Just a couple of links
In true blogger style, I’m going to have a post with nothing much more than a couple of links now.
I’ve been working on some web stuff recently, so I present you with…
Our team blog (If you’re reading this now, you know what a blog is)
Our team wiki (Kind of a collection of documents, nothing that interesting for non technical readers yet)
Also, I thought I’d just throw out a link to Shanon’s blog. There’s some cool photos from events around Calgary.
Look forward to seeing you soon!
The trouble with translation
It’s quickly getting to the time when I will be back in the UK. It’s both happy and sad to think about coming back. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone back home again, however I have been trying very hard to stay here in Canada (I’ve just passed the 50 résumés sent mark).
Right now, I have a ticket home booked for the 5th of May.
I realise that I have posted very little about Bible translation itself on this blog, so I’ll share a story I heard from someone who has worked on a translation project…
During a translation project, a team experienced just how important it is to carefully check that the potential readers of a new Bible understand the translated text fully. When translating the gospel message, they wrote about how John accused the Pharisees of their sin, and how he baptised people in the water.
The passage was read to a few people from the group receiving the translation. Afterwards, the translators asked the people to explain it back to them… “John drowned the people in the water because they were sinners”.
Thus proving that Bible translation is far from straight forward. (The solution in this case was to be more specific in the phrase used to describe baptism. The team also stated that John took the people out of the water as well as putting them in, the passage was understood.)
Adventures in Serving
Hi all, thanks for your comments and e-mails, all your support is very much appreciated. It really helps to have you all praying and writing.
Work at Wycliffe is coming along well – as ever it’s hard to show you any progress, but every day we are closer to a new piece of working translation software. Recently, I have been working on allowing users to type using complex input methods. This means that we will soon be able to get text from languages like Thai into the program, where the specialised Wycliffe software can do it’s stuff in accurately displaying the characters.
On a completely unrelated subject, I’d like to share an expedition from a couple of weeks ago.
Occasionally, Shanon and her family go out to help the homeless people living on the streets of Calgary. They went out a couple of weeks ago, and I joined them.
We made many lunches, and headed off into town. There several areas of downtown where there are many people in need, we only went to one. We hadn’t been all the way through that area when what had seemed like a huge stash of food had been finished.
We had many mixed reactions, from deep suspicion – to deep gratefulness. What I was not expecting was to hear thing like “Jesus loves you!”, and “If it wasn’t for God, I’d would have been dead long before now.”. Although some of these were offhand remarks, there were definitely one or two there with genuine belief – even in what seems like a hopeless situation.
For me, what remains is the knowledge that, while the occasional lunch run is good, there is an immense need for much more to be done. Not only that, but it is my responsibility (along with everyone who belongs to God) to do something about it.
Preaching and practising
I have been writing a newsletter recently (look out for that soon) and it has prompted a few thoughts I’d like to share.
I’ve really been hit by the thought that I should really practise what I preach – something that’s tough to do if I take what I preach literally (each one of us is supposed to deny ourselves and pick up our cross, right?)
What I practise:
I have been a worried person for the last few days. I really do at this point want to stay longer in Canada. To do that I need money, for which I need a job, for which I need a work permit (for which I need a job – yeah, kinda circular). For the permit I need to renew my passport… The success of any of these three things is risky. Whilst I am going about getting the next few years of my life sorted out, I have a Bible study to plan for FOCUS, lots of correspondence to sort out with you guys back home (which – I’m hopelessly behind on, sorry guys), and a tax return to get a handle on and a ton of other little but necessary things and… ARGH!! PANIC!!!
What I preach:
Stop. Rewind. What was that? Oh, yeah – Bible study.
This is where I go to the international students group and explain parts of the Bible to students who mainly come from Asia and have little or no exposure to scripture – because I’m a Christian and I understand the Bible… right?
Let’s have a look at the stuff I’m covering. We’re going through the stories in Genesis at the moment. Throughout this, we see the people that God uses:
Noah, Abraham, Moses…
All of these are men who achieved great things by listening to God and carrying out his words with faithfulness. (Indeed, Abraham had times of not trusting in God and doing what he thought was best instead – but he only had success when following the Lord’s instruction).
The upshot:
I know of course that panic and worry are not helpful and that worry is even forbidden by Jesus. But, as we all know this is not always easy. Indeed, several people have told me to “Just trust in God” recently. This is great advice, but I believe that the word “just” is out of place. I have great respect to those who truly rely on the Lord, and pray that I may have the same faithfulness. It’s hard to practise what you preach.
So don’t panic, do trust in God – but don’t underestimate the task at hand, “just” trusting in God can be harder than trying to work out our lives under our own strength – ask Abraham!
(Wow, those few thoughts turned into a mini-sermon. Thanks to those of you who read all that!)
Merry Christmas and happy new year!
Christmas
Hi there, hope that everyone had a great Christmas. I certainly had a good time.
We didn’t have a white Christmas here, or even a white boxing day (but we did have a white day-after-boxing-day).
I a few days at Christmas with Shanon and family at their house in the countryside just out of Calgary. It’s really quite isolated and is right next to the farm where her Dad works. We had fun, food, music, singing and even acting. They enjoy their Christmas traditions!
Fun in the snow: Shanon’s sister, Lorel – Shanon and their friend JoLynne.
Shanon’s Mum and Dad, Ivy and ‘Lightning’ Rod enjoying the gift exchange.
New Year
New year was fun, with a few friends from FOCUS over at Shanon’s house. Yep, I’m still very much a part of the international student group.
Whilst I haven’t made any new year’s resolutions in the regular sense, Shanon and I have both agreed to read through the Bible over the course of the next year using the same reading plan. Only four days in, both reading the same passage each day has resulted in some very in-depth conversations.
Happy new year to you all – God bless!
Blog of a blog
Over the last couple of days, I have been working away on a blog for our department. This is really aimed at software developers around the world who are interested in what we are doing (Chiefly other branches of our organisation). Having said that, feel free to have a look and you can see the kind of stuff we are doing from day to day.
(Note: The blog is offline at the moment)
Also, I’m glad to tell you that we are having a weather respite at the moment. After getting down to wind chill temperatures of -41C, we are now above zero!
It’s nearly Christmas!
Yes it is – Christmas (and all that comes with it) is entering full swing over here in Canada!
The (not so distant) past
Sunday was our annual office outing to the Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Calgary to give a hand to Operation Christmas Child. It was plenty of work! Hundreds of shoeboxes shifted and a great time had by all. (If you’ve not come across OCC before, you should check it out – it’s a great opportunity to give a truly meaningful present)
Andy shifting those shoeboxes
The present
Of course, one of the many things that Christmas brings with it is the winter weather – especially if you are over in Canada. It hasn’t risen above -25C (-13F) for the last few days. The snow is deep and crisp and very uneven, which makes getting around… challenging. Expect some photos soon…
The future
Looking past Christmas, and well into next year, I’m now starting to think about where my life is leading. I’m faced with many decisions right now, not least of which is “England or Canada?”. If I wish to remain in Canada, then a work permit will have to be sorted out well ahead of time – so these are quite immediate choices. Please pray that God will lead me into making the right choice.
Back in Canada
Last week I had the chance to come back to Britain for a week and a half, which was fantastic. It was great to see everyone there, both friends and family.
I’m back in Canada now; it feels slightly strange to leave home in the UK and come back to home in Canada. It’s good to feel at home and have friends in both places, though.
Working at Wycliffe has been good for the past couple of days, however Neil and Brent from our office have both been away from work since I came back due to illness. (In Neil’s case, longer). Please keep them in your prayers.
Edit: Brent and Neil are now both back work and back to health (95% at least!). Thankyou for your prayers.
Three in one bonus update
Coming home:
As many of you back home will already know – I will be coming home soon. Very soon, in fact. All things being well, I will be heading over on Friday / Saturday of this week.
However, my tickets have not yet been booked. (It’s not me who is doing the booking) So there is still room for complications.
Mum and Dad:
Last week, I was on holiday! My parents came to visit Canada. We had a great time out in the Rockies. Visiting Banff, Canmore and of course, Calgary.
They were lucky people – There was snow just before they came and just after they left, but good weather for the whole holiday.
Snow:
Winter has struck here with a vengeance. Yesterday we had several inches of snow overnight. It’s incredible snow here as well, like powder – I’m sure you could ski down our street!
This morning I woke up to a cool temperature of -13C. Quite a new experience, but not a fun wait for the bus.
Row, row, row your boat
Work
I got moved out of IT and back into software development where I belong near the start of this month. My work on the low power computers for the developing world is over for now, and I have transitioned over to the main ‘meat’ of my placement here at Wycliffe. The Fieldworks port.
The what port?
Fieldworks is a set of software tools used by translators in Wycliffe. It covers gathering cultural information, exploring new languages, and of course – writing translations in many different scripts. You can find out more details at the Fieldworks website.
The Fieldworks what?
One issue with Fieldworks, however – is that it is only available for Microsoft Windows, which is an expensive piece of software, and has tight restrictions on copying and distribution. ‘Porting’ means moving computer programs from one system to another. In this case, we are moving Fieldworks from Windows to the free operating system called Linux.
Linux has virtually no restrictions on copying, so Wycliffe will be able to, for example, make a special edition of Linux with all the translation tools already installed and send it to all the translators for free. Or to anyone we wish to demonstrate the software to. In fact, anyone who gets a copy will be able to make copies of the whole system themselves and send them to whoever they want to. Cool eh?
(As a side note, Wycliffe has already done something similar with a ‘Complex Scripts’ enabled word processor for Linux)
Play
I’ve had a chance to see some more of the sights and sounds from in and around Calgary.
Last weekend, myself and a couple of guys I met through Wycliffe took a canoe from Banff to Canmore, Northwest of Calgary. It was some kind of ecological mission, involving stopping every so often to eliminate patches of invasive foreign weeds threatening to take over this corner of the ‘frozen north’. But just gazing at the scenery was the main event of the expedition.
Also, I’ve had a chance to visit the world famous (?) landmark of Calgary – the imaginatively named Calgary Tower. Another little adventure that yielded some fantastic vistas.
