Copy
Update from Matthew and Rachel Harley
View this email in your browser
Dear friends and family, the semester at TCNN came to an end last Friday, and so I've finally have time for a long-overdue update...
Digital Media to Help Literacy (Matthew)
A year and a half ago, I took a step of faith and accepted our first set of students for a new M.A. track in Language Documentation, not knowing exactly what each of the course modules would contain and who would teach them all. Now that we are 3/4 of the way through the programme, I can say I've definitely been on a steep learning curve, but seeing what our students have come up with has made it all worthwhile. Two students created trilingual dictionary smartphone apps, complete with audio recordings, pictures, and example sentences. Resources like this help to spread the vision for language development within their communities, and also help with literacy skills as people see the written words as they listen to them. The apps work offline, and can be shared freely to other smartphones via bluetooth, as well as being available online (soon) via SIL's dictionary website, webonary.

After showing the app in his community, one student reported that it had renewed people's interest in their language (Pyam), and had even prompted parents to help their children learn to read and write the language. The app should also help the recently started Bible translation project in the language, as translators can use it to consider a broader range of options in translating certain words. This coming semester, another student is going to work on a storybook app, containing several illustrated short stories in his language, where words are highlighted to track the story as they being read.
The Pyam dictionary app, produced by one of our students.
Another student made a short video documentary about the disappearing art of mat-weaving in his community. These traditional mats are still in demand, but there are not many people left who know how to make them. He produced a 5-min and a 30-min version, with subtitles both in English and in his language. In the process, he not only saw how to weave mats, but learned several new words, which added to his growing appreciation of his language and culture. Many people in Nigeria have a negative attitude to their local language, thinking they are somehow not acceptable in the wider society, but as more indigenous language resources like this are shared, attitudes do begin to change. Proper filming and video-editing techniques were also new skills for both of us, but he did a great job, as you can see if you click on the picture below. He is also helping me put together some online cultural materials as part of Wycliffe's celebration of 2019 as the UNESCO's International Year of Indigenous Languages.
How to weave a traditional Dza mat
Family news (Rachel)
David turned 5 in November and we celebrated with a superhero birthday party in the garden where superheroes tried to outsmart the supervillains complete with supersoakers! He’s enjoyed his year at nursery school and I've been doing a little bit of work with him in the afternoons to help prepare him for Kindergarten (the equivalent of Reception in the U.K.), which he'll start in January. This will be quite a change for him as he'll be doing full days. It’s been really lovely to see him read and write his first words, and see his enthusiasm and confidence grow. We all enjoyed seeing him in his first ever Christmas presentation last week, although I had to restrain Anna from running up onto the stage to join him!
David in his first Christmas school production.
Anna Miracle, now two and a half, continues to be a great source of wonder, fun and…work! Her latest exploits read like titles of chapters in a book from the ‘My Naughty Little Sister’ series: Anna and the green glue experiment, Anna and the mystery of the car that won’t start, Anna and the stuck door, Anna and the blocked toilet, Anna and the missing keys, Anna and the missing.... Hey, where IS Anna?
Before and after having her 'Christmas hair' put in.
Every day, we enjoy walking to and from David's school. On the way, we like to sing songs (Anna has the rather lovely idea that everything has a song). She also loves to point things out and ask lots of questions: "What’s that noise, mummy?", "What’s that smell?", "Can you see that goat, mummy?", "Look at that lizard! Can you sing the lizard song?", "Why’s that baby on its mummy’s back?", "Why is there smoke coming from that wall?", "Where are those chickens going, mummy?" "What are you smiling at mummy?" "Where's David?" "Where's Daddy?" "Where's Helen? Can you sing the Helen song?" "Look, I can see the moon! Can you sing the moon song? Helen doesn’t know the moon song!"
Anna and Helen having a tea party.
The Year Ahead (Matthew)
Last year, we completed the Nigerian side of David's and Anna's adoptions, and have been thankful that we've also been granted visitors' visas for them each time we've wanted to visit the U.K., since they only have Nigerian passports. However, Nigerian adoptions are not currently recognised by the U.K., so for us to get U.K. passports for them (to avoid the tedious process of applying for visitors' visas each time), we'll have to go through the U.K. adoption process. And to do that, we'll have to be living in the U.K., which means applying for permanent visas for them - a much more complicated, expensive and uncertain process than that for visitors' visas. We hope to begin this process in January, and if all goes well, we could be moving back to the U.K. next summer for an extended period. This would mean monumental changes for our family - finding a place to live, a school for David, figuring out my new work assignment, saying goodbye to many close friends - to mention but a few, and that's only after the lengthy visa applications, which I'm not particularly looking forward to. We'll need a good U.K. immigration lawyer to help us, and we'll have to do a fair bit of travelling around for paperwork, police checks, medical reports and the like, so we'd very much value your prayers. It's good to remember that even in the midst of uncertainty, our true home is with the Lord:
Lord, through all the generations,
you have been our home.
Before the mountains were born,
before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from beginning to end, you are God.
Psalm. 90:1-2 (NLT)
Stories that touch the heart (Rachel)
I never stop giving thanks for our special family and the unusual way the Lord brought us together. It’s always such a joy to share these stories with people who are interested. Recently, I was travelling with David & Anna by keke, a form of transport like a rickshaw that they absolutely love. An elderly man was sitting beside us asked about them and was quite moved by their stories. When we reached our destination, he wouldn’t let me pay for our fare but said that he’d like to pay for us. He didn’t look like the kind of person who would have much money to spare and I blinked back the tears as I thanked him for his kind offer. I’m often touched by the way the Lord uses each of us to encourage others and spread His love!
Ethno-Arts (Rachel)
Peter Nwufo, my colleague and former mentee, continues to do a great job running the Ethno-Arts Department for SIL Nigeria. He recently ran a two-week workshop to train our three interns along with some students from a partner mission organisation. This course teaches how various cultural art forms can be used to help people interact with Scripture in their language, and includes sessions on music, storytelling, drama and trauma healing. I was invited to teach a session on dance which I was really looking forward to until my childcare plans fell through. In the end, I took Anna along, and she was kept quite happily entertained by some of the facilitators and some well-timed snacks. Here she is having a popcorn moment with ‘Uncle Peter’!
Christmas and New Year (Matthew)
We're hoping to have a good rest over Christmas and enjoy time with friends and neighbours. Just after New Year, we're planning to visit Yankari game reserve with some of our neighbours, to swim in the warm springs and do battle with the bold baboons that take any opportunity to nip in to your chalet and make a right mess in search of snacks! (A friend calls it 'the baboonic plague'). It's a 3 hour drive from Jos, and it'll be the children's first time there, so it should be a lot of fun.
We give thanks for:
  • The good work that our students have produced this year.
  • For God's faithfulness in seeing us through another semester.
  • Our visiting lecturers, including one from Israel who taught Biblical Hebrew as a spoken language.
  • The University of Jos finally approving all our students' degree results after many years of delay.
  • God's protection through times of unrest in Jos and throughout Nigeria.
Please pray for:
  • The application process for David and Anna's permanent visas.
  • For David as he moves up to Kindergarten in January.
  • For God to provide the teachers we need at TCNN next year, and for my replacement as HoD, if we end up moving in the summer.
  • Peace throughout the country during the national and regional elections in February.
  • Us to grow in the love and knowledge of God's goodness more each day.
With our love and thanks for all your encouragement and support, and wishing you a very happy Christmas and New Year,

Matthew, Rachel, David & Anna
xxxx
Bonus Geeky Greek bit (Matthew)
This semester, I've also been teaching some Biblical Greek, but sometimes it seems like even the Greek doesn't help you in understanding Scripture. I've long been puzzled by the familiar words from the Lord's prayer, "Lead us not into temptation". Do we really need to ask God not to lead us into temptation, as though that would be something he might do if we didn't ask him? Even Pope Francis publicly declared a year ago that this is not a good translation. Most other English versions follow the traditional wording or something similar, although there are some major variations (e.g. The Message:  'Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil'; New Living Translation: 'And don't let us yield to temptation'). The original Greek does seem to support the traditional rendering, however, literally saying, 'And not may you lead/bring us into temptation'.
Dig a little deeper though, and you find that underneath the Greek word for 'bring' is a Hebrew/Aramaic word which means 'allow to enter' and also that 'enter into temptation' means 'yield to temptation'. So the real meaning is something more like 'Don't allow us to yield to temptation', or to put it more naturally, 'Help us to overcome our temptations'. This insight makes a lot of sense in the context of what follows: "And deliver us from the evil one'. In other words, we're asked to pray for God to help us in our struggles both from within and without. It's just this kind of digging that we're training our students at TCNN to do, so that before they help to translate the Scriptures into another language, they first get to grips with what the text is actually saying.
Some women on their way home from the Iten New Testament dedication, holding their newly purchased copies. 
Copyright © 2018 Matthew & Rachel Harley, All rights reserved.

Thanks to all who support us and enable us to be here in Nigeria. You can give online here, or you can send a cheque to: Wycliffe UK Ltd, The Clare Charity Centre, Wycombe Road, Saunderton, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP14 4BF.

Our mailing address is:
Matthew & Rachel Harley
ELM House,
P.O.Box 953,
Jos, Plateau State
Nigeria

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp