The Good, The Bad, And The Funny

Well, let's start with the good and end with the funny. Several good things happened this week. One is that I finished the Book of Acts on Thursday. That was a personal goal so I could begin the new translation this week. I'm not even sure how to pronounce the name but I'm sure I will learn. I know I will be keyboarding 1 Corinthians. There are just a few chapters left in the Mixe language and then it will be off to the editors and finally onto the internet. In connection with keyboarding, our "boss" invited all the keyboarders and their spouses to her house Saturday for a Mexican potluck. It was fun to get together like that but the special treat was that the man and wife who translated Mixe was there to tell us how it was when they started. The process began in the late 1940s when they went by mule and on foot to the village where Mixe is spoken.

Another good thing: The Center had a Volunteer Appreciation dinner for all the volunteers. It was very humbling to be honored for a few weeks work by the people who gave most of their lives to translating the New Testament into a foreign language. The food was good -- not spectacular -- but the whole evening was really great.

How about the bad? Okay, maybe it isn't so bad, I don't know yet. The story begins Thursday evening when I started the pickup to drive home. It ran really rough and the closer to home, the worse it ran. It would hardly climb the hills getting into Jim's place. We borrowed Jim's car to go to the Volunteer Dinner. Friday I took Jim's car over to the Center to plead my plight. They have an auto repair department and do a little work on diesels. The diesel "expert" was leaving Saturday morning for a couple weeks but he was willing to take a look if I could get the pickup over there. Problem was it wouldn't even pull up the hill to get to the main road. So they sent a guy over with an old rebuilt Suburban and a short rope to toe me in. Fred spent a lot of the afternoon on it. The computer codes indicated problems with cylinders 1 and 5 -- probably either rat damage to the wires or injector problems. He eliminated the rat theory but they don't have the time or expertise to go into the injectors. But when he put the wiring back together and started it up, it ran almost perfectly. So today after church, I dumped a double doze of injector cleaner in it and drove it to Oracle -- about a 40 mile round trip. Ran great. So this week, we'll check the computer codes again and maybe change the fuel filter. The pickup is still at the Center and I'm driving Jim's spare car but tomorrow I'll start driving the pickup again and see what happens. Pray for us diesel dummies.

Speaking of church. We went to the Vistoso Community Church. It was good. Remember what church was like back in 1955? That is what it was like. Except they had a computer and projector. Hymns, suits, ties, older people, etc. But they are reaching their community.

Now for the funny part. You have to put on your grin and understand that I'm baring all to tell you this story. A few days ago Joyce and I got ready to go someplace. I pulled on some fresh underwear, a fresh shirt, and a pair of pants. After I tucked in the shirt and begin to move around I noticed a distinct sharp stab in my backside -- in fact quite a few of them. S0 -- now this is embarrassing but I'm willing to tell you -- down came my pants and Joyce began pulling little short cactus spins out of my ... well, you know what. I made it through the day and that evening I lay on the bed with my face pointing down and my derriere pointing up. Joyce, with tweezers in hand, began pulling anything that looked suspicious -- cactus, hair, pimples, anything. Ouch! That mostly solved it, except that we went through the same thing the next night. After that, I decided to let the rest wear themselves out. Where did I pick up such a wondrous assortment of Arizona flora? I have no idea. We think maybe off the carpet. I like to put my socks on by sitting on the steps leading up to the bathroom level. If we happen to have cactus spins on our shoes when we come in, they could be transferred to the carpet and then to my ... well, you know what. So, go ahead, laugh at my expense. It's okay.

I love you anyway. And I put on my socks somewhere else.

Snow and Flying

Those are the two biggies that stand out this week -- snow and flying. Tuesday morning we woke up to about 4 inches of really wet snow. Other areas had less; over at the Center they had only an inch or so. The temperature was only down to about 38* and the snow was mostly gone by noon. The roads were clear so traveling was not a problem. It was really beautiful around here. Snow is not unusual, yet seeing snow on a cactus seems kind of strange. The Santa Catalina Mountains were spectacular. These have a rugged beauty to them -- not real trees, just brush and cactus. It has been almost down to freezing at night but up into the 60s during the day. Cool, but not like some areas of the country.

The flying part. Well, Wednesday morning I flew to Portland, got a rental car and drove to Salem for a MEG Board meeting. The board meeting was Thursday morning with a couple more meetings in the afternoon and evening. Our MEG Board meeting was very productive with some of the decisions we made and the interview we had with a prospective pastor. The reason I did this was that these were important sessions with our Bishop. Friday, I flew back to Tucson. It all went off without a hitch except my plane out of Portland was canceled so I had to wait around for a later flight and got into Tucson later than planned. Going to Salem meant I got to see Ginger (in fact, spent the two nights at her house). We went out to dinner Wednesday evening and had a great time visiting together. The rest of the time we didn't see much of each other.

While I was gone, Joyce went to work one day, then got a lot of work done and talked on the phone a lot. She lamented being all alone at the end of road with nothing but rabbits and roadrunners. It wasn't quite that bad but I think she missed me!

Yesterday she and I went to a lunch and auction at the Center. This was to raise money for Center needs. It was a lot of fun and we managed to not spend very much money. Some items went for a lot less than expected; others were a lot more. A quilt made by a lady special to the Center made over $500. Then we bought pizza to bring back to the hacienda for our Valentine's Day dinner. Really romantic, huh?

Today we picked up Uncle Ken and went to The Road. That is a church we attended once last year. It is growing and very much on the cutting edge of ministry. After, we stopped at The Waffle House for lunch. Good food and very busy.

Please give me a response on the survey question. Let's how much snow everyone is experiencing. Take care. Love ya.

Life At The Hacienda

Out there among that sea of roofs is where we live. I know the picture is small but if you double click on it, it will enlarge (usually... sometimes). Look real carefully just above the top of the post, you can see my white pickup partially hidden by the tree. Our little RV hacienda is behind the tree. Jim's house is the one to the right -- not the white one more in the foreground. That is his closest neighbor. Actually the houses are not as close together as they appear in this picture. Except for the ones way in the background. Those are a small part of a VERY large development called Saddlebrook. It has a golf course, club house, tennis courts, small lake, and a small shopping area with a mini-market, gas station, post office and few other offices. In fact Saddlebrook almost surrounds the 80 acres where Jim's house is located. The road in the foreground is the one we drive in and out on. When I took this picture I was walking to the mail box for the exercise of it. It is about a 2 mile walk -- uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill. I rode my bike once and I thought I was going to die. Going downhill was fun but the uphill part about did me in.

I hope I didn't overwhelm anyone with all that information in last week's blog. Someone might ask about the other people that volunteer here. There are 200 to 250 winter volunteers, but not all at the same time. Some are here for only a week or two, others stay 4 or 5 months. They are almost totally from the cold northern states and Canada. Quite a few are from Oregon. One lady I work with used to live in the Grants Pass area and her husband knows some of the people I know. They live in Boise, Idaho now. I estimate there are 150-175 volunteers here right now. Here are some the jobs they do: sewing, quilting, book assembly, office work, furniture refinishing, upholstery, rug-making, operating the boutique, auto repair and maintenance, building/carpentry, grounds maintenance, keyboarding (what I do), and stamp ministry (what Joyce does). There are probably other things volunteers do because the need arises and there is a person who can do it.

We do have wild critters around us. We hear coyotes at night and have seen a couple walking down the road. There are a lot of doves, quail and rabbits. We also have havalinas in the area. So far we've only gotten a glimpse of them. My goal is to get a picture! Pack rats are also in the area. And they can be a nuisance. Last week I decided to clean the air filter on the pickup. It is a big K&M designed to give the engine lots of air. It is one I clean, not replace. So I opened the compartment, took out the filter and discovered rats had made a nest in there. They got in thru the intake and had a nice bed of what looked like rabbit fur and cactus buds (for food, I guess). By the time I got it all cleaned I had cactus thrones in all my fingers -- I carried tweezers in my pocket for two days. Now I leave the hood up at night because that discourages them and I also put a board over the intake. I'm looking for the right kind of wire to make a permanent barrier.

Jim left Saturday to join his wife in Bellingham so Joyce and I have the run of the place. We picked up uncle Ken and took him the Oro Valley Church of Nazarene today. The pastor is a good preacher -- not eloquent, but very personable.

This has not been a week filled with "excitement" but it has not been boring, either. I switched computers and have been keyboarding the Book of Acts. It is actually fun to do. I may be on something else next week and that is okay. Trust your week is filled with stuff that is "okay." Love ya.

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.

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.