement time which is after the close of the service, that the winner was declared. They know how to build up suspense. I wish you could have seen the laughter and smiles by everyone during this time. They’d found a really fun way to give. Oh-and the winner was…Hmm. I think I’ll play their game too. Keep reading to find the answer tucked in the prayers and praise.

DEAR FAITHFUL FRIEND.
As I write this, we have been back in our home for two weeks after a 2 1/2 month stay in the capital city of Accra. Our time there was productive in many ways despite our strong desire to get back north to our home in Nasuan and introduce our friends to our new baby, Isaac Emmanuel. Nathan, along with every Ghanaian who knows we’ve been a family of little girls up to this point, is thrilled to have a “friend in the house,” as the people here express it.

In hindsight, we are grateful to God that the extra time allowed Nathan to more adequately assess and address various situations as LBT’s representative in Ghana. One of these blessings was working on the official agreement with the Bible Society of Ghana. Thank you for your prayers in this matter.

Unfortunately, there have been a couple stark reminders lately of spiritual warfare taking place in our lives and the lives of those with whom we work. Please pray with us as we stand on the words of 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 which says, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

So how is the translation going?

Ah, I’m glad you asked because we have Good News!

Good News, you say?

Well, have you heard of The Good News Bible?

Maybe it’s on your shelf. It’s published by the American Bible Society, and did you know that our little Komba Bible Project also needs a publisher?

The good news is that the Bible Society of Ghana is coming on board to be the publisher of the Komba Bible Project. The Bible Society of Ghana is part of the United Bible Societies which has affiliates in many countries of the world. Check out their website at: http://www.biblesociety.org/.
What’s so good about working together with the Bible Society? Let me highlight several things.

1. Professional Approach: The translation task is taken very seriously. They have international standards for quality, output, and translation training. They have a strong focus on research in translation issues like ethics, translation style, power dynamics, Biblical interpretation, and more.
2. Regular Output expectations: The Bible Societies have set up standards of progress for all aspects of the translation task. If a translator is drafting a book of the Bible, he is expected to draft a certain number of verses per day based on the difficulty level of the book he is translating. There are five levels of difficulty. The Gospel of Luke is rated a three, and a translator should draft 12 verses per day. All other stages have similar progress measurement standards. These goals help the work move forward more steadily.
3. National Recognition: The Bible Society of Ghana is seen as the primary organization that facilitates translation and sales of Bibles in Ghana, being well represented in the churches of Ghana. Even the wife of Ghana’s new president is a member of the Bible Society of Ghana and she once served as 1st Vice President of the BSG..
4. Relationship with the Consultant: Every translation has a primary Bible translation consultant who oversees and validates translation quality. When I attended linguistics training in Dallas, Dr. Fabian Dapila, a Ghanaian, sat next to me in class. At that time he was a consultant in East Africa but was sent to the US for extra training in linguistics. Who knew that seven years later we would be working together in Ghana with him overseeing the project I would be involved in?

Thank you to Rev. Kofi Owusu for his comments and his suggested edits have been made to this post.

• Praise God for the safe arrival of Isaac and for continued good health and growth these past two months of life.
• Praise God that Nathan’s mother was able to come to Ghana and lend a hand during baby time. She helped us stay on top of housework, food prep, and Karissa’s schoolwork in addition to being a terrific grammy and mom.
• Praise God for a peaceful election process in Ghana and transition of power to the new president. Pray that the leaders of Ghana would be wise in the decisions they make, seeking the good of the people and not just their own interests.
• Praise God for faithful prayer and financial supporters. God continues to meet our needs.
• Praise God for the sacrificial gifts given by Komba Christians that also support this work. Praise God for the good natured fun and joy exhibited by everyone at Nasuan’s church, even as the women were declared victors. Now pray that the churches would use the translated portions as they are made available. That’s the real win for all of them.
• Praise God that Christina Riddle is back helping us with home schooling and a myriad of other things. She adds much to our lives and sure knows how to love our kids.
• Pray for Nathan and the translation team as they pick up the pace to reach the translation goals set forth by the Bible Society.

Growing up hearing “the man in the middle” was always followed by “Bill Cartwright”. You Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan fans may remember. I just read a good article about Gamal Helal who has been the translator in the middle for American Presidents in the Middle East for more than ten years. Read the BBC article. His observations and experiences are very appropriate for Bible translators as well. Read the rest of this entry »