Are We Really in Tucson?

When we say we are in Tucson, Arizona that is not being very specific. Tucson is big! Specifically, we are in an unincorporated area known as Catalina. If you look on a map follow highway 77, also known as Oracle Road, north past Oro Valley. The Center where we work is in this area and my cousin’s house is about 5 or 6 miles from the Center. If you want to see where we live on Google Maps, put in 37850 S. Escocia Lane, Tucson, AZ. The house is actually on the corner. See the RV parked in the driveway on the north side? That’s not ours. Jim has other people visit with their RVs and apparently the Google camera was overhead at that time. Just pretend it’s us. See me waving?

There we are all set up and settled in - top photo.

The bottom photo is taken from the road we drive in on. Our RV is off in the distance just to the right of the road. It's not as far as it looks.

To see the Center put in 16131 N. Vernon Drive, Tucson, AZ. The Center has a large study building with about 20 or 25 small rooms that were used by the translator and Mexican national as they worked through the process of making a written language and then translating the New Testament into that language. This was/is a long, arduous task. On Google maps this is the U-shaped building on the south. The U-shaped building on the north is the Administration building with a chapel on the right. I am in a room at the top of the U. The smaller building between these two houses various other offices including the volunteer office. Joyce does her stamp thing in this building. The other buildings to the left are for auto repair, construction, rug weaving, a boutique, and other things.

This lovely young lady is standing is front of part of the study building. Our break room is to left out of the picture. This is an important room with it's coffee and cookies!

Administration building in the background.

Joyce heading toward the building she works in.

This area which we all call “The Center” was originally built as a place for a translator to work with people from the village of the particular language the translator was working on. This was because the Mexican government kicked all religious foreigners out of the country (back in the 70s or 80s). So this Mexican branch center was built. Instead of us going to them, they came to us. The government has since changed and now translators live with the people they are serving.

Just to be technical we do not work for (nor volunteer for) Wycliffe Bible Translators. A couple years ago the IRS stirred their fingers into the mix and made all this volunteering a problem. For instance, in certain situations a person would have declare value for volunteer work received. And other complicated things. To navigate through that quagmire a new non-profit organization was created. So we are now working for Volunteers for Bible Translation (VBT). On the surface nothing has changed but the IRS in now happy. Well, are they ever really happy?

I hope this helps you understand a little better where we are. Enjoy the pictures. Blessings.