Once there was a North African baby who was named after me, and before she was a year old, she died tragically. A few years later, our translator’s baby daughter — named after one of my teammates — also died. I am tempted to say this is their story, and the story of...
It’s hard being a toddler. You stumble and fall regularly, you are often misunderstood, and things out of your control can incite you to throw little “demonstrations” in order to get your point across.…
An old man stormed in, and his angry words tumbled out. My husband and I were still new in this community and only…
“Give us this day our daily bread,” we say together as a family every morning around the breakfast table. Even our little two-year-old’s voice joins in as we recite the prayer together. We haven’t always had this habit, but as the years have passed, praying the...
The Faucet Problem I felt utterly defeated. I just lay there as water kept pouring out of the new kitchen faucet I was certain I had installed properly. I grew up with a handy dad. We fixed things ourselves whenever we could. I also worked construction and...
Most people assume that the national men and women who serve on Bible translation teams are Christians. While that’s a natural assumption, it is not accurate. A significant number of Pioneer Bible Translators missionaries are penetrating areas of the world’s...
The field behind our house looked like a lake, and every day we heard the squeals and laughter of village children enjoying a swim. It was rainy season, and the usually dry ground was overflowing with water. One morning we woke to the news that a child had drowned....
Baby Steps A Bible translator in Papua New Guinea spends his or her early years becoming a child again. Or so it seems. Most of us arrive here having spent the better part of our lives getting an education. When we move to a rural village, though, we essentially...
This poem portrays a person wrestling with their calling, with the trials they've faced, and with the unknown trials ahead. Two different voices speak to the weary pilgrim: the voice of the Liar, our spiritual enemy, and the voice of the Lord. Turn back, turn back,...
I hate bugs. No, I’m not the kind of person who goes into hysterics every time I see a spider. I can usually keep my cool. But still — the sight of one gives me an unpleasant shudder and a wish to be somewhere far away. Somewhere where spiders never existed. “If the...
I was sitting on a woven mat in a bamboo-walled house with other people who were talking in a language I did not know. I had no idea what they were talking about, so not surprisingly, I felt a bit lonely. Another time I was conversing with people in a language we all...
I send you out as sheep among the wolves, yet take no staff And bring no sturdy sandals for this steep and narrow path. You’ll be accused, yet make no plan in your defense to speak. You’ll hunger, yet your purse and plow and fields – behind you, leave. I send you out,...