|
|
In Kathmandu with consultants, Eliya and Manie
Dear <<First Name>>,
Greetings from a blustery and chilly UK. We trust you and your family are doing well. We are well, except for Barry's injured shoulder, but it's getting there! God has been reminding us of his Father's heart towards us, mentioned in Deut 1.31 to the Israelites in their wilderness experience "...God carried you, as a father carries his son..." We have seen his tender care throughout our lives, as we know you have too!
A big thank you for your prayers and for taking time to read our update.
|
|
|
Personal News
Two days before Barry flew to Nepal, we celebrated Julia's birthday (see photo with Lisa, Daniel and Mars). Timothy, whose job is online computer work, left the UK 4 months ago to spend time in Vietnam, Bali and Thailand and has just flown to South Africa. We think he caught the travel bug due to being a missionary kid! Daniel is still nursing, but is considering other possible careers.
It has been a busy year so far with 3 trips abroad for Barry. Julia has been working hard in her role as an editor with our training department. In between her work she visits her mom, now 94, babysits Mars about 1 day a week, and does her weekly children's outreach club. We are still running a weekly church homegroup and are involved in various aspects of the Sunday services.
There have been no sporting activities at all for us 6 months now...the long winter is not over yet! Barry hurt his shoulder about 2 weeks ago in Uganda and, although able to get around, is still in a lot of pain as he keeps re-injuring it because he has to keep using it. His left thigh has been swollen for the past few months. Though he is wearing a compression stocking and massaging it, nothing has helped. He has another doctor's appointment in a few weeks. Forty years in a wheelchair is taking its toll.
|
|
|
Consultants in training in Nepal
We had 36 people together in Kathmandu, Nepal, from 15 to 26 January, to train 24 new consultants in training, as well as to recognize 3 New International consultants, and 2 new national consultants, all from 1ndia. The students came from 7 surrounding countries, most of them being too sensitive to name here!
The two week training was going to be in Pokhara, but due to my being in a wheelchair, a decision was made to rather have it nearer the international airport in Kathamndu. Had the venue not been changed perhaps many of us would have been on the flight that crashed on the 15th January going from Kathmandu to Pokhara.
Barry also had a bout of food poisoning, but thankfully got over it within about 36 hours! His wheelchair also brought enroute home, and he was given a spare one at the airport to London to make it home on the train! The broken one (now fixed) was delivered by courier 2 days later.
Please watch TWFTW's excellent new promotional video https://youtu.be/y1WoJdkfSNc
|
|
|
|
Rimini, Italy
Barry attended an interagency workshop/think tank in the beautiful town of Rimini, Italy, from the 7th to 10th of February on how to train Bible translation consultants. It was a very stimulating time of sharing ideas of what is working well in our various organisations and of learning from each other by sharing curricula, mentoring techniques and innovations in Bible translation.
|
|
|
Training new consultants in Uganda
After Italy, Barry flew to Uganda to train our Bible translation consultants in the region. The 32 participants of the two-week training event spent had a closing ceremony on the shores of Lake Victoria, enjoying a boat ride and also eating delicious fish and chips. Please zoom in to see the waiters!! These marabou storks would lurk around the tables, ominously close at times, waiting to grab the food off the plate of an unsuspecting diner.
It was great to see the passion of the new team in Uganda, where we currently have 10 translation projects, as well as consultants in training who came from surrounding countries.
|
|
|
|
Twenty-nine people were given a certificate of attendance at the closing ceremony. Our work is expanding in central and southern Africa with projects in Kenya (6), Uganda (10), DRC (3), Malawi (5), Tanzania (23), Zambia (6), Zimbabwe (5) and Namibia (6), hence the need for more consultants.
|
|
|
Praises:
- Praise God for our faithful prayer and financial supporters (photo above of our monthly TWFTW prayer group that meets in our home).
- The 2-week training of consultants-in-training (CITs) in Nepal (Jan) and Uganda (Feb) went well representing 50 new CITs in total.
Prayers:
- Pray for our upcoming 2-week CIT programme in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from the 15th to 29th May. CITs will come from Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan, Kenya, Cameroon and possibly Liberia.
- Pray for Julia's editing of our teaching materials in the Diploma in Bible translation programme. She has just completed editing four 350-page manuals on Translation principles in Nepalese, Swahili, Vietnamese and Serbian, which has been a huge task. There are more of these textbooks in the pipeline. She is preparing online training for translators, proofreaders and editors of our training materials.
- Pray for Barry's shoulder and leg to heal and also for the many responsibilities he has in his role as Vice President for Bible Translation Consultant Services. He is also VP over TWFTW's work in Europe (4 Roma projects in Slovakia (1), Serbia/Croatia (3) with new work starting in Albania soon) and 57 projects in Northern Africa: Ethiopia (30), Nigeria (20), Kenya (6) and Sudan (3).
|
|
All our love,
Barry and Julia
|
|
|
|
|
