Word Alive Magazine - Spring 2015

Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada

Spring 2015

Workers on the Home Front

Reaching Bibleless people overseas requires dedicated workers serving in Canada—some with remarkable stories.

Wycliffe Contributes to Bible App + Translating the Gospel + Fellow Workers in the Truth

Spring 2015 • Volume 34• Number 1 Word Alive, which takes its name from Hebrews 4:12a, is the official publication of Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada. Its mission is to inform, inspire and involve the Christian public as partners in the worldwide Bible translation movement.

Editor: Dwayne Janke Designer: Cindy Buckshon Senior Staff Writer: Doug Lockhart Staff Writers: Nathan Frank, Janet Seever Staff Photographers: Alan Hood, Natasha Schmale Word Alive is published four times annually by Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada, 4316 10 St NE, Calgary AB T2E 6K3. Copyright 2015 by Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada. Permission to reprint articles and other magazine contents may be obtained by written request to the editor. A donation of $20 annually is suggested to cover the cost of printing and mailing the magazine.

(Donate online or use the reply form in this issue.)

Printed in Canada by McCallum Printing Group, Edmonton.

Member: The Canadian Church Press, Evangelical Press Association.

For additional copies: media_resources@wycliffe.ca To contact the editor: editor_wam@wycliffe.ca For address updates: circulation@wycliffe.ca

Wycliffe serves minority language groups worldwide by fostering an understanding of God’s Word through Bible translation, while nurturing literacy, education and stronger communities.

Canadian Head Office: 4316 10 St NE, Calgary AB T2E 6K3. Phone: (403) 250-5411 or toll free 1-800-463-1143, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. mountain time. Fax: (403) 2502623. Email: info@wycliffe.ca. French speakers: Call toll free 1-877-747-2622 or email francophone@wycliffe.ca Cover: The face of a girl in a language group of West Asia, formed by multiple images of Wycliffe staff who serve in Canada to forward Bible translation and related tasks worldwide for such people.

Photo by Dave Crough.

Mosaic image by Cindy Buckson, using AndreaMosaic (http://www.andreaplanet.com/).

In Others’ Words “The existence of the Bible . . . is the greatest benefit which the human race has ever experienced. Every attempt to belittle it is a crime against humanity.”

—Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), German philosopher

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Foreword People Like Nathan Dwayne Janke

A

new name appears in our masthead’s list of writers (to the left of this column), and in bylines throughout this magazine. We are thrilled that Nathan Frank, a University of Regina journalism grad, is now on board with our communications department.

Nathan grew up on a grain farm near Eatonia, Sask., the youngest of three boys in his devoted Christian family. Christ was a part of his life ever since he was a youngster, but his view of Jesus sharpened over time.

“It wasn’t until after I attended Bible college for two years that I discovered that Jesus was a revolutionary God. He not only died on the cross for our sins, but He shattered social customs: He healed a leper, spoke to a Samaritan woman and healed on the Sabbath.

“I realized Jesus is a dangerous God because He asks me to care for the poor, the depressed, the lost and even my enemies. He requests that I give up my desires and love others like He loves me.”

The 27-year-old’s interest in writing started when he composed short stories as a child.

“I found great joy in getting lost in my writing and using my imagination. When deciding what career to pursue, I decided journalism would give me the best opportunity to tell great stories and meet the people of the world.”

Nathan worked at a newspaper and a radio station in Saskatchewan before accepting a writing position with Wycliffe Canada this past summer.

“I couldn’t pass up a chance to see for myself what God is doing around the globe,” he explains. “I want to learn more about what is happening in different parts of the world and to hear the stories that have never been told.”

To that end, Nathan will be travelling to various parts of the globe, gathering stories for Word Alive magazine that inform and inspire Canadian Christians to partner in the global Bible translation movement.

For this issue, however, he met and wrote about some of the approximately 200 people serving in Canada to further the work abroad. People like Nathan himself, wanting to use their skills with Wycliffe. They include recruiters, donation receipting staff, field project liaison officers, board members, church connections personnel, IT managers, linguistic trainers, spiritual enrichment leaders, and others. These and many more all play a vital role here in Canada, so that the necessary staff, prayer and funds can sustain overseas field work among Bibleless people groups.

We who work here at home—from British Columbia to the Maritimes—are not on the so-called “front lines” of ministry abroad. We don’t serve in exotic contexts.

But ask field personnel and they will acknowledge that their work cannot happen without the committed effort back in Canada that supports them (for which they thank us often).

That’s why it is so appropriate for our cover photo, of a girl in a language group of West Asia, to be a mosaic formed by images of folks serving in Canada. The home front and the front line are deeply intermeshed, linked and connected.

You can’t have one without the other. We are all missionaries.

Field personnel acknowledge that their work cannot happen without the committed effort back in Canada that supports them.

Contents

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Features 6

The Computing Pastor Wycliffe Canada’s information technology staff is led by a pastor with a mind for bits and bytes.

8

Focused on Bible Translation Shooting

photos for Word Alive helps Natasha Schmale enlarge her monolingual, “white-girl-from-a-farm” perspective.

10 Sold Out A mature New Brunswick couple, who

liquidated their property to follow God’s leading, now helps others find their place in Bible translation.

12 Spared for More Mission Wycliffe Canada board

member Steve Kabetu’s introduction to Bible translation field work was painful, debilitating—and life-threatening.

8 12

14 The Passion Facilitator Wycliffe Canada’s chief

recruiter lives to help people find and follow God’s direction for their lives.

16 Seeking the Called Gyoojun Lee and Wycliffe

Canada’s Korean Ministries look for missionaries within their ethnic church community.

18 A Reluctant Missionary Wycliffe Canada’s

spiritual enrichment team leader went from resistance to joyful resignation to serve with the organization.

20 Coach Amy Drawing from her own experience,

Wycliffe Canada’s internship co-ordinator guides students to see whether missions is for them.

22 Empowering God’s People Former Wycliffe translators use their field experiences to help their colleagues and would-be missionaries.

24 Pulled Back to Push Forward Drawn home to

Canada by family ties, David Thormoset takes on a new role to support Bible translation overseas.

26 Full Circle Wycliffe Canada’s receipts manager returns to the finance department in Calgary after three decades.

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Departments 2

Foreword People Like Nathan

By Dwayne Janke

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4 28 30 31

Watchword Wycliffe Helps Bible App Reach Milestone

Beyond Words Translating the Gospel A Thousand Words The Kabetu Lip Last Word Fellow Workers in the Truth

By Roy Eyre

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Watchword Wycliffe Helps Bible App Reach Milestone

W

ycliffe personnel have provided the popular Bible app, YouVersion, with its 1,000th digital translation. The landmark version is the first digital New Testament translation of the Central African language of Hdi (pronounced Huh-dee).

In September 2012, SIL, Wycliffe’s key partner organization, and the Cameroon Association for Bible Translation and Literacy, completed the Hdi text, which is spoken by 45,000 people, mainly in Cameroon and Nigeria. The New Testament was then delivered to the Hdi people in a special dedication ceremony in December 2013 (pictured below).

YouVersion has more than 700 languages of the Bible available on smartphones and other devices. That means God’s Word is now more accessible for millions more people in their heart language.

As the world’s largest distributor of digital Bible text, YouVersion partners with 150 Bible societies, publishers and organizations, including Wycliffe and SIL.

Translated by GIU UGG (Bandial partner organisation).

Produced, with permission, by SIL, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau.

SIL Helps Battle Ebola Through Literacy

S Bible Translated Into Brazilian Sign Language

I

Drew Maust

n 2013, the Brazilian translation team finished a DVD of children’s Bible stories in Brazilian sign language. A deaf interpreter shared how captivated a deaf boy was as he viewed the DVD. “The boy watched all four stories, transfixed. His favourite was the story of Samson. His parents were amazed that he understood it and enjoyed the Bible stories in a way they had never seen before. They gained a new appreciation for the beauty of Brazilian sign language and a new respect for their son’s capacity to understand things in his own language.”

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IL, Wycliffe’s key field partner organization, is playing a vital role in raising awareness of the threat of Ebola in the West African nation of Senegal. While the virus has been a hot topic on French radio and television, many villagers don’t understand the message well because they don’t speak enough French or Wolof, the most widely-used national languages.

Compounding the need for information is the belief by some residents that Ebola has been introduced by white people, so they can steal organs. Others also believe governments are exaggerating statistics to get more money from international donors.

The literacy team has combated the misinformation with translated Ebola facts into four rural heart languages (see the sample above). The group also held an Ebola awareness session where a Senegalese physician answered questions about the origin of Ebola, its symptoms, contagiousness and prevention measures.

Solomon Islands Translations Near Completion

Hope for the Chocoan Peoples

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olomon Island translation teams are seeing progress in three languages: Rovia, Gela and Baelelea.

The entire Roviana Bible will be completed in the next two years, with only a few Old Testament books remaining and the New Testament still being revised. The Gela team is in the final stages of translating the Gela New Testament, while the Baelelea New Testament is finished, with an audio version to be completed this year.

D

espite living in a beautiful and fertile land, many of the Chocoan people of western Colombia (as indicated below) still experience lives of hopelessness. Desperate to earn a living, some are lured to the drug trade for easy money, while others have joined subversive groups.

Bible translation teams working with the Chocó cluster project are preparing an evangelistic booklet entitled Libro de la Vida (Book of Life) for distribution among the Chocó people groups in the South American nation. This booklet has the potential to lead the Chocoans to put their hope in the Lord.

JAMAICA

BELIZE HONDURAS

Caribbean Sea

GUATEMALA

Linguists Receive Royal Honour in Netherlands

NICARAGUA

EL SALVADOR

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ears of service and dedication to the Naro people of Botswana has resulted in a Wycliffe couple being knighted in the Dutch order of Orange-Nassau. Hessel and Coby Visser (below) were bestowed the honour by Mayor Pieter van Maaren (centre, below) on behalf of King WillemAlexander of Netherlands.

The Vissers began language work in the southern African nation in 1991. Throughout the past two decades, the couple has worked alongside the Naro people to translate the New Testament, do language analysis, develop an alphabet and create multilingual educational programs.

“The Vissers’ contribution to the Naro language community has been exemplary,” said Freddy Boswell, executive director of SIL, Wycliffe’s key field partner organization. “They represent the servant heart and attitude that we hope will mark all of SIL’s work.”

COSTA RICA

VENEZUELA

PANAMA

GUYANA

Bogota

COLOMBIA

BRAZIL

ECUADOR

Word Count 120+

Organizations that form the Wycliffe Global Alliance (WGA), of which Wycliffe Canada is a member.

60

Countries where these WGA organizations exist.

60

Years these and other organizations have been assisting language groups in Bible translation.

1,000s

Resources in mother tongues that WGA personnel have also helped produce for literacy, education, health and other development-related objectives.

Source: Wycliffe Global Alliance

Courtesy of Hessel and Coby Visser

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Natasha Schmale

The Computing Pastor Wycliffe Canada’s information technology staff is led by a pastor with a mind for bits and bytes.

By Dwayne Janke

F

rom a kid in Hong Kong who liked electronics, to directing the virtual environments department at Wycliffe Canada, Eric Lai’s journey has meandered like the circuitry on a computer chip.

His life has seen God-driven twists and turns that moved Eric out of his comfort zone and prepared him to give oversight to one of Wycliffe’s most challenging and important operations based out of its Calgary office: information technology.

That Eric serves in Wycliffe while also working as a pastor is impressive given his background, personal traits and the challenges he faced along the way.

Eric was raised in Hong Kong but finished high school after arriving in Canada with his family.

“You see, Hong Kong is such a small place and has so many people, competition is amazing,” says Eric. “I wouldn’t have had a chance to get into any post-secondary school. So, coming here I truly believe was God’s provision.”

After first settling in Vancouver, Eric came to Alberta to

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study avionics/electronics at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary. He realized his real interest was in computer programming, so he eventually transferred to the University of Calgary to get a computer science degree.

“With software, if you have a problem, it’s called a bug. A bug can be fixed just like that, without going out and getting a component. I love that aspect of fixing problems.”

Striking Out on His Own It was also in Calgary that God became more real to Eric. “I was a practising Catholic. I faithfully attended mass, but I had this fear about not making it to heaven. I always feared that what if I sinned and then died before I made it to the confession booth?”

Car-less and hindered by the cold weather, he eventually gave up attending a Catholic church. Yearning for a social life, Eric accepted the invitation from a friend to visit a Chinese Alliance church.

“Then I came to realize the biblical truth of salvation. I realized that my salvation is by God’s grace,” Eric explains.

(OPPOSITE) Eric Lai, director of Wycliffe Canada’s virtual environments department, inspects the organization’s computer server rack with Bill Cameron, technical services manager. Located in Wycliffe’s Calgary office, the unit is the hub for various computer applications that are used by Wycliffe Canada staff serving in Canada and around the world.

Eric worked for a software/hardware firm initially but then decided to strike out on his own as a private consultant. He loved working with clients because the entire process ended with delivering helpful computer applications that put smiles on their faces.

As his faith grew, Eric began serving in his Alliance congregation, driving buses on Sunday and developing some tithing software for the church. The introvert decided he would just continue to serve in the background.

In 1996, while attending another Chinese Alliance church, Eric was challenged by an interning pastor during a discussion in which Eric said he felt that God would use his gift of computing in ministry, but never call him to be a pastor.

The intern, though only a friend of a friend of Eric’s, spoke boldly.

“He said, ‘Eric, what do you rely on when it comes to serving God—your talents or God’s enablement?’ I broke down in tears,” recalls Eric. “Eventually, I realized God used him to speak to me: ‘You’re going to serve Me, but not with what you think is your best.

I want you to serve Me, using what you feel uncomfortable with.’

“At that moment, I came to God and said, “Whatever—I’m yours . . . . You tell me what to do.”

Eric felt the Lord was pointing him to seminary. By this time married to his wife Elaine and a father of two children, Eric began studying at Prairie Bible College’s graduate school in Calgary, while continuing his private business.

One Big Headache But there was a problem. A downward spiral of tension headaches, which started in the 1990s when Eric would often work energetically from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., had plunged to its lowest point.

“By 1996, my tension headaches were full-fledged. At 6 p.m., my mind shut down,” recalls Eric. “I couldn’t really watch TV, or read a newspaper. I stopped reading the Bible for some time. As soon as I barely managed to finish my supper, I would have to go to bed. That’s how severe it was.”

Neurologists and herbalists couldn’t help Eric. This was the situation Eric faced when he considered going to seminary.

“I said, ‘God, you must be joking—I’m going to study? But it’s okay, because if I flunk my first course, I’ll know this is not your will.’ ” But amazingly, Eric’s headaches actually subsided through his studies. “That is totally illogical. But again, we are talking about God, right?” he says. “So I was practically headache-free by 2002 when I was ready to look into ministry.”

Eric went on to pastor at two churches, most recently in the increasingly inter-cultural Foothills Alliance Church, one of Calgary’s biggest congregations. He is pastor of discipleship.

Joining Wycliffe Two times since 2009, Eric was approached by Joe Chan, with Wycliffe Canada’s Chinese outreach ministries, about serving at Wycliffe. The second time, Eric decided to join the IT team.

“I totally believe in Wycliffe, the work, the contribution of Bible translation ministry worldwide. So I said yes,” explains the 57-year-old.

“I just thought that I might be able to help, as an overseer.”

“I had training, I had [software] development experience, and I had experience with clients. I just thought that I might be able to help, as an overseer.”

In 2011, the volunteer brought his computer science background and the human touch of a consultant to the staff.

“I value people as my top priority. Work is next, of course, but their well-being is my priority,” says Lai, who continues working part time at Foothills Alliance. “I think this is what I have learned from my pastoral ministry: people come first. They are more important than technology.”

Still, that ever-changing technology is crucial in today’s modern world, and Wycliffe Canada is no exception. Whether it be finances, email, video production, management, databases for recruiting and human resources, or smartphones—everything in Wycliffe Canada’s day-to-day operations is dependent on computers and information technology.

“This is the world that we are living in,” says Eric.

A Bridge, A Channel When it comes to giving leadership to the information technology department in Wycliffe Canada (called virtual environments because IT is often focused on Wycliffe staff working remotely and connecting over vast distances), Eric realizes that his own computer know-how is somewhat dated and limited.

However, “the basic principles will always stay more or less the same. You need someone who knows enough of the overall requirement, but not too much into the technical detail, who is able to tie it together, to look at the big picture, to make decisions which affect not only the department, but the whole organization,” he says. “I am attempting to fulfil that mandate.”

Eric oversees a staff that maintains Wycliffe Canada’s computer hardware and infrastructure, keeps tabs on what’s emerging so the equipment and technology doesn’t become obsolete, and develops or evaluates needed computer applications. These days, personnel are busy with significant upgrades to Wycliffe Canada’s finance system and website.

Manpower is the biggest challenge faced by Eric’s department.

Ideally, it should have 10 staffers, but currently has about seven, including several working only part time. Other staff are needed to do programming and manage computer applications.

Eric hopes he can help bring them in. With one foot in a mission organization and the other in the local Church, he envisions being a kind of broker, who can encourage Christians to consider serving with Wycliffe.

“I am a bridge, a channel, for God to make it happen.”

Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

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Shooting photos for Word Alive helps Natasha Schmale enlarge her monolingual, “white-girl-from-a-farm” perspective.

By Nathan Frank

N

atasha Schmale’s photojournalism career began near her family’s farm in the central Alberta back country in 2005.

One night her parents, Dean and Doris, were bike riding on the back roads near Winfield, a small community an hour southwest of Edmonton. A man who looked lost stopped them, asking for directions.

As they chatted, the man told Dean he was the publisher of a magazine called Alberta Land and Life. Dean mentioned in passing that his daughter liked photography.

“Here, give your daughter this film, get her to fill it up and we’ll take a look at it,” the man replied.

In the coming weeks, Natasha filled the film with photos from the Alberta wilderness. When the man returned, he took the film and gave her another one to fill. Eventually the man asked Natasha to shoot the photographs for a story he was writing.

“Well, since you live there, why don’t you just write the article too?” he suggested.

Natasha agreed and her journalism career was born.

Once Natasha, now 27, graduated from high school, she decided to take photojournalism at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) in Calgary. However, after finishing the two-year course in 2008, she found herself without a steady photography job, working instead at Home Depot. She hated the job and was frustrated with her life.

“I went to school, took all the training, and now I’m just selling plants at Home Depot,” she says about her thoughts at the time.

“I was so frustrated with where I was in my own life that I didn’t bother to look around at what was happening around me. I was very focused on ‘how can I get out of here?’ I was just mad, basically all the time.”

Turning Point Soon she picked up freelancing assignments at the Red Deer Advocate in central Alberta. Her schedule got so busy that she would sometimes work two months without a day off.

In this miserable, dark place in her life, however, she was motivated to find more meaningful work. She also yearned for a more authentic faith.

“I don’t think I fully understood that I am sinful, that I am broken; I don’t deserve anything and Jesus came, He rescued me and He redeemed me and died for me on the cross.”

Growing up in a Christian home, Natasha thought that she was a good Christian because she didn’t smoke, drink, party or have sex.

“I have Jesus, I’m good now, and I just carry on with my own life,” she told herself.

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“It took me until my time in Red Deer where I realized, ‘No, actually, you might not have done these things, but you are a hypocrite, you’re selfish, you’re prideful, you are just as broken, and you need Jesus.’”

As she realized her need for Christ, she started Googling missionary organizations and looked into whether Wycliffe needed a photographer. That search led Natasha to contact Dwayne Janke, editor of Word Alive magazine.

“I had heard of Wycliffe from a friend but didn’t have much knowledge of what they did,” she explained. “Dwayne said they could use someone to help out with the photo library, so I did that as a volunteer.”

Months later, Natasha was invited to go on a Word Alive trip to Bangladesh to do the photography for the magazine.

The trip—her first overseas—opened Natasha's eyes to the importance of minority language groups having the Bible in their mother tongues.

“I realized that the world is bigger than my monolingual, whitegirl-from-a-farm worldview. “[I saw] when you have education, and when you have people who are able to read and write—the opportunities that creates.

Literacy improves their understanding of how valuable they are as people.”

During the trip, she decided to join Wycliffe and realized for the first time that photojournalism and missions could work together.

Capturing the “Right Now” Natasha has now been with Wycliffe full time for more than three years. She has shot thousands of photos that are being seen around the world in Word Alive and a variety of other media platforms, including Wycliffe Canada’s website (wycliffe.ca), brochures and in displays.

“As a photographer, I have the opportunity to tell stories through the photos I take that hopefully help inform and engage others in the work of Bible translation, helping them to get a better sense of the need for Bible translation and also showing how Bible translation plays a role in building the Church,” she explains.

“But more than that I see [my job] as an opportunity to tell the stories of how Jesus is transforming lives all over the world; how He is growing His Church, how He uses the most unlikely people to remind all of us, here in Canada and overseas, just how powerful God's Word is and how the gospel changes everything!”

Moving In for Jesus If you were to take a photograph of Natasha’s life today, you would see how much her love of Jesus has transformed her life. On this particular night, the energetic outdoors enthusiast is surrounded by friends at a crowded table in her northeast Calgary home. The smell of spices from a kale and sausage soup permeates the room, along with an abundance of laughter. She and her friends have joined a network of people across Canada who call themselves “MoveIn.” The group of 20-somethings have moved into a low-income community in Calgary to share their faith with marginalized people.

“We are seeing we have nothing to offer these people except Jesus because we see so much brokenness, like 15-year-old girls on drugs who are addicted to cutting, or the 10-year-old boys who were fighting behind our complex all the time. I have nothing to offer them, absolutely nothing except Jesus.”

Thankfully for Natasha, Jesus is the difference. He has led her out of the back country to a life filled with purpose, touching nations through her work at Wycliffe.

Dwayne Janke

“I see [my job] as an opportunity to tell the stories of how Jesus is transforming lives all over the world; how He is growing His Church, how He uses the most unlikely people. . . .”

(LEFT) Natasha Schmale performs a press check at McCallum Printing Group in Edmonton.

For every issue of Word Alive, Natasha or fellow photographer, Alan Hood, make the trip to McCallum to check and adjust the color of the printing.

(BOTTOM) Natasha (second from right) prays with her MoveIn friends at her Calgary home. MoveIn is a group that Natasha is a part of that look to intentionally impact their community for Christ. (RIGHT) Natasha goes for a jog across the Bow River, with Calgary’s downtown in the background, preparing for a 16-kilometre trail run in nearby Kananaskis Country.

Alan Hood Photos

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Natasha Schmale Photos

(TOP) Bud Thompson plays passport office clerk in a missionary simulation game, giving youth from Riverview Baptist Church a taste of what is involved in getting to cross-cultural ministry overseas. (ABOVE) Bud and Kala discuss with Pastor Neville Gosman of

E

arly in 1990, when Kala Thompson saw her husband Bud’s growing interest in the work of Bible translation, she grew increasingly nervous. After all, Bud’s hair salon in Sussex, N.B., had grown to 10 employees. Kala was also working as an RN. The Thompsons’ lifestyle in the town 70 km northeast of Saint John was comfortable and predictable.

Furthermore, with Bud just a few years away from his 50th birthday, Kala wasn’t sure she wanted to make any major changes. But it was clear to Kala that something in Bud had

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A mature New Brunswick couple, who liquidated their property to follow God’s leading, now helps others find their place in Bible translation.

By Doug Lockhart

Penobsquis Baptist Church what he sees as the church’s role in the Great Commission. Interacting with church leaders is a common activity for the New Brunswick couple, who represent Wycliffe and cast vision for Bible translation among Atlantic region congregations.

begun to change after they both visited a Bible translation project in Guatemala.

“After we came home,” says Kala, “Bud talked more and more about Wycliffe and about his growing dissatisfaction with being in secular business.”

“So many people around me were saying ‘I, me, we, we’re buying, we’re getting,’” adds Bud. “The greed kind of got to me, after seeing all the poverty down there.”

When Bud eventually floated the idea of returning to

Guatemala to serve as volunteers with Wycliffe, Kala agreed to go on one condition—that they would not use the vacation money they’d saved up to visit Spain and Morocco. As a compromise, Bud offered to sell his van instead to finance their volunteer service.

The idea left Kala feeling somewhat relieved.

“I thought, ‘That’s OK; the money won’t last that long.’ ”

“The people we recruit now . . . they can . . . live to see every language group that needs it have a New Testament.”

beginning that we would do that—take people on a short-term mission trip so they could see the work.”

One of the first young people to participate was Jessica Sinclair (see story, pg. 14), a bright, outgoing 15-year-old whom the Thompsons first met at a church in Moncton. In 1997, Divine Confirmation Jessica joined Bud’s first “vision trip” to a country he knew About a week later, Kala was dumbfounded when Bud informed well: Guatemala. her he had sold an apartment building they owned so they could Since then, Bud and Kala have led numerous overseas trips, to stay longer in Guatemala. And not long after that, her quiet, soft- Guatemala as well as a few countries in Africa. Most are vision spoken husband dropped another bombshell: he had sold the trips, but some—like a January 2014 trip to Cameroon—may hair salon. involve physical labour and/or medical outreach, too.

“I couldn’t believe he would do these things without talking Vast Network to me about it,” says Kala, noting they had always made big decisions like that together. “But he just really believed that God The Cameroon trip benefited a Bible translation and literacy was calling us to be involved in Bible translation full time.” project for a cluster of related languages in the Ndop plain of Just four months after their visit to Guatemala, the couple Cameroon, one of several “focus regions” recently adopted by attended an orientation course in Kelowna, B.C., for people Wycliffe Canada. To raise awareness about needs there as well as interested in joining Wycliffe’s staff. If they had any doubts other regions around the globe, the Thompsons regularly meet at that point that God was calling them to be “sold out” for with pastors and other church leaders in Atlantic Canada. missions, their doubts were quickly dispelled when Bud answered “For the past couple of years,” says Kala, “we have focused an unexpected phone call from a man who wanted to buy their on introducing area churches to the concepts of ‘Kingdom house in Sussex.

Friendships,’ where churches partner with language groups, This was odd—considering their house wasn’t listed on the people groups and projects.”

More on the Web: real estate market and the man had only seen the exterior.

The Thompsons have many Discover how your church can After quickly conferring with Kala, Bud suggested an amount opportunities to do so, thanks to explore Kingdom Friendships at and the inquirer—who planned to move to Sussex and needed a strong ties to the Convention of <friendship.wycliffe.ca> large house for his family—agreed on the price over the phone.

Atlantic Baptist Churches (CABC).

The denomination includes more Taste and See than 450 churches.

Through relationships formed with CABC church leaders With their four children grown and following their own pursuits, and others over the past 35 years, Bud and Kala receive many Bud and Kala moved to Guatemala City in October, 1990, just invitations to represent Wycliffe Canada at mission-related seven months after their first visit to the Central American services or conferences. country. For the next six-and-a-half years, they served more Furthermore, Kala is a licensed lay pastor with the Baptist than 20 language projects through a variety of support roles group. As a result, she has been able to expand their network that included maintenance, information technology, staff care through her speaking ministry at women’s retreats. and hospitality.

Besides their church network, Bud and Kala also enjoy Kala also used her artistic talent to illustrate reading primers meeting students from area schools like Kingswood University and Scripture books. (formerly Bethany Bible College) and inviting them to their home In 1996, when Wycliffe’s operations in Guatemala began whenever possible. to downsize because Bible translation there was nearing “Every day is different,” Kala says about their ministry. completion, the Thompsons returned to New Brunswick and bought a “fixer-upper” house to renovate and call home. Wycliffe While the Thompsons love their role in Wycliffe, they know Canada leaders then asked them if they would serve as Wycliffe the time will soon come to hand it over to others. representatives at Christian conferences, churches and schools in “We don’t have the same energy. . . .” says Bud. the Atlantic region.

“But we feel the same passion,” adds Kala. “We are 70-ish and “We said, ‘OK, it’s not really our thing, but we’ll do it for two we are not going to live to see every Bible translation that needs years,’” says Kala. to be done finished. But, the people we recruit now, and the Belatedly, they began raising financial support from interested people we get involved who are young, they can . . . live to see friends, family members and churches. Nineteen years later, every language group that needs it have a New Testament.” they’re still spreading the word about remaining needs in Bible Some observers might think it’s time for the Thompsons translation—and still using a valuable strategy they discovered to start taking it easy. But for Bud, the idea of spending his early on to help people “get” what Wycliffe is all about. remaining days on a golf course is out of the question.

“It’s hard to get people interested in Bible translation if they “I couldn’t be out golfing every day,” he jokes, “because we don’t see the work for themselves,” says Bud. “So, I decided at the blew all our money.”

Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca 11

Spared for More Mission

Wycliffe Canada board member Steve Kabetu’s introduction to Bible translation field work was painful, debilitating— and life-threatening.

By Nathan Frank

Spared for More Mission

S

oon to be a Wycliffe Canada board member, Steve Kabetu had just attended a New Testament dedication ceremony for the Apurímac Quechua people of south-central Peru hours earlier.

Now Kabetu, who is also director of world missions for the Christian Reformed Church (CRC), was flat on his back in a rural mission hospital in the community of Curahuasi. As physicians and nurses hovered above him awaiting a surgery to remove his burst appendix, one doctor asked him if it would be okay if they prayed.

“Oh no, please do,” he responded, while wondering, “Are they praying because they’ve never done this surgery before?”

The doctor told Kabetu that the hospital’s name in the local Quechua means, “In God we trust.” This comforted him as the anesthetic gently put him to sleep.

When Kabetu awoke he was told that the surgery was a lifesaving procedure, but he would have to stay at the hospital for two weeks while the antibiotics cleaned the toxins out of his body. As Kabetu sat in his wheelchair recovering, he was resigned to the fact that his fast-paced life was halted. He had weeks to reflect on the impact of Wycliffe Canada-sponsored Bible translation work in Peru. He also had plenty of time to think about his own life and that of his grandfather.

Natasha Schmale

(TOP) Steve Kabetu explains in his Burlington, Ont., office that because of his upbringing and life experiences, he looks at the world upside down, like the map in the background which is deliberately printed in a non-traditional projection with southern nations on the top. (RIGHT) Kabetu is surrounded by Wycliffe Canada board members at their 2014 spring meeting, held at Rivers Edge Camp and Conference Centre northwest of Calgary. Kabetu joined the board in the fall of 2013, bringing a unique perspective.

“It is priceless to have a leader within one of our key denominational partners represented on the board.”

“It is priceless to have leader within one of o key denominational partne represented on the boar 12 Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

Alan Hood

Having moved into a new community, the newlyweds were looking for a church, and conveniently a house church was hosted on their block. The pastor of the church knocked on their door and invited them to attend, but Kabetu and Patricia weren’t sure what to think.

“We looked at each other [thinking], ‘What kind of church starts in a house basement?’ Now we were all of a sudden very suspicious. So, we spent six months avoiding our neighbours,” explains a laughing Kabetu.

Nonetheless, the pastor was persistent and finally they joined the Christian Reformed Church. They found that it was full of folks from all over the world, seeking Christ. It became their church home. Kabetu soon joined the leadership group, which was asked to attend a regional gathering of churches to learn about the CRC denomination and its ministries.

Two years later, he was nominated to the church’s board and began volunteering his time to develop a curriculum and workshops on how to talk about racial diversity. In time, his efforts turned into a full-time position and he became the co-ordinator for the office of race relations in Canada for the CRC. In 2012, he became the Canadian director of Christian Reformed World Missions.

Overseas Education When Kabetu was born, East Africa was a much different place than it was during his grandfather’s childhood. He was born in the mid-’60s at the tail-end of decades of conflict between the British and the region’s displaced people groups, who had been removed from their traditional land and put into reserves surrounded by barbed-wire.

After the region stabilized, Kabetu, who was the second oldest of six children, moved around a lot because of his father’s career.

The family lived a middle-class Kenyan life and Kabetu spent much of his childhood in his community, playing soccer and field hockey.

After graduating from high school, Kabetu was working on the family farm when his father told him that he and his mother wanted him to get an education. After researching different schools in the U.S., Britain and Canada, Kabetu and his father chose York University in Toronto.

During Kabetu’s first year at college in the late ’80s, he experienced his first snowfall. He hurried outside, along with other foreign students to experience a strange new substance.

“We were outside and you know how the snow comes and it’s clean and fresh,” he explains. “We were outside just trying to touch it and hold it . . . the first thing I did when I had a pile of snow in my hand was taste it. I remember looking at all the other friends of ours who were doing the same thing and saying, ‘It doesn’t taste anything like we thought it would.’ ” The cold weather caused culture shock for Kabetu, but he stuck with his program, hoping to return to Kenya to help develop the country after concluding his studies in economics.

However, when he finished, Kenya was unstable politically and he was advised by his father to postpone his return.

At York, Kabetu met his wife Patricia. After university, the couple moved into a new townhouse, while Kabetu got his feet wet in the workforce, first as a teaching assistant and then in developing economic profiles for various cities.

Stepping Forward

pared for More Mission

From Congregation to Denomination

Kabetu’s destiny—and the origins of his faith— can be traced back to his grandfather’s African childhood in the early 1900s and his habit of losing goats and sheep while herding.

When Kabetu’s grandfather was a child, the first missionary to their village was Harry Leakey. Hailing from Britain, Harry and his family settled into the pre-Kenyan village of Kabete with the southern Kikuyu people. The couple was able to stay in the region with the permission of the elders, and asked to set up a school where they could teach Kikuyu children how to read and write, and tell them about God and His Son Jesus.

One of the elders was Kabetu’s great-grandfather (see related photo, pg. 30), who offered to let his youngest son attend school, because he wasn’t very good at herding. The son would become a Christian and a few years later, in 1905, travelled to Great Britain to learn English. Eventually, he would help translate the Bible into the Kikuyu language.

“When I look back at his life,” says Kabetu, reflecting in his Toronto office, “having had that experience definitely changed the way my father’s life was, and the way my life turned out.”

Spared for More Mission

Fate and Origins

If it had been up to Kabetu, he probably would still be in Kenya working on his family’s farm. If contentment equated to God’s will for his life, he wouldn’t have gone to university and he wouldn’t have accepted leadership roles with CRC. After becoming the missions director of CRC, he saw that the denomination didn’t have Bible translation as a part of their missions plan and signed a partnership agreement with Wycliffe Canada.

Kabetu became a Wycliffe Canada board member in the fall of 2013, helping the board give vision to the organization and providing it the constituency accountability required by law in Canada for non-profit agencies.

Roy Eyre, president of Wycliffe Canada, was excited when Kabetu joined the board because of the work Kabetu’s grandfather did in translating the Bible for the Kikuyu. Soon, though, Eyre realized Kabetu’s contribution was much broader than his connection to his grandfather.

“During his years in Canada, he has managed to maintain the perspective of the minority language communities we serve, and he has brought that perspective to board discussions,” explains Eyre. “In addition, I've really come to value his contribution as a director of a partner organization. He understands my role and the challenges of leading an organization within our legal and cultural context.

“More than that, it is priceless to have a leader within one of our key denominational partners represented on the board.

His participation binds the two organizations together in some key ways."

Kabetu brings a rare perspective on the Wycliffe board.

It’s rooted in a faith that was planted in his grandfather by missionaries over a century ago and it’s a perspective that has been shaped by God’s remarkable path for his life—from a Kenyan reserve to Canada.

Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca 13

Wycliffe Canada’s chief recruiter lives to help people find and follow God’s direction for their lives.

W

hen Jessica Sinclair began teaching history classes at Crandall University in 2005, the Moncton, N.B., native thought she had found her life’s calling.

It seemed like the perfect fit. Jessica had graduated from the small liberal arts university before moving on to earn a master’s degree in history from McGill University. And there were family ties, too—her dad, Stephen Dempster, serves on Crandall’s faculty as professor of religious studies.

But just a few months after she began teaching at Crandall, Jessica had a conversation with her friends Bud and Kala Thompson (see story, pg. 10), who several years earlier had encouraged her to explore doing Bible translation with Wycliffe.

The exchange unexpectedly led Jessica back to Wycliffe and an entirely different direction for her life.

By Doug Lockhart “That I could get really excited about!” says Jessica.

“To me, it was what excited me about teaching at Crandall; seeing people look at themselves and, through the lens of history and faith, understand themselves better . . . and have a deeper faith as a result, and be able to engage the world with a Christian worldview and perspective.”

Kingdom Investments

Since 2007, Jessica and a number of colleagues on the recruitment team have visited numerous college and high school campuses, churches and youth groups. They engage with young people who either are seriously exploring their career options, or just beginning to think about what they should do with their lives.

If she had her way, Jessica would abandon the term “recruitment” to describe her job and replace it with a phrase Deep Impact that reveals her deeper motivation.

“I really just want to see God cultivated in people’s hearts,” she says.

Nowadays, the 32-year-old dynamo leads Wycliffe Canada’s Now married and living in the Toronto area with her husband national recruitment team. It’s a role she’d never thought about Alex, Jessica says there is no “typical day” that defines her work. when the Thompsons asked her if she would consider hosting Some days, she may stay home to work on a church or college a Café Wycliffe event at Crandall, to introduce students to presentation, while other days may find her meeting with an Wycliffe’s work in Bible translation. interested inquirer in a local coffee shop.

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s a great thing I More on the Web: Explore Café Wycliffe events in Jessica estimates that about 50 per cent of her time is devoted can do to further the passion in me for Calgary, Winnipeg, Edmonton to local recruitment activities in southwestern Ontario, while the helping Bibleless people access God’s and Toronto at cafe.wycliffe.ca. other half is devoted to strategic planning for Wycliffe Canada’s Word,’” says Jessica. recruiting efforts across the country.

As a 15-year-old, Jessica had travelled “Part of that is recruiting for internships,” says Jessica, “and to Central America with the Thompsons for a summer outreach setting up and leading short-term trips like “InstiGATE” as well.” in Guatemala City. Then after she completed high school, Since joining Wycliffe’s staff eight years ago, Jessica has the Thompsons arranged for her to live for two months in a accompanied eight teams on overseas trips. One such journey Cameroonian village. even included a visit to language projects in South Asia (see Word Both experiences left a deep impression in her life.

Alive, Spring 2010), where Bible “In Cameroon, I saw. . . the spiritual issues on the translation More on the Web: translation must be carried out side of missions. . . and really believed it would be very Learn more about past & upcoming discreetly because of religious worthwhile to spend my life so that people could be able to trips at instigate.wycliffe.ca. and cultural sensitivities. understand and know God.” Jessica says such experiences The experience led her to enrol in a summer course at the are invaluable for young people who want to make informed Canada Institute of Linguistics (CanIL) in Langley, B.C., with the decisions about serving with Wycliffe or any other mission hope she might find her niche in Bible translation. However, agency. even though she “aced” her linguistic courses, the subject didn’t “Young people are reticent to commit to a 40-year career . . . or inspire her as a career choice. even something that involves a five-year commitment. But when Jessica’s heart connection with Wycliffe was still strong when they have an experience with something, they have a chance to she began teaching at Crandall, so the idea of hosting a Café imagine themselves in that situation.

Wycliffe event there appealed to the bubbly, outgoing history “So it becomes a way for them to have an educated spiritual teacher. The first event she held on campus, which included a meal and a talk by the Thompsons, drew a modest-sized group of experience where they can discern God’s direction in their life; not jumping into something with their eyes closed, but they interested students. are well informed because they have an opportunity to see and Not long after, the Thompsons introduced Jessica to Café Wycliffe founders Derryl and Karen Friesen. The Friesens challenged experience what Wycliffe does.”

Jessica to consider serving with Wycliffe full time, helping to engage a new generation in the work of Bible translation.

14 Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

Planting and Cultivating

Natasha Schmale

Some who have participated in these cross-cultural adventures have since jumped, eyes-wide-open, into service with Wycliffe Canada. They include past recruiter Sarah Barnes, Word Alive photographer Natasha Schmale, Alberta recruiters Kevin and Melissa Derksen, and newcomers Chris and Lauren Merke, who met during a Wycliffe summer trip to Kenya in 2012.

Other past participants are in various stages of post-secondary education, so Jessica doesn’t expect them to make long-term decisions about their future for some time yet.

“It’s actually going to be seven years down the road where we may actually see the impact of these trips on their lives. So part of our role in recruitment is then cultivating those relationships and their passion through a number of years.”

For Jessica, the task of remotely leading a team of nine recruiters and volunteers based in Alberta, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec and B.C. can seem overwhelming at times. But every now and then, a stimulating conversation or meeting with someone who’s open to God’s leading lifts her spirits and keeps her motivated.

This past January, for example, Jessica was representing Wycliffe Canada at the Vancouver Missions Fest. A young woman stopped by the Wycliffe booth, explaining that she felt God was leading her to be involved.

“I have a background in linguistics,” the woman told Jessica. “I haven’t felt like it was the right time to join Wycliffe, although it’s been on my mind. But now I feel that God is launching me.”

Jessica broke down in tears.

“To have an individual come and say, ‘This is what I believe God is leading me to do, not because you convinced me, not because I’ve seen a great presentation’— but because this person has heard from God and they want us to help facilitate them serving Him—that’s what gets me up in the morning.”

Jessica adds that her aim is to help such people experience God’s grace in their own lives by being part of His Kingdom work.

“It’s not just about getting the job of Bible translation done around the world.

It’s about these wonderful people here in our country who are going to be fulfilled and are going to do what they believe God wants them to do.

“So, to me, it’s not about convincing, or about manipulating people to get involved in Wycliffe. It’s about facilitating other people’s passion for God.”

Victoria Koehler

“It’s about facilitating other people’s passion for God."

Natasha Schmale

(TOP, LEFT) As Wycliffe Canada’s recruitment team leader, Jessica Dempster is based out of Toronto, one of the world’s most multi-cultural cities, where she can frequent interesting eateries like an Ethiopian coffee shop. (TOP, RIGHT) As the 32-year-old dynamo leads short-term “InstiGATE” trips overseas for young adults, Jessica enjoys interacting with people in language groups where Wycliffe serves. (ABOVE) Less exciting, but still necessary, is processing receipts at her desk after a recent “InstiGATE” trip to Cameroon.

Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca 15

Seeking the Called Alan Hood Photos

Gyoojun Lee and Wycliffe Canada’s Korean Ministries look for missionaries within their ethnic church community.

By Nathan Frank

C

After the group understands the big picture of world missions, the importance of Bible translation becomes evident.

“The course itself emphasizes a lot about Bible translation ministries because it’s a really good strategic way to finish the [missions] task,” he explains. “If we don’t have the Bible, there is no source to teach, and train, and be able to correct and disciple believers.

“So, the Bible is the basis of all the other missions work.”

amp registration always has a nervous energy. It’s a feeling of excitement mixed with fear. Registration for Mission Path To Canada 101 this past August had the same energy, as more than Gyoojun was hesitant to become a missionary when he and his 100 members of Calgary’s Hanwoori Korean Church gathered at wife Jinsook and their two boys moved to Langley, B.C. in 2000.

Kamp Kiwanis just west of Calgary.

They came to study at the Canada Institute of Linguistics (CanIL), As the weekend’s worship band—clad in fluorescent staff a training partner of Wycliffe. His hope was that being exposed to T-shirts—began the two-day missions conference with a lively a proper exegesis of Scripture from the original languages would Korean song, Gyoojun Lee, the director of Wycliffe’s Korean help him become a better preacher in his native Korea, where he Ministries, sat off to the side writing some last-minute notes. was a pastor to a rural community in the Taebaek Mountains.

When the crowd began to clap to the up-tempo beat, Lee He had no plans of joining Wycliffe.

However, that changed quickly. quickly stood up and joined the attentive group in worship.

“From the very first week at CanIL, God just touched my heart,” Minutes later, it was Gyoojun’s turn to take the stage. Looking he says.

“I knew we needed to go out and preach the gospel to studious with light-rimmed glasses and a blue dress shirt, he all nations, but I thought my calling was pastoral ministries in got straight to business. That is, after he filled the room with Korea only.

That’s how I limited my ministry boundary.” laughter by telling a joke in Korean, the language used for the With a difficult decision to make, Gyoojun turned to an entire conference. important mentor for advice: a Korean Wycliffe staff member Wycliffe Canada’s Korean Ministries have been providing back in Korea named Min-Young Jung.

Missions 101 to Korean-speaking churches since 2008. Churches “You just overcame all those language and cultural barriers partnering with Wycliffe asked that a missions training program coming to Canada—just to study and live here, right?” asked be created so they could be transformed into congregations that Jung who is currently associate director of Wycliffe Global emphasize missions.

Alliance (the international umbrella agency of which Wycliffe “Within the time parameter [of Missions 101], we try to convey Canada is a member).

“Why not be a Wycliffe missionary to the core of what missions is, with a holistic approach,” says benefit other cultures?”

Gyoojun, who is based in Toronto.

16 Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

“Wycliffe Canada was also looking for ethnic workers who can connect “Wycliffe Canadatowas also looking ethnic workersministries. who can ”connect ethnic churches Wycliffe and its for Bible translation ethnic churches to Wycliffe and its Bible translation ministries.”

Gyoojun followed his mentors’ advice. However, instead of becoming a translator, he chose to create a ministry for Korean diaspora churches in Canada.

“I saw the needs of this mobilization ministry,” Gyoojun explains. “Wycliffe Canada was also looking for ethnic workers who can connect ethnic churches to Wycliffe and its Bible translation ministries.”

In the following years, he created a ministry that runs several programs aimed at recruiting Korean-Canadians to serve with Wycliffe overseas and connect churches with the mission field.

These two must go together in Korean congregations, explains Gyoojun.

“For Korean churches, it’s very group- or community-oriented.

So, without having a good relationship with the local churches, it’s very hard to recruit people because they [are viewed as only] belong[ing] there.”

Gyoojun says he looked up at the pastor at the pulpit and suddenly he could focus. As the pastor read from the Word of God, his attention was no longer jumbled.

Years later, after accepting the Lord and being convinced the Lord had called him to pastoral ministry, Gyoojun learned that his mom had made a vow to God when he was just a baby that she would commit him to the Lord.

“When I was really young, there were four or five times I almost died,” he says. Finally his mom took Gyoojun to a pastor. When he prayed for the youngster, he asked his mom if she would commit him to God and to becoming a pastor if he survived.

Amazed that God had saved Gyoojun’s life, his mom dedicated him to the Lord’s service.

It’s with this calling that Gyoojun seeks those called to Wycliffe among Korean-Canadians.

Who is the Ideal Missionary?

Gyoojun believes Korean-Canadians are fantastic missionary candidates because they already have experience adapting to a new culture.

“Korean-Canadians have already gone through that process,” he says. “Wherever they go around the world, they find it far easier than someone with experience in only one culture.”

Although Korean-Canadians may be ideal candidates, it’s still a long process for interested candidates to become Wycliffe missionaries. Those interested are often as young as high school students and sometimes after years of communication, and a verbal commitment, the person decides not to join.

“Sometimes we have felt like, wow, these guys are fully ready to go. Then they just take off,” he explains. “We get so excited to see the result as soon as possible, but it takes longer than expected.”

In that long process, however, Gyoojun’s original calling as a pastor comes into play. Potential recruits are people with whom Gyoonjun can pastor and build relationships. When a teenager talks to him about their wild future dreams, Gyoojun listens, not because one day the teen may become a Bible translator, but first because he is loved by Christ.

“In this kind of secularized society, how can we mobilize people to sacrifice all other things and then go to the field for 10 years or 20 years to translate the Bible? It’s impossible, right? Who could do that?”

It would be impossible if God didn’t call people to the work of Bible translation, he explains, before referring to Matthew 9: 37-38 (NIV): “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Mother’s Vow Gyoojun’s belief that each person has a calling in life isn’t based solely on his belief in Scripture. It’s also rooted in his experience as a child growing up in Korea.

One day when he was a child squirming in his church pew, God and His Word gripped his attention and allowed him to concentrate.

(OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP) Gyoojun Lee, director of Wycliffe Canada’s Korean Ministries, leads a Mission 101 conference near Calgary in September 2014. The conference presented an overview of what missions is to more than 100 Korean Canadians. (ABOVE) A group work on a team-building exercise during the two-day gathering.

Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca 17

A Reluc...tant Missionary Wycliffe Canada’s spiritual enrichment team leader went from resistance to joyful resignation to serve with the organization.

By Nathan Frank

V

alerie Salkeld really didn’t want to become a missionary. In fact, when she and her husband Laird began the process of joining Wycliffe in 2001, Valerie assumed it would only be a matter of time before he finally heard from God that they weren’t supposed to be missionaries in the first place.

“I didn’t feel like I was qualified, that I was that mature Christian that I envisioned missionaries to be,” Valerie explains while sitting in her office at Wycliffe Canada’s headquarters in Calgary. “I envisioned missionary women to be [wearing] the bun and a house dress, living overseas eating bugs. I realized how inaccurate and immature that ‘picture’ was as I got to know missionaries.”

Valerie, 47, is a stark contrast in appearance to the missionary women she first envisioned. She has a neat elegance in her attire, often wearing colourful, knee length dresses, which are accented by her short hair, shiny earrings and perfect posture.

Practical about her faith, the mother of three resisted becoming a missionary because it meant she and Laird would have to raise financial support for their young family.

“It’s a frightening thing. . . . Laird was always determined to use his skills [as a graphic designer]. He always felt like what he was doing he wanted to fully devote to God and so I thought that was wonderful as long as it didn’t affect me.”

Natasha Schmale Photos

(TOP) In addition to providing spiritual enrichment to Wycliffe Canada staff, Valerie Salkeld speaks to believers outside the organization, including Edmonton’s Ellerslie Road Baptist Church Ladies Retreat in May, 2014. (BOTTOM) Valerie finds a quiet space to prepare her presentation for the ladies retreat.

18 Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

“We impact Mature, But Real

Wycliffe’s efforts in the field through interceding for the people and the work around the world.”

Valerie’s perspective changed, however, when the couple attended a Wycliffe orientation course where they met Wycliffe missionaries.

“They were the mature Christians everyone wants to be like, but at the same time they seemed real. All of a sudden it didn’t seem so unattainable,” she explains.

“It wasn’t about being a missionary and that label or that title; it was more about just your relationship with God and that’s what I desired.”

Valerie and Laird started their missionary careers in the Calgary office in 2002. Valerie began in a support role to Laird, who joined the communications department. This allowed Valerie to stay home with their young children.

Although Valerie was officially a missionary, she wasn’t finished bargaining with God. “You won this one,” she told the Lord. ”I’ll be a missionary, but I’m not going to do the public praying thing. I’m not going to teach, and I’m not going to speak in public.”

Of course, within only a few years Valerie would be doing all of these things. By 2006 she was praying publicly, teaching and public speaking in her new role in the prayer ministries department.

“I think to some level we know what God is asking of us and that’s why we put up our hands [in defiance] before He even has a chance to ask.”

Originally Valerie worked in the department only two days a week, but in 2010 she took on the role of team leader and spearheaded a change in the department from prayer ministries to spiritual enrichment. The department changed the format of the weekly office chapel time, incorporating the reading of longer passages of Scripture and expanding prayer to Wycliffe staff needs across the globe. Her department is also responsible for sending out Prayer Alive to Canadians praying for the work.

“We impact Wycliffe’s efforts in the field through interceding for the people and the work around the world. We also encourage staff and churches to join with us in being prayerfully involved,” she explains. “I feel I am caring for and facilitating a thriving, sustainable Wycliffe community as well as promoting their spiritual health and their attentiveness to God's movement in their lives.

“Working in a faith-based organization, it is still possible to forget the main reason we are working together . . . to join in God's work.

(ABOVE) While her son Clayton clears the dishwasher, Salkeld prepares dinner at the Salkelds' Calgary home.

We can get very caught up in our own jobs and forget about nurturing our faith and relationship with God, which ultimately is the only source we can rely on. “

Grasping His Love For Valerie, it wasn’t until a pivotal moment in her life that she realized that God can be relied on—that He is an intimate God. As a child she grew up in a conservative Christian home with her three brothers and sisters. She heard all the Bible stories but viewed God as in the sky with “a big pointy finger.”

She was told God was a loving, forgiving father, but she had a hard time grasping His love—until the first moment she saw her first-born, Clayton.

“I was holding him and in that moment it was like God said to me, ‘This is how I love you.’ I realized holding him that this baby would grow up. This baby could hurt me emotionally. This baby might distance himself from me. This baby might disobey me or do all the things he will do to grow and learn. But there is nothing, nothing—nothing—that this baby can do to make me stop loving him.”

Valerie calls this her conversion moment. It took her breath away realizing that her love for Clayton was just a fraction of the love God has for each of us.

By joining Wycliffe, despite her fears and reservations, Valerie has again experienced God’s love and provision—in serving Him. “You hear this all the time, right?” explains Valerie. “People are very resistant to do what God has called them to do.

“And then they do it and wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca 19

Amy Drawing from her own experience, Wycliffe Canada’s internship co-ordinator guides students to see whether missions is for them.

By Dwayne Janke

Nathan Frank

others—in this case, students getting on-the-job exposure— to experience what she has.

Off to Tanzania Born in Brooks, Alta., Amy spent most of her life in Caronport, attending school there right through to Bible college and seminary. She gravitated to English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching courses, and spent some time in Thailand, before graduating with a BA in Global Studies from Briercrest. As she interacted with visiting missions representatives, Amy was touched by the need for Bible translation. She decided to do an internship in Scripture use through Wycliffe U.K. The then 28-year-old set off for Tanzania in January 2008.

Amy joined a Wycliffe couple from Switzerland who had their hands full with Bible translation. They had been immersed for 15 years in Sandawe, a difficult, tonal language nce or twice a week through much of the year, you will using 15 different clicks and characterized by a highly challenging find Amy Wolverton at the “Gymtastiks” club in Moose grammar.

Jaw, Sask. She’s there helping local kids experience “When I got there, they had translated the books of Jonah and gymnastics, from rolling on mats to walking on the beam.

Ruth, ” she explains. “They wanted somebody to distribute it, teach As a certified gymnastics coach, Amy mentors youngsters in one it, do Bible studies, go to markets in the area. I would have an mp3 of her childhood passions. player playing the Scriptures and songs, and people would buy “I grew up doing gymnastics from age four to 15,” she says. “In calendars in their language with the alphabet on the back.” elementary school, I’d go to school, then to gymnastics almost Amy learned as much Sandawe as she could, though she often every day, and I loved it right up to the time I quit.” had to default to Swahili, the main trade language in Tanzania, Twenty minutes down the highway at her hometown of which she studied for four months at a language school when Caronport, Amy also coaches the track and field club at the local she first arrived in the country. The active young woman high school, which is connected to the community’s centrepiece, enjoyed her 18 months on the field, including the travel and Briercrest Bible College and Seminary. social interaction.

Because of her love of track and field throughout grade “I like riding my bike, I like walking, and I like exercise. The school, Amy decided to volunteer to guide the Caronport different villages I would go around to would be an hour away, teenagers in the sport. but I could walk and greet people along the way.”

“It’s something I really enjoy,” she says. “I can build relationships, and I can help the kids improve and see them grow, and support Field Realization them in their sport.”

Amy saw staff working behind the scenes in areas such as finance Coaching is obviously in the blood of this 33-year-old wife and and accounting which support the effort of Bible translators, mother of two small children. literacy workers and Scripture use staff.

So, it seems only natural that Amy serves as co-ordinator of “It gave me a whole new perspective,” she says. “Then when I got Wycliffe Canada’s internship program. Once again, she is helping

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20 Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

Natasha Schmale

(OPPOSITE PAGE) As Wycliffe Canada’s internship program co-ordinator, Amy Wolverton draws on her experiences of guiding and mentoring as a certified coach at the “Gymtastiks” club in Moose Jaw, Sask. (ABOVE) Working remotely from nearby Caronport, Amy Wolverton shows off her new baby girl, Senna, during a video conference meeting with other staff across Canada in Wycliffe’s People department.

Whatever their circumstances, Amy says young people today—unlike their parents—are faced with many more possibilities for careers. They often need to try things before committing to anything long term, which makes Wycliffe’s internship program so relevant.

“They get a good experience and . . . I think it helps them get some direction, either ‘Yes, this is for me’ or ‘No, it isn’t for me.’ ” Internships are a win-win situation, both for the intern and the out to the village setting, I realized what it takes to translate the Wycliffe personnel they assist, explains Amy. “Most are replying, Bible—how much work and time, double and triple checking.”

‘Yes, send me another one.’”

Amy knew the long translation effort was worth it when she So far, 36 young people have been on Wycliffe internships since played audio portions of the translated book of Jonah to a group the program began in 2010. Of that number, five have joined of Sandawe village women. Though the women had the Swahili Wycliffe, three are serving in full-time Christian work, and a Bible, it was listening to God’s Word in their heart language and handful of others are currently studying for service with Wycliffe. following along with printed Scriptures that struck home.

“At the end of it, I remember this one lady said, ‘Oh, that’s what Seeing Growth in Others the book’s all about.’ In the end, their faces lit up.

Working remotely from Caronport, Amy interacts with interns “When I’d go to the market and play their songs or Scripture, from the application process right through to their post-field they just felt a great pride in it and they would say, ‘This is our debriefing, via email, Skype or in person. language. We can understand it.’ ” She gives potential interns one-on-one attention to match When Amy returned to Canada in late 2010, she began dating them with relevant ministry opportunities somewhere in Justin, a long-time friend in Caronport. They were married the Wycliffe’s worldwide ministry, ranging from two months to one next summer. year.

These internships have so far included linguistics, Bible Justin had made a commitment to continue playing basketball translation, literacy, Bible storytelling, ethno arts, Scripture use, and studying at Briercrest. During the couple’s engagement, teaching missionary kids, administration, video production and Wycliffe Canada approached Amy to spearhead a new internship information technology. program. She didn’t hesitate to work with young people wanting “There’s a huge variety,” she says of the possibilities. “People to get a taste of cross-cultural ministry like she had. shouldn’t get the idea that because we say we’re ‘Wycliffe Bible “I had just experienced it,” she says. “I’m fresh out of college, Translators’ that there are only opportunities in language work.” seminary—[I am at the] same stage as them. I can understand.”

Most interns have never travelled before, other than on family vacations, says Amy, or they have not travelled alone.

Increasing Opportunities “I’m helping them with visas, and plane tickets and travel tips.

Most post-secondary institutions, including Bible schools and All my past travel experience I can pass on to them, and then seminaries, require students to do an experience- and exposure[my experience] cross-culturally too.” building internship as part of their studies, says Amy. Wycliffe These days, Amy is busy with a two-year-old son and an infant Canada is partnering with more and more schools to provide daughter, and is taking a six-month maternity leave, before such opportunities. returning in her fulfilling role as internship co-ordinator.

About half of Wycliffe interns are post-secondary students who “I just like seeing growth and building those relationships, have taken classes in their area of interest but want an internship answering questions and being available and helping.” to see if they should Whether it’s in the gym, outside on a track, or at her desk continue those More on the Web: guiding interns, Amy keeps on coaching young people as they To learn more about Wycliffe Canada’s studies. “Some are test and pursue passions and gifts God has given them. internship program, visit internship.wycliffe.ca. out of high school and want to try an internship and then do their schooling,” she adds. “Others have done some schooling and then want to specialize in an area.”

Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca 21

Natasha Schmale Photos

Former Wycliffe translators use their field experiences to help their colleagues and would-be missionaries.

By Nathan Frank

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For Jonathan, 48, and his wife Bonnie, 46, the mission field is now Toronto, but for more than eight years, from 2000-2008, their focus was in Central Asia where they worked in translation with Wycliffe. The task then was to help devise an alphabet, create literacy material, and translate the Bible for a language group there.

Now the task is to take what they learned in the field and walk in a new calling—Jonathan as a professor and Bonnie as a counsellor and member-care consultant for Wycliffe Canada.

“What I learned is that relationships are important,” Jonathan explains in the cafeteria between classes. “As a Wycliffe member, I tend to be task oriented, and we as an organization tend to be task orientated.”

Both Bonnie and Jonathan confide that while they were on assignment overseas, they felt isolated with no one to talk to about the unique challenges of translation work. Then, when they were finished their mission, they were left asking themselves what was next.

“All I knew was Bible translation,” explains Jonathan. “All of a sudden I’m not doing that. I tried to grapple with the reality of, ‘What does this mean to me? What does it mean for my family?’ ”

t would be difficult to find a more diverse class than the group Jonathan Kim taught this past June. Standing in front of a small group of students gathered at Tyndale Intercultural Ministries Centre in Toronto for a two-week missions course, Jonathan pointed out that there were nearly 10 different ethnic groups represented in the class.

Surrounding one table are a pair of Korean men, a DutchCanadian man and a man from Mainland China. At another table are a group of women: a Jamaican, a Portuguese, an AfricanAmerican and a Canadian. Jonathan was born and raised in Korea, while his partner in teaching the class, Robert Cousins, is Irish.

Jonathan explains to the multiethnic, multiracial class that it is Struggle Leads to a New Calling like the global Church, before issuing a challenge. “The mission is When they returned from Central Asia in 2008, they prayed, regrouped and evaluated what their greatest passions were. to bring the gospel to all nations and in Toronto the nations are “Drop all expectations,” Jonathan told Bonnie. “Drop all you’re on your doorstep.” supposed to do. Think about what you want to do.”

22 Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

“We saw that a lot of missionary families are suffering . . . but mission agencies and their sending church have little idea.”

Bonnie reflected on life in Central Asia. The main goal was Bible translation, but where she found her passion was in the conversations with other missionaries who often came to their home to talk about their struggles.

“We found ourselves doing a lot of informal counselling,” Bonnie explains. “Both my husband and I have a heart to see people thriving and growing in their journey.

“We saw that a lot of missionary families are suffering,” Jonathan adds. “The relationship between husband and wife was not going well, the relationship with their children may not be going well, but mission agencies and their sending church have little idea.”

When Jonathan was in Central Asia he saw that his translation Jonathan says struggling missionaries are not as effective in their ministries as they could be because they are often reluctant to share work was not as effective as it could be because of a lack of multi-cultural training. their problems with peers and supervisors. They believe they may In Jonathan’s June class, he taught the group how every person be viewed as not successful enough to remain in the organization. has a cultural mindset. However, we accept, adapt, minimize or So, the couple decided to do something about the needs they saw. Bonnie began working toward her counselling credentials and deny the differences of cultures. The course is meant to have the students become more self-aware of how differences in cultures is now a student counsellor in Tyndale’s counselling department. affect relationships and ministry.

As a member-care consultant for Wycliffe, her main role is to organize and run week-long re-entry programs for returning Bi-focals missionaries. In the future, however, she hopes to gain a bigger According to Jonathan’s co-instructor, Robert Cousins, Jonathan role in connecting and caring for them. is the perfect person to teach this course. He teaches with a “It’s in the very beginning stages of how to do it, but in the humble, but vast perspective. He knows what it’s like to be out long run, my primary interest group are missionaries who are of place in an alien culture. In fact, with all the different cultures coming back and taking a few months rest; where I will be able he and Bonnie have lived in, they could multiply that feeling to provide professional care.” several times over.

When Bonnie counsels returning missionaries at the re-entry Teaching Future Missionaries program, she knows how the missionaries feel. She understands While Bonnie chose counselling, Jonathan saw teaching as his the isolation and confusing feelings they have associated with new path. In 2009, he began his PhD studies in education at returning from assignment.

Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill. Jonathan and Bonnie may not be overseas as missionaries Today, he teaches intensive cross-cultural mission training and anymore, but it’s clear their impact for Wycliffe is just as important. language courses at Tyndale to missionaries and churches. His 1 Corinthians 12:12 (ESV) reminds us that, “For just as the position was created through a partnership agreement between body is one and has many members, and all the members of the Tyndale and Wycliffe. body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”

Jonathan’s hope is to equip and empower missionaries and The Kims are an important part of the body of Christ and churches with what he sees lacking in the mission field and in of Wycliffe, as they empower fellow missionaries to serve home churches. better overseas.

(OPPOSITE) Jonathan Kim teaches a two-week missions course to a group of about 20 students at Tyndale Intercultural Ministries Centre on the campus of Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto, where he and his wife Bonnie both spend a lot of their time. While Jonathan teaches, Bonnie is a counsellor at Tyndale and a member-care consultant for Wycliffe Canada.

(RIGHT) As the Kims gather for a family photo, (from left, Bonnie, Jeremy, Jessie, Joel and Jonathan) Jeremy and Jessie show off their musical talents by performing a duet.

P u l l e d B a c k to

Tabe Abiandroa Jean-Pierre

Drawn home to Canada by family ties, David Thormoset takes on a new role to support Bible translation overseas.

By Doug Lockhart

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David Thermoset attends a Wycliffe Canada-sponsored field program in Africa, where he and his wife Henny served for 17 years. Field trips are part of David’s role as director of field partner relations, where he oversees Wycliffe Canada’s relationships with its numerous global partners who are doing Bible translation and related ministries, funded by Canadian donors.

Hearing and Heeding or David Thormoset, the freak weather pattern that buried David and Henny were in Cameroon when they learned that Calgary in more than 25 cm of snow this past September 19-year-old Andreas had taken his own life while living with was another reminder that he’s a long way from Africa. relatives in Calgary (see Word Alive Spring 2004 at Besides adjusting to climatic differences between Calgary and <wordalive.wycliffe.ca>). Since then, they have done their best Cameroon, where he and his wife Henny served for the past 17 to provide emotional and practical support for their daughter years, he’s also adjusting to an entirely new job.

Sonya, and their twin sons Nathan and Stefan.

As director of field partner relations, David now oversees Sonya has since married and moved to Switzerland, while Wycliffe Canada’s relationships with its numerous global Nathan and Stefan have both married and settled in Calgary. But partners who are involved in Bible translation and other when the twins told Henny in December 2012 that they wanted language-related ministries funded by Canadian donors. That means the veteran linguist and translation adviser will no longer her and their dad to return to Canada—long term—David and Henny took their request very seriously. be directly involved in training minority language groups to “In Africa, it was easy to assume that the kids were fine,” says translate Scripture.

David. “Of course we missed them like crazy and it was really But he’s okay with that, because he and Henny are still hard to not see our two granddaughters, but our thinking was, involved in furthering Bible translation—and in Calgary, they’ll ‘This is what God has called us to do.’ ” be near two of their three adult children and their families.

Their sons’ request forced them to reconsider their plan to While the desire to “be there” for their kids has always been important to the Thormosets, it became an even greater priority keep working in Cameroon. David says he and Henny realized that if they stayed, their children and grandchildren would have after the tragic death of their son Andreas in 2001. to make sacrifices.

24 Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

P U S H F O RWA R D “The idea is that we always have our finger on the pulse of the projects our partners are doing, to see how we can come alongside and help them.”

“Even though there was no crisis with our sons or their families . . . there was a felt-need that they were being deprived of something.”

As David and Henny prayed about the idea of leaving Cameroon, they felt a growing confidence and peace that a return to Canada was part of God’s plan.

“We had to really re-think, re-analyze what that could look like if we were to serve from Canada,” says David. “But we realized that we would still get to serve Bible translation.

“We haven’t pulled away from the task that we feel so passionate about.”

Expanded Role After the Thormosets moved to Calgary in January 2014, David began his work in the Calgary office by orienting himself to Wycliffe Canada’s overseas projects. Initially assigned to be a liaison between the home office and Bible translation projects in Africa, he has since taken on the additional responsibility of directing all field partner relations. In that role, he oversees a team of field partner liaisons, most of whom serve part time in that capacity while juggling other roles and responsibilities in the organization.

Both roles will require him to regularly visit language projects overseas and interact with the leaders of local organizations that Wycliffe partners with in Bible translation. Together, they will review the project’s progress, financial records and resource needs, while exploring ways to serve and build capacity in the partner agencies so they can expand the scope of their work.

“It’s relationship-building,” adds David. “It’s one thing to get on Skype or send an email, but it’s another for our field partners to be able to put a face to a name, More on the Web: and know, ‘Oh yeah, this is the For more information about guy we talk to whenever there’s Wycliffe Canada projects, visit a need.’ ” projects.wycliffe.ca.

Furthermore, David says he and other project liaisons will do their best to help Wycliffe’s field partners fill personnel gaps, by recruiting needed staff.

“So we’re looking basically to work hand-in-hand with people in our recruitment department, and to help place interns and volunteers. The idea is that we always have our finger on the pulse of the projects our partners are doing, to see how we can come alongside and help them.”

Sharper Focus This past September, David travelled to Africa to assess a Wycliffe Canada-sponsored language project in Tanzania and another in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Eventually, his work will take him to other countries to visit with partners in Wycliffe Canada’s “focus regions” that also include Cameroon, Peru, Bougainville (in Papua New Guinea), Thailand, and even here in Canada, as well as a few partners in “restricted access” regions within Asia.

In recent years, Wycliffe Canada has taken steps to sharpen its geographic focus in terms of recruitment, prayer and project funding. Furthermore, David and his colleagues hope to encourage the formation of “Kingdom Friendships” between Wycliffe’s overseas partner organizations and churches in Canada (see Word Alive Summer 2014 at <wordalive.wycliffe.ca>).

With about 500 staff scattered around the globe, Wycliffe Canada’s role in the worldwide Bible translation movement is a modest one. But with more than 1,800 languages still in need of Scripture translation, the need for effective global partnerships is crucial to finish Bible translation in this generation. Wycliffe’s leaders are hopeful that by directing people and resources to strategic regions, and encouraging healthy, growing Kingdom Friendships, Wycliffe Canada can make an even greater impact on language communities.

Settling In

More on the Web: Learn how a B.C. church has begun a Kingdom Friendship with a Bible translation agency in Peru.

See Word Alive (Summer 2014) at <wordalive.wycliffe.ca>.

Fostering Kingdom Friendships between overseas language groups and Canadian churches is part of Henny’s job as director of Church Connections—which means she and David frequently find themselves working together to engage local churches in the work of Bible translation.

While they both enjoy such opportunities, David says they’ve both struggled in adapting to their new roles and surroundings.

At times, he adds, they’ve both felt “in over their heads.”

“I think both of us are longing to feel settled a bit; to get our roots down, get some routine. Because a tremendous amount of our time has been spent on trying to . . . get a sense of what we want to accomplish. . . .”

Additionally, David has missed working with Cameroonian and expat colleagues.

“We don’t get to rub shoulders anymore with the awesome people we had the privilege of working with over the past 17 years.

“And there’s something that’s always been appealing about . . . speaking different languages. I really enjoy that.”

However, the Thormosets are thankful for the opportunity to establish new roots and routines in Calgary, close to their two sons and their wives, and twin granddaughters.

The loving words spoken in their kids’ homes are music to their ears, and a source of joy and strength as David and Henny continue to further Bible translation around the world.

Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca 25

R I C C L L E L U F UL F E LC L C IR R

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Lutheran Bible Institute in Camrose, Alta. She had already finished a business administration diploma before attending Bible college, but it wasn’t until she saw a bright orange paper Wycliffe Canada’s receipts manager that her Wycliffe career was birthed. returns to the finance department in “It was from Wycliffe and it was all the accounting and bookkeeping positions in the world,” she recalls. “I’d never Calgary after three decades. thought that I could use what I like to do and the training I

By Nathan Frank already had for God—I just never knew that.”

Dolores applied for a short-term mission position with olores Wuermli has a gentle presence. Perhaps it’s because Wycliffe and after only a couple months of being in Calgary, her outlook on life has been seasoned by raising two she met her future husband Sam, whom she married in 1982. children. Or maybe the grace and peace the tender-eyed Three years later, Dolores became pregnant with their first child, Dolores radiates is simply caused by the way her brain is wired Natashia, and stepped down from her position at Wycliffe to toward numbers. It could even be that the stories she hears focus on being a mother. A year later she and Sam had their daily from donors as Wycliffe’s receipts manager has given her a second child, Josiah. holistic perspective.

With their young family growing, the Wuermlis decided to She oversees processing of about a million dollars of donations move to Fort St. John, BC., to work alongside Sam’s cousin at from Canadians each month and speaks to many of the donors. his dairy farm. The move north was a return to where Sam first Her job is crucial for hundreds of Wycliffe Canada staff around immigrated when he moved to Canada, and was close to Dawson the world who need their salaries paid each month.

Creek, where Dolores was born and spent some time as a child.

“Processing all the gifts from donors for Wycliffe Canada However, after more than eight years raising their young members helps them to continue doing their work, knowing children around cattle and the fresh country air, the Wuermlis that’s taken care of and that they can buy groceries and send felt like they needed a change. their kids to school.”

“We had always considered doing missions together,” Dolores In addition, field project managers overseas need funds that explains. “We thought we’d check out Wycliffe and found out the finance department sends their way, explains Dolores. “It they had a need for a bookkeeper for the South Asia Group helps management make decisions.” [based in England].

Dolores’ role may be important and serious, but it’s also fun.

“We prayed about it as a family. We talked about it with [the She finds particular enjoyment in her connections with donors. kids]. It wasn’t just that we said to them one day, ‘We’re doing One young lad, she says, sold his pet lizard so he could donate this and you’re coming along.’ We wanted them to feel a part of $100, and a 5-year-old donated 40 cents. the whole ministry, too, and I think they did.”

The boy who gave the 40 cents was sent a receipt and a letter The Wuermlis’ next move would be a big one, across the from Wycliffe Canada, says Dolores. “We wanted to encourage Atlantic Ocean to England. him to continue giving as the Lord leads.”

For Dolores and her husband Sam, a donor’s commitment will sometimes be close to home. Ever since the Wuermlis became Wycliffe missionaries serving in the U.K. in 1995, Sam’s parents in Switzerland were consistent financial partners. However, when Sam’s mom passed away in 2012, his dad dropped his support from 500 Swiss Francs (SF) to 400—because he no longer received her pension. Before Sam’s father passed away, Sam and Dolores realized that the entire pension he received was 500 SF. “He gave us 80 per cent of what he received. When we asked him about this he said he was taken care of in the [seniors’] home. He didn’t need any new things, just toothpaste and soap,” explains Dolores. “What sacrifice!”

Dolores first realized that Wycliffe and her love of accounting could mesh in 1980, when she was attending the Canadian

26 Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

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Meshing Accounting with Missions

Changing Roles and Disappointment

The family settled at the Wycliffe U.K. Centre in England in 1996.

Dolores was the bookkeeper for the South Asia and the North Eurasian entities of SIL (Wycliffe’s main field partner), while Sam worked in information technology and maintenance.

A decade later in 2006, Dolores and Sam were given added roles at the Wycliffe U.K. Centre as house parents for those who came to Wycliffe England to volunteer.

“We were there to care for them, listen, pray with them and encourage them,” Dolores explains. “The hardest part was saying goodbye every six months to another group of amazing young people.”

The program, however, ended in 2009, when the England office was closed. The Wuermlis were devastated.

“Lord, what are you doing that we don’t see?” Dolores asked.

She describes the pain she felt as a loss or a death.

“What now?” the Wuermlis asked themselves, feeling disappointed in those making the decisions.

“I knew deep down in my soul that God was calling us to come back to Canada and Sam wasn’t on that page for a while,” says Dolores. “I had to just pray and let God do His work in his life to also bring him to that point.”

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“I’d never thought that I could use what I like to do and the training I already had for God.”

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Transition to Canada

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Helping the Wuermlis make the transition back to Canada in 2011 was a 13-week Freedom in Christ discipleship course they took in England and now teach in Calgary.

The course teaches participants how to apply forgiveness to their lives and to walk in freedom in who they are in Christ, by going to God with their hurts.

“In the pain we experienced in 2009 and 2010, we knew God was with us. He felt our pain. He held us. He showed us where we needed to confess sin and repent. He taught us to forgive and forgive and forgive—and when the emotions raged He reminded us to be honest with Him about how we were feeling and cry out to him.

He would love us, no matter what we said.”

After some time, Dolores and Sam began to feel more comfortable in their new roles for Wycliffe Canada. Although Sam still misses England to this day, his new role as the Race to 2025 co-ordinator has been his dream job, combining his passion for the wilderness and working with young people. The adventure race is a fundraising and recruitment tool.

“I realized that we need be where God wants us to be.

Otherwise I may not be as happy over there and definitely not as effective,” explains Sam. “Through the race we have an incredible influence on young people.”

Dolores, like Sam, has found her new role fits with her passions and skills. It’s a position co-ordinated by God. “I love being here and I love the team I have. I think they also enjoy it,” Dolores says. “They don’t find it stressful. They look forward to coming to work. We just try to create a space where people want to be, who want to do this job, but also that we can Natasha Schmale Photos enjoy each other and pray for each other.”

Because Dolores and Sam took a leap with God, today they find themselves where they are supposed to be—in God’s plan.

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(TOP) Dolores Wuermli (left) has a laugh while opening mail filled with donations with her colleagues in the receipts department. (LEFT) Dolores creates a Swiss delicacy called zopf in her Calgary home, for the Wuermlis’ Sunday morning breakfast. Dolores’ Swiss husband Sam taught her how to make the braided bread more than 30 years ago. (RIGHT) In her living room, Dolores helps Wycliffe accountant Bota Davletova and her mother Sauliya make greeting cards, a hobby of Dolores’ for nearly 20 years. She hosts a group of ladies once a month to make cards.

Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca 27

Beyond Words Translating the Gospel

By Hart Wiens

Part 13

Rhetorical Figures

By Hart Wiens “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

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he phrase “may not perish” is part of a bold rhetorical figure which the writer uses to highlight the ultimate destiny of the person who believes in Jesus. The figure profiles the desirability of that destiny by first emphasizing what it is not.

In the original Greek, this phrase consists of the word for “not’ followed by the word ἀπόληται, which is translated in some English versions as “perish.” The primary meaning of the Greek word actually has to do with destruction and is glossed in Greek lexicons as “to destroy” or “to ruin.” In The Message, Eugene Peterson has “be destroyed.” Other recent versions such as Good News, God’s Word and The Contemporary English Version try to capture the fact that what is being dealt with here is a life and death matter, so the Greek word is translated into English as “die.”

The variation that we find in our English versions illustrates the difficulty of translating rhetorical figures in a way that fully and accurately captures the meaning of the original. Peterson is certainly right to translate this verse in a way that shows that believing in Christ keeps us from destruction. However, his rendering is so general that many readers will have difficulty knowing what type of destruction is being referred to. Older and more literal versions tend to use the English word “perish,” which is accurate, but also archaic because many contemporary Bible users do not In the case of difficult use “perish” to mean “to die” anymore. By making this rhetorical figures, a life and death issue, newer versions are more easily but people may take these translations too the work of the understood, literally as referring to physical death. translators must be Our UBS Translators Handbook warns translators that supplemented by this verse has frequently “been misinterpreted to imply if people simply believed in Jesus that they would the work of teachers that never experience physical death.” The Contemporary and preachers. English Version tries to avoid this misinterpretation by saying that those who have faith in Jesus will “never really die,” implying that there is a kind of death other than physical death from which they will be spared.

Ultimately, as translators we must recognize that in the case of difficult rhetorical figures such as these, our work is not enough. The work of the translators must be supplemented by the work of teachers and preachers. The Bible Society is keenly aware of the need for partnership with the Church. The work of Bible teachers, preachers, and even parents and Bible study leaders is critical for followers of Jesus to understand the Bible so they may grow and become true disciples in the Kingdom that Jesus came to bring.

Editor’s Note: This is the final in a series of 14 articles reflecting on the verse John 3:16 word by word. The series illustrates some of the challenges Bible translators face as they seek to present God’s Good News in every language spoken on earth.

28 Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

Part 14

Limitations to Translation “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

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Illustration by Cindy Buckshon

ne of the reasons Christians love this verse so much is its promise of life— eternal life. According to this verse we have this life through a combination of what God has done and our response to it. God sent his Son to save us and the anticipated response on our part is faith that results in action.

The original Greek text is ζωὴν αἰώνιον. The first Greek word is the source from which we derive our English word “zoology.” It is generally translated in English as “life.” The second word is most frequently translated into English as “eternal.”

We get our English word “eon” from this Greek root. Unfortunately in our English translation, as in many languages, the focus in a word like “eternal” tends to be on the length of time—time without end. However, in Greek and in the context of the Jewish culture in which the Gospel was written, the focus is as much on the quality of life that is promised as on the length of time. The Jewish people looked forward to a time when the Messiah would come and rule—the messianic age. Could that be what John had in mind when he wrote about eternal life in this verse?

Those of us who just read this verse in our English translations without understanding the context in which John lived and wrote, will tend to think of a time after death when the part of us that does not die goes on to live forever in heaven. However, for Jesus, and for his early followers, that time had already begun with the coming of Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah. Everything that Jesus did and taught was intended to demonstrate that the messianic age (the “Kingdom”) had come near. So perhaps what John is telling us here is that by believing in Jesus—by believing that he is indeed God’s Messiah—we are ushered into a whole new quality of life.

“In Greek and in the This life does not just begin at our physical death and then context of the Jewish go on forever after that. It begins here and now, and goes on after our bodies die. It begins as soon as we recognize culture in which and place our trust in the Messiah—the one and only Son the Gospel was of God whom God sent into this world because He loves us so much. written, the focus The inadequacy of translations to capture the full range is as much on the of what Scripture is trying to communicate profiles the quality of life that importance of sound biblical teaching to help convey the depth of meaning that cannot always be captured in is promised as on translation. As Bible translators, we work in partnership the length of time.” with the Church to bring the powerful good news of the gospel to transform people’s lives.

Reprinted with permission from the Canadian Bible Society’s “Translating the Gospel” article series, written by Hart Wiens, CBS director of Scripture translation. Hart and his wife Ginny served with Wycliffe Canada in a Bible translation project among the Kalinga people in the Philippines for 19 years. More recently, Hart has been a Wycliffe Canada board member.

Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca 29

A Thousand Words The Kabetu Lip

Natasha Schmale

30 Word Alive • Spring 2015 • wycliffe.ca

Steve Kabetu (see his story on pg. 12-13), a new Wycliffe Canada board member, holds a picture of his great-grandfather (middle, wrapped in a blanket) along with two other elders of the pre-Kenyan village of Kebete. Before explaining that in the early 1900s his great-grandfather agreed to allow missionaries to establish a church and a school in the community, Kabetu points to a distinguishing feature of his ancestor—the Kabetu lip. The pointy middle part of his own lip, he acknowledges, is the same as his great-grandfather’s.

Last Word Fellow Workers in the Truth

By Roy Eyre

I

n 1 Samuel 30, David’s small ragtag army returns from a discouraging venture only to face disaster. As they near Ziklag, the foreboding smell of smoke alerts them to the fact their unprotected town has been raided by the Amalekites, their families taken captive and their homes burned. It’s too much. They raise their voices and weep until they have no more strength to weep.

That’s when their agony shifts to anger, and they’re ready to stone the one who led them away on this failed excursion. David, already distraught because his two wives are among the captives, refuses to give in. He strengthens himself in the Lord his God, and then he moves to action.

David inquires of the Lord, and God promises success.

Before the bitterness can harden, David rallies all 600 men. They probably don’t mind having an action plan, but they’re not fit for quick pursuit. Before long, a third of them collapse, because they are too exhausted to cross a river. David switches to plan B, taking advantage of this setback to allow those Churches too often with remaining strength to thin down their have a hierarchy, gear and leave it with the 200. Moving lighter on their feet, the 400 catch up with valuing those working the Amalekites and rout them, freeing their at home below those families and collecting plenty of loot.

The question they face now is this: on the front lines. does the loot belong to the 400 on the Here at Wycliffe, front lines, or to the entire army? In spite we have a parallel of voices to the contrary, David decides the one who goes into battle will hierarchy. that have the same share as the one who stays with the supplies. Eventually David will make this principle the law of the land: people should not be valued differently because of the specific piece they can contribute to a mission’s success.

This principle has an application today for how we view missions. In my experience, churches too often have a hierarchy, valuing those working at home below those on the front lines. I’m not pointing fingers. Here at Wycliffe, we have a parallel hierarchy: translators are at the top of the heap, and everyone else fits into another tier. Even mission agencies can compare themselves against other missions. But such thinking is neither healthy nor biblical.

In his book The Mission of God’s People, Dr. Chris Wright comments: “In the variety of mission God has entrusted to His church as a whole, it is unseemly for one kind of mission to dismiss another out of a superiority complex, or to undervalue itself as ‘not real

mission’ out of an inferiority complex. The body image has powerful resonance here.”

To apply Paul’s metaphor about the body to missions, evangelism ministries shouldn’t be ranked higher than training schools. And the administrative assistant should not think herself less a part of the body because she is not a translator.

There’s encouragement for you, as well. The apostle John picks up the same thread when he makes a hero out of a quiet church member named Gaius. He says in 3 John 8 that, when we support people who take God’s truth to those who haven’t heard it, we are fellow workers in the truth.

We all have a part to play, and God can put our meagre resources together to create real impact. Wycliffe is not simply a group of translators. We’re a team of administrators, receipt clerks, teachers, photographers and church-goers, participating in God’s mission to transform and restore our world.

We’re a Canadian movement that dares to dream that we can fuel a global Bible translation movement.

Roy Eyre is the president of Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada.

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