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A year!

A year!

Just over a year.  That’s how long it’s been since I stepped off the plane, finally having permission to return to My Country, after 1003 nights out of the country since my planned return in 2018.  And though it hasn’t always been easy, it’s still so wonderful to be back for however long God has […]
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Rejoice with me

Rejoice with me

I have good news to share with you – our alphabet is approved by the leaders of My People! I was recently in Senegal for some meetings, and it was on my first Sunday in Senegal that the chief of the whole people group, as well as many village chiefs, literacy teachers in the language […]
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Out for a Sunday drive

Out for a Sunday drive

I’ve posted about the traffic here in the city before, but it continues to strike me as something to share since it’s so different from the traffic on the other side of the ocean.  I often feel like it would be fun to drive with a Go Pro camera to let you really see what […]
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How do you help your children succeed in life?

How do you help your children succeed in life?

For those of you who are parents, what do you do to help your children succeed? Do you read books to them? Send them to a good school? Enroll them in extra-curricular activities? Bring them to church? Try to help them make good friends? Or do you sacrifice a goat or two and shave their […]
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Why are those verses in the Bible?

Why are those verses in the Bible?

Have you ever read certain verses of the Bible and wondered why God thought it was important to include them in His Word? There are several passages that I’ve thought over the years could have been left out to leave room for other things that, to me, seemed more important. It’s not something we’d say […]
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How well do you know English?

How well do you know English?

When I was at the orthography (alphabet) conference in Kenya last month, one of the presenters (thanks, Helen Eaton!) showed us the slide that you see in the picture above.  She asked us to take two minutes to note down whether these were written as one word, two words, or with a hyphen in English.  […]
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Why a written record is helpful

Why a written record is helpful

Lately, there has been a shift in missions, seen even among those involved in Bible translation, from having the written Word to having oral stories and/or an oral translation. It is often claimed that the people who currently don’t have alphabets or a written language are so used to telling stories that introducing literacy in […]
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Grammar

Grammar

Grammar. The mere thought of it has most of you running away in fright and the rest yearning to hear more. I have to admit that I never liked English grammar classes either. But it’s fascinating, even though a bit frustrating, to study grammar in another language.  That’s especially true if it’s a language that […]
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Joy-filled red-letter days!

Joy-filled red-letter days!

Have you ever taken a spelling test in which the teacher didn’t actually know the answers?  You had to spell words that your teacher herself didn’t know how to spell?  Here, when that happened at my house two weeks ago, no one seemed to mind.  In fact, we all loved the game, and it was […]
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Want to go to the circus?

Want to go to the circus?

“Are you free tonight?”“Yup.”“Want to go to the circus with me?”“The what?”“It’s called a ‘circus.’ It’s a type of show.”“Oh.” (sounding confused)“Anyway, go get yourself ready, and I’ll be by in a few minutes to pick you up to go somewhere.”“Ok.” That was my conversation the other evening with Minata*, my host sister from My […]
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