In our last letter, we let you know that the Lord had taken my (Steve’s) dad, Glenn Irwin, to his eternal Home on March 31st. Shortly afterwards, I flew out to San Jose, California, to spend some time with Mom.
Dad’s closets and dressers had to be sorted through, along with many photos and a roomful of artifacts he had collected over the years.
By the time my sister Sandy and her husband Lowell got to San Jose and it was time for me to return home, I’d gone through multiple boxes of papers in his office/computer room, and was able to leave Mom with a cleared dining room table (Dad’s overflow organizing space).
Back in Florida, I went to work preparing for our Spanish Language Resource team’s annual meetings in the final week of April. We always enjoy the opportunity to get our three-man team together (Duff, Jim and me) along with Jerry, our administrative supervisor, reviewing what God has enabled us to do over the previous 12 months and looking forward to the projects that lie ahead.
Some of the bigger projects we worked on last year were the Translation for Translators version of the Bible by Deibler, a revision of the Spanish translation of Planting Churches Cross-Culturally by Hesselgrave, and a variety of field guides, resource materials, reports, communiqués and articles.
I also interpreted and translated resource material for our virtual Global Forum and for the weekly online ECELA coordination group for our five training centers in Latin America and other virtual meetings. Duff and Jim primarily handle the book projects; I take care of most of the other items I’ve listed, in addition to responding to requests from field personnel for materials.
Looking ahead, the major translation challenges looming before us are the new and much improved edition of the Literacy Manual and the three-volume “Culture and Language Acquisition” manual called “Engage.” If you are on the Ethnos360 mailing list, you may have read about it.
The accompanying “Phases” smartphone app is in the advanced stage of development. Our team will translate the screen text, menus and help files of the application. These are next-generation tools for cross-cultural church planters, and it is essential that our Latin American coworkers be able to use them.
Eida continues with her physical therapy. We’re thankful that she is improving after last year’s car accident, although she is not free of pain. She still enjoys tutoring, using the Barton system for Dyslexia.
Family news
- Steve’s mom, Mary Irwin, contracted Covid sometime after Christmas but she recovered from it quite well in January, praise the Lord, despite being in the most vulnerable age category. Surprisingly, Dad never caught it from her.
- Our brother-in-law, David Barclay (the husband of Steve’s sister, Vicki), was taken Home to be with the Lord on January 30th. He was nearly 70 years old and though he had not been in great health, his passing was unexpected. Steve made the trip to Waco to gather with most of the Irwin siblings to support our sister. Vicki is now navigating the whitewater of the emotional and economic aftermath. She would appreciate your prayers.
- Our granddaughter, Kaylene, turned seven in March and her parents, Art and Marlene, invited us to fly out to Leander, Texas, to celebrate with her. We had a really great time together, including the opportunity to see Kaylene practice Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which she really loves.
Unfortunately, she came down with the flu on the last day, and it followed us home to Florida, but it apparently was the old-fashioned kind of flu and by God’s grace we were able to ride it out the way people used to do before Covid came around. - Our granddaughter, Natalie Bergman, is graduating High School from Colchester Christian Academy in Truro, Nova Scotia. She is our first grandchild to reach that milestone.
We were very happy to learn that she has enrolled in Ethnos360 Bible Institute! Curtis and Esther will take Natalie to New Hampshire in August, God willing. There she will meet up with her cousin, who has also been accepted at EBI, and the two girls will drive to Waukesha, Wisconsin to begin this exciting new phase of their life and education.
| Many thanks for your kind notes of condolence and encouragement. You’ll be glad to know that Mom is doing pretty well. I (Steve) am planning to spend a couple more weeks with her in July. We’re very grateful to my sister, Sandy, and her husband, Lowell, who have been shouldering the greater share of the burden of caring for Mom and handling business matters. And we are very thankful to the Lord, as always, for your encouraging friendship and faithful partnership in this ministry of equipping Latin American cross-cultural church planters serving the least-reached people groups of the world. May the Lord keep you and supply all your needs abundantly during these challenging times. Your partners in ministry, Steve & Eida Irwin Ethnos360, Spanish Language Resources |
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