Hi from West Africa!

So what do you do with your time, Susie? Here are a few highlights from the last few months!

• Translation of Ruth is moving forward!  Of the 10 or so steps that need to be done before a translation consultant comes and checks it in person, with Ruth 1 we just finished step 5 and on Ruth 2 I’m almost done with step 1!  Yes, it is going very slowly, but I guess that’s what happens when I need to figure out how to do a step, teach it to the Alphabet Party guys I’m working with, and then try to do it together for the first time.  As we’ve been working on step 2 for the beginning of Ruth 2, we’ve seen that it has been much more fun than Ruth 1 as we know better what we’re doing.
  • Besides seeing the Word come to life in My Language, it has been fun to see the reactions of the Alphabet Party guys to this story that they’ve never heard before, especially since we are looking at it with more detail than I certainly ever have before!  In Ruth 1:15-16, where Naomi tells Ruth to follow Orpah back to her people and her gods, and Ruth’s response includes her telling Naomi, “Your God will be my God,” one of the Alphabet Party guys commented that Naomi must have talked to them about the Creator God while they were together in Moab, and while Orpah decided that it wasn’t worth it to follow Him, Ruth decided that it was worth leaving everything to follow Him.  May my Alphabet Party guys, and many, many of My People, make that same decision as they come to meet the real Creator God through the pages of His Word!
• A friend with Wycliffe Bible Translators came a few weeks ago to work with us on tone for a week.  She’s coming back again soon for another time of intense work on tone, Lord willing.  That means long, brain-tiring days, but hopefully a much better understanding of the way that this language works, which is so different than English!
• I’ve been able to do a lot of visiting!  My goal was to visit at least 50, if not 75 or 100, My People’s houses, work places, or hang-out places in a year.  In the first two months of that year I’ve already reached 51 – maybe I will be able to visit 100 in the year!
• There have been My People coming to the Lord! I heard of two teenagers coming to the Lord in the month of January, and have now met three young Christian My People girls.  What a joy!
• Also, another answer to prayer is that the paperwork we had been waiting on for our association related to My Language has come through, and we had our first leadership meeting last Saturday!
• On a random note, I now have a pet guinea pig named Squeak. She was given to me at a white elephant gift exchange. I bet none of you have ever gotten a guinea pig as a white elephant!  It’s been fun to have a little furry friend around.