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Welcome to Illuminating the Word! We are now back in the U.S. after serving our first term overseas in the Republic of Congo. This site contains more than 5 years worth of blog entries, photos and newsletters, and covers topics like our daily life, our work, vacations and more. We hope that you enjoy this glimpse into our lives.
We're flying back to Congo in just 10 days. We're mostly packed, we have our immunizations, and we're excited to be going back to continue the work God has called us to.
Enjoy this short video that we made after one of our supporting churches requested a video update:
You might have noticed that lately we haven't been posting on our blog as often as we normally do. If you have, you might be wondering "What have they been doing?" The past two and a half months have been pretty busy for us.
Sara's parents came south to visit us in November and then Thanksgiving started off the holiday season. Our holidays were filled with lots of family gatherings and a trip to Portland to visit Sara's family. A few days after Christmas, Jeremy came down with the flu and on New Years Eve, Sara caught it too. Then Perrin came down with an ear infection. So, we've spent the past few weeks trying to get better.
In addition, we're finishing the shopping for our return to Congo and started packing. Tonight, we shared our ministry with a mid-week group at Fair Oaks Presbyterian Church.
In the next few weeks, we'll be hanging out with friends and family, finishing our packing, and meeting with another Bible study.
We're thrilled to be able to announce that thanks to the generous pledges of support from a lot of different people, we've reached our funding goal! We are are thankful for God's providence being shown through His followers' generosity.
We are looking into buying plane tickets to leave for Congo in mid-February.
Please pray that God will work all the details out:
plane tickets
that our extra baggage will be accepted (for the appropriate fees) and make it all the way to Congo
for all of our remaining health arrangements (vaccinations, anti-malaria medicine, physicals, eye exams)
that Perrin will make it through the travels happily
that God will bring us safely to Congo
that God will use us for His glory this next term in Congo, and that we will make a positive contribution to bringing God's Word to the people in Congo who still need it so desperately
I ran across this account of two motorcycle tourists traveling across Africa. Here is their account of driving from Gabon (northwest of Congo) to Brazzaville. Some of the road they traveled was the same we traveled on our language documentation trip to Kimba - the stretch from Mindouli to Kinkala.
Recently, Jeremy asked to be changed from the Linguistic Consultant job track to the Bible Translation Consultant track. The email
approving this change came quickly, accompanied by a surprising request. Our director asked
Jeremy to consider becoming Language Programs Coordinator for Congo in addition to being a translation consultant.
After a couple of months of prayer, Jeremy accepted the job. It involves planning and overseeing all the language projects in the Republic of Congo. When we return to Congo, Jeremy will travel more so he can visit and become acquainted with all the language
development and Bible translation projects in Congo. He will work as a facilitator to help the different projects achieve their goals of Bible translation and language development. It's an honor to be asked and a lot to learn.
We are scheduled for our "Secondment Return Period" or SRP (what Wycliffe calls furlough these days) next Spring. We'd appreciate prayers as we work out all the details including travel, housing, and our work. (11/15/2011)
Pray that the swelling in Sara's hands goes down. (11/15/2011)
Please pray for a safe flight for Simon Leblanc and his wife Brenda who are coming from Canada on Saturday. Pray for good health for them during their time her. Please also pray for the Teke-Tyee translator Professor Jean-Pierre Nkara - he has been in poor health recently. Pray that he'll feel better and have the energy to work on this checking for the two weeks Simon is here. (03/5/2011)
A couple of weeks ago there was a power surge on the electrical grid. We got 380 volts instead of 220. It messed up a bunch of equipment on the center. Most of the problems were fixed within a few days, but we still have one problem outstanding though and it's a tough one. The surge burned out an important block of pieces in the center's generator. It is not easy to get a hold of and it may be quite expensive. Please pray that the repair company finds it and that it's covered by insurance. (11/8/2010)
The electricity on the center has been out for more than 36 hours. The outage is affecting only our lot and the lots on either side of us, so who knows how soon the electric company will fix the problem. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal. However, since the center's generator is currently broken, this will quickly become a problem as we need electricity for so water from the well will be pumped into the cistern. Please pray that either the electricity or the generator is fixed before the water in our cis (10/13/2010)
