Wycliffe and SIL

It's been a fun week. I think I could start all my blogs this way. But really, our weeks are fun and interesting. Last time I closed by saying I would tell a little about Wycliffe Bible Translators. The following is partially quoted from their web site (http://www.wycliffe.org/) and partially paraphrased.

In the 1930s William Cameron Townsend was a missionary to Cakchiquel Indians of Guatemala. One day one the Cakchiquel-speaking men asked him why God did not speak their language. This began Townsend's quest to translate the Bible into this language. Soon the concept grew and in 1934 he founded the "Summer Institute of Linguistics" to train other missionaries in translating the Bible into the languages they were working with. In 1942 Wycliffe Bible Translators was founded as the organization to recruit and send translators. This name "played" better in churches than something "linguistic." However the Summer Institute of Linguistics worked better at getting missionaries into countries that were not especially interested in "Bible" teachers. He borrowed the name "Wycliffe" from the Reformation hero, John Wycliffe, who first translated the Bible into English in the 14th century.

Translation work means going into an area that has no written language -- at least in their native, or heart, language (the national language would be written but not the heart language of each of the tribes or villages). The missionary translator has to learn the language, the nuances, the tonal inflections -- everything about how those people communicate with each other. Then, with the help of local people, he/she makes an alphabet following general linguistic rules. From this alphabet will come a vocabulary and from that, a New Testament (maybe an entire Bible). All this takes years and years -- 20 to 30 years in most cases.

Translation work has been going on in Mexico for many years. There are 295 dialects, or heart languages, in Mexico (I gave an inaccurate figure last week). In the 1970s, the Mexican government was canceling missionary visas and not allowing new translators into the country. People concerned with the translation work in Mexico began looking for property in the U.S. but close to the border where they could establish a Mexican work center. They considered anyplace from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico but gradually began to focus on the Tucson area (I don't know why). Some men and women in this area found property in the Catalina area. They purchased 40 acres where the center is located, 80 acres here in the area where Jim has his house, and 29 acres where a retirement home is built. Part of the center acreage is also for private homes. The housing area was divided into small parcels and resold to translators so they would have a place to "come home to" when their work in the mission field was completed.

The top picture is the center from the street. In the far left is a "U" shaped building where I work and where a lot of other volunteer work happens. The people are on break, enjoying the sunshine, coffee, cookies, and other fresh-made goodies. On the right is the volunteer office, the stamp room where Joyce works and some other rooms. To the right, out of the picture, is the chapel, administrative offices, mail room and the room where Jim works. The other picture is Joyce and a lady she works with on their break.

So... Joyce and I work at the Mexico Center and we actually work for SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics was abbreviated as S.I.L. for many years but now has become simply SIL -- and you are supposed to pronounce the letters, not say "sill.") Joyce is still doing stamps. I am still doing keyboarding. Last week I did 1 and 2 Timothy, and got a few verses into James. Except on Mondays. Last Monday and today I worked in the stamp office putting a lot of numbers into a computer program so the leader can more easily determine the value of a stamp.

Now that's what we did for work. What we did for fun was... well, fun. You have heard of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" on TV. They are doing one of those houses in Tucson, so on Friday we decided to go see it. We had to park in a city park and hop a shuttle to the site. On the way, it stopped at a big field being used as a staging area to pick up volunteers. They have it SO organized, and SO secure -- security guards and police everywhere. They use over a 1,000 volunteers plus the professional builders. The pictures show they have put up the walls and are working on the roof trusses. I can't begin to explain the organized chaos they have going. The house is on a corner so the entire intersection is being used, they are using some of the neighbor's property for incidental work, and the street is reduced to a narrow alley. Buses, trucks, and cars come and go at a snail's pace. It is fun to watch the way it all works together.

Now to make this interesting. I work with a lady named Shirley. She and her husband have a daughter who lives two doors from this new house. Shirley invited Joyce and I to the house Sunday after church to watch the Superbowl -- and of course, get a close up view of the work. We had to take the shuttle up and then walk a few feet to the house. We dropped off our stuff and then went back to watch the work (before the kickoff, of course). Come to discover, the Makeover people were serving lunch to everyone -- EVERYONE, including us observers. So we sat a hundred feet from the house eating their food. Not a bad deal, huh? From Friday to Sunday, they finished the roof and began the stucco on the sides. It is going to be a Spanish style house like all the others in the neighborhood. The "reveal" will be tomorrow but we will miss it (Shirley is going to be there). The program will be on TV March 22. Don't forget to watch.

Too bad the Cardinals couldn't keep that strong defense going in the last 2 1/2 minutes. They came sooooooo close. Oh well. It was exciting watching it with about 15 other people. Maybe this week will be a little more boring. We'll see. Love ya.