SteveStanley

Some weeks fly by without you noticing them much; some weeks are memorable, some are enjoyable, and some are harder than usual. Some are a mix of different things, and that’s what we’ve had this week! This week, we’ve had a few challenges and some blessings, and I guess that all balances out to become a neutral week. 😀

With literacy kick-off finishing last week it was high time to slow down a bit and take a breather. That would have been the smart thing to do, but instead, we scheduled a language check for Gerdine, Philip and Natalie 🙂 Our literacy consultants left us on Friday, and then language learning consultants flew in from Monday to Wednesday.

Our team has just reached a significant milestone with the completion of the first draft of our literacy materials 🙂 We spent 2 weeks of focused time working on them with the help of two literacy consultants and we now have 87 lessons that teach all the syllables needed to read in the Kovol language. Some lessons introduce new syllables and some lessons are practice lessons that use syllables that have already been introduced to tell short stories for practice reading.

Last week we started with our 2 week literacy kick-off. We’re preparing the primers and readers that will make up the Kovol literacy program. It has been an incredibly exciting time that has been well attended by the Kovol community.

Setbacks aside Bible translation progress is steady and we have a visitor 😀
Carol, a friend of ours from training in the UK is once again visiting us. She was last here with her husband 2 years ago. Her son has come to Papua New Guinea to start his work in tech services and Carol tagged along on the plane ride to help with her grandkids and then come on to us. She’s going to be with us for 6 weeks.

Translating God’s word is a big responsibility. As such accountability to others is very important. Our Bible translation procedure builds in accountability to make sure I’m not the only person who gets to decide that what I have translated is an accurate translation.

Four months ago, I “finished language study.” Finishing language study required three years of full-time effort. What a challenge it was! I’ve come a long way from pointing at different root vegetables, asking “What is it?” and then promptly forgetting that new word 🙂 I may have reached the level Read more…