העתיד - The Future

Before this trip, we were praying that God would clarify some things for us concerning our future, but we feel that this summer has opened more opportunities and possibilities. I’ve mentioned that I see my gifts and desires fitting into the ministry of Bible translation; however, the last several weeks have served to open our eyes to perhaps a greater need that is one step removed from actually translating the Bible––training Bible translators! A number of students in our class this summer have the same passion to see the kind of training we’re receiving here to be spread to more and more people. There are very few people who are equipped to teach the biblical languages in a communicative (spoken) manner, but there is a massive need for it. Perhaps God could use me in a greater capacity if I trained those who are doing the “grunt work,” that is, native speakers who are being hired to translate from a common language (such as French, Spanish, or English) into their mother tongue. The beauty of the training we are receiving here is that is transfers completely to another culture in another language. That is, there is no need to translate grammar books and other materials. I could teach the biblical languages the way they learned their other three or four languages (which is common for the average human being across the world!). This vision would require extensive training, though we are not clear what it would look like at this point. Please pray for Vanessa and I as we seek to use our gifts to spread His word to the nations.