Apr-Jul: I'll be in the South Pacific.
Where are you? What are you doing?
Over the last month, I have been settling in to a new home and way of life in the Dallas, Texas, area. Late last week, my official Texas driver’s license arrived in the mail. Yes, it appears I’m here to stay … sort of. More on that in a minute.
I have accepted a position as a publicity writer with Wycliffe Bible Translators International, and I’ve moved into an office at our headquarters in southern Dallas. I live about 10 minutes away, in a city called Duncanville. I’ve found a church in Duncanville that I think I will enjoy becoming a part of.
My international assignment with Wycliffe means that I will be involved in projects from many areas of the world, not just one. As regular readers know, I spent most of last year in Papua New Guinea, and PNG will continue to be one of my major projects over the next several months. Because PNG contains so many of the world’s languages (more than 10%), it is a major priority in our publicity work.
An international assignment also means that I will be working on materials for distribution all over the world, not just inside the United States. Approximately 50 countries have Wycliffe organizations or Wycliffe-affiliated organizations, and those of us in the international communications office work to help all of those organizations, as well as various other partners.
For example, some of my work has recently appeared in Wycliffe Canada’s Word Alive, in Wycliffe Hungary’s Wycliffe Hírek (see the Winter 2006 edition in PDF), and in Wycliffe Finland’s Sanalla Sanoen (see pp. 10-13 in the Numero 16/2006 PDF).
In December, Wycliffe International Prayer Coordinator Jan Crowell asked me to write a Wycliffe Prayer Focus Bulletin all about PNG. The bulletin is distributed widely both inside and outside the organization, and Jan says it reaches at least one million people who pray. I just discovered that part of that bulletin was converted to a radio spot by Mission Network News. It aired on hundreds of radio stations in many nations: Headway made for audio Scripture recordings in Papua New Guinea.
From PNG, I brought back several thousand digital photographs (many gigabytes!), many of which still need to be sorted and culled. I have interview notes and observations jotted in notebooks, assorted computer files, and in my head. Everything needs to be put into readily usable formats and distributed.
So, most of my time at the office these days is spent at a computer. However, there was some physical labor involved in finishing off the distribution of Living Word in Papua New Guinea, the special booklet commemorating 50 years of ministry in PNG. Some of you came to Dallas in November to help with the first major mailing of the booklets (thanks again!), and we have been distributing them slowly in smaller bits ever since. Just last week, I mailed off the final 628 copies. About 27,000 booklets were distributed; they went to every US state and about 40 other countries. Pray that God will use them to raise up more partners and workers for Papua New Guinea!
Even as I continue working on PNG materials, we are preparing for a new adventure. Later this year, I will spend about two months in Cameroon (west and central Africa) with a photographer from Wycliffe Canada and a friend from LeTourneau University who is exploring service with Wycliffe. You’ll hear a lot more about Cameroon as the time approaches.
Remember, our goal in all of these endeavors is to tell the stories of lives changed through Bible translation, literacy, and language work so that people in many lands will discover ways to pray, give, and get involved in this ministry.
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Comments
Comment from Corey Adams
Time: February 6, 2007, 10:10 pm
Wow David. Sounds like there is a lot of work for you to do. I am looking forward to whatever photos you post from the time in PNG. The several gigs of data. Have any photos from the Folopa NT dedication come into Wycliffe International Headquarters there in Dallas? I have only seen one photo and one report (from Bruce Smith) of Wycliffe Associates. Keep up the good work. God, blesim yu.
Comment from Mike “Yogi” South
Time: February 25, 2007, 4:32 pm
Hey David, or Bolt,
I was just looking at some old 41ers blogs and came across a link to yours. Your work with Wycliffe sounds very interesting, and it sounds like you really enjoy it also. Do you know when you are going to be in Cameroon? I’m actually in Mali right now working with Avant. Then I am going to be going to Cameroon for a while before heading to Spain. Maybe I’ll run into if you’re there.
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