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.
4 comments:
Gene and Joyce, Love your new picture of your home. And your life with Wycliff sounds very interesting. Wow, you must have to be care of the jots and tittles.
It is sunny today, but very cold yet. The icicles don't go away. Off to lunch with Charlie, on his day off. Things are progressing at church, but very slowly....
Your work with Wycliff sounds great and alot like Sowers... It must be very rewarding... May God bless you as you work. Tim and Carole
Wow...I can't imagine typing in a different language! Our church also collects stamps for missions.
How are the stamps coming along Joyce. That is a tedious job. Chuck had a stamp collection given to him back in the 80's and from time to time spends time on it. Also how is the typing coming along Gene. Are you keeping all your jots and tittles straight? Thinking of you and praying that things are going well for you. Anxious to hear about your week.
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