Operation Graduation! 

We feel that continuing education is important to our ministry. Wycliffe has asked Matthew to finish the master's degree in descriptive linguistics that he started in 2012. (He has already completed 7 undergraduate courses and 5 graduate courses of the degree between 2012 and 2014).

The one-time costs of these final semesters are above and beyond our normal monthly budget (see section below). In this final set, course number 1 is in progress and already paid for, courses 2-4 are scheduled for the Spring semester and payment is due soon, and items 5 and 6 will come in a later semester. After a significant discount for being a Wycliffe member, tuition and fees come out to an estimated $8,156.50, of which $1,625 has already been paid. This means that we still need $6,531.50 to cover the rest of the courses and fees.

As we are asking you, our partners, for help with these one-time costs, we would like to share with you some of the content and relevance of the courses I plan to take.

The Bible Translator's Assistant (taking online now): 
I'm currently taking this course and will finish in December. TBTA contains analyzed texts for Old Testament books, marking features like plural, tense, and gender of each word and phrase. I am learning to break down a language in TBTA to create rules that will generate a simple draft of Old Testament books. TBTA is a complex, but powerful, tool.
Immediate Value: This tool could soon be used in Africa to help Bible Translators draft the Old Testament.

Discourse Analysis (starts Feb 6):
This course covers how different languages structure texts and how the resulting structure may affect communication and translation. As we want natural texts and want to avoid mistakes like starting Genesis with the local equivalent of "Once upon a time", Discourse is a key part of the translation and linguistics puzzle.
Immediate Value: Discourse makes the difference between "robotic" and natural texts. Some of our tools include discourse analysis features, and until now I have been unable to help translators to use them. 

Semantics and Pragmatics (starts Feb 6): 
Semantics examines the relationship between word form and meaning. We will learn how multiple words and grammatical markers combine to represent sentence meanings in a predictable way, and how a sentence is more than the sum of its parts.
Immediate Value: African Languages, specifically the Bantu languages of Cameroon have very complex rules and word categories that I have not explored fully, but our translators need to understand and harness them to produce appropriate texts.

Teaching Across Cultures (starts April 4th):
As much of my responsibility includes teaching adults overseas, this course will help me to sharpen my skills in lesson preparation and presentation, while taking into account some of the personal and cultural factors affecting teaching and learning.
Immediate Value: Studying and applying new training methods will improve my workshops immediately.

Issues in Descriptive Linguistics: Phonology (starts October 17):
This course serves as a capstone seminar for students in the Descriptive Linguistics concentration. Phonology focuses on the study of phonemes, "units of sound (speech) which distinguish one word from another in a particular language". This course dives deeper into phonology and also the academic disciplines of critical reading, critical discussion, and writing academic papers.
Immediate Value: As I continue to maintain the Cameroon Keyboard, I need a deeper understanding of the phonology and phonetics behind the letters that are typed.

Thesis (starts June 4):
The final part of my MA degree is the thesis, which means that I will complete both a thesis project and paper. There are several ideas for projects available, but what I know is that it will be a topic related to my interest in Language Technology. We may return to Virginia for the summer to save costs while Matthew is working on the thesis project.
Immediate Value: My thesis will likely tackle a felt need in Language Technology, unblocking or making easier tasks that Bible translators or linguists face every day.

A Significant Need: Monthly Partnership

We continue to trust in God that our financial needs will be meet each month. It is easy to worry, but God is faithful and has brought up many people to give when the need is great. Over the last few months we have received many one-time gifts that have helped fill in some of the financial gaps. Thank you!

Our need is great. In our last newsletter we stated our need was $1,377 per month. We had partners increase their monthly giving and a new church partner with us. We praise God for this! Unfortunately, as we confirmed pledges, we found that there was a miscalculation and our monthly need is actually $1,540 per month in financial partnership. We must be at 100% before Wycliffe will release us to return to Cameroon.

We trust that the Lord will continue to bring people into our lives that have a heart for missions. People that feel called to partner with us financially and in prayer each month so that we can serve in Bible Translation.

Since our return to Virginia for our furlough we have had the joy of seeing many of our partners and have been blessed by them. We have also connected with many new people. It is a joy and encouragement to us to connect with our partners.

Many people have reached out to connect us with their Church. Thank you! If you have friends, neighbors, small groups or Churches that we can connect with please let us know.

Most importantly, pray that we will trust in God always. That we will not worry about our monthly needs but trust that God will provide.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

- Jeremiah 17:7-8

Praise and Prayers

- Praise that Matthew's time in Switzerland for meetings and Cameroon for a workshop were productive and went well. Praise that he was able to see many friends while in Cameroon. 
- Prayers for peace in Cameroon.
- Praise for the many people who advocate for our Wycliffe ministry. 
- Prayers that we find more opportunities to share about how God has called us to serve in Cameroon and with Wycliffe Bible Translators. 
- Praise for the one-time gifts that we have received! Praise for the partners that have increased their monthly gifts and those that have joined our monthly partnership team financially! We know that God is providing. Prayers that  people will feel lead to join our partnership team and give financially monthly. 
- Prayers for our remaining time in Virginia. Prayers that we find time to rest during this busy holiday season. We will be on the road often as we spend time with our friends and family. 

Why we serve!