Officially Volunteers

Last Monday we started "work" -- late! A good start, huh? At 8:15 Monday morning I found out it was NOT a holiday. Seems we were reading last year's manual. So we had 15 minutes to get dressed, cleaned up for the day, and drive over there. We weren't too awfully late. And it really didn't matter. We were also late on Tuesday because I wanted to see the inauguration. We got there just before lunch.

So, what are we doing, you wonder? Well, Joyce is working with stamps. The center has been given old stamp collections -- maybe grandpa passed on and the family doesn't know what to do with all those albums of stamps so they donate them to Wycliffe. Wycliffe sells them and puts the money in an emergency fund (maybe a missionary needs to be evacuated because of tribal warfare in his region, or something like that). To get the most value from the stamps, they are sold individually on the internet. So, Joyce is carefully removing each stamp so it can be cataloged, posted, and (hopefully) sold. She even got involved in a crafty-type project on Thursday. Sounds like Joyce, huh?

I am keyboarding. That means I set at a computer "all" day typing some portion of the Bible into a special program. Except the scripture portion is in a foreign language. The language I am working on is Mixe. It is a dialect used in a small area of the southern part of Mexico. There are over 150 native (Indian) dialects in Mexico. The Bible has been translated into most of them -- or is in the process of translation.

There are about 8 or 10 keyboarders doing what I am doing, but not all at the same time and some are working on other languages. We are doing this because these languages were translated in pre-computer days. Once they are on computer and on line they can be viewed and read at any time. They can also be printed "on demand." That means one copy or two copies or ten copies can be printed so a local pastor can have a few for his church. Ordinary printing would require hundreds of copies and be very expensive. So after we keyboard a chapter there is a way to compare it to a scanned copy to pick up our errors (and there are lots of errors, believe me). This helps us find the errors but the master is the hard copy we are typing from. It is a photocopy of the actual Bible which has been is use. Thursday I finished Matthew which was kind of a milestone for me. However, I have to add that I only keyboarded the last 3 1/2 chapters. Someone else did the others.

It is very interesting typing in a language that I can't read. In English I see the word "the" and automatically type in "t h e." But in Mixe it is a lot different. I'm not all that great at keyboarding anyway so I have to work at hitting the right keys, one key at a time. They might have a word like "jxuquxxtj." There are also extra marks that make up some letters. For instance they have an i with a - through it. So to get that, I type in -i . Sometimes that i has two dots over it so I have to do the -i then add : followed by a " . It's all very interesting and the time really goes by fast. And we really don't work all that much. Chapel is from 8:00 to 8:30 and is optional. Work begins at 8:30 or 8:45. There is a break at 10:00 which lasts 20 to 30 minutes. Lunch is from 12:00 to 12:45 or so with another break at 2:30. The work day ends at 4:00. And we only work Monday thru Thursday. Add all that up and it is a 23-24 hour work week.

A friend asked what Joyce and I do on weekends. Well, we have only had two weekends since we got here. Last weekend we settled in, did some grocery shopping, and visited with Jim and Joyce. This weekend we did some chores around the ranch (i.e. the RV), made a run to town, stopped at Wal-Mart, and went to a movie -- we saw "Defiance." Today we went to the Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene. It is large and they had a good time of worship. This evening we attended a hymn sing at the center but more importantly a man shared about the beginnings of this center.

When I blog next week I'll tell about Wycliffe Bible Translators, SIL, and how this center got started. Hope you have a good work week.

Tucson At Last

Finally we are here. After 36 days and 2,100 miles we arrived at my cousin's house in Tucson last Wednesday about 2:00. Actually it is only 1,200 miles if you drive directly here but we didn't do "directly." And we drove around quite a bit at many of our stops. My cousin's house is really north of Tucson. If you have a good Arizona map, find Highway 77 going north out of Tucson. If you find Oro Valley we are a little northeast; if you find Catalina we are just a little east.
But first some pictures.

Jana has a picture of Lilly like this only she is looking left. She wanted one of Josiah to put with it for a gift for Korak. This is what we came up with using my little camera and some photo software. And of course the other picture is the family at Christmas.

On the way here we stopped at Lake Havasu City to touch London Bridge. This is the one which Robert McCullough purchased in London, dismantled, and moved to Arizona to be a landmark in the city he was building on the shores of the Colorado River. This is the same man who developed the McCullough chain saw so he had a little money to throw around.

Last Tuesday we bid Quartzsite a fond farewell and moved east to Glendale (near Phoenix). In fact we drove past the stadium where the Arizona Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Eagles today for the AFC Championship (this is football stuff for the uninitiated). Quartzsite was fun; I wouldn't be opposed to going there again.

In Glendale we stayed in the yard of an old friend. Wes attended the Eugene FM church I grew up in. He owned a construction company and gave me job each summer while I was attending college. In fact, he was one of the men who were responsible for the Eugene church paying my tuition for the first two years I was in college. Over the years we kind of lost track of each other but last year we connected and had dinner together. So he invited us to stop at his house. He said he had a big yard, lots of space. Well... he does have a big yard but not much driveway space for a 12 foot high, 8 foot wide, 45 foot long (including the pickup) RV. We were just going to stay in the street in front of his house but found out that was illegal. So we cut some tree branches out of the way and backed into his driveway. I had to disconnect the pickup so there would be room for his wife to get her car in and out. Her name is Carol and she fixed a great dinner. Then we played a card game named Twiddler (I think that is right), kind of like the game of scrabble. It was fun and very relaxing. They have a home-based business in packaged soup mixes and sent us off with a nice selection.

Today we worshiped at Casas Church where Jim and Joyce attend (my cousin and his wife). My uncle Ken also attends there mostly because he is dependant on Jim for transportation. Today Joyce and I picked him up for church because Jim was in Mesa putting his wife on a plane for Bellingham. They have a son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids there. The son is a hospital chaplain but also in the National Guard. He has been deployed for the second time to Iraq so Joyce is going up to help with the kids for a month. Jim will join them later for a couple weeks.

This week we begin our duties at Wycliffe. I'll give more details when I know exactly what we will be doing. And when we begin! All the verbal messages were that we would begin with an orientation on Monday. Except their volunteer manual says Monday is a holiday -- Martin Luther King Day. So we are not sure what to do. But we'll figure it out.

Hope you can get your week figured out just as easily. (My friend Sue's blog reminds me brag about the weather. It has been in the mid 40s at night and in the mid to high 70s during the day. Beautiful warm sun. However it IS supposed to rain about midweek. Love ya, my freezing friends!)

Quartzsite, Arizona

I mentioned Oatman and the donkeys in my last blog. My system finally let me upload one (1 only) picture. Here is my favorite spouse and her new friend on the streets of Oatman. After enjoying two days in Needles we moved down to Lake Havasu City and London Bridge. We toured the city, got meds at Wal-Mart, walked on and under the famous London Bridge, and camped on the bank of the Colorado River. That took two days and then we headed for Quartzsite. This is a unique town in the southwest corner of Arizona. In the summer months it is not much of anything except HOT. In the winter it becomes a mecca for thousands of RVers. Most camp in the dessert around the town; some -- like us -- use the facilities of a commercial RV park. We have hookups, a laundromat, showers, and a hot tub -- all of which we have used. The town is also known for the hundreds (maybe thousands) of flea market stalls. Everything imaginable is available. Someone said, "if it isn't for sale here, you don't need it." We have prowled most of the sales and spent our share of money.

One day we drove out to a tiny town called Bouse and then on into the mountains to see an old copper mining town -- now abandoned. Today after church (church was a simple service here in the park) we drove out to Palm Canyon. Then hiked up into a canyon to see a few palm trees growing in a small ravine. Kind of a weird thing to do but the scenery was great.

Sorry I can't upload more pictures. I'll keep trying. This week we head for Tucson. Take care of yourself.

Just Bowl Me Over

Have you ever been to a college football bowl game? I've watched them on television all my life. Well, "all" my life is stretching it a little, but since I was a kid -- probably in junior high. Back then the important bowl games were on New Years Day -- the most important one being the Rose Bowl. After all, it is the "Grand Daddy" of the bowl games. But more important, it is "our" bowl game. That means the University of Oregon Ducks play for a chance to go to Pasadena each year. They don't usually make it -- they have only been to the Rose Bowl 4 times. Their first appearance was in 1917 when they defeated Pennsylvania 14-0. Alas, their next 3 trips to Pasadena ended in loses. But one was close. I remember watching at my brother's house on New Years Day 1958. Ohio State was rated the number one team in America. They should have been facing Oregon State but a strange "no repeat" rule meant that Oregon got the bid. Ohio State scored a touchdown in the first period. Oregon followed this with their own touchdown in the second quarter. Oregon had a chance to take the lead in the third period but kicker Jack Morris hooked a 34-yard field goal try to the left. Early in the 4th quarter, Ohio State tried a field goal from the same spot; it was good. They led 10 to 7 but Oregon had another chance... until they fumbled the ball. But it wasn't over. Oregon got the ball again with just a few minutes left on the clock. Quarterback Jack Crabtree had his team moving down the field but with 47 seconds left in the game his fourth down pass fell incomplete. Oregon lost 10-7. It was exciting; it was a let-down. I found little consolation in the fact that Oregon beat Ohio State in yards gained and first down conversions. Perhaps Oregon's domination of the game was expressed in the fact that Jack Crabtree was named Player of the Game, one of only a very few people on a losing team to get that award.

So you can guess what we did on New Years Day. We watched bowl games. But Oregon wasn't in one of those. They played on Tuesday, the 30th in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. I've always wanted to see a bowl game in person. I know Oregon's record in bowl games isn't exactly stellar. They have lost 13 times and won only 9. But one can always hope -- and shout. When I found out Oregon was going to the Holiday Bowl, I got on line and discovered there were tickets available that I could afford (well, sort of). So I bought two and asked Korak to go with me. Actually, I supplied the tickets and he drove. Our seats were high and kind of on the corner of the end zone. Not too bad, really. It was amazing to be there. All the pageantry and glitz. At the beginning, a Native American National Guard Unit unfurled a flag as big as the football field. They had people stationed across the field to hold it up. A 12-year old boy with a tremendous voice sang the National Anthem. When he got to "rocket's red glare" they shot rockets into the air. Then with "bombs bursting in mid air" they set off loud explosions and when he got to "flag yet wave" they jerked on the flag so it had a wavy effect across the field. Then the jets did the flyover. I was duly impressed.

The half time show ended with a great fire works display. And the game ended with... yes! an Oregon win. They defeated Oklahoma State 42 to 31. I went home a happy camper.

Speaking of camping... Friday we left our precious little ones (the bigger ones are precious too, but you know what I mean) and headed east. We camped in Needles, California for two nights. Yesterday we drove up to Oatman on the old Route 66 highway. It is a combination of Tortilla Flats and Tombstone mixed with some burros and rolled out along a narrow stretch of old road. Burros roam the streets looking for a handout and locals open the shops looking for a sale. Find a place to park somewhere and then stroll through the stores selling Route 66 memorabilia, old west things and just plain stuff. It was fun to do. We had stopped at a Route 66 museum the day before in Victorville so didn't need anymore 66 things. We drove a little of the highway. I would like to drive all of it someday.

This morning we attended worship at Calvary Chapel in Needles, went back to the RV for lunch, then packed up a left. We are now in Lake Havasu City. We'll take a look at London Bridge, snoop around town, get some prescriptions filled at Wal-Mart and then move on down to Quartzsite. Take care and have a happy new year.