Welcome Jenna Lee

Carrie isn't the only one who loves holding babies.

Jenna Lee was less than 24 hours old and was already asking me to pick her up and tell her stories. I think we are going to be good friends.

Key Happenings

One of the things I like about having a camera on my cell phone is that there are many times that I want to take a picture, but I have left my big camera at home. For example, I parked my van in the back part of the basement of a parking garage and ended up getting a picture of a guy breaking into it. I admit that it isn't a very clear picture, but given that it was dark and the guy wasn't going to stick around long I had to get the shot off quickly.

It all started like this, I have only two weeks to go until a translation consultant comes from the U.S.A. to check the 33 chapters of Genesis and Exodus I have prepared. Last week I estimated that I needed about 25 more hours of help from an Isnag speaker and was really praying I would be able to get it. The flight program we have been using to get in and out of our village has closed and we are waiting on funds to ship a helicopter over, so I am a bit stranded out here in civilization.

Last Tuesday, I planned to go looking for a language helper in the area in the photo above. In the center of this community there is a small community of people from our village in the mountains. But, Tuesday morning I had to take James in for a foot x-ray. We finally made it through the process and found out that he had a bad bruise, but nothing was broken. By this time I was running late. I worked my way through traffic and made it to a large mall on the other side of town. Across the highway from the mall is the community where some Isnag live. I parked at the mall, but locked my keys and bag with Translation Notes in the van. I tried walking around the van 7 times and making trumpet sounds, to no avail. (Not really, but I did try many things and the only reason I didn't try the trumpet was that I didn't think of it at the time.)

I finally decided to leave the van, keys, and translation notes and go look for my Isnag friends. I found them or rather they found me and I had a visit with them. I found out that the young lady in the picture, whom we have known for years in the village, doesn't have work at the moment and is glad to work on the translation with me. The fellow is a long time friend. He offered me the use of his table and chairs as a workplace.

I headed back to the van very happy that the Lord had provided me with language helpers. When I got back to the garage a friendly guard took me to a "locksmith" (guy with a wire in the picture above) and he had the van opened in no time.

I have been able to return to my Isnag friends several times and plan at least two more visits next week. My translation work is on schedule and I'm very thankful for that.

There is another outpost of our village in a different part of Manila and I have been able to get some help there too. On Friday, Heidi, Carrie, and Thomas came along with me. This is Carrie enjoying holding an Isnag baby.

Traveling Companions

Travel is rarely a lonely experience here in Manila. Last week we took the light rail train to the other side of town and came back at rush hour. It was a good thing that we got on at the very first stop because we and our fellow travelers completely filled the car. Then at every stop people pushed hard to get in until we were all very compressed.

Can you find James, Heidi, and Carrie in this picture?

We wondered how we were going to get out when we arrived at our stop, but we made it before the door closed and all stood on the platform laughing because it was a close call.

The next day I went hiking down into a squatter area looking for some people who have moved there from our area up north. I was hoping that I would be able to find someone who could help me answer some translation questions I had. I did find the group, but the people there at the time weren't able to help very much. I made arrangements to return when more people would be there.
As I climbed up the side of the canyon and hit the main road I came across a police outpost. The men there were surprised to see a white guy and called me over to visit with them. I had a bit of a chat with them and then they wanted to get a picture with me. I had them take one for me too. It is always nice to enjoy people's company as you travel along.

The 15th is the Deadline

Those of you from the United States are well aware that you need to file your income tax forms by April 15th, but I’m not talking about that deadline. I’m referring to March 15th. March 15th was the day I was supposed turn in something much more important than my income tax papers.

The Isnag draft going through a revision

Bible translation is a long process with many steps. When the translation is very close to being done, it is translated back into English so that the translation consultant can analyze it. We call this version the BT, or Back Translation.

The Finished BT

We have had several other responsibilities, so Heidi and I have had to work hard to get the BT done by the 15th of March. We were very relieved to send the BT to my translation consultant on the afternoon of the 15th. We are thanking the Lord that we were able to accomplish this task.

Some Isnag who live in Manila

During this next month, I will be working on some additional comprehension checking for the translation with a group of Isnag who live in Manila. Then on April 15th, we will start our consultant check. After the consultant check, the portions of Genesis and Exodus should be ready for publishing.

The March Meeting of the School Board

What are some of the other responsibilities? I am on the Board of Trustees for the school for the children of missionaries here in Manila and play a role on the Assessment Committee.

Not Your Normal School Bus

I am also responsible to be an encouragement to our missionaries on Northern Luzon. This involves meeting with them to see what kind of help they might need and sometimes it means doing something to meet a need. Last weekend Heidi and I took some teenagers and their friends to visit their parents who are missionaries in a tribal location. In this picture you see the kids at the end of the road, on a raft crossing a river, ready to make the 3 hour hike to their home in the mountains.

Shopping in the Open Market

Heidi and I also played the role of supply buyer for this missionary family and enjoyed shopping in the public market for good deals. It is a privilege to get to serve the Lord in many ways.

An Announcement

After the Bible Teaching, Madian, the lady in the blue dress, asked if it was ok for her to believe and still be a shaman. Malana, the Isnag Bible teacher, told her that she could not do that because what the shaman does is from Satan. Then Madian said, "All you people here, do not come to me any more. From this time on I am stopping my work as a shaman because I am believer in God!"

Please be praying for Madian so that she will be able to withstand the pressure from those who would try to force her back to her old work.

Please:
Pray that Madian will grow in her love for the Lord and her understanding of the Gospel.
Pray that the Isnag Bible teachers will be faithful to keep teaching God's Word.
Pray that many more Isnag will make the same kind of decision that Madian has.

January Translation Checking Trip

At our annual field conference in January, we spent some time with the Smith family and discovered that they are interested in working in a place like our village, so Jonathan invited them to travel to the village with him when he went in January to work on the translation with his language helpers.

Jonathan met the Smiths at the bus station in Manila at 7 am and by mid afternoon they arrived at the SIL mission flight center. The next morning was cloudy and rainy in the village and our partners, Robbie and Vicky, were not able to give the go-ahead for a flight. Jonathan had some translation work that he was wanting to get done before he went to the village so he put the day to good use.

The sunrise the next morning was beautiful. It was going to be a good day for flying. As soon as the airplane was loaded we took off.

It was a nice day for flying.

Over the main valley all was clear, but as we went into the mountains it clouded up a bit.

After an hour of flying we arrived in our valley and found it clear.

This is a the village we work in.

The airstrip was clear so the pilot went around to line up for final approach.

The silhouette of the airplane as we made our final approach to the airstrip.

There were several Isnag friends at the airstrip to greet me.

This little guy is pretty cute.

This little guy isn’t so little and not quite so cute. Jonathan came home one night and went to heat some water for coffee and his flashlight caught this fellow hanging out on the wall by the stove. Fortunately, Jonathan and the spider didn’t have any relationship difficulties. Jonathan let him have the wall and the spider let Jonathan have the coffee.

“The Jesus Film” had just been released in the Northern Isnag dialect, so Jonathan showed it one night while he was there. It was very fun for the people to watch it and it included a good Gospel presentation at the end.

On Sunday, Jonathan tried to hike upstream with one of the Isnag Bible teachers so that they could team teach the Bible lesson. The Isnag guy got a bit ahead of him on the trail and when the trail came to a fork, the fellow went the new way and Jonathan went the way he had always gone. They met again upstream, but Jonathan did a lot of his hike by himself on a very overgrown trail. He somehow dropped his hat, so he hiked back on the same trail again and never did find it.

Jonathan actually got to the village upstream before the other guy, so he had time to take some pictures of the kids there before they started the Bible teaching. Some people like having their picture taken,

and some don't!

The week of translation checking went very well. Jonathan had language helpers every day and spent most of the evenings out in the village going over the translation with friends. On the day he left, he was walking by the kindergarten on his way to the airstrip when all the little ones started yelling good bye to him so he enjoyed going in to say good bye to them.

Thanks to the generous donations of so many people we were able to ship in another 1,200+ pounds (600 kilos) of rice to help out with the rice shortage. We planning on another 1,200 in March. The people are very thankful for the help.

This may well be the last time Jonathan sits in the airplane at the end of our airstrip and prepares for takeoff. He may fly in again in March, but he will probably have to hike out. The SIL flight program for Northern Luzon is coming to an end in March. SIL has been a huge blessing to us and the Isnag for many years.

The Smiths and Jonathan flew out and made it to the flight center mid morning. After organizing their things, they took a van into town and caught a bus. The bus trip took 8 hours. Jonathan arrived home around 10 pm. He was tired but glad to be home. Just in time to start disciplining the kids again. Thomas! What are you doing with all that sugar?!