Norm and I are back home in San Antonio—we returned in June from the May/June Luke Partnership workshop in Nigeria.  Thank you for praying for travel safety and for the workshop itself.   Three weeks of lectures, translation checking, and nightly assignments had the translation teams and consultants on an intense schedule.  All their hard work resulted in a successful workshop.  Some of the highlights from this latest workshop are below:

All of the mother tongue translators were present—almost a “first”.  In past workshops, sickness or other factors delayed or prevented a few of the participants from being with us for the entire three weeks.  Having the same team members in a project coming regularly to the workshops establishes continuity and helps the participants to develop their skills.

An exciting milestone was reached at this workshop when all of the teams completed the Gospel of Luke in their language.  Over these past three years, a genuine esprit de corps has developed between the translators.  These translators have worked hard and suffered much inconvenience over these three years.  In spite of the fact that they too were “camping out”, they have maintained a wonderfully cheerful spirit of fellowship.  There is still a lot of reviewing and testing that needs to be done before these translations are ready for publication. 

Most of the teams have also completed the Jesus Film Script, which is based on the Gospel of Luke.  We are happy to report that the Buurak team – the team that Norm has been working with -- was one of the teams that finished translating the script.  It has been satisfying and fun to be a part of their excitement as the goals they have been working towards for the past three years are within reach.  Just as much work needs to be done before the Gospel of Luke can be published, the Jesus Film script also needs to be thoroughly reviewed and checked by a committee of mother tongue speakers before it can be recorded. 

This film has great potential as an evangelism tool in these communities.  It dramatically presents the life of Christ in the language of these communities who until now have not had the Scriptures in their own mother tongue.  They are hoping to have the Jesus Film ready for recording before the end of this year.

The Buurak team will be testing their translation work with other Buurak speakers.  They will be checking on spelling, footnotes, a glossary, and making sure that they have been consistent in their use of “key Biblical terms”; for example, Christ/Messiah, Lord, priest, and many others.  They have also completed their Reading and Writing book, which introduces the Buurak alphabet to new readers.

On a more personal note we have some news that we want to share with you. The last workshop of 2007 is only a month away.  However, Norm and I will not be going to Nigeria this time around.  You may remember Mom Oddo, Norm’s Mom, came to live with us around the same time we took on the assignment with the Luke Partnership.  That was January 2005.  Since then Mom has become steadily less independent.  As her primary caregivers, we looked at what options there might be for providing care while we were in Nigeria.  We were thankful to our children and Norm’s two brothers who said they would make arrangements between themselves to come and stay with Mom during the workshop times. 

For the past twelve months those arrangements worked fairly well.  However, every time we left for Nigeria, Mom had to adjust to a change in her routine.  Given her condition, we do not believe this is the best situation for Mom any longer.  As you might imagine, a lot of prayer and discussion have been taking place around our house. 

You might be asking what are the implications for our Seed Company assignments and us. Other than missing the September/October workshop, our current roles have not changed.  Norm continues to do translation checking for the Kambari Project.  He will also continue to be a resource for the Buurak Project as they finish up.  I am still doing the travel and accommodation logistics for the Gombe Project workshop consultants when they go back and forth to Nigeria and fielding questions about what a person needs to live and work in Nigeria.

Our thee-year commitment to TSC will be completed at the end of this year.  In the meantime, we will be looking at how long our involvement with Wycliffe and Lutheran Bible Translators should continue.  We will be sure to keep you informed over the next few months as we prayerfully consider our options and try to follow God’s plan for us.

Thank you for the prayers, gifts of support, and encouragement that you have blessed our family with over the past 35+ years.  The relationship we have had with you has meant a lot to us – you have been like extended family.  We hope you will feel free to call or write us if you have any questions about our partnership with you. 

Yours in Christ,

Barb and Norm