Yes

The end of April/beginning of May I was in the UK for some linguistics meetings with Ethnos360.  (While there I also got to get some rest and some quiet time to work.)  Also while there, I got to share with the students at Ethnos360’s training center in the UK about my ministry, what God is doing here, needs in this part of West Africa, etc.

While in the UK, I also got to share with other Ethnos360 linguistics people about alphabet parties.  And even though alphabet parties are a bit unconventional and new for Ethnos360, they were at least intrigued – I count it as a win!

The day after I got home I was able to share at the missions conference of a local church here in My City!  One of the goals of the missions conference was to see young people raised up to become missionaries to the unreached, which is almost unheard of here– so very exciting!  I was also super encouraged to hear that that church had adopted My People.  After I shared, the pastor came up and said that even if there were 100 pastors who wanted to work among My People, as long as they would do so in My Language, they would support them.  Go God!  And what a challenge to me, too, since how will they preach and such in My Language without the Scriptures translated?  We still have a lot of work in front of us!

The next week I was online, sharing with a group of students from throughout Europe who are taking Ethnos360 training online.  I was given the topic of “language and linguistics,” so I had fun sharing lots of stories and encouraging them that language and linguistics are both important and fun.

Yesterday there was the first round of the “Speak _(My Language) _” competition (yes, that’s the language that I’m working with, not any random language) at the local middle school in one of the My Language-speaking villages.  31 middle school students were each given a topic and had a few minutes to speak about it in My Language without any other language mixing in.  The judges (the team I work with here) picked the top 4, who will compete for first prize next week.  It’s a way to promote the language and hopefully get people excited about reading and writing in it, too.  All steps to hopefully get them excited about reading the Scriptures in the language once they’re written!  Sadly, I wasnʼt able to join them.