We have decided to move forward with assignments based in north Texas, developing computer tools to facilitate good writing system development for the worldwide Bible Translation movement. We took time to consider, pray and consult with you all, and now we’re moving forward
Rather than waiting for some other reason to use this title, I’ll go with the end of the most recent Ebola outbreak in DR Congo: [contentcards url=”http://www.who.int/emergencies/ebola-DRC-2017/en/” target=”_blank”]
When looking up the latest on DRC elections forcast, I found the following post from yesterday on the Kofi Annan foundation’s website: [contentcards url=”http://www.kofiannanfoundation.org/supporting-democracy-and-elections-with-integrity/appeal-democratic-transition-drc/” target=”_blank”] This is in the context where questions of the possibility of an election are being raised on the basis of both violence and funding: [contentcards Read more…
I have found myself saying a number of times over the years, “I didn’t get into missions to do ___.” Fill in the blank with supervising other people, managing money, raising money, helping people get along with one another, keep my family in working electricity and water; there are so Read more…
In an earlier post I mentioned work I was doing to show the importance of tone in the Bantu D30 languages. Here I’d like to go through the conjugation of one verb in one language, to show how tone works, in relationship to consonants and vowels. To start with, here Read more…
As the democratic process in Congo seems to be winding down, it’s weird to think that we saw its beginnings. When we first arrived in Africa, we spend three months in the village house-sitting for a colleague, and learning language and culture. It was during those three months that the Read more…
It hasn’t always been easy describing what I do to a broad audience, but for some time now on immigration forms requiring a short answer, I indicate my profession as “Missionary Linguist”. I heard a chapel talk at the first SIL summer training I went to, in Eugene, OR, on Read more…
After a couple days of struggle, and finally giving up, Kim made one more call. God parted the clouds, and let the rainbows through. The tickets we got today are a bit more expensive than the ones we originally had, but they’re actually better, in terms of the connections in Read more…
At long last (after 70 days, 10 weeks, or 51 work days, as you like) we have our passports back! And they contain valid visas! So now that we have official permission to enter Congo, we need to rebook tickets to Uganda, as well as organize logistics to get into Read more…
It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve written, so I thought I should post something about how things are going. Not because I have something new to say; things are still pretty much where we last left them, with our passports in Washington, D.C., and us unable to do anything Read more…