Traveling Schuhs

Learning How to Learn a Language

2012-01-21T16:06:00.002-05:00

Many of you have asked (or oftentimes understandably assumed) if we are learning Portuguese while we are here at the linguistics school (GIAL) in Dallas. While it makes sense why you would think that, Trevor is actually picking up the building blocks of how to learn ANY language!

You may be familiar with something called IPA. All of our music major friends from Cedarville...at least all the vocalists...know exactly what we are talking about. IPA stands for International Phonetic Alphabet. It is a system of notating very specific sounds that we make with our mouth. One could loosely link it to "phonics" when teaching a small child to read. For example, our daughter Eliana gets excited to watch one of the Arthur movies we rented from the library. Instead of saying "ArTHur", her mouth says "ArFur". Naturally we are trying to teach her that instead of putting her lower lip behind her upper teeth, instead she should put her tongue between her teeth to achieve the sound "TH".

When learning a new language, the learner must first be able to produce the sounds that make up the words in the new language. To aid in learning, he/she can utilize IPA so that they can notate all the specific sounds that go into creating that one word. The mouth is a pretty incredible instrument, capable of making way more sounds that we make use of in the English language.

All this to say, Trevor has been coming home and practicing all the new sounds that he is required to learn. He practices saying them to me, and then I of course take my own stab at pronouncing them...I'm not too bad, if I do say so myself!

I wanted to share one particular word with you just because it's one of Trevor's favorite words to practice. The picture at the beginning of this post is what it looks like on paper, and the video below is what it sounds AND looks like.

The Quintessential Catch-up Post

2012-01-09T16:22:00.001-05:00

Now that my washing machine is running, my kids are napping, and my husband is busy in class, I thought I'd take a moment to catch you up on the last few months of our lives in a little picture story.

First things first! As I'm sure you already know, we had a baby! Laís Sofia Schuh was born on September 17, 2011 (in Kissimmee, FL), and as you can tell from the picture...she makes us smile a bit. I just love how happy the girls look in this picture.


On November 2nd, along with the help of Trevor's parents, we made our way to the great state of Texas and moved into our new home. This is essentially what our house looked like for a good long while! This photo is courtesy of Acácia.

My parents came down for a visit and to help us unpack. That's my brother's little guy, Matias. We are so blessed that he now lives only 50 minutes away now! Considering they used to live in Korea, that's a hop, skip, and a jump away!

On November 18th, we took Laís in for her normal vaccinations and four hours later watched her have a pretty frightening reaction in what looked like a seizure. This of course was followed by numerous doctor visits and tests. We are thankful that she has had no other episode that mimicked exactly that first reaction and her results all came back normal. We continue to keep a close eye on her and do some more research in trying to figure out what to do in terms of vaccinations from here. You could pray for us in regards to this if you think of it!

Thankfully, our Christmas tree made it to Dallas! The girls had a great time helping Daddy put that up this year.


Just because she's cute.

December 25th was Eliana's 3rd Birthday, so in keeping with family tradition, we woke her up with a cupcake! There was one stubborn candle that she just COULDN'T get to blow out. It was quite puzzling to her as you can see her giving it "the look". Don't worry, though, big sister helped her snuff it out.

She DID get to eat her cupcake for breakfast. You can decide whether we're awful parents or AWESOME parents...I think Eliana would choose the latter. haha. I think that's what matters...cause afterall, it was HER birthday!

While not the same as being with them in person, we were so thankful to be able to skype with Trevor's parents (happening below) and my parents (happening above) to celebrate Christmas and birthday.

Merry Christmas! For Christmas dinner we piled in the car and went to spend the day with my brother and his family (their little guy is hiding behind the candelabra) and my sister-in-law's brother and wife. A good time was had by all!

Hope you enjoyed these pictures from the past few months. Keep posted for updates on our time here at school in Dallas!

The Body of Christ in the words of a Mish

2011-11-01T12:04:00.000-04:00

If you have spent any amount of time with us during our stead here in Florida, the title will make absolute sense to you. My husband has recently been obsessed with shortening words for the fun of it (or really, just to get under my skin), so that was a shout out to him. :) "Mish" is short for missionary.

So I'm not sure most people think about what it takes to move a family cross-country when everything you planned for just kind of goes out the window...whew, can't wait until we're moving around the world! You know, let me rephrase that...I'm not sure *I* thought about what it would take to get us moved in the event that all of our plans got thrown up in the air.

It has been a lesson in seeing how the body of Christ functions during times when we need it most. It has been humbling, beyond helpful, and just plain amazing to be on the receiving end.

Our week started off on Wednesday when Trevor's parents flew in to basically just make themselves available to us to watch the older girls while we got busy packing. They took them overnight, brought them special snacks and coloring books and crayons, took them swimming, to the park, and basically made this whole crazy moving experience for them FUN. Words can't express my gratitude. One of my biggest concerns was how they were going to process all of this...not only moving out of our house, but saying goodbye to many of their own possessions--whether it be toys or dressers or giant stuffed animals named Princess, etc. Because we are moving into a fully-furnished place, we are going through the first phase of detaching ourselves from our things. Not always easy.

Wednesday afternoon we got busy packing and by Thursday I had several ladies calling me asking if I could use their help, to which I said, "Most certainly!" By Thursday evening we had boxes of pizza brought over for us and a house-full of incredibly servant-hearted friends giving up their time and energy to make this thing happen. Around this time Laís decided she was terribly overwhelmed, being happy with none other than Mommy. Her screaming could have been heard in the next town over, I'm sure of it. All this to say that I, the one who was actually moving, was doing nothing more than sitting holding my baby while our dear friends packed up my pantry, cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom and the floors, etc. etc. ETC. It was an incredibly humbling time. It was all I had in me not to break down in tears...which I may or may not have done when no one was looking;) These families were the hands and feet of Jesus to us.

Somewhere in the midst of all this what we thought was just going to be a regular tune-up on our car turned out to be a huge need for a ton of work. Let's just say that these things always seem to teach us a deeper and more resounding lesson in trusting in God's provisions;) He is so good. We went to bed on Thursday grateful and amazed at what all had gotten done. We were feeling pretty good at the prospect of leaving on Sunday.

Friday started out with Trevor and Mike taking the car in to yet another shop way up in Orlando because there was a small leak in the transmission. Becky came right away in the morning to once again help me pack and Beth came for the express purpose of holding little Laís. She officially holds the title of "Baby Whisperer" in our family. She literally held her for about 8-9 hours to give me the opportunity to pack. If you only knew how wonderful it was to know that my little baby was happy and content in the midst of craziness.

Trevor called that afternoon and told me to sit down. Pretty sure I would've rather gone without the information he was about to unload. Turns out our car needed a major transmission overhaul (again) requiring it to be in the shop until Tuesday...the day we were supposed to be unpacking the truck--in DALLAS. So, the next two days were filled with trying to make huge decisions that inconvenienced a whole lot of people who were gracious enough to not let us see how inconvenient it actually was for them. It was determined that Trevor's parents would drive the truck for us, losing out on what was supposed to be fun traveling time with their grandkids. The Downeys, Millers, and Borlands would do a grand car swap so that we could have car transportation while we waited for all this to happen. We packed the truck up Friday evening when a bunch of helpful, strong guy friends came to assist Trevor in solving the puzzle of getting everything in. Turns out we had more room than we anticipated...I suppose better than the other way around!

Saturday morning we did a garage sale, and I won't even go into how much help we had with that...between pricing things, moving things around, and hauling large furniture around the greater Orlando area. Whew. It makes me tired just thinking about it. Between Grandma and Beth, Laís was a happy camper yet again. Thank You, Lord.

We met our landlord on Monday and gave her the keys and we are now officially out of our old house. Kind of a crazy feeling. Staying in a house that isn't our own, driving a car that isn't our own, and having all of our earthly possessions being driven cross-country by someone other than ourselves. I cannot imagine going through all of this without the body of Christ. We have been given gift cards, monetary gifts, and fun travel packs for our girls for the road from people who I know would rather remain nameless because of their desire to simply serve and give quietly.

I want to shout at the top of my lungs how incredibly good God is. It has been a hard week, I will admit it. My emotions have been frazzled and most of our "normal" has been put on the back burner. But in the middle of all of it, there has been this constant reassurance that God is providing for ALL of our needs. He's taking care of us. And He's using His people to show us.

So, I simply want to say thank you. I had half a mind to list all of the names that helped make this move possible, but I am afraid I would run the risk of missing someone and I could not live with myself if I did that. And so, you know who you are. So many of you don't even live here and somehow found a way to help. You have made all the difference. You have blessed this little family in ways we will never forget. May God bless you in ways you never imagined.

Hopefully by 3:00pm today we will be off in search of our new "normal". To God be the glory.

From Expectations to Praise

2011-09-12T16:23:00.001-04:00

"I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!" -Psalm 34:1-3

Well today marks "the day", folks. It's the day we've been making our way to for the last 9 months, claiming that our baby is "due" to arrive today. The day is half-way over and I have a feeling this baby has missed the memo. Maybe the doctor didn't say it quite LOUD enough when he announced the due date to me, so this little wiggle worm decided to make his/her own scheduling of the grand entrance. Perhaps we're the ones who didn't get the memo. ;)

With each day that passes I somehow find it harder and harder not to be disappointed (sounds crazy putting this on paper..er, screen) that my baby didn't arrive on such and such a day. At first I thought it would be September 1st. Not bad, right? First day of the month, easy to remember. Then I thought, well, if not Sept. 1st, then Sept. 5th...Labor Day! Kind of comical in itself. What I was REALLY hoping for was Sept. 7th. Unbeknownst to most of you, it is Brazilian Independence day. I thought that would be quite fitting. Next up was the 9th so the baby could share a birthday with a good friend of ours. Then the 10th...I mean 9/10/11--pretty great birth date if you ask me. And let's not forget 9/11/11...this baby could share a birthday with his/her Daddy. Special indeed.

It is now September 12th and I almost find myself retracting in the other way...if not today, then I'm fearful for this baby to come in the next couple of days because my doctor is out of town! Why am I so very hard to please??

And so, I find myself with a choice that needs to be made. I can either continue to get caught up in thinking--let's be honest...worrying--and being consumed about the birth of this baby, or, I can set my mind on things above and plead with the Lord to help me put my trust in His all-knowing timing. Simply leave it in His hands and be at rest. So, instead of wallowing in my self-pity and wishing for that which is not for the moment, I wanted to just start meditating on all He is has blessed me with. I decided to just start listing out what I'm thankful for. I'm just gonna to go for it and list it (in no particular order) on this blog, and if you care to read, then I thank you for taking part in my re-directing and renewing of the mind today. :)

What I'm praising God for today:
1. A new life growing within me...a miracle in itself.
2. A God Who is patient, kind, and tender-hearted towards me.
3. A family to enjoy this stage of life with me.
4. Friends who have checked up on me just with a little note or phone call.
5. A Mom, Dad, Mother-in-law, and Father-in-law who are anxiously waiting by the phone for news that their newest grandchild is soon to arrive.
6. A friend who checks on me each day and is willing to get me and the girls out of the house to do something fun...all the while putting her own schedule on hold.
7. A church full of ladies who are waiting for the call so that they can get some meals ready for us.
8. A doctor who loves God and is on the same page with how I would like to handle this birth.
9. Food. I mean, really.
10. Two little girls who say the funniest things and bring joy unending into our lives.
11. A comfortable bed. Sleeping on the floor at this stage of pregnancy would NOT be fun.
12. Nieces and Nephews who ask their friends and classmates to pray for their aunt and new baby cousin.
13. My brother and his wife and son who will soon be moving closer to us when we live in Dallas.
14. Bikes with training wheels that my girls can have fun riding while they wait.
15. Crayons and coloring books...a fun activity that I don't have to get up for but my kids love to do.
16. A whole bookcase of children's books that I can read with my kids when I just want to sit down.
17. A husband who finds me more beautiful EVEN when I am huge and not as fun to live with.
18. A big, blue exercise ball that is way more comfortable to sit on than a chair.
19. Really good music (Gungor, Violin music, anything inspiring, etc.) that brings me into a place of worshiping the God who created me rather than dwelling on what I wish was happening at the moment.
20. Ice cream.
21. Pillows that help me sleep.
22. The sound of the baby's heartbeat.
23. Ministry partners and friends who support us through prayers and finances and just plain love...I feel like this one needs to be WAY further up the list...but, I did say these were in no particular order, didn't I?
24. Facebook...I know, weird. I'm not normally that thankful for "fb" for some reason. But lately, I have been so encouraged by friends who post on my wall asking how I'm doing or about the baby, that I just can't help but be thankful! What a great way to connect.
25. Contractions. With every contraction I feel like I get a little closer to meeting this little baby.

Speaking of which, I think I may be getting one now, so I think I'll wrap this up. I could keep going and going and going, but for now, I am encouraged. God is so very good. And not just because of what He supplies, but because of who He is. He didn't need to give me a single thing listed above, and I could still fall on my knees in gratefulness because of all He is.
"I will bless the Lord at all times."

"Cristo Me Amou"

2011-09-05T21:22:00.000-04:00

Happy Labor Day to each of you! We trust you had a restful day. We here at the Schuh household thought it best to stick close to home as we are awaiting the birth of this baby any day now. So, no hour and a half trip to the beach for us. We spent the day as a family here around St. Cloud. And, I've got to say, we had a pretty fun day! One of the things Trevor and I had fun doing was recording a song in our living room.

When I was younger, I have very vivid memories of my parents going up in front of church and singing this particular song - "Love Lifted Me"...in Portuguese: "Cristo Me Amou". They would stand real close to each other in front of the pulpit (which usually had a microphone) and share this song with the congregation as special music. If I remember correctly, they would always sing it in Portuguese first, as we were usually in a Brazilian church, and then in English second. Whenever I hear the song, I think of my parents.

Last night while waiting for some friends to come by, Trevor pulled out our Portuguese hymnal and thought he'd have a go at some of the songs. Usually he's the one who plays the piano while we both sing, but this time I noticed him struggling to play AND sing this language that he's just beginning to learn. So, I played and he worked on his Portuguese singing. "Love Lifted Me" was one of the songs we came across, still marked on from when my parents sang it. I was so proud of him I asked if we could record the song today so I could send it to my parents. Well, we did, and now I'm posting it here for you to listen to....he's so embarrassed. :) Here is the English version (which actually is quite different than the Portuguese version) as we did not record that part.

I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
Very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more,
But the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
From the waters lifted me, now safe am I.

Love lifted me!
Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help,
Love lifted me!

Souls in danger, look above, Jesus completely saves,
He will lift you by His love, out of the angry waves.
He’s the Master of the sea, billows His will obey,
He your Savior wants to be, be saved today.

Life and EthnoArts

2011-08-20T09:06:00.001-04:00

I wrote this about a week ago and simply forgot to post. So, "last night" is not really last night.

You can listen to this, one of my all-time favorite songs, written and recorded by Gungor, while you read this post. You're welcome.

Last night I was given a gift....a night out by myself. I don't really get out too much by myself these days and being the introvert that I am, every once in a while is good for my soul as well as the sanity of our home. Trevor gave me the green light to just GO, assuring me he would take care of the kids and bedtimes. So what did I do? I went to Joann Fabric. I know...woohoooo, you're thinking. Well, it was kind of a nice time for me cause I needed some fabric to make some things for when baby gets here.

It wasn't so much the going to Joann's part that was so refreshing. It was the drive, there and back. I do some of my best thinking when I'm driving by myself. Between the 25 min. drive there and the 25 min. drive back I listened to an entire album: "Beautiful Things" by Gungor. There is something about their music that refreshes me and renews me in the Lord EVERY TIME. I cannot help but worship when I listen to this music. The lyrics are so incredibly God-centered...forcing the listener to set his eyes on the One who makes all things new and longs for His creation. And not only that, but these musicians are brilliant. Their music flows from one song to the other while each song has a specific place in the order of tracks for a very specific reason. The whole album is cohesive and tells a story...and very clearly for God's glory, not their own. I LOVE this kind of album...it's not just feel-good music, it's music with a purpose. It causes me, as a follower of Christ, to be drawn closer to Him as a result of listening to it. I could go on and on about this album, but you'll just have to find out for yourself. And a coolest thing is, Trevor and I were music-major friends at Cedarville with the cellist in this band.

It got me thinking about all of the EthnoArts training that Trevor is going to be receiving (and I will to a degree as well) come next spring. The reason we're going into this whole arena of fusing Bible Translation and the Arts is because all of our various art forms are such an effective medium at aiding Scripture to reach deep down inside His people. Does God's Word need anything else to make it effective? No, but for some reason, God created this thing called music (and dance and visual art) to be used as a conduit for speaking to His people. And I love it! I want to help make His Word available to people in forms and styles that reach them in ways that speak to their hearts because I know how much it has changed me and my own walk with God. It's all about Scripture use and giving cultures the ability to integrate their own styles and cultures into their new understanding (and acquisition) of God's sharper-than-any-double-edged-sword Word.

Our Bun in the Oven

2011-08-02T13:28:00.000-04:00

"So do you know if it's a boy or a girl?"

If I were given a nickel for every time I got asked that question these days, we'd have no need to raise support.

Trevor and I enjoy this one little surprise in life. We didn't find out with either Acácia or Eliana whether or not we would be getting a boy or girl come birth day. And yes, we completely agree that it is still a surprise when you find out on an ultrasound day as opposed to the day that baby enters the world kicking and screaming. So, I'm not really here to compare one way of doing over the other...there is really no difference between the two, just saying we like to wait because it's fun for us.

What happens after the question is popped is more the topic of choice. One of three responses usually transpires after I say that we won't find out until we meet this baby:

1. "Why in the world not?!" -- annoyance
2. "I don't know how you do it." -- quasi-jealousy
3. "Good for you!" -- admiration

Even more interesting is the phrase that follows about 98% of the time....
"As long as the baby's healthy!".

Well-meaning? Yes. Cultural? Yes. With complete good intention? Yes. Accurate? I don't really think so.

It's more what this phrase implies that causes me to go deep in thought after each time I hear it. Being pregnant forces you to allow yourself to think through all of the possible outcomes of this whole 9 months of growing life inside of you. What if the baby is not "healthy"? Then what?

The Lord knows that we pray for this baby's physical health, as we do for each of our other children. It is most certainly not something we take lightly, but there is almost an unspoken element to this statement that implies that the baby would somehow be flawed or less-than if he or she is born "unhealthily". As if this is THE big question that will make or break a deal or that will dictate our joy come that blessed day.

The Lord knows what the days ahead would bring if our child is not born in the way we expect, but regardless, he or she is the child God has given to us in just the way He purposed. It is a life created by God, entering into this world at just that precise moment in history, meant to give us a little more of a clearer picture of our Father's heart, in whatever fashion God deems pleasing to Himself, beyond mere physical health. May God be glorified through this child's life. May He be magnified and worshiped by all of His glorious creation.

I am 34 weeks along on this journey...so we will let you know in a few short weeks the answer to the boy/girl question! We are so looking forward to meeting this little one and finding out which (boy or girl) God has blessed us with. Until then!

Redundandundancy (or Blogging about Blogging)

2011-07-27T22:43:00.001-04:00

A picture...because it's worth a thousand of those words down there that you may or may not choose to read...

It's been awhile since I've been here. I (Trevor) always post a blog this particular recurring week because for some odd reason I'm asked to be the "expert" on blogs in a class on social media for our new members in Wycliffe. How odd it would be to show them the current view of the Traveling Schuhs site when my most current post most likely has a photo of my now 4 year old daughter while she was learning to walk?

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about this whole beast called the blog lately. I've gone back and forth on it, really. I know there's probably no one even reading this anymore because everyone is out of the habit, which is comforting really. I heard someone tell me recently that "it really isn't a blog if you don't post twice a day". Huh. I disagree. That would actually annoy me a bit, and I'm not easily annoyed, I assure you. I follow a blog like that, and it's not that interesting on most days.

I've also been pondering the merits of why I even have my own blog. Okay, why we have this blog. In my head I think I get it. We want to keep people informed. We want to tell stories, share pictures, maybe inspire our family and friends, stay connected. Some days it feels like I just want to feel a pat on the back. It's like Facebook and Twitter and the whole jumbled up knot of social media were created to feed my fame craving ego and I just want to be funny enough, or witty enough, or just plain profound or humble enough to go to bed with a smile on my face and rest peacefully so that I can start all over again in the morning.

Okay, that was pretty deep.

Many people try really hard to be funny in their blogs. They rarely succeed (I hope I'm listening). Some folks are just plain born with a gift of funny. I read those blogs.

Some people that I know and love are always (and I mean always) very (and I mean very) serious when they write on the internet. I don't hate serious things, and I really love profundity (and big words) (and also asides), but taking everything seriously can get pretty mundane and stale quickly. I know one guy who is probably one of the most energetic and riveting people you could possibly meet in person, but if you only read his blog you would think he was as dry as the Sahara desert! He tells better jokes in person than I write, too.

Okay, since this is getting longer than a blog post should be, let me get to the point.

Instead of trying to come up with the best reasons why I think I should blog, I decided that I would think of why I like to keep up with other people's blogs and just do that. Sort of a middle of the road approach. A little bit of funny, sometimes deep, occasionally mediocre, but hopefully always just plain honestly me. So that's what I'm going to do. Here's the beginning of my working list. Feel free to add to mine...

REASONS I READ BLOGS:

1: I want to see how my friends are doing
2: It's great to show pictures of faraway friends to my kids
3: We pray for friends and family who are sick (CaringBridge, etc.)
4: I catch up on the news
5: Funny people are always funny
6: Former/current Pastors can be a great source of encouragement

Did I miss any?
Any other thoughts?
Do you have a blog that we should follow?

What Happened After the Bank

2011-05-31T23:14:00.001-04:00

I must tell you about my day. For a moment I am going to wipe from my memory the fact that there are several items of note in our family to update you on and simply pretend that we have blogged faithfully for the past, I don't know, 6 months. God's goodness just blew me away to the extent that I've got to share it.

A little background. We are in the process of getting rid of lots of (hmmm..how do I put this..) STUFF. No-longer-useful-to-us items. Things we don't need. Excess.

We will soon be moving into a smaller house (well, duplex actually, but that update is yet to come) and I am trying to be on top of this "downsizing" issue before the baby comes (yes, another one of "those things" that begs an update). To the casual onlooker, or nosy neighbor, our garage probably looks like it imploded. Kind of pharisaical...you know, white and clean on the outside (yes, our garage door is, in fact, white) and messed up on the inside. We have twin minivans that are forced to endure this Florida heat and sunshine because there is no room for them in the inn even though we have a two-car garage. However, I am pleased to inform you that these piles that together make a large garage-y mess are well-sorted through stacks that are destined for a better home. They can hardly wait.

One of these particular piles is one that has been set aside for a crisis pregnancy center just down the road from us. I had a couple of medium-sized bags/boxes packed up and ready to go, but the two "bigger-ticket" items were a double stroller and a highchair. A note about the double stroller.

This stroller happened upon us less than a month before Eliana was born. It was right after we had moved into a condominium complex in Stow, OH, where my dad is caretaker. The week after we moved in, my dad asked Trevor to help him clear out an apartment that someone had simply left for him to clean up the mess. They left all kinds of things...everything from almond extract to a nice king-size mattress...never intending to pick it up. Some of it was simply junk, but there were certainly some gems in the rubble. One of them being this Graco double stroller in great condition. While Acácia was not too little by this time, she was still small enough that a double stroller would be a *huge* help in adjusting to life with two little ones. I cannot begin to tell you the use we have gotten out of this thing during the two years after Eliana was born. Every time we used it I was reminded of God's desire to bless us in ways we never even imagine.

Fast-forward to present day and here we find ourselves with a baby about to be born, but with a toddler who is really old enough to walk around on her own two feet. No need for a DOUBLE-stroller. I didn't really want to sell it because it came to us without cost. And so, in my heart, I began praying that God, at just the right time, would place this stroller in the life of one who needed it and could get a lot of mileage out of it. I wanted it to be a blessing to another new mommy in a way that it had been to us.

I had known that we were going to take it to the pregnancy center for quite some time but had just never found the energy to load it up and take it there. Somehow it seemed like a bit of a hassle. So there it sat in our garage. Shame on me, but as you'll see, what a testimony to God turning our ashes into beauty.

This weekend we made leaps and bounds in clearing out some of the piles in our garage (going to Goodwill, recycling, etc. etc.) that by the time today rolled around, that pile was one of the last two left. And so, I loaded the girls up in the car and went on a mission. We had to stop at the bank (where my girls happened to be blessed with two purple suckers by the lady at the window who most certainly could not see in the van to know that there were exactly two little girls in the back seat) and then we would make our drop-off at the pregnancy center. In the car ride between the bank and the center I gave my best shot at explaining (in 4 and 2-year-old language) what we were doing. We've talked about this kind of thing before, but I think it finally "clicked" at least for Acácia. The girls shut their eyes tightly and we prayed very specifically that God would give that stroller and highchair and bags/boxes of other things to just the right people. They finished off the prayer with a hearty "Amen".

We pulled up and for a moment I considered not going in since there was a questionable looking fellow standing in front of the entrance door, not looking in any hurry to move, and giving me a bit of a stare-down. Thankfully, I did not listen to fear and simply asked him if the place was closed, to which he answered, "no". As I walked back and forth a few times from my car to the front door (which thankfully was even closer than our own front door from our driveway) in order to bring everything in, I noticed a girl, probably about my age, in a pink shirt with a very obviously pregnant belly. As I was dropping off my last item the secretary asked if I wouldn't mind showing how to fold/unfold the stroller. She then informed me that this girl in the pink shirt with the largely protruding belly was pregnant with twins and going to be induced in one week. She also went on to say that so very rarely does it happen that the owner of the stroller is able to show the recipient (or any of them, for that matter) how it works. This very pregnant girl with twins JUST HAPPENED to be there at the exact moment I decided to drop everything off. Even down to the decision to go to the bank first was God orchestrating all this!

I couldn't believe it. I asked her what her name was and shared with her and the other ladies that we had just got done praying that God would give it to just the right person. God is AMAZING!

I proceeded back to the car so excited to talk to the girls about what had all happened, but in my pregnant state was overwhelmed with emotion (a.k.a. I wept) at God's grace in not only allowing me to meet this new mommy who would have the stroller, but then allowing me the joy of sharing with my daughters the very real and practical and awesome goodness of our God. So after choking back the tears I told the girls all about it and we simply rejoiced in God's goodness (after I explained that my tears were in fact "happy tears", of course). How I long for them to see His heart.

Praise be to our God and Father who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.

A Tale of Two Minivans

2011-03-14T22:16:00.000-04:00

I promised a blog post on the subject of the two vans sitting in our driveway, so here it goes.

Two years ago, when we were preparing to make the move to Orlando, we found an affordable green '98 Ford Windstar (thanks, Mollie and Steve!). This van has been good to us, though we've had a love/hate relationship at times. One time, I ended up walking 5 miles home from the shop because of the rusted out brake line on what our mechanic affectionately calls a "Yankee bucket of bolts"...okay, he only calls it a Yank, but I'm reading between the lines. He routinely brings his proteges around to gawk at the underbelly of the van so that they can see it's exotic salt and rust damage. You think I'm joking.

Living 30 min. from work, I've become accustomed to carpooling (thanks to all my trusty chauffeurs!), but every so often, I'll need to take the van and leave Sarah stranded at home with the girls. For a year now, we've assumed that it will eventually kick the bucket, or at least be not-so-worth-fixing. A few months ago, we started trying to save up a little at a time to buy a more reliable option, especially with another potential move for our family next year (more on that later). Nothing fancy or expensive, but a decent car or van to take on road trips would be nice!

Then we got stuck on a mountain in Tennessee in the middle of a snowstorm with our van, which was actually a champ, considering the situation! While on a lovely vacation with Sarah's family, I got a fairly random voicemail from Ryan, a friend here in Orlando. He said that he heard about a friend of the family that was wanting to...get this...give away a minivan. As I heard the description of said minivan, the "coincidences" kept piling up.

1998. Got it.

Ford. Check.

Windstar. This is getting weird.

110,000 miles. Bonus! Our current '98 Windstar has close to 200, 000.

So I called this mysteriously generous gent thinking, "there's no way this is for real...something's gotta be wrong here." Sure enough, when I talked to Shaun on the phone, I got the whole story. First, some more odd similarities:

"The passenger window doesn't roll down...The automatic locks are funky...The rear heat and A/C control is schizo...The door pretends to be ajar and dings whilst driving under 16 miles per hour." Check, check, check, and, yes, check. We've learned to live with these oddities and laugh them off before. No big deal. We're missionaries, right? Isn't this sort of what we do?

Then:

"Transmission slippage." Ugh. That's gonna cost.

"But wait! There's more! If you take this free minivan off our hands, we'll throw in one thousand dollars! We've had the damage appraised, and that should cover it." I think at this point I chuckled out loud. It may have even been a guffaw. Surely this couldn't be happening to us! Not even family would give us a deal this good! It turns out that this awesome clan had been able to get two brand new vehicles with money left to them with a death in the family, so they wanted to give their old van to a family who needed it. By grace alone, we had become the chosen family.

Several phone calls and trips to the DMV later, we had the van in our driveway. Praise the Lord! To make a very long story relatively short, we were able to get the transmission fixed for much less than projected AND patched up a newly sprung brake line leak on our old van. It's so weird to state all of this in a few sentences because this has been one of those wildly dramatic rides that kept us completely speechless along several points of the journey. I mean, really, God is fantastic at wowing us!

Oooooh, oooooh! And what's my favorite feature on the van? I'm glad you asked! We got a built in VHS Player!!!!!!!! Seriously. Is there anything more exciting than that?

Each step of this story had more twists and turns than a Ted Dekker novel, and we'd love to tell them all. But I'll spare you the details. Needless to say, our God is great and greatly to be praised!

Currently, our "new" van (The Miracle Mini) is being used by some good friends in Orlando on furlough from Nigeria until Thursday. The best thing about being given a blessing is to pass it on to others. I must admit, though, I'm excited to start driving it around, because the girls haven't even taken a ride around the block in it yet. It's sort of become a "stone of remembrance" for our family, which is also awesome. Every time I see it, I'm reminded of God's faithfulness. And His humor, too.

-posted by Trevor, the belated blogger.

Encouragement

2011-01-05T09:38:00.001-05:00

Sometimes we all need a little reminder about Who to put our trust in. This is what we've been talking a lot about the girls. May your heart be encouraged in the Word of God.

Please forgive Acácia's dish-towel-scarf. She refused to take it off:)

This is your invitation.

2010-12-08T15:33:00.000-05:00

I'm finally doin' it. This Schuh is getting her shoes on and running under the banner of Bible translation. What better thing to do with nice weather in Florida when the rest of the country is getting slammed with snow?? Wanna come? See below for the invitation.

On Saturday (December 11th) I will be running the first of a few races I want to complete wearing this jersey that has been waiting for me in my closet for far too long. You see, my original intent (way back in January of '09) was to run a full marathon. I was signed up for it. I was training for it. I was committed. Only problem was, I hadn't run a race since high school cross country! Well, as it turns out I kind of messed up my knee in training once I got up to my 12 mile runs (who knew I could run that far?!). Instead of running with all those who had been training around the country I had to see pictures of them on the internet after all was said and done.

Thing is, I haven't forgotten that I have a jersey sitting in my closet that was intended for ME to run for the glory of God. It's for a mission. One that I care deeply about. I don't want to miss out on this opportunity. I don't want to sit this one out. So, I'm lacing up my shoes and running as a part of Team OneVerse this Saturday because there is a group of people in Asia called the Rutara who need to have God's written Word (read about them here). It's for Bible translation.

Will you join me? The main reason I am doing this is to raise money for the translation of God's Word for the Rutara people. Trevor and I have been setting aside some funds to support this work and would love for you to take part in it with us. Give WITH us. Our goal is to raise $1500, and so far we have reached $520. Everything goes directly to The Seed Company, who then passes it on to the translation team in place. It's easy to give and it's the perfect time to give it. Doesn't have to be anything huge. Maybe $5 or $10 or $100...whatever you feel you want to give to further the work of His written gospel.

Click here to give to the translation of God's Word for the Rutara people.

As we think on all we are thankful for this Christmas, may we give to others one of the greatest gifts ever given to us. To His glory and for His Name!

Sarah

P.S. Well, it is now the end of this post and I will give you one last chance to click on that link...just in case you missed it. ;)

Click here to give to the translation of God's Word for the Rutara people.

To Foreign Lands

2010-10-21T10:54:00.000-04:00

Allow me to be a little "un-Wycliffe" for a moment.

This week dear friends that we met at Training Camp (a two-week training session you first attend to become a Wycliffe member) have come to spend some time with us and share at Wycliffe's EnterMission service. Together with Justin and Beth--and mostly from a distance through Skype--we have walked through the excitement of joining Wycliffe, having kids, finding out assignments, and raising support (and all the joys and struggles that go along with that). While we have only had a total of approximately 26 days together in the same room, they have become some of the closest friends we have. They have sharpened us and have come alongside us.

They have caused me to think a lot about the future...as well as the now, but mostly what the now means for the future. You see, they are on the brink of reaching their 100% support quota to leave for their first assignment in Bulgaria. They are about to close a two-year chapter of their lives of raising support, traveling like crazy (along with their baby boy), and speaking in churches and to individuals about what God has put on the hearts to do. In fact, during the days they've been in our home, we have witnessed them reaching the point in their financial standing where they are able to purchase tickets to leave before Thanksgiving(!!!). Forsaking the life they know is now staring them in the face. It's no longer an idea or a goal they are pushing towards. It's time to go. Everything they've been telling people will now become a reality. They are now forced to think about whether or not they will have their family come to the airport to say goodbye (because sometimes there's just too much emotion to be able to go through all that in an airport), what things are worth taking and what things they need to leave behind, what pictures will they take with them, what their new house look like, how will they communicate with the general population in the new country, and whether or not their new doctor understand everything they are trying to say when they need to take their son to the doctor, etc. etc. The list goes on.

While I realize it's not very "Christian" or Wycliffe to say this, it's just about enough to invoke a fight or flight response. These are big issues and in complete honesty, the gravity of everything can make you all but go numb. At the moment I'm almost living vicariously through them as I anticipate our doing this in the future. What a golden opportunity for the enemy to get a foothold and make all of us feel the need to do a 180, wondering "what are we doing?"

But then what would happen?

This whole week has pushed me deep in thought about how it is that missionaries do this. There is no amount of strong will or resolve that will take you through AND sustain you as you "forsake father and mother to do the will of the Father." I liken it to raising kids. There is no amount of good intention, wisdom, cajoling, or parenting methods that will ensure your kids wanting to follow the Lord or even much less OBEY you.

And so, I've made my conclusion. It is the grace of the Father. It's HIS loving grace that allows us to do what He's called us to do, no matter what exactly it is that He has asked you or I to do. We can't muster up enough courage, we can't convince ourselves it's not as big a deal as it is. We can only rest in Him and trust that His grace will allow us walk through with joy all the in and outs of following Him.

Pray for Justin and Beth in these upcoming days. Pray for them even now! Pray that His grace would cover over them in such a way that it would drive out fear and infuse even more of first a love for the Father and following His will. Second, pray for an ever-growing love for the people they are going to live amongst. That with each trial and with each joy they face, they can remember that Christ walked through all that and more for them (and for all of us). He is good and He is gracious. He will continue to carry out His good will through His people. To Him be the glory!

"In repentance and rest is your salvation. In quietness and trust is your strength". -Isaiah 30:15

"American" Suburban Mom meets Bible Translation - Part 2

2010-08-25T13:22:00.001-04:00

Reader, meet Seeds.

Seeds Family Worship is one of the most practical examples I can give you to help you understand the work of an Arts Consultant within Bible translation...a role that (if you haven't figured out by now), we are looking into going to school for after our term in Orlando. We'll see.

Jason Houser, the dad who put Seeds Family Worship together, knew his purpose. He wanted to help kids in his church engage with Scripture in a way that would permeate into their lives. So he started picking verses/passages that he felt would be particularly helpful for the kids he was working with. Then he got to work putting them to music (they have a couple videos they've done, as seen above, but their main products are albums)...one of the best mediums for kids--and adults--to memorize as well as actively interact with. There is nothing added to the text as far as lyrics go. They are by best definition straight-up Scripture songs. This is exactly the kind of tool an Arts Consultant works to put together! It's not a novel idea by any stretch of the imagination...many people have done it before, but we are now realizing the intense value of this type of thing in helping a culture engage with God's Word.

Now, for my disclaimer. I realize that making this example is possibly a HUGE over-simplification. I get that. There is SO MUCH that goes into the work of an Arts Consultant. But, at the heart of it, the purpose is the same. To help the people group you are with to engage with God's Word in a form/language that they connect with best. In this particular example we're talking music...but there are all kinds of expressions that all but define a culture that can be utilized to infuse Scripture into. Maybe it's art, maybe it's basket-weaving, maybe it's dance, I don't know! The different expressions of people groups around the world are endless because an outrageously creative God made us this way.

The definition of an Arts Consultant is "a person who works alongside local singers, dancers, and storytellers, researching a community's performing arts and then sparking artistic creation to reach mutual spiritual and social goals". So, there is more to it than simply coming up with a good tune to put Scripture to and then recording it onto a CD. It's a role of empowering indigenous people to use their own cultural art forms to bring glory to God.

Just within the last couple of weeks I started popping my Seeds Family Worship CD in the stereo system so that my kids could interact with Scripture songs, and here I find myself being the one most impacted. Seriously, I sing these songs in my head all the time. God's Word is becoming more deeply rooted in my heart as a result of it taking on this form in my everyday life.

Click here to listen to any entire album.

"American" Suburban Mom meets Bible Translation - Part 1

2010-08-11T17:13:00.002-04:00

Today was a good day. You might call it "Craft Day" around here. For those of you who know us and know our kids, give me a moment to indulge in catching you up on what we've done today. If you stick with me I promise to let you know WHAT spurred me on to post these pictures and WHY I felt the need to do it. It'll be quite a string. You ready?

Okay, so this one doesn't really have much to do with what I want to say, but her face just cracks me up. I let her go crazy with an index card and stickers and this is her final piece. She was so proud of it she asked me if she could put it up on the "fridgelator" right away.

This morning started off with a wagon ride (a favorite of the girls) where we looked for anything we could find to put in our "nature box". Once we had gathered all our "treasures", we put them all together to make this beautiful naturesque diorama. Acácia added the little pony and Eliana added the cell phone...I think she wanted to make sure Little Pony wouldn't be caught without a line to the outside world. The feather in the sky is supposed to be storm clouds (per Acácia).

We made some animals out of cut-out hearts. First picture is a seal and an owl which Acácia so expertly helped me glue together. She then thought the seal needed a mouth with a tongue sticking out of it...as well as an added belly, complete with belly button.

Lion. Okay, the one thing that is NOT a heart is the tail. BUT! There is a heart to "end the tail".

Not to be out-done by her big sis, Eliana grabbed a black permanent marker that her mother (ahem...I mean, I) left out and then proceeded to decorate a nearby heart. In the process, she also decided our white vinyl tablecloth ALSO needed a little jazzing up. I'll admit I'm pretty proud of her creation.

Lest you think that making these little creatures was all my own creative thinking (ha!), let me give honor to where honor is due. Last week I happened upon a website called Mother's Bible. It was on this site, that I read about how this mom found this (see picture below) book, by Michael Hall, and turned it into a craft for her kids. After seeing the book on her site, I found it at our local library.


Please forgive the wrong orientation. My computer WILL NOT let me rotate this and I refuse to spend more time trying.

Now for the point of this post. This Mother's Bible website is the coolest thing. What first intrigued me was her posts on how her family (she has 5 kids) recently finished praying through the book From Arapesh to Zuni: A Book of Bibleless Peoples. It happens to be a book put out by Wycliffe that goes through each letter of the alphabet which stands for a specific Bibleless People group. It is complete with vividly colorful pictures that keep ME mesmerized. For each people group she took the time to share how she went about helping the kids actively engage with each group. Click here to see what she did with K - the Kola Lapp. Here for P - the Padaung. If you have kids at home (or even if you don't!), take some time to browse through this site and think how may be able to do it yourself! Let me know if you're interested in snagging a copy of the book.

While you may be thinking that I titled this post "Suburban Mom Meets Bible Translation" because I was referencing the mom who put together the Mother's Bible website (can you tell yet by all the linking that I want you to go there?), I am in fact talking about myself. At this point in life, I have to consider myself pretty much suburban "American" (American in quotes because I believe I think more like an American than a Brazilian, even though my passport confirms I wasn't born here). "But you are a missionary with Wycliffe Bible Translators!" you might say. Well, yeah, but my life looks very similar to anyone else living in this country. I have running water, our house has three bedrooms and is fully outfitted with finished floors. I have so many books I can hardly find a place for them. I have plenty to eat. I don't have to kill my own chickens and my food mainly gets to my house transported by car straight from the grocery store. Outside of trying to live life with as little air-conditioning as possible, my lifestyle screams suburban American. It is not to say I am not grateful for all these things. Lord knows I am. I do, however, realize that I have a hard time truly relating and putting myself in the shoes of people who don't even have a written language, let alone God's written Word. I often think that we can pray more effectively when we are more fully informed (not always...but generally speaking).

So while we are here in our US-based assignment, the Lord keeps showing me new ways that I (along with my family) can be more fully and actively involved in the task of Bible translation. Stay tuned for Part 2!

And now I leave you with one final picture. My favorite animal creation of all, in his natural habitat. Acácia added the legs ALL BY HERSELF. Love it! And, I'm sure that moose is very thankful as he can now see over the clouds.

A Greater Sacrifice

2010-07-28T14:54:00.011-04:00

All I could think to myself was, "Are we crazy? How in the world did we get ourselves into this continuous cycle of saying goodbye? Do people actually choose this lifestyle? Did WE actually choose this?"

As we pulled away from my parents' house in Ohio on Monday I was simply overcome with grief at having to say goodbye to them yet again. More accurately, the reality of having to tell my kids once again that it might be a looong time before they see "Grandpa and Vovó" was getting to be just downright annoying.

I chose to be the one sitting in the drivers' seat for this, the first leg of our trip. As we had been packing up and stalling our goodbyes for as long as possible I had this growing feeling that I wasn't going to deal with this portion of our trip well. You know how you kind of get that feeling of a storm brewing up ahead? Yeah, this was it. You'd think I would want to simply be the passenger at this point, but no, I wanted to sit in silence and beg God to remind me once again. It wasn't a particularly high point for me. I know Trevor feared for the safety of our vehicle as he asked me several times if I wanted him to drive. Sobbing and driving aren't two things that should normally go together. However, the kids would need water or a snack or a book, and in selfishness I simply wanted to sit and think. I needed to sit and think.

Perhaps it all started with this clip that I watched about a month and a half back (take the time to watch it...it's only a couple minutes). Here is a young family (whom we know) who started out with Wycliffe, served stateside for a couple years, and now serves in Nigeria full-time. Now I have usually been pretty good with goodbyes and with the idea of wanting to go wherever the Lord wants me to go, but when I heard Christie say in the video clip that her parents would not have the privilege of being there for their son's first birthday or so many of his other milestones, for some reason something inside me started to come unglued.

And then over the last week I once again watched the movie "The End of the Spear" and then decided to read the entire book, written by Steve Saint--the son of the pilot who flew himself and five other missionaries into Waodani ('Auca') territory for the sake of the Gospel. The five men were speared to death, but that wasn't the end of the story. I'm sure you're familiar with this portion of history (if you're not, find the book here), so I won't go on about this except to say that I could not help but meditate on the fact that the decisions these guys made (obviously) affected the course of life for the entire rest of their families.

What I simply couldn't shake was the realization that our decision to follow God wherever He leads us not only affects me and us, but that our extended family (parents, grandparents, cousins, etc.) are by default forced into a situation where they have to give over to God their desire to be a part of the daily lives of their grandchildren (in a face-to-face, go-over-to-Grandpa's-house-whenever-you-want-to sort of way). Now my parents have never once tried to steer us away from following what we felt God was asking us to do, but I can't help but think that they have to continually give over that desire of their hearts to the Lord. And I am pretty sure that it is anything but easy.

It's so natural to think about how all the major life changes of "being missionaries" affects our little family. It's normal and necessary to think about all those things I suppose. Where will the kids go to school, who will their friends be, will life be 'normal' enough for them to thrive in? But I think the greater sacrifice is oftentimes made by those family members who silently cheer us on and support us, their loved ones, to follow God wherever and whenever He leads for the sake of His gospel. Who give to the Lord their desire, and even 'right' to be in the daily lives of our kids.

Even in writing this, I am reminded that we aren't even overseas yet! The Lord knows what will happen in the years to come, whether or not He will allow us to serve Him on the other side of the world or not. But I think that perhaps God is allowing me to work through some of these issues even now as we move in the direction of going to those who don't have His written Word yet.

God reminded me that He sent His own Son to go to a place far away from Him so that others could be saved. Lord, help us all to find our strength and our purpose in You alone. No other foundation will remain stable enough for us to pursue that which You've called us to. May we go for the sake of the gospel alone.

Dad and Mom, Bob and Gail, thanks for walking this road with us. For giving back to the Lord that which He's given you. I pray that He will bless you beyond your wildest dreams. Words can't express our gratitude for you.

The Jesus Storybook Bible

2010-05-07T20:03:00.004-04:00

I've found a new Bible "translation" that speaks my heart language. (Okay, it's not a translation, but I DO love to read the book!)

Just recently Acácia received "The Jesus Storybook Bible - Every Story whispers His Name" written by Sally Lloyd-Jones. With every story, the author connects the point to Jesus. It's great. Between Trevor and I we have been reading 1-3 stories from this book each night with Acácia. And I have to admit, I love, love, love this time of day. Not only because I get to spend precious time with my daughter, but also because God has seemingly been using these few moments (among others) each night to speak loud and clear to my heart. I don't think there has been a single night that I have read with Acácia and not come away refreshed. And I am left amazed.

Tonight as we were reading the story of how Jesus fell asleep on the boat in the middle of the storm, it was a sacrifice of love (a joyful one) for me to keep reading the text out loud at some points. For some reason (well I know the reason...), I was overcome with a new-found, deeper realization of how God is with us in the storm. And that no matter how bad it may seem in our eyes and how hopeless it may look, our worries are still unnecessary. My voice got all choked up and I simply wanted to cry tears of joy and bask in the clear reminder God had brought to my heart through this "children's story". How gracious of our God to remind us of that by giving us a written account of this story that has stood the test of time. I am certainly glad I'm a child of God, aren't you?

You see, we have some very dear people in our lives who are walking through some incredibly painful and stretching times. My heart hurts for them and my (I think it would be safe to say "our") natural tendency is to worry, worry, worry. Here is what I read in our story right after Jesus calmed the storm:

"The little boat bobbed gently up and down. There was a deep stillness and a great quiet all around. Then Jesus turned to his wind-torn friends. 'Why were you scared?' he asked. 'Did you forget who I Am? Did you believe your fears, instead of me?' Jesus' friends were quiet. As quiet as the wind and the waves. And into their hearts came a different kind of storm. 'What kind of man is this?' they asked themselves anxiously. 'Even the winds and the waves obey him!' they said, because they didn't understand. They didn't realize yet that Jesus was the Son of God.

{And here is the part that got me}
Jesus' friends had been so afraid, they had only seen the big waves. They had forgotten that, if Jesus was with them, then they had nothing to be afraid of. No matter how small their boat--or how big the storm."

{Excerpt taken from "The Captain of the Storm" in The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.}

If you have young (or even old) children, I highly recommend this book. It has been a great tool in helping Acácia get to know Jesus. Because truly, every story whispers His name.

There, I said it.

2010-05-02T21:02:00.004-04:00

I can't believe we've had this blog for almost two years and we've never really talked about the thing that most people associate us with...music.

It's funny to see where I am now in comparison to where I was two years ago. Let's see, I think it was almost two years ago to the day that we announced to our church in Hudson, Ohio that we were leaving the music ministry to join Wycliffe. I don't really want to be honest about this, but I probably should be. I was ready to be done with music as a job.

There, I said it.

Don't get me wrong, I loved what I was doing. I loved my church. I loved the people who served wholeheartedly alongside of me. I loved having an incredible amount of creative leeway in the context of corporate worship. (Those of you who know the crazy ideas we somehow executed at Hope know exactly what I'm talking about! Remember the sanctuary waterslide, mountaintop waterfall, and figuring out how to get those stupid curtains to open until 4am the morning before the performance?)

I was ready for something new. Something exciting. Something that had nothing to do with what I had dedicated the majority of my life to.

I was rebelling.

I know...it's a quiet sort of rebellion. Like Tie-day Friday when seemingly everyone else in the building is wearing jeans. Normal people in my position would just toe the line of dressing a little more casual than business on Casual Friday. Me? I throw on a tie.

Even when I was given the opportunity to be EnterMission Coordinator when I was first asked to take this role, I rebelled against my musical roots. Does it involve music in any capacity? No thank you. I'm going to be a Bible Translator.

Funny story. I've been working in Orlando for about 6 months now, quietly rebelling against my musical background. Now...somehow I've found myself full circle as not only EnterMission Coordinator (a weekly gathering of Wycliffe USA staff: including coordinating and leading worship weekly), but coordinating and leading weekly musical worship in my church, being asked to be the worship leader for Delegate Conference with Sarah, thinking and praying about the possibility of being an Arts Consultant/Ethnomusicologist in the not too distant future, and most recently, hanging out with a friend yesterday for almost 12 hours to brainstorm/compose music together for a potential video project.

That'll show all of you! I won't be a musician, I just won't!

All of that is to say that God is humorous. As Julie Melon would say while I was doing swing dance and hip-hop evangelism throughout Western Europe, "God is NUTS!" (Although now it seems like I was the one who was nuts for doing swing dance and hip-hop evangelism in Europe as a 16 year old for two months.)

I feel like He is somehow rebelling against me, though I'm not sure of the theological ramifications of this.

Oh, and I'm loving it all, in case you were wondering.

-Trevor

God Brought Me Flowers

2010-04-23T08:46:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago I started getting unnecessarily obsessed with landscaping. More specifically, I was obsessed with OUR landscaping. Or rather the sheer absence of it. Now to my defense, there wasn't much there to work with when we moved in here, so it's not that I felt I had ruined all things beautiful and good. It's just that I couldn't help but notice that the dressings of our house looked more as if I was trying to start a new trend of weeds and stick-y little tree-bushes being the "in" thing.

You know how you can get something in your mind and you simply feel like you HAVE to resolve it? Like your quality of life will be dramatically improved if you could just FIX the issue. Well, I had gotten to that point with the front of our house. I was simply thinking about it too much. Hadn't spent any money yet, but I HAD given it too much brain power. Thankfully, God helped me recognize what was happening.

So I prayed and asked Him to show me what to do about it. To either give me the grace to let go of it, or to simply provide the actual trees or plants or bushes with which to beautify the place a bit. I didn't feel like He had given me the freedom to spend any money on it, so I just asked Him to provide the actual plants. In all honesty, I'm pretty sure that my request ended up being half-hearted for the sole purpose of not being able to think HOW He would actually do it. Who was just gonna GIVE me a bush or a tree or flowers to plant? It's not a normal occurence. I thought up all these different scenarios and couldn't see any of them realistically happening, so eventually I kinda forgot about it and came to appreciate the weed-looking plants (they may actually BE weeds...I don't even know!!) we DO have.

Being Florida, people spend a good bit of time outside, and consequently, many of these people are excellent gardeners. The neighborhood we live in has some very beautifully landscaped yards. So when the girls and I go on walks, we have about 3 or 4 houses that we especially like to walk by. We'll actually stop and look more closely at all the flowers, pointing out how beautiful they are.

Well on Wednesday of this past week, we were walking past one of these previously mentioned "all-star houses" and the husband-wife team happened to be outside laying down mulch. I had been curious about a specific flower we'd been seeing, so I stopped and visited with them for a bit and asked them what it was. Turns out the flower is called Amaryllis. Coincidentally enough, the man said he had a bunch of extra bulbs and would be more than willing to drop some by. So later that evening after Trevor got home, he dropped off 6 amaryllis bulbs!

It wasn't until midnight that it struck me. God had provided. Even when I didn't remember, in His kindness He provided flowers completely by His own doing. I know that in His wisdom He doesn't always give us everything we ask for, but this was one of those moments where all of a sudden the light bulb came on and I saw the fingerprints of God all over those amaryllis bulbs.

28"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I need to go do some planting!

Sarah

Kande's Story

2010-04-20T12:09:00.006-04:00

While I was in California last month, I had the privilege of working with Kathie Watters, a wonderful woman of God who has been the real champion of what is called "Kande's Story". Watch this video to see more about this project and how it is impacting communities in Uganda and all around Africa in the midst of the HIV/AIDS crisis.

If you want proof that Bible translation has a much broader impact in communities around the world, here you go!

Trevor

Alligator on the LOOSE!

2010-04-14T23:55:00.005-04:00

So as I'm sitting here waiting to go to bed, I thought I'd let you know that the Lord has officially driven the fear of alligators deep into my soul.

May I introduce you to Florida?

Florida is a place where alligators live. Up until this point I had convinced myself (as well as the grandparents over and OVER again) that there is no need to worry about those silly gators cause they only stay near the water anyway. Big Al--as we affectionally call our backyard water-dwelling friend--is harmless. Those pesky little holes in the fence in our back yard are seriously of no concern.

Well, let me tell you. I have been proven wrong. VERY wrong.

I'm driving the short distance to the park to meet Trevor on his way home from work today (it was the decided-upon drop-off point for the carpool today) and on the one side of the road I see police lights flashing. I wonder what they are for. As any good citizen would do, I stare. As I get closer I notice that a whole section is blocked off. I also notice that there are people standing around gaping at something. What in the world has happened at this house? Did someone get murdered?

And then I see him.

This gigantic, monstrous alligator sitting in the front yard of this house. He is HUGE. And don't even think I'm exaggerating. He's just sitting out there in plain daylight. I get the chills just thinking about it. And not only that, but somehow they got a rope around this cutie pie's jaws. The officer is standing (very still, I might add) quite a distance away just holding onto the other end of this rope. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever seen. All these people had gathered around and were just waiting to see what this fella was going to do. Do police officers in Florida get trained in alligator fighting?

Anyway, so I pick up Trevor and we go right back by the place to see if anything's changed. Alligator is still there...this is probably 5 to 10 min. after my initial sighting. At this point, the other officers are obviously trying to get people to move away. Hmmm...I wonder why.

Acacia REALLY wanted to play at the park (not just drive to it), so we turn around AGAIN and once again drive past the scene. This time there are several men trying to hoist this thing into a pick-up truck. It is obviously either dead or tranquilized. The picture we finally were able to get (on Trevor's phone) is of the gator on his back just about to be thrown into this truck.

All I can say is, we will continue to NOT play in our backyard.

The Word of God

2010-04-13T16:27:00.000-04:00

"My God is so BIG! So strong and so mighty there's NOTHING my God cannot do! ..."

So Acacia sang to me with all her might, throwing her arms up as high as they could go and jumping as high as her little legs would take her as she shouted the word "BIG!". I love it when words are put to a visual. Especially when that visual is small and so very passionate.

Ever wonder why God doesn't bring His Word to the nations Himself? If He's "so big", why does He need US to do it? In a Bible translation organization, it's easy to think that God is depending on us to "get the job done". And by "us" I don't mean just Wycliffe and other Bible translation organizations....I mean all of us who are believers and have an overabundance (if there ever was such a thing) of access to His written Word. I've subconsciously thought this for years, long before we got into full-time ministry with Wycliffe.

Truth be told, I've always felt a little uneasy with the thought that if we don't get to that tribe in the farthest corner of the earth, they will die without ever hearing about the God who created them for His pleasure and for His glory. That they are without hope. Isn't God big enough and strong enough to give His Word to not only us, but people around the world, too?

So I've been thinking. I usually (or rather...used to) think of "God's Word" as the Bible. As in, the physical book that sits next to my bed. It was my mahogany leather-bound NASB book that I can hold, flip the pages of, set down, put in my purse, or read from. About a year ago, a pastor that I had the privilege to sit under revolutionized my understanding of "God's Word" (and it's effect is still taking shape!). I can still hear the tone of voice he used and the pace with which He said, in reference to Galatians 3:8, "God said it; Abraham wrote it down." He repeated the phrase, a little more slowly this time, just to make sure we GOT IT. Doesn't seem that profound, does it? Well, here's the thing...

⁸The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU."

"The Scripture preached the gospel beforehand"? What? How do words on a page preach? The point is, God spoke to Abraham AND THEN Abraham wrote it down. He penned it. God's Word is God's Word whether it's written down on a page or not. Please don't misunderstand and think that I'm insinuating that we can all go write our own Bibles. Not at all! What I AM saying is that God is not limited to a pen and paper. Did He reveal Himself in what is written? You betcha. But can He speak His Word to someone who doesn't have His Word that is written down? There's no doubt. In fact, I'm pretty sure He did that when He sent His Word in the form of flesh...living, breathing, human flesh. Not exactly a pen and paper. Sound familiar?

So I pray that we'll never feel like God needs us to do something for Him. It's kind of burdensome to think of it that way, anyway. Instead, He lets us enjoy Him so fully that in the process of doing so our only natural response is to bring the blessing we've been given in His written Word to those who don't yet have it.

Seriously, God is so big. And His love is SO BIG. Thank You, Lord for the life you give us!! Thank You that Your Word is ALIVE! May we never fail to let you have us completely. I praise You, most Holy God.

Sarah

Is it Worth It?

2010-03-16T23:08:00.005-04:00

One of the "modules" that we were trained to develop when starting with Wycliffe was something we labeled the "Is it Worth it All?" module. We wanted to have stories of impact that show how our calling to the Bible translation movement pan out to be worth more than what we "gave up". Now, we gave up our comfortable life in Ohio to live a relatively comfortable life in Orlando, but we hadn't really seen the stories of impact that we were trying to talk about yet. I'm stealing other people's stories for now, but they're becoming my own as I interact with literally hundreds of people who have truly understood what it means when we ask "Is it worth it all?"

This video was just made in the office that I look at each day for 8 hours or so. A normal office in a normal building in a very normal city in Florida. The stories that come from within these offices are anything but normal, however.

I cannot tell you how great it is to be working with so many people that have given up so many things to be a part of God's story in the work of Bible translation around the world. It's not about the people that have followed this calling, either...it's about the impact of God using us as His instruments to bring what we have been blessed abundantly with, God's Word in our heart language, to the least, the last, and the lost.

I hope you enjoy this interview with Bob and Dallas Creson as much as I do!

Living Water: Worth from The Well on Vimeo.

My California Excursion

2010-03-10T21:28:00.004-05:00

While I was extremely busy during my trip to California this past weekend, I did manage to take a few pictures of my time there. I'd like to narrate a few things from this trip with the help of these.

Meet Katie. Katie handled every single detail of the weekend PLUS the entirety of Calvary Church's 10 day Missions Conference. I couldn't have done my job without her.

This is a portion of the musical group "IziBongo"...they're brilliant. 9 of them came out to California to perform in, let's see...about a gazillion different venues and events. They play music from many different cultures, worship music that sounds quite different to our Western ears...music that I love. Every time I spend time with this group of musicians, I tell them that I'm one step closer to being recruited into the EthnoArts department!

I didn't get to see most of the Global Fair that we put on for the church and community, but I did spot this little guy checking out one of our sweet interactive kiosks...he's a pilot in training!

One of the highlights of the weekend was the chance to celebrate 25 Bible translations that have been dedicated around the world. Many of them were actually translated by Calvary members, both Wycliffe and other partner agencies. During the processional of flags, Scriptures, and flowers, I was crazy busy with details...yet I still got pretty emotional seeing these incredibly dedicated servants that gave so much up to help bring God's Word into the heart language of the least, the last, and the lost of the world.

Here are some of the books we celebrated. I carried William Cameron Townsend's Cakchiquel New Testament (Wycliffe's founder, supported by Calvary Church over 70 years ago) in my carry-on, just to be sure it wouldn't get lost.

All in all, this weekend was a great testimony to the relationship that Calvary and Wycliffe have had from the beginning of our organization. They have given so much and been so faithful to sending their members across the world...they currently have 100 missionary families serving around the world, which is absolutely incredible.

I had moments of stress, for sure. I was working like crazy, yes. But at the end of the day...or days, rather...this event has shaped my view of Wycliffe, the work we do around the world, and the partnerships that it takes in order to further the worldwide movement of Bible translation.

Thanks for praying for me and the team that I've been working with for months...this project has been an incredible learning tool for me, and I'm so glad that so many of you essentially came with us to California. Next time, let's do a little more sightseeing, okay?

Trevor

California or Bust!

2010-03-03T19:11:00.002-05:00

I wanted to get a quick post up before leaving for California at 4:30am tomorrow. Since starting my job in September, I've been working on managing an event in Santa Ana that is really quite exciting. This weekend, I'll be heading out to Calvary Church to celebrate how God has been working throughout the world in the Bible Translation movement. Here's link to a video that gives you an "insider's glimpse" into one of the aspects of this weekend.

http://www.wycliffe.org/About/Presscenter/LLCBriefing.aspx

I'll tell you all about it when I get back, I promise!

Trevor

A Day in the Life of the Schuhs

2010-02-22T20:56:00.010-05:00

Perhaps you've noticed we've been a little non-existent on the blog-front for the last few weeks. It's been a particularly busy set of weeks, so now, as we all collectively take a deep breath, let's dive back into the world of blog.

Today is an especially exciting day in the Schuh household. In fact, EVERY Tuesday is. It's "Tuesdays with Jennifer and Dustin". Jennifer and Dustin are two fellow Wycliffe colleagues (also in their 20's) wanting to gain a new skill. I'll give you one guess at what skill we--Trevor and Sarah--have to offer....you guessed it. We teach them how to play the piano, and in return they bring us food of the most delicious sort. One brings the main course and the other brings dessert. Genius.

In case you don't know me very well, cooking is not "a stress reliever" for me. While I wish I enjoyed it more, it more frequently creeps up on me towards the end of the day as I look at the clock and realize Trevor will be home and hungry in 15 minutes! It would be fair to say that the thought of cooking (at least in this stage of life) stresses me out a bit. It's hard not to burn the chicken while making sure a toddling toddler isn't climbing on the couch and diving off head-first. On Tuesdays I don't have to worry about a thing. I can set the table and be pleasantly surprised at what ends up on my plate. It's fantastic. AND, I get to have intelligent adult conversations.

So, on Tuesdays, we get to celebrate really good food with really great people and have an entirely enjoyable time doing it! Our girls looove having Miss Jennifer and Mr. Dustin come over, as they are convinced that they are coming for the sheer bliss of dancing and playing with them (which may, in fact, be true;)). At the end of the day, Dustin and Jennifer are in fact, becoming such very accomplished musicians. At least that's the aim.

Here's a glimpse into this wonderfully delightful exchange. (I suppose I should probably post some pictures of actual piano learning taking place, but I was more interested in the food....stay posted for more pictures to come).

Gluten-less Death by Chocolate by Dustin. Spectacular.

Miss Jennifer savoring the flavor. That's right...mmmmm.

"This allrecipes.com app is amazing."

Come back next week to see a tangible example of what it is we're involved in here at the headquarters and how your partnership makes it possible for all to hear.

Ministry

2010-02-01T19:57:00.008-05:00

"Ministry" has been on my mind. Not ministry in terms of..."we're in full-time (vocational) ministry"...not even "what is MY ministry". None of those things. I've just simply been thinking about the word itself. I throw it around so loosely that I fear I have lost the actual meaning of it. Is it goodwill? Is it a strong affection for someone? Is it risking your life for someone? Is it giving to the poor? Is it being a part of a Bible translation organization?

So here's the reason it's on my mind. A week and a half ago I feel like I was ministered to in the purest sense of the word (or at least in my understanding of it).

Our family has come out of a wonderful stretch of having many people into our home over the last month and a half or so. One particular set of guests came and went so quietly but left such a deep impression on my heart and spirit that I can't seem to get this word out of my head.

Never can I remember a time when someone (besides my husband) confronted a heart issue so head-on that it made me want to weep so immediately. During our short time together (only one full day), my friend observed something in my life that, while having the appearance of servitude, was really not glorifying to the Lord, but instead it was something that quietly kept me in bondage. She never judged me, never looked down on me, but rather at just the right time brought light to what was really going on in my heart. She was genuinely so concerned about my relationship with God that she was not afraid to speak bluntly and unveil an attitude of bondage that I've quietly been harboring in my heart for who knows how many years. God used her to minister to my heart and I am closer to the Lord as a result of my time spent with her.

I know that ministry can look so different in any given situation, but my dear friend's ministry to me resounded so deeply in my mind and heart that no other word would do this particular encounter justice.

Not only am I thankful for her, but even more so I am thankful for a God Who loves me so much that He'll use one of His own children to audibly say something I've been needing to hear for a long time.

To borrow from a familiar song, "He loves us. Oh, how He loves us."

Sarah's Birthday Festivities

2010-01-26T21:23:00.008-05:00

Today is Sarah's birthday. Woohoo!

Let's celebrate with a few pictures of the day.

Spending time at SeaWorld, if you look really close, you'll see a dolphin stranded on the little island in the Dolphin Nursery. Don't worry, she was just playing.

Waiting for Shamu...Acacia's new obsession.

These flamingos were fluorescent orange! Awesome!

These flamingos were not so orange...but much bigger. Look closely for the kid with the smushed cheeks...she's not a fan.

Not posed. At all. I promise.
The shark encounter was pretty cool.

I know Sarah's not in this, but who can resist a two year old chasing squirrels around?

We went on a date! Alone! To Outback!
(can you tell it's been awhile since we've done this?)

Blowin' out the candles...too many to count.

I hope it was a great day for my wife...I know I had fun. Thanks to Grandma and Buppa for making the day extra special by watching the munchkins so much.

Trevor's Thoughts

2010-01-19T22:26:00.005-05:00

So, I've been trying to figure out what to blog about tonight since I've been incredibly lazy on this lately. I thought about posting some deep thoughts about missions organization's business models or issues facing the leaders of the worldwide Bible translation movement. Then I reacted violently against that urge and thought I would just post a video that I saw today about signed language Bible translation.

All of these options were good, I suppose, but you won't read about them today. Maybe later.

I'll try not to meander too far in this post, but please forgive me if I don't arrive at the destination that you, or I, expected.

This weekend I've been wrestling with a few things concerning the future. Some of them are big things, and some not so life altering things. It's an interesting position to be in, being a member of a large missions organization, working alongside peers who may be paid staff or members as well. I've never really worked in the secular workplace, but it seems like my work environment is more fluid than most. People are in and out, here and there, transferring horizontally just as easily as vertically, seemingly on a whim.

I know it's not a whim, of course, at least for most of them. When Sarah and I agreed to come to Orlando, it was with the understanding that we would commit to about 2 years working in the Offices of the President. We knew from the outset that it would probably be a little more than that, but we still don't know for sure just how long we'll be in this city, in this state, in this country, or...well, you get the picture.

It may seem weird, but we've only been here for about four months and we're already talking about what the next step will be for us. Leaving my old job in Hudson, I had to be hush-hush about the process of leaving, keeping certain details mum until "the right time". It was difficult, but for the most part wise. Maybe my supervisor doesn't like this kind of talk, but that's okay, because my "calling" is involved, and she knows better than to get in the way of God's movement! (That's a compliment, Erica, in case you were wondering)

So here's what I've been thinking about lately:

We've got this team of people with us on our journey. We spent the past two years praying together, talking, building relationships, pooling resources, gaining trust and respect. The last thing we want to do is make decisions as if they will only affect Trevor, Sarah, Acacia, and Eliana in the long run. So I hereby proclaim that we will include you all (our team...and I suppose anyone else who reads this blog that cares!) in praying for and deciding on our next steps in our ministry.

Sorry for the declaration...I get dramatic when it's late.

Today there has been news of violence in Jos, Nigeria, where some of our friends live. Thankfully, both of these young families are in Florida during this really frightening time. A few weeks ago, Sarah said "maybe we should go to Nigeria"...just a passing thought. Then we talk about living in Brazil, or maybe this or that country. We'll see. You'll help. I'm glad.

I'm looking forward to continuing this conversation throughout the years. At least, I hope it's a conversation...not just a late night soliloquy.

As always...thanks for reading.

Trevor

P.S. Since some of you may not have seen this picture yet, this is our friendly neighborhood alligator. We saw him a few days ago and snapped this picture from the back yard! Don't worry, the girls have literally never set foot in the grass back there!

Link between Wycliffe and Avatar?

2010-01-12T12:00:00.003-05:00

While I haven't seen the movie Avatar yet, it IS all over the news. Here is an article I was made aware of by the Wycliffe USA blog that talks about how Wycliffe is using an avatar to explore new ways to translate the Bible for the deaf communities across the globe. Fascinating!

USA (MNN) ― With the popularity of the new movie Avatar, you may be amazed that Bible translators may need to use that type of technology to aid in Bible translation. In fact, this technology could help people groups all over the world in some of the most difficult places for evangelism with deaf speakers/listeners. Julia, with Wycliffe Bible Translators, says she wants to make sure these people can understand God’s Word clearly. Read more.

MNN's Greg Yoder and 'Julia' with Wycliffe at Urbana 09 in St. Louis, MO.

Taste Of Translation And Linguistics...TOTAL it up!

2010-01-05T22:09:00.003-05:00

This morning Trevor and I led a devotional time with a group of "TOTAL It Up-ers". Wycliffe holds a week-long event where students (or even those beyond student-hood) can preview what it is like to be involved in linguistic work (TOTAL=Taste of Translation And Linguistics). The week is full of linguistic study, worship times together, ethnic foods, and getting to know the organization better. It's also exciting for us because we have a dear college friend who is here participating in it.

It was neat for us to be able to recount how God worked through the time we were raising support and building our partnership team, even considering it was not so long ago. I pray that I will never forget what God revealed to me about Himself during that time, nor the journey of the heart He took me on.

If you're at all interested in learning more about what linguistics actually looks like, we highly recommend you sign up for Total It Up. Trevor and I hope to go through it sometime in the next year and a half as we look to see where God will take us from here and whether or not it involves the linguistic side of things. If you're interested, let us know, and maybe we could all go to the same one!;)

In other news, Eliana is walking. 9 steps! In celebration, I thought I'd post a picture of the birthday girl (a couple weeks late) eating her birthday morning cupcake.

Thanks for keeping up!

Sarah

Wycliffe @ Urbana 2009

2009-12-29T10:25:00.003-05:00

It's been a little while since we've updated you on what's going on with Wycliffe. So here's a perfect opportunity to tell you what is happening at this exact moment in the life of our work in Bible Translation.

Every three years, InterVarsity puts on a massive missions conference for students between Christmas and New Years. When I say massive, I mean 17,000 students gathering in the Edward Jones Dome and the America's Center in St. Louis to worship together, learn about how critical global issues affect missions, and have opportunities to engage with the largest gathering of missions agency reps in North America.

That's where Wycliffe comes in. Right now there are several of our colleagues attending Urbana as representatives of Wycliffe in the worldwide Bible Translation movement. There's a giant booth with tons of info, displays, and ministry opportunities...we've got our first ever iPhone app (it's free!) to help in the recruiting process. I know this is a conference for students, but there was a whole lot of anticipation from all of my friends who (I shouldn't reveal this) are well beyond their student days.

Here's the link for Wycliffe@URBANA's Facebook page if you want to see some current pictures or have more info.

Thanks for reading!
Trevor

Ohio Week Re-cap

2009-12-15T20:50:00.003-05:00

Whew!

So we made it back home all in one piece...I know many of you had been praying and wondering (THANK YOU, by the way). Considering how the first part of our travel day was going yesterday I was afraid we might be throwing up on the plane and then getting thrown OFF the plane mid-flight in light of our little family of four ALL being infected with some awful stomach flu we had picked up over the weekend. We tried to see if we could postpone our flight, but no, the nice lady on the phone said we would simply forfeit our flight if we chose not to ride on it. So, we washed our hands of the responsibility of bringing our germs onto the plane. What can we say? ...we tried. Don't worry, we smiled big and laughed a lot, never giving anyone reason to think we had just been throwing up all through the night.

My two "sadnesses"--if I may call them that--from the whole week are that:
1) I didn't take a single picture on my camera, and
2) We were so close to so many dear friends that we didn't get to see because of time constraints/sickness/schedule.

We did, however, have a great time helping out with our church's Christmas program AND celebrating my dad's birthday. Trevor did a crash course on Tuesday and Wednesday to learn his keyboard part for 20 pieces of music (no, I'm not exaggerating), and I did my best to memorize words and notes to the 15 songs that I would be singing in. I will admit, I MAY have faked knowing the lines/parts to SOME of the songs;) My parents helped us out INCREDIBLY by being willing to watch the girls as we did this. I was blessed to meet and get to know a wonderful new friend through the whole process. THANK YOU to those who made it possible for us to do this (you know who you are). We were blessed beyond measure. Truly.

Looking forward to the week ahead. Brother and his wife will be flying in from South Korea, soon to be followed by my parents. Trevor is back in the office, starting tomorrow, getting back into the swing of things.

While I didn't get any pictures, I DID get one single video, which I will post for your enjoyment...probably tomorrow.Til then...

Sarah

Just another manic Monday

2009-12-08T10:29:00.004-05:00

Monday morning
3:50AM My alarm VIBRATEs (note to self...turn on sound).
4:00 Trevor's alarm sounds (note to self...wake up when alarm sounds).
4:30 Mark Borland (a.k.a. Airport run friend) knocks on our door causing us to wake up.
4:31 Run around the house in a frazzled state trying to throw babies, baggage, selves in car while suffering intensifying tooth ache.
4:45 Make small talk about how my phone didn't wake me up.
4:46 Realize that phone is not on my person or in my car. Go back home.
4:50 Trevor finds phone under the sheets in the middle of the bed.
4:51 On the road again...Tooth pain intensifies.
5:10 Arrive at airport, check bags (note to self for future reference...fill out label thingys and attach to baggage).
6:00 Rush to our gate to catch our 6:30 flight to DETROIT.
6:01 Notice: Flight delayed until 9:00 (Problem: we will miss our connecting flight)
6:10 Call airline to re-book flights.
6:20 Relocate to gate across the walk-way to wait for our new 9:30 flight to ATLANTA.
6:21 Figure out a way to keep an almost one-year old and 2 year old happy after having woken them up at 4:40AM.
7:21 Still trying to figure out a way to keep kids happy (or at least content). Neither has slept.
9:00 Call to board plane.
9:10 Start meandering up to board plane.
9:11 Acacia "fake" coughs repeatedly (note to Acacia...don't fake cough when about to enter plane during flu season)
9:12 People in line take note of our family and pray that they don't get seated next to us.
9:30 Take-off.
9:40 Trevor plays in-flight trivia game while Acacia watches a show about dogs (thank you Delta for TV's in the seat backs)
10:00 Eliana sleeps for 20 min.
11:30 Land
11:31 Walk hurriedly across airport to make our next flight.
11:41 Arrive at proper gate.
11:42 Notice: flight delayed until further notice. 1 year old growing antsy.
12:00PM Notice: flight will leave at 1:20. 1 year old won't sit. Walk around airport.
12:20 Notice: flight will leave at 1:27. 1 year old grumpy. Walk around airport.
1:10 Board small plane.
1:11 FOUR seats all to ourselves (thank you, Lord)
1:20 Eliana doesn't want to sit.
1:40 Eliana doesn't want to sit.
1:55 Acacia sleeps.
1:56 Eliana is mad.
1:57 Pull out Dora DVD. Eliana is quiet.
2:00 Eliana sleeps.
2:01 All passengers on plane breathe a sigh of relief.
3:10 Land in Akron, OH.
3:20 Run to meet Grandpa and Vovo.
3:21 Walk to baggage claim to pick up luggage.
3:25 Baggage carousel stops, seemingly signifying it has thrown up all the bags it has.
3:26 Hope we have misunderstood and wait for it to start moving again.
3:27 Still waiting.
3:28 Talk to baggage claim guy.
3:29 No bags. Baggage claim guy can't find them in the system.
3:30 Remember that luggage is not marked with our names. Bad feeling in pit of stomach.
4:00 Drive to Grandpa and Vovo's with babies (without coats) sitting in airport-loaned carseats. No luggage. Note to self: don't pack coats in luggage.
4:30 Arrive at Grandpa and Vovo's to eat supper in time to get to church at 5:00 for meeting with Tampa.
6:30 Choir rehearsal.
10:00 End of rehearsal. Go to Grandpa and Vovo's.
10:45 Call airports and airlines to track luggage. No one can find it.

Tuesday Morning
10:00AM Trevor drives to airport to hunt down luggage.
10:35 Trevor calls to say he can see luggage through window. Door to room is locked. No one is to be found.

As I finish this post at 11:15am Trevor walks down the stairs with our luggage. Thank you, Lord.

This week we are in Ohio to take part in Hudson Chapel's Christmas concerts. Trevor is filling in for one of the keyboard spots and I get to sing in the choir. We also get the HUGE blessing of spending time with Grandpa and Vovo and hopefully seeing many of you (if you live in the area, of course)!

Til next time,

Sarah

O, Christmas Tree!

2009-11-30T22:28:00.006-05:00

Thanksgiving looked a little different for us than normal this year for two reasons:

1. No snow.
2. No family.

We did, however, still have a blessed and wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. While we sincerely missed our family, the Lord provided "family" right here in Orlando for us to spend time with. On Thursday we spent the day with two friend and partners from college. We had a sweet time and, if I may say so myself, a sweet turkey. Erin and I nailed it, and the guys did an excellent job carving. :)

The rest of the weekend was filled with fellowship and catching up on rest. And, like many of you, putting up our tree! Thought we'd give you a glimpse into our house this week and show you how we got our tree up. Eliana happens to be taking a nap during the tree extravaganza, hence why you won't see her in the pictures.

Christmas stockings make great work gloves.

Oh, the anticipation.

Christmas Princess Leia's??

First Acacia called these "poconuts"...Then they were cranberries....Then we finally broke it to her that they were "holly berries".

She had fun decorating our wreath.

We were so pleased with our new look that we had to take another picture.Trevor deserves a gold star cause he worked the hardest.

And we have a Christmas tree, folks.

Acacia wanted her Dalmation pups to help watch over Baby Jesus.

Happy Thanksgiving to each one of you!

With love,

The Schuh family

The Gospel according to Acácia

2009-11-23T22:00:00.003-05:00

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon I plopped down my Bible and bags right inside the front door as we walked in from our morning at church. Trevor wasn't feeling well and I was just plain tired so all we wanted to do was get the girls down for a nap so we, too, could take our predictable Sunday afternoon snooze.

As I'm getting Acácia all set to crawl into bed, Trevor prods her, "Acácia, tell Mommy what you learned in Sunday School this morning." Her face lit up and I could tell she had something really cool to tell me as evidenced by her stammering to spit out all of the words at once. Pulling all her thoughts into one cohesive sentence, she said excitedly, "Jesus died on the cwoss (translation: cross)! And He was really, really ouchy." She demonstrated this by pointing to her own hands, signifying she knew where He was ouchy. I wanted to weep right then and there.

There's nothing quite like hearing a toddler who is just learning to form proper sentences speak about the cross. Nothing so sweet as hearing a tiny little voice articulate the most powerful moment in history.

I know there's still a long way to go before she fully understands what exactly "Jesus died on the cross" means, but then again, you know what? So do I.

The Missions Conference High

2009-11-17T21:42:00.004-05:00

I couldn't think of what to blog about today...but when I looked at the title of our blog, I thought "hmmmm...that's interesting." For quite some time, it's been quite appropriate as a title for our family. The Traveling Schuhs. That's what we do. We travel. We'll live with you if you let us...all we need is a basement and a pack'n'play and we're content.

But now we're pretty settled. Life is beginning to be "normal" again.

Work with me here.

When I was growing up, Missions Conference was a big deal. I looked forward to it every year. I still remember just about every missionary that we had visiting our church (which is pretty amazing if you know my lack of basic childhood memories...my sisters remember more of my childhood than I do). I had this high after every conference or short-term missions trip. I loved that feeling. The feeling that I could somehow be a part of what God was doing somewhere across the globe.

My job is like a constant Missions Conference high. I don't mean that it's always fun, always easy, or always some sort of spiritual experience. But I get to see glimpses of what God is doing across the globe every day. Literally. Every day.

Today, for example. Let me think of the tiny "touches" that I had with people in one very average day.

Today I was in touch with a leader from our work in Bangladesh, a friend from last year's training camp now living in Hawaii, the President of Wycliffe USA, the Director of Missions at a large church in Southern California, and countless other friends and connections with hundreds of years of combined missions "field" experience.

Pretty cool.

So I guess the "traveling" part of our blog name is now morphing from our family's travels to the travels of all of these "touches" we have here at this hub of missions work. If you ever come to Orlando to visit us, you could end up with a Missions Conference high, too! We truly mean it when we say, "if you're ever in Orlando, you have a place to stay"!

Hope to see you soon! We'll try to post more pictures next time...pray that our Mac miraculously recovers soon!

Thanks for reading...
Trevor

I Really AM Working!

2009-11-12T14:37:00.003-05:00

I know I shouldn't be blogging during work...but I have to. It'll be short.

I was having a case of self-diagnosed "restless back syndrome" a little while ago, so I took my notebook out to the hallways to just review my projects and make sure I wasn't forgetting anything on my to-do list. As I was roaming and reading, I decided that I should just start praying about my projects. So I did.

This led to me walking by a few tables in the lobby designated for prayer during our Moody Radio Campaign. Right now it's going on in Cleveland, Chicago, Michigan...I think that's it. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have come in for Wycliffe's projects in Panama and Peru as a result of phone calls to our call center right outside my office. I'm making a short story long here, but you have to know the background for it to make sense.

So I found these two binders on the tables that had a bunch of sheets from our phone operators (many of my colleagues that are volunteering to man the phones during the campaign), and I opened one up to peruse the contents. As I started seeing how many people had asked for us to call them back to pray with them about specific requests, I had the oddest reaction.

My eyes started glistening.

Okay, I was crying. But just a little.

Here we have this campaign that is bringing glory to God through raising awareness and funding for OUR projects around the world. Great things, you know? But every person calling in to give was given the opportunity for US to bless them by praying for them. Some of them have unsaved family members...a lot of sickness and disease...kids that have wandered away from the faith...you know, hurting people.

I am sometimes just overwhelmed with the idea that we are all in this together. We're this family. I have brothers and sisters that I've never met. In a few short seconds, though, we can be completely bonded with someone with a give and take relationship that is based on Christ.

Maybe this doesn't resonate with you, but I couldn't resist writing it down right after I experienced it.

Don't worry, I'll get back to work now.

Trevor

Running Schuhs for the Rutara

2009-11-09T22:34:00.006-05:00

So we're training for a marathon. The title of this post is shameless, I know.

Before you start thinking that I'm speaking metaphorically about life being a marathon, Trevor and I are physically running and training to run a marathon.

Why?...you might ask.

It just so happens that I can translate the Bible while running a marathon. You had no idea, did you?

According to The Seed Company (a Wycliffe subsidiary), it takes (on average) $26 to translate one verse of the Bible. According to runners, it takes (on average) 26 miles to run a marathon. How handy.

Team OneVerse (an initiative of The Seed Company) aims to join a passion for running with a passion for translating the Bible. Trevor and I signed up to join Team OneVerse earlier this year so that we could have a hand in directly bringing God's Word to a specific people group. It's one way we felt we could "be overseas" while the Lord has placed us stateside.

As we prepare and train for this marathon (at Disney World on January 10th), we raise money that will go directly to the translation project in progress for the Rutara people of South Asia. You could liken it to people running for other charity organizations like Team in Training, Run for the Cure, Walk for Life, etc. People (maybe even you!) sponsor us as we run the marathon.

You'll be hearing more about this in weeks to come, but for now, you can check out Team OneVerse's website by clicking here.

Now for a few (okay, it's a lot...but they're fun) pictures! I wanted to post these last week, but better late than never! These were taken during last week when Trevor's parents came to spend the week with our girls while we were at a leadership training week at Wycliffe.

Grandma, Buppa, and the girls had a blast playing with the birds.

Off to the pool at the resort...take note of Acacia's attire.

Okay, I just love this picture. So I added it!

Grandma's photo session: CHEESE!

I'm so embarrassed.

Getting into position....

...Got 'er good! Point for ME!

Need I say more?

Thank you, Grandma and Buppa!

109

2009-11-03T20:03:00.003-05:00

In housekeeping news, as of today we now have internet. Thank you, cable man!

In more important news, the new numbers are out for this past year in terms of new Bible translation project starts. You ready?

109 new translation projects were started this past year!!!! This is VERY exciting. To put it in terms that you may be familiar with...on average, a new project was started once every three days. By the grace and mighty power of our God, this is the quickest pace to date. Praise Him!

In current events for the Schuh family, Trevor and I had a great week last week at Leadership Rising. It was a full week devoted to learning about godly leadership, the inner workings of the organization, and how to develop strengths (and weaknesses) God has given for His glory. The girls had a great week spending time with Grandma and Buppa. Thanks for the opportunity to do this!

Next week, Trevor has the opportunity to lead worship for the World Day of Prayer. Remember how we used to wonder how God would bring our experiences with music into our roles here in Orlando...well here you have it. While this is kind of an "extra" thing he gets to do, He is thankful for the opportunity. And thanks to some friends who are willing and gracious enough to help with the girls for the day, I get to join him!

Thanks for keeping up!

Sarah

5:28 am

2009-10-27T15:55:00.007-04:00

I’m chuckling to myself as I sit down to write this post considering the events of the morning (if you can call it that) thus far. Last night I sat down to write the blog post for this week and after staring at the screen for longer than I should, decided I was too tired and simply not in the frame of mind to do it. It seems like I’ve talked about going to bed at 9:00pm for years, and last night my lofty goal and dream actually came true (!!!). It was spectacular. Six consecutive hours of sleep happened upon me as Eliana didn’t wake up to eat until 3AM. I felt like a new woman.

Considering I didn’t know what I would do between 3 and 6, I fed the littlest Schuh and went back to bed, sleeping again until the alarm woke me up again. This time, I practically jumped out of bed I was feeling so rested. I took my shower, figured out what to wear and made my way to the kitchen for some breakfast. I looked at the clock and did a double-take….it was 5:28AM. Trevor apparently didn’t realize what time he had set the alarm for (or maybe it was all part of his evil plan!). Wups.

It’s a very different week in the Schuh household this week. Trevor and I BOTH have the opportunity to take part in something called Leadership Rising (at Wycliffe) which goes from Monday until Friday…all day, every day. It’s a leadership development workshop where we work on recognizing and developing the particular strengths God has given us and then see how they can best be utilized in the task of Bible translation. We each come up with a leadership development plan that will guide us in the months and years to come. Seems to be a great tool that will help us as we continue to watch where God wants to use us. I’m looking forward to all God has in store through Leadership Rising.

Trevor’s parents flew in for the week and have been gracious enough to watch the girls (as if we needed to beg! :) ), giving me the opportunity to take part in this. I will say, it’s a nice little change of routine to sit down and have adult conversations while eating lunch, not to mention being able to hold my husband’s hand without having little people hanging off of us! I have to admit though, I already miss them.
Since we know that it’s WAY more important to see recent pictures of the girls—as opposed to pictures of US—we thought you might appreciate a couple of these.

WAAAY excited to be in her Nemo fis towel from Great Grandma. Notice Nemo peeking out of her towel.

Looking sweet as ever. She's our little runaway (crawlaway, really)...keeping me (and Grandma and Buppa this week) on my toes!

FYI We have been without internet here at the house for the past week and a half. Actually, it’s more that our computer that gets the wireless signal is shot for the moment. We’re waiting for something coming in the mail that should take care of the problem. In case you’re wondering how I’m posting this blog…I wrote it at home on our other computer and then posted it when we got to Wycliffe. We’re working to get the problem fixed soon.

As always, thanks for your love and prayers!

Serving with you, Sarah

Why I love my job

2009-10-20T10:13:00.001-04:00

Well, it's Tuesday...blog day! Can you feel the excitement in the air?

Here's a little glimpse into some of the things that I have been involved in so far since starting work in the Offices of the President. Since I’m still “the new guy”, the list is limited to a LOT of learning by observation, but I’ve already told you that I love my job, so here are a few reasons why:

1. I manage special projects for the President (Bob) and two of the Senior Vice Presidents (Russ and Ruth), which means that my job looks very different every day. One day I may be coordinating a large church event for Wycliffe, and the next day I may be scheduling and welcoming a new director’s through their orientation with Wycliffe USA. My mind is always busy, and when I get done with one task, there’s something completely different to attack, which I love.

2. A few weeks ago, I was able to jump into a situation where I led worship for a Scripture Celebration, which is an incredible time that we spend as a Wycliffe family and community celebrating newly dedicated Scriptures from around the world. The original worship leader had a death in the family, so I was able to step in and lend a hand to vocally lead the times of worship that morning. If you are ever in Orlando for one of these, or you’re looking for a good time to visit us, you should DEFINITELY come to a Scripture Celebration. I’m always emotional when I see that a new language community finally has access to God’s Word in their heart language…I know you will be, too. (I just found out that YOU can watch this here!)

3. Not only am I able to work with/for some incredible leaders, but I get to learn from their experience and abilities. Some of the things that I do involve trying to figure out their voices in writing and communication styles in order to represent our leadership well to those within as well as outside of the organization, which is developing skills in myself that I’m sure will carry on into the future.

4. And finally, I love the fact that I come into the office every day knowing that we’ll pray. Everything we do each day is somehow linked to getting God’s Word into the heart language of everyone who still needs it, though sometimes it may be difficult to see the connection. Really, that is what we are doing…every one of us in this office.

Sarah, at home with the girls, has been telling me lately that even though she is unsure of what her role may become in our office or not, she feels confident that what she is doing is supporting Bible translation. I appreciate that greatly. Sarah wants to provide an environment that frees me up to do what I need to do WELL. With excellence. With confidence and passion.

I have the best family.

In other news, my parents are coming down this weekend to spend a week with the girls while Sarah and I are at a leadership conference. I’m excited to show them what God has provided for us, as well as for the time that we’ll be able to spend with family. It’s always a blessing! Plus, the girls will get to be spoiled by their Grandma and Buppa, and who doesn’t love that!

Thanks for reading!
Trevor

Radio and Cockroaches

2009-10-14T00:17:00.004-04:00

So today I was driving in the car and I heard the familiar sound clip of Wycliffe’s Last Languages Campaign play on the radio. I happened to be stressed out about getting our car registered and other seemingly mountain-looking issues we were facing, so my general outlook and attitude was together a big ball of stress. I’m pretty sure my shoulders were hunched up…the tell-tale sign that I was indeed NOT walking with the remembrance of what really matters.

Anyways, back to my story about the radio….as I listened, a man with a VERY thick accent spoke about the life-giving power of having God’s Word in His mother-tongue. I wish I could type with an accent because something about what he said and the way he said it suddenly transported me (just my imagination…I’m not being literal here) to a far-off land (maybe Brazil?) where I visualized people reading God’s Word with incredible thirst, devouring every word….wondering at it, experiencing true awe and joy at discovering Truth.

I’ll be honest, while we have been immeasurably blessed over the last several weeks since being here at our assignment, I feel like my spiritual life almost went into a holding pattern. I’ve been distracted. I’ve been tired. I’ve been forgetful. And spiritually speaking, I’ve been lazy. Too many things to do. The house has to get set up. The car needs to get registered. The kids need to be fed. The clothes need to be ironed. The floors need to be cleaned. The boxes (still) need to be emptied. The walls (still) need to be painted. Stuff, stuff, stuff. Distraction upon distraction. I have managed to tell the Lord I just don’t have time.

So when I heard that man speak, I was just thirsty. Thirsty for God. Thirsty for His Word. Seems kind of ironic to me how quickly I can forget the value of His Word even when we talk about bringing this same Word to other people on a daily basis. So that was my wake-up call for the day. Well, maybe for this past month.

Pray that above all, before our spiritual needs are met, before we do well at the job, before the house is in order, etc. etc. etc….pray that we would walk closely with the Lord. That above all, we would enjoy Him.

On an entirely UNspiritual note, I had a fight with a cockroach a couple days ago…and WON! He was trying to get into my piano (bad idea, buddy) as I tried to hammer on the keys hoping the loudness of the sound would make him budge. Acácia was getting quite a kick of the whole display as I was in rare form screaming like a schoolgirl. Anyways, this guy was the size of my thumb. I thought I would show you the before and after pictures.

In his lair: the Dora Play-doh box

Got him on his back. I win.

Sarah

Shout Out to EQUIP!

2009-09-24T10:53:00.002-04:00

Today I'm sharing briefly with the new members of Wycliffe USA about this blog and the 40 day prayer project that all of YOU were a part of. If you think of it, be lifting this group of men, women, and lots of kids (or so I hear) as they begin their journey with Wycliffe. This is the equivalent of the Training Camp that started our crazy journey to the place we are now.

Trevor

A Cool Day.

2009-09-21T17:04:00.002-04:00

Today is a very cool day.

Today marks the first of many days that Trevor will have the opportunity to serve in the Offices of the President at Wycliffe Bible Translators. What an immense privilege it is to be able to serve in this capacity. I'm excited for him, proud of him, and praying that I'll be a good support to him.

Today marks the first of many days where I will be home for the majority of the day investing in two young lives for the purpose of the gospel. At least this is what I pray my motivation for parenting will be. The day in and day out tries to distract me from that, but what an immense privilege it is to open up someone's life to the God who lives. While being home with kids is a normal thing and something that most moms are well used to, it's a bit of a shift for this mom. I've had the opportunity to have my husband right next to me for the last year. I'll be serving with Wycliffe, too, but most of my responsibilities will most likely be done from home.

Today, one of our dear partners is flying on a plane to the Philippines to take part in the celebration/dedication ceremony of the newly translated Kinaray-a New Testament. How incredibly cool is it that today, of all days, she gets to go and see the product (well, the REAL product is transformed lives...but this is the tangible product) of what we work towards when taking part in Bible Translation. Definitely a GREAT reminder for us to start with the end in mind. God is so good.

Today starts the last round of Trevor's Grandma's chemo. Thank you, Lord, for the ways You've created our minds to work so that new cures and new medicine can be discovered in order to prolong life! We pray that God would work mightily in her body to remove every last bit of the cancer that tries to take over.

I'm guessing you have some things to thank God for today. Don't wait!

Sarah

Glory to God for How He Has Worked!

2009-09-13T22:52:00.006-04:00

Hello again friends!

First of all, our deepest apologies for being a little out of touch for the past couple of weeks. To those of you who have emailed us or been checking the blog to see if our percentage has gone up, please forgive our lack of communication. The whirlwind of the last week and a half of moving had our heads spinning. Fear not, though, we are alive and well!

I am pleased to report that our heads have (mostly) stopped spinning and we are able to get a breath of fresh air (albeit a bit humid). The girls are healthy, sleeping good, and happy to be chasing lizards.

We are finally really getting settled in to our new home in St. Cloud, FL. The quirks of the house are becoming the “norm” now....the house is becoming home (I have to admit, I am quite the pro at unjamming and then re-jamming the sliding door now). I am NOT, however, used to the ants yet. Ants in my kitchen=very UN-cool.

Okay, most of you are probably wondering “so are you at 100% yet?!” You may have noticed that we took off the remaining amount left from the side of our blog.

God has spoken to the hearts of many of you over the last several weeks, and you have responded enthusiastically to join with us by becoming a financial partner.

Right now it appears that we are, in fact, fully funded to be cleared to begin our assignment! We praise God for how He has brought this whole team together!

The reason we don’t currently have a number posted is because we are in the process of getting everything solidified in terms of numbers. We have to get everything confirmed and cleared through our supervisor, who will then give us the green light to begin working. Tentatively, next Monday (Sept. 21st) will be Trevor’s first day serving at the headquarters.

You will definitely hear when we receive official clearing.

Praise God for how HE has worked. Praise God for HIS perfect timing. Praise God for how He uses each one of us to bring His Word to the nations. What an incredible privilege we have to be a part of this wonderful work. THANK YOU, from the depths of our hearts, to you. Your journeying with us has made all the difference. If not for you, this task would not happen. This is only the beginning!

Watch for our next newsletter (next week or so) where we’ll highlight specific ways how God has worked through the process of this move to Florida.

Thanks for keeping up!

Sarah

Below is a picture of our first family dinner in our new home. My parents were of invaluable help as they made the drive down to Florida with us. We have since had to say some very tearful goodbyes as they flew back home to Ohio. I love you, Mom and Dad!

Cleaning Day - Quick Post

2009-09-05T22:12:00.004-04:00

I feel like I need to end this day with a quick blog about the day we had...pictures and videos will definitely make it at a later date!

Today we rented a house in St. Cloud, Florida. It's perfect for us, but it's quirky. I suppose those two are actually related to each other, huh? We had a bunch of help cleaning it out today and trying to get everything ready for our move in on Monday/Tuesday. See, we don't have electricity or running water yet. This makes for an interesting day in itself, but since we had energetic people helping us, it was great.

Ruth tackled the kitchen...and I'm pretty sure that she won the battle with it. We all kind of stayed out of her way because she was in the zone for the ENTIRE day of cleaning. Yes, it's that dirty...well, dirty isn't really the word for it...ummmm, how about "in need of some love"? The kitchen looks incredible, at least in the dark.

The trio of Erica, Nick, and Jennifer tackled several rooms together and had quite the system going with their cleaning. The laughing and singing coming from around the house made me think that they were having a good time with the company, at least. One of my favorite parts of the day was when Erica asked me "ummm...is it okay if we take Eliana OUT of the stroller to play with her?" Yes, Erica. Sounds much better than scrubbing tile, too!

Mark was the sacrificial lawn-mower in the ridiculous heat and humidity of this lovely state, and I think that he went through a weeks worth of wardrobe in one afternoon due to it...my dad probably would have had him beat, considering he sweats in the air conditioning, but Mark was a hero in the yard.

Deb did a little of everything...considering her hosting abilities and "go-with-the-flowbility", she can probably boast of doing the largest variety of work throughout the day. We have the best neighbors EVER.

Carl and Suely (Sarah's parents) are amazing. Between Mr. Fixit and Mrs. Grand-Ma, we couldn't have done it without them. It's going to be REALLY hard to let them leave next week.

Sarah and I are pretty tired, but at the end of the day, we are so incredibly blessed and thankful for the way that God has been working in the past few days. Give it a week or two, and we'll be up and running for Orlando visitors to crash at our pad! The humidity is killer, but the lizards are AWESOME.

More later,
Trevor

Last day in Ohio

2009-09-02T08:13:00.004-04:00

So today is our last full day in the great state of Ohio. We're moving to Florida tomorrow, which is both exhilarating and nerve-wracking. Exhilarating because we are so close to starting our assignment in the Offices of the President, and nerve-wracking because we don't have a place to live yet (I know, small details).

We do have some absolutely wonderful people in gator country working overtime for us. You know who you are. We've had tons of places to call and tons of places to look at via videos emailed to us, but making decisions this big are really difficult from so far away. The great thing is that we have been surrounded with wise, Godly people that have good insight and input through this whole process.

We really don't know how long we'll live in this next place, or how many kids we'll have when we leave it. We don't know how God is going to use us in our new neighborhood, our new job, our new church, etc. We don't know a lot of things. But what we do know is that God is working in unbelievable ways, as He always has and always will.

We are still not fully able to begin our jobs in the Headquarters, either. Our numbers keep dropping very quickly, but as of today, we still need $132.80 per month in order for us to begin the work in Orlando. Until then, we're learning a lot about patience. If God is leading you to this team, as always, just let us know! We'd love to have you partner with us in accelerating the pace of worldwide Bible translation!

If you read this post, could you pray for our family through this transition?

A few things to be lifting up would include finding a place to live, settling into that place, the girls adjusting to a completely new situation (all three girls, that is), the provision of the last $132.80 per month, and a great transition to our new roles.

We love you all very much, and appreciate your encouragements and prayers. Thanks for all you do!

Trevor

p.s. You know that bracelet that I blogged about last month? The one from Henrique? I'm completely bummed because it broke last night, and this is the first time since November that it hasn't been around my wrist.

It's Moving Day!

2009-08-24T10:35:00.005-04:00

Right now I’m sitting in my living room looking around at the sheer amount of stuff that I have yet to get packed up. We’re on the move again.

We’re in the midst of Phase 1 of our “transitory move” (I totally just made that up...I’m not so sure that transitory is even a word). Tomorrow we will say goodbye to the little apartment that has become our haven of rest over the past 8-9 months and move in with my parents as we prepare to make the move to Florida (Phase 2). We have only $235 left to raise before we’re at 100%(!!!) so we are moving forward with the beginning stages of moving, trusting that the Lord will provide the remaining amount that we need.

As with each place we’ve lived, I’ll store up another set of memories that we’ll take with us from this home. While in this house we have: had our second child, Eliana Carina; celebrated our first daughter, Acacia’s, second birthday; celebrated my 25th birthday; celebrated Trevor and my 3rd anniversary (has it already been 3 years?!); and watched God work in ways we never would have dreamed of as He’s brought this team of believers together to join us in the task of Bible translation.

Are we cleared to start yet? No. God is still waiting for a few of you to respond to His call to join us in this ministry. We thank and PRAISE GOD for how He has moved in the hearts of so many of you to team up with us in serving to translate the Bible. We have been so encouraged by your response to pray and to give.

This is a step of faith. Could it be months before we start yet? Well, I suppose it could. Depends how quickly you respond if you’ve been thinking about joining with us but haven’t yet taken the plunge:) In all honesty, for any of you who have been considering and contemplating whether or not you want to get involved, we pray that God would direct you clearly to act on it...whether that means shooting us an email to let us know that you can’t right now, or that you’re praying about it, OR that you’ve made a decision and you want to sign up. Whatever it is, our hope is that communication would happen.

There’s your challenge for today.

Mine is sitting right in front of me. I’ve got stacks of toys, puzzles, clothes, etc. that need to get boxed up as a step of faith that God is going to finish up bringing the rest of the finances in. Is there a step of faith that God is asking you to take?

Sarah

The goofy girls in their glamorous get-ups.

I'm so big! Just waiting for these teeth to come in.

Almost There!

2009-08-17T13:51:00.001-04:00

Reality Check

2009-08-13T22:04:00.000-04:00

We’ve had a lot of people lately asking us how we’re doing. Basically, “What is your emotional and spiritual state?”

I truly wish I could say that I have been totally at peace, resting in the Father 100% of the time (there’s that silly percent sign again...). That all is well, God is in control, and I’m standing steadfast in faith. Don’t get me wrong, that is in fact where I have been on many an occasion during this journey of faith so far.

But I’ll be honest.

There are days when it’s a struggle. There are days when I want to shout, “God, WHAT ARE YOU DOING???” There are days when I want to know what the future holds, that my attitude just plain stinks, and my faith is weaker than I want to admit.

Here’s a glimpse into what God spoke to my heart last night.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell Me, if you have understanding.
Who set its measurements?
Since you know.
Or who stretched the line on it?
On what were its bases sunk?
Or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place...” (Job 38)

Let’s just say that I got a little reality check.

How easy it is to get into the mindset that I somehow know what’s best for me and my family. How selfish and prideful I am when I want to weep or scream about the fact that we aren’t where I think we should be right now. How ungrateful I am when I think that I somehow need more of this or that (stability, control, whatever it is that’s got me reeling) in order to make me satisfied.

God knows what He’s doing.

He’s got it under control.

We’ve cried out to the Lord, we’ve talked to people, we’ve tried to make this thing happen.

And so far, He’s said, “Not yet.”

Doesn’t mean things won’t come through tomorrow and we’ll be cleared to start. Doesn’t mean we sit idly by.

But it does mean that we can rest. It does mean that I can be at peace.

Sometimes I “get it”. Sometimes I so quickly forget God’s faithfulness.

So that’s where I’m at. If you’re wondering, that’s how you can pray for us. We are learning to rest in our Great God who commands the morning and causes the dawn to know its place.

May we all learn to trust Him more. Praise God for His patience and His lovingkindness.

Sarah

Blogging Withdrawals

2009-08-11T15:07:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone~

Since I'm having withdrawals, I thought I'd post something today. I was going to make a video, but I'm not motivated enough for that this afternoon.

Okay, so if you look on the right side of the blog, you'll see that the number has changed. And it's changed in a good way. Check it out, we only need that much more financial partnership in order to begin our assignment in Orlando! That's it!

Want to join with us? What are you waiting for? Let us know!

I thought of something yesterday that was interesting (to me at least). It's Tuesday, so this will be my instinctive Frequently Asked Questions blog of yesteryear. Here are a few questions that I've heard all of the time and have come across pretty defensive about in the past.

So how long are you doing this whole Wycliffe thing? What is your commitment? Where does Orlando fit into this?

My answer to these questions would be "does it really matter?" I know...who likes to have a question answered with a question, especially something that sounds so apathetic?

But really, we are working with an organization that is all about Bible Translation. EVERYWHERE we end up in the whole organization is guaranteed to be supporting Bible Translation. If we are working in Orlando, we're supporting Bible Translation. If we're in Brazil, we're supporting Bible Translation. If we are working as dorm parents, we are supporting Bible Translation. If we are linguists/translators, we are supporting Bible Translation. We are in this for as long as God leads us to be in it. Just like our partners.

I cannot tell you exactly where God will lead us in the next 50 years. What I can tell you is that we are passionate about Bible Translation, and wherever we are serving within Wycliffe, we will be Bible Translators! That's all that you need to know, I guess. If God tells us to move to Nigeria tomorrow, that absolutely does not change anything about us or the team that we have surrounding our ministry (that's YOU in case you didn't know). If God tells us to work in Orlando for 50 years, that doesn't change ANYTHING!

Here's the picture:

Our ministry with Wycliffe is a boat. Imagine the Noah's ark flann-o-graph boat. Right now, our family is on the boat making everything ready for our trip. The boat is grounded, stuck, unable to leave the port. The water is rising up all around the boat, and the water represents our financial and prayer team. Our ministry's "support", if you will. Each new partner dumps a big tank of water into the sea to see the level rise.

Okay, when our finances are squared away, when that number on the right is down to $0, and our prayer team is set, we will be floating. From this point on, God is the wind in our sails (okay, Noah didn't have sails...but we do). Where the wind blows, we go. It's not a random wind, however, it's God's moving in our family and ministry.

So you are the water that keeps us afloat. I know it's not a perfect illustration, but I actually think it's pretty good. When we have a strong team, a fluid team of God's people praying for and giving toward our ministry, we are free to move where God leads. Essentially, we can float anywhere in the world when the water is deep enough.

We are literally waiting on the Lord right now. I can call every one of you on the phone or send you an email or facebook message and God can still say "wait." But if you think that you'd like to support our ministry, please let us know. We are on the boat, literally packing our belongings into boxes so that we'll be ready to leave Ohio.

I know it's hard to fathom, but we are ready to leave.

We can't.

Maybe you don't know this, but almost all of our belongings have been sitting in a storage unit in Orlando for over a year.

We've been ready for an entire year. That's a long time! It's been a good year, but we are ready to go.

Will you help get us to Orlando?

8.6.09

2009-08-06T21:36:00.000-04:00

“All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your Name.” Psalm 86:9

August 6, 2009. 8.6.09. Well folks, it’s here. Our 40 days has come to an end.

Trevor and I, over the past couple of days have been reflecting on what has happened during Connect 8.6.09.

We’ve been asking God to breakthrough in our ministry. The big question is “So did He??”

Did He bring us new partners? Yep. Did He raise our percentage? Yep. Are we closer to beginning our assignment? Yep. We praise God for all these things.

Mostly, though, if we were completely honest, God has broken through to our hearts. He’s revolutionized the way we pray. He’s revolutionized the way we understand our purpose in life. He’s revolutionized the way we depend on Him. There are things that we could attempt to put to words, but our words would do no justice to the magnificent ways God has spoken to our hearts and changed the way we walk with Him. We praise God for His faithfulness and pray that the work that He has done in us would multiply, not for our sake, but for the sake of His kingdom.

So where do we go from here?

We press on. We are so close. We cannot and will not stop here. The end of these 40 days is in no way an “end” of ANYTHING. Rather, it has spurred us on to greater things. We will continue to invite people to partner with us because we KNOW that God is waiting to release the funds that we still lack. And He will choose to use us and He will choose to use you.

If you haven’t signed up, don’t worry....there’s no deadline. God is still at work. I could tell you stories to prove it. Maybe you are even one of them.

We will continue to keep up this blog to let you know what we’re up to. Will we blog every day? Probably not :) BUT, we will be faithful to keep you in the loop with this ministry that so many of you are a part of.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to those who have joined us in prayer, to those who have joined us financially, to those who have joined us in carrying burdens and giving encouragement. You have blessed us beyond words.

Praise God for His faithfulness and for how He has moved in these 40 days. Our hearts are filled with praise and thanksgiving. AND anticipation. :)

“All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your Name.” Psalm 86:9

Sarah

Day 40 - 40 Reasons to Partner

2009-08-05T14:22:00.000-04:00

Wow. It's day 40 already. To those of you who have been praying with us on this journey, it's not over yet. Thanks for praying! But let's keep going, okay?

Tomorrow is 8.6.09. We are already so much more connected to you all than before we started on this endeavor, and for that we thank our God! BUT WE'RE STILL IN OHIO! Look to the right of the page. That's the number left. It's not enormous. But that's what's keeping us here for now.

Today, we want to focus on 40 reasons to partner with Wycliffe Bible Translators.

Some of them you already know. Some of them might be new to you. Go ahead and read away!

Ready?

Here we go.

40 Reasons for you to partner with our ministry with Wycliffe Bible Translators:

1. 200 million people don't have a Bible translation started in their heart language.
2. You probably have AT LEAST one Bible in your home.
3. Paul says that you will be blessed by giving as well as those receiving your blessings. (Philippians 4:17)
4. If nobody gives, then nobody goes.
5. If nobody prays, then nobody knows. (Go with me on this one)
6. There are between 200 and 400 sign languages represented worldwide, and NONE of them have the whole Bible translated into their heart language. American Sign Language is the ONLY one that has the full New Testament.
7. You have access to not only ONE Bible in your heart language, but SEVERAL different versions in that language!
8. "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." Mark 16:15
9. Your language has an alphabet.
10. You can read.
11. You can write.
12. You are among the wealthiest people in the world. (So are we)
13. It's a way to be a Bible Translator without having to leave your own home.
14. Somewhere around 4400 language communities still have no Scripture PUBLISHED in their heart language.
15. Of those, 2300 languages don't even have a translation project STARTED.
16. You can help bring truth to an entire community.
17. The need is just plain great!
18. Bible Translation is foundational to all kinds of evangelistic and missions efforts worldwide.
19. This generation may be the one to see God's Word being translated into EVERY person's heart language still needing one!
20. It takes a massive amount of resources to even get one translation project started.
21. It takes a massive amount of resources to get one translation project FINISHED.
22. If you want to read the Bible in another language other than your own, you can order it online at the touch of a button.
23. Bible Translation is TRANSFORMATIONAL within communities.
24. You are passionate about missions, but aren't called to go overseas.
25. There are thousands of positions URGENTLY NEEDED to be filled somewhere in the world through Wycliffe USA.
26. Two of those positions are the ones that are waiting for us in Orlando.
27. You are passionate about God's Word yourself.
28. You have FAITH that God will multiply the offerings of His people in the work of Bible Translation.
29. God has blessed you immensely, and you desire to use His blessings to bless others.
30. You didn't realize how great the need for Bible Translation was until now.
40. You sense our passion for this ministry and want to encourage it!
31. You love Brazil (or any other country that still has Bible translation needs!)
32. You love our kids and want to make sure they can eat while we're doing this great ministry! (that's not really a good reason, but it's still a true statement for grandparents especially)
33. You love different cultures and want to help preserve minority language groups and cultures and enrich it through Bible Translation efforts (this is actually a really good reason)!
34. You want to see people in poverty given the opportunity to have good education and access to healthcare through literacy.
35. You have always wanted to support a missionary/missionary family that you know personally.
36. You recognize that there is a difference between your heart language and another similar language.
37. You've been praying for one/both of us since we were little kids, and now you are excited to be a part of God's work in our lives.
38. You were waiting until day 40 to partner with us, just for fun!
39. You want to be a key part of the greatest acceleration of Bible Translation in HISTORY!
40. God may be telling you to.

Sorry this post is so late...but 40 is a lot! And I could go on, and on, and on, and on, and, well...you get the picture.

Please let us know if you'd like more info, or if you'd like to partner with us in any way!

We WILL be blogging tomorrow, too!

Trevor

Day 39 - FAQ

2009-08-04T09:33:00.000-04:00

Probably the most frequently asked question that we get right now is this: "Why are you here still?"

Or, phrased differently, "Why aren't you in Orlando yet?"

There is a very quick and simple answer to this. We are waiting for God to bring our team together.

Again (and again, and again), we cannot begin our first assignment in Orlando with Wycliffe Bible Translators USA until we have reached 100% of our ministry's monthly funding amount. There is a job (with a desk and everything) waiting for us in the Offices of the President, and many people are also waiting for us to fill in the gap that has not been filled in our absence.

I need to emphasize this, as always. We are not focusing on money. We are not just blogging daily in order to ask you for money. We're looking for PARTNERS. We're looking for our TEAM. And actually, WE'RE not the ones looking.

We have confidence that God is CALLING His people to the task of Bible Translation and to our specific ministry, and we can rest in that.

But if YOU have seen our blog (which at this point I am confident that you have!), we need YOU to pray about joining our team in some way. That's not a tough thing, and I'm not pressuring anyone to do anything but pray. I'm pretty sure you can't be angry with me for that!

The big thing that I hope to happen in the next two or three days is that everyone who has come here or knows us personally will seek after the Lord and search His will for a leading ONE WAY OR ANOTHER concerning our ministry with Wycliffe and then TELL US about it.

So this is my question to you.

Will you pray about joining our team (through financial partnership and prayer partnership) and then LET US KNOW if and how you'd like to be involved?

That's my struggle right now. I only have a limited view and limited time and energy to get in touch with everyone that God is working in. I know from my past week that many of you may be WAITING for us to call you, email you, write you, and that you may be excited and interested in partnering with us, but you're just waiting for us to bring it up. I will do my best to connect with you, I really will. But I'm not omniscient. God can lead me directly to you, but He can be leading you directly to me, too.

If you are waiting for us, please consider just calling us up. Or emailing. Or commenting on the blog. Or sending a facebook message. Or tweeting. You get the idea.

If you don't know us very well yet, we would love to get to know you better for the next, oh, 80 years or so as we are all on this journey together. It's a great way to form deep friendships and to encourage one another for years.

It's day 39. Of 40. Not that 40 is some special, magical number. But we are trusting in God to BREAK THROUGH.

Are you a part of it?

Trevor

Day 38 - Mugshots

2009-08-03T08:51:00.000-04:00

Well, this is the last Monday Mugshots of our 40 day focus. For today, I thought I'd let you get to know the leader of Wycliffe USA, Bob Creson. We'll be working in the Offices of the President when the Lord brings the rest of our team together (hoping and praying for SOON!), so it might be nice for you to know more about the man that God has placed in the position of President/CEO.

We've been able to spend a little time with Bob over the past year, and have really enjoyed watching him lead in both public ways and behind the scenes. We can't wait to be working alongside of him in the headquarters and learning from him throughout the time of our assignment there. Please be keeping Bob and his family in your prayers!

Here's more about him:

Quick facts:

Name: Bob Creson
Wife: Dallas
Kids: All Adults: Emily (33), married to Paul; Scott (31), married to Sarah; Jeff (27) married to Katrina; Tim (26)
Hometown: Ventura, California
Job Title: President and CEO of Wycliffe USA

Favorites:

Color: Blue or Green
Food: Thai
Ice Cream flavor: If I eat any, Bluebell Cookies and Cream
Sport: Golf
Place you have lived: California, Texas, Florida, France, and Cameroon
Piece of technology: iPhone :)

How long have you been involved with Wycliffe? 26 years.

What is the best thing about your job as President of Wycliffe USA? Sharing the vision that this generation could see the remaining Bible translation needs started.

If there was only one thing people "got" about Wycliffe, what would you hope it to be? Our work is transformational within communities.

Anything else you'd like to add?
Check out our blog at: http://wycliffeusa.wordpress.com
Check our website at: www.wycliffe.org
Check our YouTube Channel at: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=WycliffeUSA&view=videos

Thanks for the interview, Bob! Hope to see you soon!

Trevor

Day 37 - Selah

2009-08-02T10:01:00.000-04:00

I ran five miles this morning. If any of you know me well, pick your jaw up off of the floor...I'm telling the truth. I promise.

While I was running, I was listening to a lecture on spiritual warfare by Mark Driscoll and I really had my "Selah" for the day. I reflected, learned, paused, rested (I know, while RUNNING even), and drew closer to God through learning about His character.

One of the things that stuck out to me was about bitterness. As Pastor Driscoll was talking about the various forms of demonic activity, he hung out on bitterness for awhile, and I was convicted to search my own heart for any stored up bitterness that the enemy could use as a foothold in my life.

Here's a quote from Amy Carmichael, a missionary to India, from her poem, "If":

"If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary love. For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted."

Have you ever had someone bitter at you for something? It can be something that you did to them or even something that they perceived you to have done, but actually didn't do. Has someone let an impatient, unloving word out in response to you? Have YOU ever let an impatient, unloving word come out towards someone else in bitterness?

If you have sweet water in your cup, then when it's "bumped" by someone, only sweet water will be able to spill out. But if your cup is ALREADY full of bitter water, when it's bumped, only bitter water can come out.

What I'm trying to say is that we have no excuse as followers of Christ to let bitterness flow from our cup. It won't spill out if we haven't been allowing it to sit and fester in our rotten cup. Look, people are going to bother you. I will probably get on your nerves. You may bump into me or rub me the wrong way. Hard to believe, right?

I've been trying to get my cup cleaned today so that I can replace the bitter junk with the sweet water of forgiveness and Christ's love.

What about yours?

Trevor

Day 36 - A GREAT new resource!

2009-08-01T10:04:00.000-04:00

I'm going to keep this one brief. (I know what you're thinking...can he BE brief?!)

There is a new resource online that brings the world to your fingertips. It's unbelievable what we have available to us in the age of the internet, isn't it? This new website is called TheWordIsLife.net and it was just launched by Wycliffe International as well as several other partner organizations.

I HIGHLY recommend that you peruse this website. It has (among many other things) current information on THOUSANDS of languages and communities in the world (I don't know for sure, but it seems to be pretty exhaustive). Just click on a world map, choose a country, find a language, and see all of the known stats about the region, number of speakers, religion, access to Bible translations, etc.

Seriously, this is COOL.

You don't even have to be a linguistic geek to appreciate it. Also, there are hundreds of prayer requests from around the world and great stories of how God is using Bible Translation to transform cultures and people with God's Word.

Check it out. You'll be glad you did.

Oh, and if you haven't played around with the audio Bible clips on the right side of this blog, it's really neat. My newest cousin, Annie, speaks Tagalog, which is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL language.

It was relatively brief, right?

Trevor

Day 35 - Friday's Fotos

2009-07-31T11:16:00.000-04:00

For Friday’s Fotos today, I want to introduce you to my Aunt Matilda.

Aunt Matilda is just over 80 years old and she has come to mean more to me than ever before. Let me tell you why.

This woman is a prayer warrior. She is a servant of the Lord. She is steadfast in Christ her Lord. She is honest about her shortcomings. She is an encourager. She is a true representation of what it means to walk by faith.

She is a Bible translator.

Not in the sense that you would imagine. She has never gone to Brazil or Papua New Guinea or India or any such other place to live among a people she does not know or a culture she does not understand.

She has, however, joined with us on this journey. She is praying and she is sacrificing of herself so that we may go and in some senses “be the feet to her prayers”. You might try to argue that my calling her a “Bible translator” seems silly (especially since we are not yet at our assignment!)...I pray that the Lord would give you new understanding.

Aunt Matilda is a missionary without ever stepping out of her own home. She is a part of the great commission without ever buying plane tickets. She is serving the Lord in a very REAL, NECESSARY, and CRUCIAL way. And we are not the only family that this woman of God partners with.

This morning I had the chance to pray with her and for her over the phone. We connected on a level that can only be reached when you are learning through the struggle and you are asking God to move. She sharpened me today by encouraging me and pointing me to Scripture and the God who hears. I thank God for her today.

This task truly cannot be done without a team.

Sarah

Day 34 - Look at all those Bibles

2009-07-30T11:15:00.000-04:00

Today's blog is a video that we took at our local bookstore (with permission...well, we got in trouble once, but it all got straightened out!) to illustrate how privileged we are in this country.

I hope you find it interesting, but I really hope that it puts a rock in your shoe. You know, the kind that you can't ignore when you're just walking down the road. You know what I mean.

Day 33 - Where in the World?

2009-07-29T13:56:00.000-04:00

When thinking about an overseas missions agency, your mind most naturally goes to the work that is taking place in a far-off land...over seas.

Today we want to bring to light a portion of Wycliffe USA’s work that takes place right here in the United States. Generally speaking, the actual translating happens in other countries (there are a few smaller language groups here in the US that have needed specific translations), but there is a bunch of work that takes place here in the US to help people get involved so that the translations can actually have people to get them started!

One such important task is strategically getting the word out about the need that’s out there. To help in this area, many U.S.-assigned workers are using their gifts and abilities to support the work of Bible translation using media and the internet.

Here are a few examples:

Bob Creson (along with other Bible translation workers) is interviewed for a 5-part radio series on Moody Radio focused on the work of Bible translation. Listen to it here.

On YouTube you can find several videos that Wycliffe has put together here in the states. We’ve posted one for you to see on this post. To view the rest of Wycliffe’s videos, click here.

Wycliffe USA has a blog (through WordPress) that is kept up to date with stories, videos, news, etc. about how God is working through Bible translation.

Wycliffe workers here in the US keep the official Wycliffe website current, functional, and visually appealing so that people can learn about where the organization is working, how to get involved, how to pray, etc. etc. at the click of a mouse.

Why do we need to get the word out?

Because this is a global task for the body of Christ. The more people are aware of the need, the more God can use them to accomplish the task of reaching all people with the good news of the gospel.

Sarah

Day 32 - FAQ

2009-07-28T13:15:00.000-04:00

FAQ

I’m taking the roundabout way to get there, but I want to answer some of the other questions that we get asked a lot (or that people don’t even know they should ask until I ask THEM the question).

How can I get involved in your ministry?

Okay, this is really important. I think that a lot of people are very interested in our ministry with Wycliffe Bible Translators. But I also think that a lot of people don’t know it yet. If you found any of our blogs the least bit interesting (if you haven’t read them yet, feel free to peruse the archives!), and you have now come BACK, you are probably interested in our ministry at some level.

Now, I don’t mean that you are being called by God in grand fashion to become a financial partner with this ministry today...I’m not holding my hand out for money or anything like that. But get this. Some of you have known us for the majority of our lives. Some of you have never even met us. Some of you will be working with us in Wycliffe (actually, a lot of you are reading this from the office in Orlando!). And some of you are simply interested in our blog because someone in the UK retweeted my blog post about sign language Bible translation projects a few days back(Twitter is cool like that)!

Whatever your level of interest, YOU are already a part of our team.

Got it? None of you are strangers now to the worldwide work of Bible Translation. I desperately want you to understand this! We, collectively, are a part of what God is doing around the world to bring His Word to the least, the last, and the lost.

Okay, so here is the answer that maybe you were looking for.

We have a team of people around the world (literally - from Brazil and South Korea) that have committed to pray with and for our ministry and family. The number of people is growing all the time, and right now we have had people praying every day for 32 days straight for God to bring a breakthrough in our work. It is such a HUGE privilege and honor to have dear friends and family lifting us up before God daily, and you can be a part of this connection, too. Just send me an email, post a comment, write a Facebook message, call me, write a letter, etc., etc., etc. If you’d like to be a part of our prayer team.

We also have a team of individuals that have committed to giving financially towards the ministry we have with Wycliffe on a recurring basis (monthly, quarterly, or annually). We do not have a guaranteed salary (nope, not even working in the Wycliffe USA headquarters in Orlando) and this is a purely faith-based ministry where we trust the Lord to provide for all of our financial needs.

Since we’re hoping to be released to our assignment in Orlando soon, I would ask that you PRAY about this option. If God clearly directs you to partner with us financially, GREAT! If not, GREAT! We have learned in the past year that God moves in mysterious ways, and there is no pressure on us to motivate or coerce anyone into getting involved. He’ll move in His way in His timing in His pleasure, and so on.

If you do feel that urge to be a financial partner, you can let me know through a call, email, etc., or look to the right side of our blog and click on the link to set up a donation (one-time or recurring through EFT). You can also send in one of our brochures (if you have one) and/or your donation with a SEPARATE note designating the gift to Trevor and Sarah Schuh #218803 to:

Wycliffe Bible Translators
P.O. Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862

OR, you can just call 1-800-WYCLIFFE and ask your questions over the phone!

Now, I was planning on answering some more questions, but I’ve already been too verbose...so we’ll talk again tomorrow!

Trevor

Day 31 - Monday Mugshots

2009-07-27T08:48:00.000-04:00

Eliana

And now for the littlest Schuh of all.

Her name is Eliana, but to those who know her the best, she’s just “Yana”.

Quick facts:

Birthday: 12/25/08
Daddy and Mommy: Trevor and Sarah
Siblings: 1
Hometown: Stow, OH

Favorites

Color: Who cares...is it smiling? Then I like it.
Food: Milk
Composer: Whoever wrote that lullaby that my mobile plays. But Daddy thinks I’ll like Debussy when I’m older.
Apparel: Nothing but a diaper.
Activity: Bouncing in my bouncy-bouncy-roo.

Here’s a little bit about our 7-month-old that you may or may not know.

Being born on Christmas Day has it’s ups and downs. Eliana shares a birthday with my hero (and hopefully hers someday, too), but she’s hoping that we’ll celebrate on her half-birthday so she gets more presents. She told me so.

She is one of the happiest kids you’ve ever seen, and I’m not just saying that. All Eliana needs is someone to look at her and she melts into a grin the size of Texas. She’s had dark, dark eyes and hair from the day she was born, and she absolutely adores her big sister. If there are 50 people in a room, and Acacia is one of them, it’s guaranteed that her eyes will be fixated on her favorite buddy.

Whereas Acácia has always been very quietly observant, Eliana is just plain curious. She’ll lunge at anything she thinks she can get her hands on, which makes us a little nervous about the things that she’ll be getting into when she can move around quicker!

Ticklish babies are the best in the world, and Eliana is EXTREMELY ticklish. You’ll have to experience that on your own, though.

Well, that’s the rundown on our family. We like to have fun, play games, read books, and just laugh a lot. We love spending time with family and friends, and going to the park is just about the best thing in the world! Speaking of, I think Sarah and the girls are on their way out the door to the park right now.

Hope you have a great day!

Trevor

Day 30 - Selah

2009-07-26T13:43:00.000-04:00

“For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 100:5

Wow. Day 30.

It’s hard to believe that we are 3/4 of the way through our 40 day prayer focus, asking God for a breakthrough.

I had a gentle reminder from the Lord today and thought I’d pass it along to you. You ready?

God is good. And He’s good all the time.

Not just when He does what we want Him to do. Not just when He keeps us from the storms in life. Not just when He makes everything “fit just right” in our little worlds.

He is good ALL THE TIME.

That’s it for today...short and sweet.

Sarah

Day 29 - Isaac's Story

2009-07-25T10:42:00.001-04:00

Canon Isaac Anguyo

This is a powerful story from Uganda told on a recent trip with Bob Creson (President of Wycliffe USA), Scott Toncray, Jon Shuler, and Nick Wolverton (our colleagues in Orlando).

Wow. I absolutely could not have said it better myself. We have a call. Each one of us. No matter what comes, when God calls you to something, you'd better go.

Hope you were encouraged by that.

Trevor

2009-07-24T14:02:00.000-04:00

Welcome to another Friday’s Fotos! Today you get “fotos” of an actual Bible translation which may be of interest to you because you can probably understand 70%-80% of it. Some of you may have seen this and even held it in your hand. We often use this Bible in our Wycliffe presentation to help people understand what we mean by “heart language.”

Above is a picture of the front cover of the Hawaiian Pidgin New Testament. Yes, it is called “Da Jesus Book”. Like I said before, we’ve used this translation many, many times in our presentations, but I just learned something new that makes me happy as to why I get the privilege of writing today’s post.

Hawaiian Pidgin, otherwise known as Hawaiian Creole English, is what is often spoken by the “local” residents of Hawaii. While English and Hawaiian are the co-official languages, according to Wikipedia, Hawaiian Pidgin is very common. There are approximately 600,000 speakers.

It is highly influenced by Portuguese (!!!), Hawaiian, and Cantonese. This was especially exciting to me because, since I was born in Brazil, Portuguese was a big part of my growing up. Who knew that Hawaiian pidgin was the collision of two of my language worlds??

Read John 3:16 in Hawaiin Pidgin (above). You can generally understand it right? (Don’t forget that you have an unbelievable advantage because you already know what the verse says). This, however, isn’t your heart language. I would venture to say that you don’t dream in Hawaiian Pidgin or speak to your mom in it. When it comes down to learning deep, meaningful truths about God, this is probably NOT the Bible that YOU will want to sit down with, simply because it isn’t your heart language.

Take a look at what some of the Pidgin speakers have to say about getting a Bible translation in their own language. I love how much the same and yet how very different they speak.

God values every person on this earth. Therefore, He values the language each one speaks. After all, He created it! The beauty of the sound of so many different languages is breathtaking.

If we force someone to learn another language so that they can understand a fraction of what is spoken or written, we are in essence telling them that the language they speak isn’t valuable enough to have God’s Word in it.

Today I was overcome with joy at the thought of being part of a task that brings God’s Word directly to people in a language that speaks to their heart specifically!! I could not help but thank God for allowing me to be involved in this. I know that that is something I’m “supposed” to say since we are in fact members with Wycliffe Bible Translators, but sometimes the wonder and the amazement of it all just hits ya in a new and fresh way. Thank God for that!

Join us in this global task!

Day 27 - Prayer Opportunities

2009-07-23T15:13:00.000-04:00

Considering that these 40 days are focused on prayer, we thought we’d let you know about some ways that YOU can get involved with praying specifically for Bible Translation around the world.

Wycliffe recognizes that without prayer, Vision 2025 will never be reached. After all, prayer isn’t just PREPARATION for the greater work, it IS the greater work! So they have people around the world that are focused mainly on organizing prayer requests and international prayer ministries so that all of US can know what needs prayer.

Simple concept, huh?

Some people pray every once in a while for the missionaries around the world, or the persecuted church in general, or for the health and safety of Christian workers throughout the nations, but did you know that there are lots of EASY ways to connect to SPECIFIC requests to bring before the Lord?

Hopefully you’ll find some or all of these things to be helpful to you. We really appreciate your prayers for our family as we hope to start our assignment in Orlando SOON, but if you want to have more info about how to pray for other missionaries in the world, keep reading.

For example, Sarah and I receive an email just about every day from Wycliffe that highlights different needs from within our organization or our partner organizations. We found out through this that a friend of ours serving in Africa had a major prayer request for his son to be healed due to terrible burns on his body. We began lifting this little boy up immediately. We found out about a translation worker somewhere in the world whose husband was killed in a house fire while she was working on a Bible translation and began praying.

You can receive email updates like these if you click here.

Another really exciting way that you can get involved is to pray for a specific Bibleless People group. Called the Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project (BPPP for short), people all around the world have been praying for a group somewhere in the world that needs the Bible translated into their language. There are all kinds of stories about how people have been impacted by tracking the development of translation projects and progress in these groups throughout the years. Sign up! It’s really neat!

Here is where you go for that.

Want to be one of these gumballs? When you sign up to pray for a Bibleless People group, a gumball with YOUR name on it (okay, so your name isn’t really on it) will be added to the tank. Over 7,000 gumballs are in it so far...want to be connected with people across the world that need God’s Word in their heart language? Sign up today!

Seriously. If you have had these questions about what to pray for, click here. You can pray for the twenty areas of greatest need, pray for specific missionaries, pray for the groups left to begin translations in, and lots more. I didn't even realize all of the opportunities until today. Actually, I don't think I've scratched the surface.

Okay, have I told you to sign up enough?

Again, if you’d like to pray with our family on a certain day between now and August 6th, fill out the form on the right of the screen or shoot me an email at trevor_schuh@wycliffe.org. We’d love to pray with you and for you!

Trevor

Day 26 - Where in the World?

2009-07-22T12:40:00.000-04:00

The Deaf Community and Bible Translation

Absolutely fascinating.

That’s all I can say about my tiny bit of research for today’s blog. Have you ever thought about how the deaf communities of the world fit into the grand scheme of Bible translation? If you are like I was, you probably never have.

This was my thought, and maybe it’s yours, too. Can’t deaf people around the world read the Bible translations just like you and I? Shouldn’t the translations that we help to complete be sufficient for their need as well?

The short answer: no.

Did you know that a specific sign language is actually a deaf person’s heart language? The heart language (as I’m sure you’ve heard us talk about) is the mother tongue, the language of a person’s deep understanding, the language that a person dreams in. I always thought that a deaf person “spoke” in sign language that was purely English.

Then I thought that maybe sign language could be universal. It would make sense, right?

Wrong.

Think about how you learned to read. Do you just memorize words purely by sight? How do the letters fit together and make sense in your mind? Having a two year old, I know that the way she learns her alphabet is through sound first. She will eventually put the visual of a letter to match the sound that she already makes.

This rocked my world today.

You may laugh, but I am so excited about it! Right now, around 200 sign languages have been assessed and surveyed to find potential Bible translation needs. The number may end up being closer to 400 more sign languages in the next few years!

You may ask “how does one ‘write’ a sign language Bible?” Good question. Several methods have been used, from drawing the hand signals to recording video of a person signing. But this is the coolest thing ever.

Check it out.

There is a team of people right now working on...get this...an animated Bible for sign languages.

No joke.

People who are trained and knowledgeable in actual animation (2D or 3D) are trying to make a system whereby the Bible or Bible stories can be translated into the sign language of deaf communities in the world.

And it makes sense, too.

When working with national translators, or the native deaf people, you never know how long of a commitment you will get. If you are making a video translation and someone is unable to continue the project, it can be very distracting to have different people with different movements in the final version. Not to mention the delays in production and time consuming editing.

Okay, enough from me...I’m not the expert. Check out these two places to learn more and be blown away like I was.

For a fascinating interview with a Wycliffe couple involved in the animated Bible project, go here.

For a story about the work that Wycliffe does in deaf communities, go there.

Trevor

Day 25 - FAQ's

2009-07-21T10:32:00.000-04:00

From our poll, here is the other question most voted on by YOU:

What are other jobs that Wycliffe missionaries have besides translators?

One thought that many people have in their minds is that to be a member of Wycliffe Bible Translators you must be a linguistic genius that translates the Bible in a far off place. The reality is that this couldn't be farther from the truth.

In a few of the presentations that we've been a part of, we tried to get people thinking about what other people are needed in order to get the Bible translated into a language. After some awkward moments of silence, the answers eventually started flowing.

So think about it with me. When you think of the Air Force, do you think that everyone in it is a pilot? Of course not! There are thousands of people that support the pilots in order to accomplish their roles. Likewise, there are thousand of people that support translators in order to accomplish their roles.

So...

Translators use computers. Computers have problems. Who fixes the problems?

Wycliffe needs IT people.

Translators have kids. Kids need to learn. Who teaches them?

Wycliffe needs teachers.

Translators need to eat. Eating costs money. How does the money get to them?

Wycliffe needs accountants. (And people to give the money, but that’s another story)

Do you see what I’m saying here? We thought that when we joined an organization called “Wycliffe Bible Translators” we had to be actual translators. Did you know that Wycliffe needs musicians, too? Or dancers? Or storytellers?

We’ll be in a position in Orlando that was never on our radar when we started out. Who knew that Wycliffe needed an Assistant to the President for Special Projects?

They need managers. They need leaders. They need literacy specialists. They need government relations workers. They need pilots. They need mechanics. They need builders.

The list goes on and on.

You name it, there is probably a way to use your skills in supporting the work of Bible Translation.

The fact is, it takes a HUGE, MASSIVE, GARGANTUAN team of people and resources in order to get God’s Word into the hands of every language community in the world, and EACH role is absolutely essential.

For a more complete (but certainly not exhaustive) list of the positions available within Wycliffe alone, go here and explore!

This post has reached the maximum capacity for length, so in the words of my five-year-old nephew, Jack, I’m out.

Trevor

Day 24 - Mugshots

2009-07-20T10:17:00.000-04:00

Today is another one of those days where we help you to get to know our family a bit. It is, after all, a “Mugshot Monday”.

Welcome to the life of our two-year old...Acácia.

Quick facts:

Birthday: 3/10/07
Daddy and Mommy: Trevor and Sarah
Siblings: 1
Hometown: Wherever Mommy and Daddy are...I can’t keep track

Favorites

Color: PINK
Food: Noodles and Cookies (chocolate chip, just like Mom)
Composer: Bob and Larry (from the band VeggieTales) and Stravinsky (yes, she picked him out on her own...again, it’s not weird!)
Apparel: Pretty dresses and Mommy’s fuzzy socks
Activity: Swinging at the park

I would ask her these questions myself, but every answer would probably be “two”, so I’ll just tell you more about her!

Acácia is two years and four months old and is just getting into that “terrible twos” phase of life, though it’s not nearly as bad as the stories I’ve heard. She has an incredible memory and her language skills are pretty funny to see progress. She understands Portuguese as well as English, as Sarah’s mom only speaks to her in the former. I’m pretty jealous of that fact, but proud of her for knowing both languages at the same time!

She has been a trooper through her kidney problems, too. Acácia developed (or rather under-developed) a kidney reflux when she was a baby, which makes her more prone to Urinary Tract Infections. She’s been in the hospital a few times, had too many catheters, and been poked and prodded quite a bit. If you pray for her, please be praying that she will grow out of this and not need a surgery in the future.

We love our little girl more than I ever thought possible, and if you have ever met her, you know that she is a joyful child of God! She’s every bit of a Daddy’s girl, which I love, and she is just starting to understand a little about who God is. Her prayers can sometimes be profound, thoughtful, and beautiful...especially when she remembers who is “sick” in our family with cancer.

I know this doesn’t seem to have anything to do with Bible Translation, but this is our family...if you are going to be praying for us and investing in our ministry, we think you’d like to get to know us!

So thanks for reading.

Trevor

Day 23 - Selah

2009-07-19T05:58:00.000-04:00

Paul

I learned something new the other day. One of those things you would expect me to know because I’m with an organization like Wycliffe Bible Translators. We should already know all the hard facts written in the Bible, right? WRONG! We are learning just like you.

Anyways, back to my newly-learned fact. Paul, between the time he wrote 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, made some people mad because he simply changed his course. Did you already know this? I’m trying to figure out how I’ve missed this in all of my years of reading 2 Corinthians! So yes, Paul ticked some people off and actually caused them to question his entire ministry because he said he was going to do one thing (visit Corinth twice) and ended up needing to do another (visit Corinth once for a longer period of time).

Check out this note in my Bible, “Because he had announced a change in his itinerary, with the result that he would now pay the Corinthians one (long) visit instead of two (short) visits, these adversaries were asserting that his word was not to be trusted.” (Zondervan NASB)

“HIS WORD WAS NOT TO BE TRUSTED??”

Why do I care?

Well, we changed course (kind of). On a practical level, our “route” got modified. While we had intended to go to school and get our linguistic training to translate the Bible, we are instead working on building our partnership team for our first assignment to work behind the scenes to translate the Bible. Same goal, different routes to get there.

This little known fact was an encouragement to me because Paul, of all people, had to admit that sometimes things don’t go in the straight line that you planned for them to go.

At the end of the day, we are reminded that our lives and our experiences are not the focus. The God of our life, however, is.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 2 Corinthians 4:7

Sarah

Day 22 - Man on the Street

2009-07-18T10:25:00.000-04:00

Hope you enjoy the shenanigans! Interesting stuff.

Trevor

Day 21 - Friday's Fotos

2009-07-17T11:54:00.000-04:00

Hi, folks! Welcome to another “Friday's Fotos”.

So you’re probably wondering why we have a picture of Trevor’s parents up here. After admiring the nice smiles that our supervisor captured on her camera, take a look at WHERE they are.

Bob and Gail Schuh happen to be sitting in one of the empty cubicles in the Offices of the President, A.K.A…Trevor's future desk. They had a chance to visit the headquarters and get a taste of where we’ll be serving for our first term. I think Deb (our supervisor during this time) took this shot as a reminder for us that there is a cubicle waiting for us to fill, and there is work waiting to be done.

This office is where much of the direction for the organization is set. A bunch of behind the scenes work happens here as it is often the starting point for many large-scale projects to accelerate the pace of Bible translation. We’ve had the opportunity to meet and be in close contact with many of the staff in the office already, and we look forward with anticipation to the day when we will be able to work side-by-side with them to get God’s Word to all people in a language that speaks to their heart. The office staff has encouraged us greatly by praying daily for our progress in getting there.

If you don’t already know, Trevor’s job is already clearly defined (Assistant to the President for Special Projects), but mine is not, simply because my role will have to be a little more flexible considering we have kiddos (they are my first priority). I’m kind of excited about today because this afternoon we’ll be discussing with one of our colleagues some different ideas of what my role will be when we get started in Orlando. It is just so cool to know that wherever I end up fitting in, I will be helping bring God’s living, active, sharper-than-a-double-edged-sword Word to the nations around the world. I get excited just thinking about it!

More to come!

Sarah

Day 20 - Halfway Point

2009-07-16T11:22:00.000-04:00

Half Way Where?

Since it’s day 20 of our 40 days of prayer, I thought we’d just have a little recap of what is going on for Connect 8.6.09. It’s a good time for us to refocus, reconnect, and redefine what we’re doing here.

If you’ve come to the blog for the first time today or you just didn’t start at the beginning, watch this video that explains what Connect 8.6.09 is all about:

Psalm 86.09

"All the nations you have made
will come and worship before you, O Lord;
they will bring glory to your name."

Well...now we’re halfway there! If you notice on the right side of the blog, our financial “percentage” has moved up one point to 81%. Praise God for one percent! I know what you’re thinking...and I’m not worried.

The great thing about our God is that He can accomplish the things that we feel are needs in one millisecond! Just because we don’t see everything that He is doing doesn’t mean that He isn’t working. In fact, I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is working in amazing ways in our family and ministry, even when I don’t see it.

But even better, the financial side of things is not our focus for these 40 days. The date that we move is not our focus. Even the people that are or will be a part of our ministry are not our ultimate focus.

We are focused on God.

We are focused on God’s timing.

We are focused on God’s provision.

And we hope that you will be too.

I alluded to this a few days ago, but it never hurts to re-emphasize. While God is the One who is doing all of the work, He is working in such a way that uses His people (you and I) as instruments. And so I would ask, if He is leading you to this ministry clearly and if He is specifically directing you join with us through finances, would you respond to the call? We would love to have you actively on our team, bringing God’s Word to every person’s heart language still needing one.

Thanks for reading my thoughts today!
Trevor

Day 19 - Where in the World?

2009-07-15T12:49:00.001-04:00

The Areas of Greatest Need

Throughout the world today, there are about 2,300 language groups that do not have a Bible translation project started in them. About 80% of these languages are in three areas of the world.

These are the three areas and the numbers of how many languages are left to be started:

Aren’t these numbers amazing? When you think about how many different languages are spoken in such a small region alone, your mind can start to spin. But these are just the languages that don’t have a BIBLE TRANSLATION started yet.

God is doing amazing things in these regions of the world and others. There are thousands of missionaries around the world that are following God’s call to bring God’s Word to the least, the last, and the lost. You can get involved in this great work through praying, giving, or even going!

I read a really cool stat today about the country of Nigeria. For every one missionary that we send into the country through Wycliffe, FIVE Nigerians are sent out of the country for their own missions work!

Our friends, Chris and Christie, are leaving today to begin working in Nigeria. If you think of it, keep this young family in your prayers as they travel, set up their home, and begin their assignment in one of the areas of greatest need for Bible translation. Chris was working in the Offices of the President until last month, and their family has encouraged us greatly on our journey until this point. They have a little guy named Judah (who happens to be cute as a button!) that you can be lifting up during their transition as well.

For more info on where in the world Wycliffe is at work, go here!

Day 18 - FAQ's

2009-07-14T11:14:00.000-04:00

Okay, we had a poll on the right side of our blog that you could vote on for questions that you would most like answered. While only eleven of you voted (thanks to those who did!), we’ll answer a few of these questions over the rest of our forty days.

So, for one of the top questions that YOU wanted us to answer (drumroll, please):

How long does a translation project take?

The short answer is: it really depends.

I know...a great answer, right? But it’s true. Here's the long answer. Typically, a New Testament project alone can take anywhere from 5 to 20 years depending on many different factors. Add the Old Testament (multiplying the time by at least 2), and you may have 10 to 40 years total. For example, if the people within a certain language group are not too keen on having their language written and they don’t really jump on board with the translation team, the progress will slow down significantly. Or, if the team has a difficult time geographically or politically getting involved with a group, the same thing can happen. Sometimes our teams cannot live in the actual village with the people due to certain factors.

But, on the other end of the spectrum, many technological advances have made the whole process to speed up within related language groups. Many languages in the world are closely related to each other. You may think I mean dialects, but I don’t mean that necessarily. Languages can be related to each other in grammar structure alone...the people may not be able to understand each other, but with a specialized computer program we can easily adapt a Bible translation that is already in place within 1 to 3 years or so!

Another approach that has changed in the past 10 years is using what is called the “cluster approach”. There are projects all around the world that can work with 5, 10, or even 20 language groups at a time with only one Wycliffe translator (or someone from another one of our partner organizations)! This approach uses workshops with the nationals, training them to translate Scripture on their own with guidance. While this is not available in every part of the world, it is a strategic advantage that we have been using to bring God’s Word into all the languages around the world at an accelerated pace.

The pace of translations starting 10 years ago was one translation about every 18 days. Today, a new translation starts every 4 to 5 days! You want to see God at work? Check out how He is blessing Wycliffe Bible Translators and their partners in the incredible work of Bible Translation here!

Hope this was informative!

Trevor

Day 17 - Mugshots

2009-07-13T11:26:00.000-04:00

SARAH

Quick Facts -

Name: Sarah Lee Villar Schuh
Birthday: 1-26-84
Hometown: Anywhere between Recife, Brazil; Henderson, NE; Hudson, OH
High School: Nebraska Christian School

Favorites -

Color: Green - because it reminds me of new growth
Ice Cream: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Sports: Soccer - to watch (well, I really only like to watch Brazil)
Composers: Chopin and Bach
Books: Francine Rivers, C.S. Lewis

Now I’ll ask myself a few questions so that you can get to know me better. Maybe it’ll give you a little insight into my life.

What did you think you were going to be when you grew up?

A concert pianist.

How do you feel about how God changed the direction of your life?

While I can honestly say that I deeply miss playing the piano and working on classical music, I wouldn’t change the journey we’re on for the world. I know that God had this in His plan from the beginning. What I’ve learned in my piano studies will go with me in whatever I do. It fostered a love of music, and I’m excited to see how the Lord is going to use it in the roles He puts us in.

What was it that drew you to Wycliffe Bible Translators?

I first really heard about Wycliffe at Cedarville University. A lady by the name of Marilyn Laszlo came and spoke at our missions conference and this is where God pulled at the strings of my heart. What a COOL thing to be a part of in that we can actually help bring God’s living Word to people in the heart language. Ahh!! I love it!

How do you feel about being a mommy?

I honestly never thought I would have kids. Seriously! I was determined to go through life aspiring to be a classical pianist, and kids just really didn’t fit into that picture. And then I met Trevor (as you know, he loves kids, and they love him). God has blessed us with 2 beautiful little girls and I LOVE being a Mom! I never imagined that something that could be so much work could be one of the BIGGEST joys in life. God has taught me about Himself through my kids. I consider an honor, a privilege, and a great responsibility to be a mommy. One I’m eternally grateful for.

Last question...what will your role be once you start your assignment?

My role will constantly be changing depending on what stage the kids are in. I will be a part of the Offices of the President (the office that Trevor will work within) in more of a part-time role. The way I see it, my first responsibilities are to be a support to my husband in whatever he is doing, taking care of the needs of the kiddos, and then working in whatever capacity the Lord allows me to towards the task of Bible translation.

Thanks for coming with!

Sarah

Day 16 - Selah

2009-07-12T11:02:00.000-04:00

This morning as my daughter was sitting at the table eating her yogurt and blueberries, I looked over at the refrigerator, and there, pinned up by a magnet was a cut-out of a gray, painted cloud (very obviously a storm cloud...). There were dark blue ribbons hanging down from it, symbolizing rain.

This storm cloud happens to be one of Acacia’s first Sunday school crafts through which her and her classmates learn very basic truths about God.

The other day when we were sitting in the car, I heard her saying, “God teaches us” over and over again...something I didn’t remember teaching her myself. I thought to myself, “Where did this girl learn THAT nugget of wisdom?”

I’ve been reflecting on the fact that both of our girls have endless opportunities to learn about God. We have printed materials, she has Sunday school teachers, she has grandparents on both sides who have walked with the Lord for years on end, she has Bibles written in both languages she is currently learning to speak....her life is, and will be, chock-full of opportunities to learn about this God who created her and who holds her life in His hands.

I don’t think I have to say too much more before you make the connection of why this simple reality just about knocks the wind out of me.

There are children who live thousands of miles away from us who have no opportunity to learn about God in the ways that are most common in our own lives. They don’t have grandparents who have years of experience of walking with the Lord that they might impart wisdom and guide them in the way they should go.

Think about the wealth of wisdom and truth you have, literally “at your fingertips” in a Bible that is written in a language that speaks to your heart. Take a moment to THANK GOD for it. Don’t ever take it for granted.

Sarah

Day 15 - “Connecting the Remaining Dots of our Team”...???

2009-07-11T11:46:00.000-04:00

Grab your coffee (or tea) and buckle up...

When doing what we’re doing, it’s easy to forget that not everyone understands what it means to “connect the remaining dots of our partnership team”. We have the awesome privilege of connecting members of the body of Christ to the task of Bible translation. And we are certainly not ashamed of it. It is an exciting thing to be a part of such a global mission.

Here are a few things that we’ve realized you may not understand about the financial side of our ministry.

-Because we are missionaries with a faith-based organization, we essentially raise our own funds for ministry (in all actuality, God is the One who does it, but you know what we mean...we are responsible to make sure that our financial goals our met). Technically, we have a salary from Wycliffe that is “not guaranteed” because it is dependent on the generosity of our partners across the country and the world.

-Wycliffe has set a financial goal for us that we need to have coming in each month before we are cleared to begin our first missionary assignment.

-This number (our total goal) is set by taking into account our family size, health insurance costs, region of ministry, basic living costs, ministry expenses, overhead costs, etc.

-When we say that we are a certain percentage of the way there, that means that we have that much of our monthly financial goal committed. People (friends, family members, you, churches) can sign up to give a recurring gift, whether they give it monthly, quarterly, or annually.

-One-time gifts do not factor into our percentage.

-We cannot begin our assignment before we reach our recurring, monthly financial goal.

So what does all this mean?

We still have a very big need for financial partners. God has blessed us immensely by those who are already partnering with us. We pray that those who give would be giving as unto the Lord...not as if they were simply sending money for Trevor and Sarah. It is so much bigger than that.

By becoming a financial partner, you are enabling people (in this instance, us) to do the ministry of Bible translation. You are, in fact, translating the Bible right from your own home. When fellow believers take part in Bible translation by giving of their finances, missionaries are enabled to go and physically bring God’s written Word to all nations in their heart language.

Trevor and I have the opportunity for the next couple of years to serve in a support role at the headquarters of Wycliffe. Will you consider helping us get there?

We have approximately $1200 per month left to raise. No gift is too large or too small. Please hear us say that again. No gift is too large or too small. We would love to simply have you join with us.

We can be praying and praying for God to move in our ministry and family regarding finances, but the reality may be that He is calling for His people...a.k.a. YOU, to respond to His leading.

Ask the Lord how He would have you partner with us financially. To sign up, just go here.

Sarah

Day 14 - Friday's Fotos

2009-07-10T10:58:00.000-04:00

A Brazilian Named Henrique

Last November, Sarah and I had the privilege of heading to the Wycliffe USA headquarters in Orlando. We were able to be involved in the public launch of what is called the Last Languages Campaign.

One of the speakers during the weekend was named Henrique Terena (pronounced en-HEE-kee tay-RAY-nah) who was a native Brazilian who started a mission called CONPLEI among church leaders in Brazil. Henrique is the man on the right. He has a wonderful testimony of how God led him to this ministry.

Though I couldn't have a conversation with Henrique (Sarah enjoyed speaking Portuguese with him throughout the weekend), I had a deep respect for his passion and his story. When we were saying goodbye to him, Henrique handed me a gift...this bracelet. He explained through his translator (who happens to be working now in the Offices of the President) that this was handmade from the Ya-Ya tribe of the Amazon.

So if you've seen my bracelet and wondered about it, that's the story! It means a lot to me because of my heart for Brazil (if you don't know this, Sarah was born and semi-raised there) and my heart for Bible translation. Thanks for reading!

Trevor

Day 13 - Law vs. Grace

2009-07-09T10:05:00.000-04:00

This week I heard a sermon that referenced why we are to live holy lives even though we are under grace. It struck a cord with me. How do we find the balance of living our lives pleasing to God while not focusing on keeping the law?

So I ask you, why do you seek to live a holy life even though you are under grace?

You were created for it. You were created to live a holy life. You function best when you do. As we heard this week, we were created for holy living just like our bodies were created for good food.

I started thinking about this in the context of the people that Wycliffe aims to reach. By bringing God’s Word to those who don’t yet have it, it is like we are bringing loads of good, healthful food to a malnourished people. It’s the same as feeding the hungry....only this time the supply never runs out. As people eat good food, their bodies begin to function better (the way they were created to), sickness is no longer a threat to wipe out an entire community, joy comes back to the face, hope is alive and well.

While many of the language groups that Wycliffe translates the Bible for have access to Scripture in a language other than their own, the food that they receive from this may not give them all of the “nutrients” that are available due linguistic differences or cultural nuances. When the Bible can be read in a person’s HEART language, the deep and spiritual truths can be “digested” and transforming.

It’s not that we, ourselves, are bringing God into a dark place in the middle of the jungle (or bush, or highlands, or city), because God is already there. God is everywhere, even if He is not recognized. Wycliffe simply seeks to bring His written revelation to people so that ALL people can have access to this book that teaches us why we were created.

God created us, ALL of us, to live and breath and walk with Him. As the Word of God permeates a culture, these people get to know this God who created them for holy living.

Sarah

To view Joe Coffey's entire sermon from the book of Galatians, click here.

Day 12 - Where in the World?

2009-07-08T09:17:00.000-04:00

UGANDA AND TANZANIA - SCRIPTURE ACCESS FOR ALL

We may have already mentioned this in a previous blog, but we still think it’s pretty neat! Bob Creson, president of Wycliffe USA, along with Scott Toncray, Jon Shuler, and Nick Wolverton (all colleagues of ours that work in Orlando), recently visited some of the Bible translation projects in Uganda and Tanzania.

Today I stumbled upon the website for Wycliffe’s work in these two countries: http://www.thetask.net. It’s very informative and answers several questions that I didn’t even know I was curious about! You should check it out.

Through following the Wycliffe USA blog here during the trip that these men took, I got a small glimpse into how God is working throughout Africa (and the world) through the work of dedicated and humble people. These workers are in the midst of a comprehensive project that is called “Scripture Access for All” which will go far beyond just translating Scripture into the minority languages of Uganda and Tanzania.

Right now, Wycliffe Is involved in the translation projects of 20 language groups in Tanzania and 4 in Uganda, with many more still to be started. You may think that 4 minority languages don’t represent very many people, but according to thetask.net, these groups comprise over 860,000 speakers!

Much of this huge task involves humanitarian aid (working with AIDS education, community empowerment, and literacy), training staff, and laying the groundwork and infrastructure necessary to GET Scripture into the hands of all of these communities.

Bob Creson says it this way: “Helping a mother become literate can make a more lasting impact on a community than providing a doctor. While a doctor can fight disease and sickness with medicine, mothers – and ultimately communities – are better served through literacy programs that help mothers read prescriptions, medicine bottles and educate themselves on healthcare.”

Pray for these communities in Uganda and Tanzania! These aren’t just groups of faceless people in a far off land that we have no connection with. These are individuals that have no access to God’s Word in the language that they dream in, the language that speaks directly to their heart. They are beautiful individuals, created in God’s image, with the same basic needs as you and me. Let’s pray together TODAY that God would raise up willing servants to reach into the heart of Africa and bring His very Words to her people!

Lastly, meet Terrill Schrock, a translator just beginning with the Ik people of Uganda. He talks more about the translation process and speaks of the benefits of bringing an identity to a culture through the written word.

Day 11 - FAQ's

2009-07-07T11:01:00.000-04:00

Day 10 - Mugshots

2009-07-06T10:26:00.000-04:00

Trevor

For those of you who don’t know us well or would like to get to know us better, every Monday we’ll be giving you a snapshot of our family. Since we’re asking you to partner with us and pray with us, we thought it would be good for you to get to know us on a personal level. Today, you get me.

Quick Facts -

Name: Trevor Jonathan Schuh
Birthday: 9-11-84 (yes, 9/11 was on my seventeenth birthday)
Hometown: Plymouth, Wisconsin
High School: Homeschool and Sheboygan County Christian High School

Favorites -

Color: Probably blue, but it depends on my mood
Ice Cream: Ice Cream Sandwich Ice Cream (trust me, you’re missing out)
Sports: Tennis and Volleyball (to play, that is)
Composers: Ravel and Albeniz (I’m a musician...it’s not a weird question!)
Books: Anything by Mark Driscoll, Ted Dekker, or Donald Miller

Now I’ll ask myself a few questions so that you can get to know me better. Don’t worry, I talk to myself all the time!

How did you get interested in world missions?

My home church growing up (Plymouth Alliance) instilled in me from a very early age that missions was a normal part of my faith. Looking back on it, my pastor, John Kitchen, was very intent on making sure that the church was actively involved in giving to, praying for, and going to the overseas mission field. He, along with many other passionate people in the church (I don’t have room to list all of them!), greatly influenced my decision as a nine-year-old to go anywhere and do anything that God wanted me to do. And the rest is history!

When did you learn about Wycliffe Bible Translators?

In high school, my Spanish teacher (Sam Gesch) was a Wycliffe MK who grew up in Peru. I didn’t have a clue what it meant to be a linguist before that, but I knew that linguistics oozed out of him! I suppose it was more of an explosion...he was (and is) passionate about bringing God’s Word into other people’s heart language. But I never thought about heading into Wycliffe until college. Sarah and I took a Cultural Anthropology class together, and discovered that we both had a natural talent for learning languages (her much more than me!). Our professor (Dr. Parr) told us to think strongly about going into Translation someday, but we were both just about done with our music degrees and didn’t sense God’s calling at that specific time. In 2007, we started to feel that God was leading us to get involved with Wycliffe, so we started the application process.

How do you feel about being a daddy?

Those of you who have known me for any amount of time know that I have always wanted to be a dad. My sister’s were taking bets on how soon we would have kids when we got married, and now I have two gorgeous girls that call me “daddy”. Well, one calls me daddy...the other one just grunts at me happily. I love every minute I’ve been given with these kiddos, even at 3 in the morning on the off chance that I wake up when they need something!

Last question...what do you enjoy about your job right now?

Well, other than being with my family, I love that my job is basically to reconnect the church (the whole body of Christ) with the Great Commission. We are all called to “make disciples” and to be God’s instruments in the world. My job right now is to tell people about how God is moving throughout the world by bringing the Bible to every person’s heart language that still needs it. I look forward to my role as Assistant to the President for Special Projects, but right now my heart is with you. My team. My friends and family. My partners in this crazy adventure we call life.

Thanks for coming with!

Oh, and if you have Facebook, I’m putting a quiz up today about myself. Just for fun. See how well you think you know me!

Day 9 - Selah

2009-07-05T14:16:00.000-04:00

Running the Race

“Look up, not down. Relax your shoulders. Keep your back up straight. Unclench your fists. Stop looking down. Loosen up. Relax your shoulders. Look up!”

This was my self-talk the other day when I was out for a run. In fact, it’s a tape recorder going off in my brain on most days I lace my shoes up and kick myself out the door to run. On one particular run, I realized that the Lord was trying to teach me a valuable lesson.

One of the biggest mistakes a runner can make is to look down as he/she runs.

When you look down, the muscles in your neck and shoulders tense up (go ahead, try it.), causing tightness and, overall, more work for the rest of your body. As you run with your head looking even slightly down, your back is forced to work in a bent-forward position, thereby putting undue stress on your lower back. The weight of your whole upper body ends up pounding on your lower back repetitively with each step that you take. This sets the stage for a very painful lower back. You don’t need to ask me how I know this...;)

So why am I telling you all this? In doing what we’re doing (building our partnership team for our missionary assignment, raising funds, etc.), it is easy to look down and not straight ahead. We can lose focus and start to question, “God, what are You doing?” We start trying to work harder in our own strength, causing stress, “soreness”, and you guessed it...more work. We put ourselves at risk of great injury because we forget the one most important thing....to fix our eyes on Jesus.

“...and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and perfecter of faith...” Heb. 12:1b-2a

Moral of the story...look straight ahead, and make sure you’ve got your eyes on the One who gives us life to the fullest. You certainly don’t want to miss a thing.

Click here to see how one of our friends combined her passion for running and her passion for bringing God’s Word to the Bibleless peoples around the world. If you’re a runner, seek the Lord in how He may be asking you to use your talent for running to partner in the work of Bible translation.

Sarah

Day 8 - Fighting Poverty

2009-07-04T09:01:00.000-04:00

More than Just Bible Translation

Obviously, Wycliffe Bible Translators exists today to...you guessed it...translate the Bible. But did you know about all of the other benefits of translation for a community?

Bob Creson, the President of Wycliffe USA, recently addressed these benefits to all of the staff working worldwide. The following are excerpts of how he addresses the perception that Wycliffe has little or nothing to do with fighting poverty:

“Two weeks ago, a small team of us from Wycliffe USA spent a few days with Terrill and Amber Schrock in Uganda. They recently began work with the Ik people, who live in the northeastern corner of the country, on the edge of the Rift Valley. Terrill is doing language development while Amber supports him through healthcare and community development projects.

When I first met them, Amber was providing healthcare in the back of a storage building behind their current home in Kaabong. She tells me she usually sees 30 people each day, three times a week, but sometimes she sees up to 60 patients in a single day. If a patient is too sick to come to Amber’s clinic, she goes and picks them up and takes them to a hospital. One evening two of our team members—videographer Jon Shuler and Wycliffe Africa member Lydia Teera—rode along with Amber while she picked up a woman in labor, rushed her to the hospital, and helped deliver a healthy baby!

Why does Amber do this work? She says she wants to bless people. “My Dad taught us that one way to follow God was through serving other people. After high school, I pursued a career that would let me minister to people’s physical needs,” she explains. She also sees her service as a way of gaining acceptance into the Ik community. She believes that providing basic healthcare and identifying publicly with the Ik people will help Terrill and her establish rapport with them.

Beyond that, she recognizes the validity of ministering to the whole person. “We really do believe that people need to meet basic needs before they will be open to Bible translation,” she says. “They are thinking about hunger, shelter—not, ‘Who is this man named Jesus?’ Once these basic needs are met, then the Ik people will start thinking, ‘Who is God?’”

“...the facts are that Bible translation has never been done in a vacuum, and the results have never been measured purely in spiritual terms; it’s always been part of a larger package. It’s always included ministry to the community’s physical, social and economic needs, and that ministry—now called holistic ministry—is an increasingly important part of the story. For people today—especially younger people—meeting the needs of the whole person is a very high value. This is not something new that we need to add to our Bible translation ministry. It’s already there. We just need to learn to talk about it in today’s vocabulary, and let the truth be known. That’s what Wycliffe USA has begun to do.

Many are surprised to discover what gets started when Bible translation takes place in a community: literacy, education, improved healthcare, access to clean water, human rights, government relations, and community empowerment. All of these, of course, combat poverty.”

If you would like to know more about our holistic ministry in the context of Bible translation, you can find videos and stories on the internet. For stories, explore www.wycliffe.org and www.wycliffe.net. For short videos about ministries like health and trauma healing, go to http://www.tangle.com/Wycliffe or http://www.youtube.com/user/WycliffeUSA. For links to all Wycliffe USA social media, go to http://www.google.com/profiles/wycliffeusa.

Day 7 - Friday's Fotos

2009-07-03T18:03:00.000-04:00

This picture is very special to our family. There is something about it that strikes a chord with where we are at in our lives.

We're on the tracks.

We've hit the road.

Been on a journey.

Not unlike you, I suppose. Not only have we been moved around physically on this journey (Hudson, Dallas, Gibbsville, Stow, and soon Orlando), but we've been on a journey to find a passion for God's heart.

Again, not unlike you.

Seriously...we've put on our traveling shoes. And the road is pretty rough. I feel like these shoes are going to wear through some days. They're starting to look a little threadbare. My big toe is sticking out of a flap that wasn't there when we started. Good thing I know a cobbler.

We wanted to post all of these pictures of our life and family, throw some cute little sayings together, weave our story through photos, and call it a day. We wanted to make something impressive for you to gaze at for its sheer beauty. We wanted you to notice us.

But this is what you get. This is it. This is us. Stripped down. Laid bare. Raw.

And there won't be an apology.

Because we don't have everything together. If you thought that, I suggest you take it back. Now. We're not perfect. Just ask my wife. And just ask her husband. In fact, ask any of our family members.

At the end of the day, we're just like you. I guess we're just like you at the beginning of the day, too. God just happened to call us to something specific when He called us to get involved with Bible Translation. It's something we couldn't, and can't, ignore. If we could have seen the journey we've been on BEFORE we said "OK", I'm not sure we would have done it.

But. (There's always one of those.)

200 million people don't have access to God's Word in their heart language.

............................

Okay, I'm back on the track.

It's not about me anymore. Much of this day has been, I regret to say. How 'bout you? What strikes a chord in your heart?

What makes you get back on the track?

If it's Bible Translation, jump on the track with us. The more the merrier. We've got a whole ragtag bunch of passionate track-jumpers. Hitch-hikers, really. We'll pick up anyone with their thumb held out in desperation!

Today, we're 81% of the way to our financial goal. If you want to join our traveling band, click here and hold on for dear life.

From one dusty traveler to another.

Trevor

Day 6 - The Heartbeat of Wycliffe

2009-07-02T13:40:00.000-04:00

Vision 2025

The mission of Wycliffe is to see a Bible translation program in progress in every language still needing one by the year 2025. This is known as “Vision 2025”.

Let’s explore what that means.

In 1999, the leaders of Wycliffe sat down and figured out how long it would take before they reached that last language community if they stayed at the current pace they were keeping up (1 new translation beginning every 18 days). What they found was astonishing...that last language group wouldn’t see God’s Word written down in their heart language until the year 2150!!

Too much time would pass, and more importantly, too many people would pass into eternity without ever hearing the life-giving truth of God’s Word in a language that speaks to their heart. At this realization, the genesis of Vision 2025 took place. Wycliffe, along with its partners, challenged the Body of Christ to accelerate the pace...not so it could be said, “Look what we’ve done! Look how we’ve learned to work smarter, harder, and faster!”, but rather that there would be a goal that we could all collectively work towards for the glory of God and for the spiritual ends of all people.

Since the adoption of Vision 2025 in 1999, we have seen the pace of translation dramatically accelerate. By God’s grace and mighty power, new translation projects are starting at an unprecedented rate of one every FOUR to FIVE days (down from one every 18 days in 1999)! God has brought new personnel, new equipment (computers, technology, etc.), more funding, and greater wisdom to work more efficiently.

We can’t stop here, though! In order to meet the goal of Vision 2025, we need to be starting a new translation project approximately once every THREE days. We need to pray that God would bring together the people, the funds, and the know-how to reach this goal.

To put it in different terms, Wycliffe has estimated that they need 25,000 more workers in the next 10 years (they pray to have 7,000 of those from the US alone). Would you pray with us that Vision 2025 would continue to be realized and that God would provide the necessary people to accomplish this task.

Here is a great article posted by Mission Network News talking about this very thing.

Day 5 - Where in the World?

2009-07-01T08:59:00.000-04:00

A Very Special Anniversary

The following is taken from the "Pray Today" section of Wycliffe's website. We had the opportunity to sit and visit with this man during our training at the headquarters, so we were especially encouraged by this prayer focus.

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God” (Acts 20:24, NLT).

George Cowan, former translator in Mexico and former director of the Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project, began praying for the Sinte Romani speakers of Europe in June, 1983. There are 30,000 Sinte speakers in Serbia alone, with more than 250,000 living in a dozen other European nations. George has been praying for the Sinte speakers for 26 years, but they have waited even longer to receive God’s Word in the language that speaks to their hearts.

Praise God! On the very day marking the 26th anniversary of George’s commitment to pray, Wycliffe USA received word that the Sinte Romani New Testament will be published this year!

Here is a short clip of George (who we met in Orlando during our Training Camp)

Twenty Five Years on our Knees: Wycliffe Bible Translator's Bibleless People Prayer Project

After 25 years, God is still calling His children to prayer through the Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project. And with over 2,200 language communities around the world still waiting for Scripture, His command to “never stop praying” (1 Thess. 5:17, NLT) seems more critical than ever.

To find out more information on the Bibleless Peoples Prayer Project, click here.

If you would like to receive a prayer request from around the world every day, click here.

Day 4 - Frequently Asked Questions

2009-06-30T10:07:00.000-04:00

FAQ - Why Bible Translation when you are both musicians?

I’ve often asked myself the very same question. Trevor and I have had all of our formal training in music up to this point. So why would we switch gears completely to become a part of the task of Bible translation?

Life was pretty comfortable before we began this journey with Wycliffe. And I don’t mean that in a negative way. It was predictable and good. The Lord had blessed us with a home, family nearby, a loving church family, and a stable job which was completely in line with our music and Christian university training. We really couldn’t have asked for more.

In the middle of all of it, though, God put this unrest in our hearts, whispering quietly in each of our hearts that He had something else planned for our family. Basically, He said to us, “Better not get too comfortable. Watch what I’m gonna do.”

When He showed us that we were to pursue getting involved in Bible translation, I thought to myself, “But God, where does music fit into all of this? Was this training and love for music all for naught?” Over time, He has taught me that He does not let anything in our lives go to waste. While music will no longer be our main “profession”, it will always shape who we are and how we function in this ministry, whether directly or indirectly. To be honest, it has me sitting on the edge of my seat to see how He’s going to bring this all together, cause I know that He’s got something planned.

God’s like that, you know...He’s always got something up His sleeve. I wouldn’t trade the journey we’re on for anything, cause I’ve come to know God more deeply. Sometimes He has to pull us out of “normal” to get us to listen more intently.

What is God asking you to do that seems crazy to your own ears? That simply doesn’t make sense to your human mind? Don’t write it off. You may think your whole life is mapped out and it “makes sense”. Be careful, God may ask you to shift gears. He may not, but you certainly don’t want to miss all that He has for you.

“The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs His steps.” Proverbs 16:9

Want to get involved in Bible translation? Click here to see a list of the opportunities that are available.

Sarah

Day 3 - Mugshots

2009-06-29T11:25:00.000-04:00

Uncle Cam

Curious about how Wycliffe was founded? Then let’s start at the very beginning...a very good place to start, don’t you think?

William Cameron Townsend, also known as “Uncle Cam”, was just a young man when he decided to try to spread the gospel by selling Spanish Bibles in the country of Guatemala. But most of the native people that he met didn’t actually understand Spanish. So Townsend began living among the Cakchiquel people who didn’t even have an alphabet for their beautifully complex language. He gave up trying to sell Bibles and settled in to analyzing Cakchiquel and translating the New Testament into it. An astonishing ten years later, Uncle Cam had finished his translation, and his heart was moved for the minority languages of the world that had no access to Scripture in their heart language.

So he began “Camp Wycliffe” (named after the first man to translate the entire English Bible, John Wycliffe) in the summer of 1934 in order to begin training men and women in linguistics. What started as a couple of men “roughing it” in the Ozarks eventually became thousands of men and women all around the world involved in the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), Wycliffe Bible Translators, Wycliffe Associates, The Seed Company, and JAARS.

Uncle Cam had a grand vision for every language on earth being able to have God’s Word accessible to it’s people, and he devoted his entire life to the pursuit of that dream. He was involved in many translations in Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and the former U.S.S.R. But his legacy certainly didn’t stop with only the places that he personally visited. Millions of people around the world have been impacted for eternity through this one man’s vision of how God could use him.

You can read more on Uncle Cam here if you’d like, and we hope that you will be inspired by how God used one seemingly insignificant person to change the world for God’s Kingdom!

Day 2 - Selah

2009-06-28T08:34:00.000-04:00

If you think about it, Sunday is a pretty incredible day. All over the world, people gather together every week to lift up praises to God. Millions of people singing, praying, teaching, learning nonstop somewhere in some part of God's creation at some point in the day. And when you really dwell on it, when you spend time trying to wrap your mind around the whole time-zone continuum thing, you can start to think that we're doing pretty well in our worship as the church. We're doing enough. We're singing enough. Praying enough. Growing enough. At least I start to think that.

But that's the problem. I start to think about the church. I start to think about you. I start to think about me.

The main passage of Scripture that we are drawn to with Connect 8.6.09 is found in Psalm 86. Aha! That's the connection! Psalm 86.09 (or 8.6.09) says:

"All the nations you have made
will come and worship before you, O Lord;
they will bring glory to your name."

Nothing about me. Nothing about you. It's all about HIM. HE made us. HE made us for HIS glory. And we are to come together (ALL the nations) and worship before HIM.

See, the rest of this chapter talks about David crying out to God.

"To You I cry out all day long."
"Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; and give heed to the voice of my supplications!"
"I will call upon You, for You will answer me."

David recognizes that he cannot accomplish on his own what he desperately needs to happen. He knows that God is the only one who can lift him out of his pit. God is "slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth."

The thing that I think is really cool is that David thanks God regardless of his current situation. "I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever." He expects great things from God. So much that he thanks Him BEFOREHAND!

We need to expect great things from our Creator. I mean, look back at your life. Has He ever NOT done great things to show His power and might eventually? Even if we never see the things that He does directly, we can have CONFIDENCE that He is at work. He wants us to be LOOKING for His hand, not because of what we can gain from it (though I know I'VE gained quite a bit), but because He is always working! Let's open our eyes!

Over 200 million people in the world don't even have the option to go to Scripture in their own language to seek out comfort, restoration, and hope.

Will you spend time today praying that God would raise up His people to bring His word to ALL NATIONS so that we can see the vision that David had come to fruition?

Take some time to rest in His faithfulness and perfect will. The pressure is off of US. We can't do anything for His kingdom without first falling at His feet in worship.

Have a great Sunday!

Trevor