Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
After lots of travel and a fair bit of uncertainty, I was glad to make it home from Senegal to My Country (no, not home to the US) for Christmas to celebrate with “family” and friends here. What a joy! I trust that you were also able to take some time to rejoice in the ultimate Gift that God gave us, the reason that we celebrate!
As we enter the new year, it’s a good time to look back at some of the things God has done in the last year, and that’s what I’d like to share with you today – some of the ministry highlights of 2024 (as well as a sneak peek at something exciting that should be happening soon)!
Winter – Making primers and other books for literacy
In January our literacy consultant came out and helped us create our 6 literacy primers and 6 little readers to go with each one. Since then we’ve spent a lot of time and effort on creating teachers’ guides (they still need editing/correcting) and on correcting the primers and readers after some spelling changes made later in the year. Lord willing we’ll soon be starting our first literacy class in My Language – you can pray that all will go well and that it will be a blessing to those who attend!
Spring – Helping with vowels in Senegal
In the spring, I was able to head to Senegal and lead a “vowel party” there for three weeks – helping the team who had already finished the New Testament translation know how to fix the spelling of their words so that they can continue to work towards publishing the New Testament. I love when I can spend a few weeks helping others be able to get over a hump and start moving forward again!
Summer – My Language verbs
This late spring to early fall it felt like we would take a step forward and 2 steps back, as we realized that our verb system was much more complicated than we thought, and the hidden distinctions are all just tonal. Though we still have a long way to go in delving to the depths of what’s going on, we’ve learned enough that we’re able to make slow forward progress again. At the moment it looks like we may have up to 10 different main verb forms, instead of just the 3 or so we had originally thought. (Oh, and this fall we also learned lots more about nouns – maybe 8 forms for each noun?) What we’ve learned is very important, and it’s much better to learn it now than later, though it’s also been discouraging as I long to get to translation and it keeps seeming farther and farther away. But God has been reminding me that He’s asking for faithful service over visible results, and that what He’s asking of me right now is to be Jesus to those around me, even when things are slower and more complicated than I would have hoped.
Fall – Getting official approval underway
This fall there was a big meeting of My People about My Language. This was a first step needed in order for our alphabet and spelling rules and such to be officially recognized. We don’t quite know what all the future steps are, but at least we’re on the train. It was neat to see things come together. One of my alphabet party guys remarked that every time we didn’t know what to do or where to go from there, the right person would show up – a message out of the blue, someone knocking on the door, etc. I believe that it’s the first time that he’s been working on a project with God on his side – what a fun ride there is in store, as I know that God will continue to show Himself faithful and good and involved in what’s going on here.
Early winter – helping others with discourse in Senegal
In December I had another opportunity to spend a few weeks and help others get over a hump and able to move ahead. This time it was another team in Senegal, as well as someone from the team I had previously helped in Guinea (making their alphabet). They need to do discourse analysis before they can move on to translation and teaching and such (yes, that’s what I need to do, too!), and were a bit stuck. So we had a 2 1/2 week discourse party, and Lord willing they are now unstuck and able to move forward again! We also had fun looking at things together and marveling at the complexities and unique details God puts in each language.
Looking ahead – Our first literacy class
Looking ahead, one of the big things on the horizon is the first literacy class ever in My Language! We’d appreciate your prayers as there is still a good amount to do to get ready, and we are also praying that the turnout will be whatever God knows is best.
Though this last year hasn’t always been easy, it’s encouraging to look back and see God’s faithfulness and the way that He’s worked in and through me. Thank you to each of you for your part in making that possible, through your prayers, your finances, your encouragement, your grace to me when I’m not good at finding time to respond to e-mails, etc. And may each of us be able to look back and see His faithfulness. In this year to come, may we continue to see glimpses of Him at work as well.