He Ain't Speakin' English Very Good!

Yes, the above statement would be enough to make any grammarian wince, or even anyone who has passed an American grade school English class! You might assume that linguists would be equally shocked, since they spend their lives studying language, but actually that's not necessarily the case (except that we can safely assume that American, English-speaking linguists passed their grade school grammar classes too, so maybe they would be a little bit shocked!!).

You see, there is a big difference between linguistics and the grammar classes you had to take in grade school. Typical American English grammar classes are basically there to tell you how English should be spoken. So, if you happened to voice the "shocking" statement above in front of your English teacher, he would immediately tell you that "proper" English demands that you say "isn't" instead of "ain't", "speaking" instead of "speakin' ", and "well" instead of "good". And if you want to be able to speak appropriately in educated society (not to mention get a good grade in your English class!), you had better listen to your teacher!

But linguistics is quite another type of study. Linguistics is not the study of how language should be, but how language is. So, for example, a linguist who heard that same "shocking" statement would not make it his goal to correct the speaker, but to find out how, why, when, and where some English speakers say "ain't" and "speakin' ", and use "good" as an adverb.

So while linguistics research may not help the speaker to know how to use his own language appropriately (which is one reason why linguistics isn't normally taught in grade school!), it does help to understand how languages work, which is useful for a variety of different fields, such as teaching foreign languages, developing alphabets for unwritten languages, speech therapy, and of course, translation! When we have a better understand of how Greek and Hebrew work, how the receptor language* works, and how languages in general work, we can more effectively translate the Word of God into the languages that so desperately need it. That is why I need to spend next summer studying linguistics! Someone asked me this morning what classes I'll be taking at BJU. Good question! And for those others who have wondered the same thing, here they are:

• Language Learning (how to make the most of language school, how to learn a language with or without available grammars and language teachers)
• Phonetics and Phonology (how humans use sounds to form words)
• Grammar in Use (no, not your grade-school grammar class!! This is how and why speakers use language the way they do)
• Field Methods and Literacy (how to use linguistics on the field, how to make reading primers and teach people to read)
• Bible Translation (translation philosophy, methodology, and principles)

Each of these classes is worth two or three credits, so it adds up to 12 credits of class work.

* The receptor language is the language into which the Bible is being translated at a given time.

October Prayer Letter

Dear Prayer Supporters,

Just before the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, the Lord told them to get ready to see the Lord at work in their lives (Joshua 3:5). After God had worked miraculously and brought all the Israelites across the river, they were to always remember what God had done for them that day (Joshua 4:5-7). So in this prayer letter, I’m looking back at what God has done recently, and looking ahead to what He is going to do in the future.

LOOKING BACK

After I left Michigan at the end of August, I spent several weeks in northern Illinois and Indiana presenting my ministry in several churches. Praise the Lord for another month of good meetings. At one church in northern Indiana, I had a special blessing. My car was due for an oil change and was showing several dashboard lights that I wanted to have checked out. I happened to mention this during a dinner conversation, and was surprised to find that I would be staying with a mechanic and his wife the next evening! He graciously changed the oil for me and checked out the dashboard lights, and gave my car a clean bill of health before I headed home! When my car needs work while I’m traveling, I’m not always able to find a mechanic that I know I can trust, so this was a real blessing.

Praise the Lord that two new churches have taken me on for support this past month! I’m now at about 38% of my total need. I am still praying that I will be able to attend Launch Seminar in January (a necessary step before I can be cleared for the field). I still need 22% of my support in order to attend. Thanks for your continued prayers on this matter.

LOOKING AHEAD

On October 10, I will hit the deputation trail again with a busy schedule of meetings this fall. I have 5 missions conferences and 4 regular deputation meetings in through the first week of December. Please pray for the Lord’s blessing on each of these meetings, especially the missions conferences, since they are particularly important times for both the churches and the missionary guests.

Although it continues to be difficult to schedule meetings during these times of economic difficulties, the Lord is providing meetings. I have 16 meetings confirmed (and 1 tentative) for next year, and I even have three scheduled for March of 2011 (even though I hope to be on the field by then)! Please continue to pray that the Lord will prepare the hearts of the churches that I contact.

As I mentioned in a recent prayer letter, I am planning to spend the summer of 2010 at Bob Jones University, studying linguistics courses to better prepare me for Bible translation ministry. I’ve already felt somewhat hampered in my ministry without the formal linguistics training, so I’m eager for these studies. I plan to start the application process soon. The total amount of tuition for the 12 credits of graduate study that I need is about $4,600 US. Please pray for wisdom as I apply and plan for these classes.

Thank you all for your faithful prayers and financial support!

In Christ's Service,
Anna Beth Wivell

Praise Items:
1. Good meetings this month;
2. A busy schedule of meetings this fall;
3. Two new supporting churches this month – my support is at 38%.
Prayer Requests:
1. For God’s blessing on meetings this fall;
2. That God will prepare the hearts of the churches I contact;
3. Continued provision of financial needs.

Mission Address:
Baptist Mid-Missions
Box 308011
Cleveland, OH 308011
www.bmm.org

Happy 28th!

Thanks to all who remembered my 28th birthday with cards, letters, and e-cards! 28 isn't exactly a landmark birthday, but I had a good day. To celebrate, I took a day off from calling pastors (definitely a treat!), took myself out to eat (at a sit-down restaurant instead of my usual fast food or sandwich place), and enjoyed a couple of birthday gifts from my parents - a book about Chad and the first copy of a year's subscription to Answers magazine.

On the deputation side of things, things are gearing up for a busy fall season. I've found that August through November tends to be the best time of the year to schedule deputation meetings, since most churches and pastors are starting to make serious plans about the following year's calendar and budget. Pray that God will prepare the hearts of the churches which I contact, and that He will lead me to the churches that will be able to partner with me in the ministry. Praise Him that my calendar is filling up, with 16 meetings (and 1 tentative) set up for next year. I even have two meetings scheduled in 2011!

In the more immediate future, I have 9 meetings remaining for this year from October 11 through December 6, including five missions conferences. Please pray for God's blessing on these meetings, especially the conferences.

More New Support!

I guess I should have checked my account at BMM before I wrote that last post. I just discovered yet another new supporter - my second supporting church in the state of Iowa. I'm at nearly 38% (unofficially)! PTL!

Updates and Praises

It's been a little while since I've posted a personal update on my blog. So it's about time I told you all what's been happening!

I had three good meetings this month in northern Illinois and Indiana. At one church, I happened to comment over the dinner table that my car was showing some lights on the dashboard indicating that it needed some attention from a mechanic, and it was also due for an oil change. Usually when this happens while I'm traveling, I just have to pick a mechanic more or less at random and pray that they are honest and capable. But this time, my hosts that Sunday night were a mechanic and his wife! So before I left on Monday morning, they changed the oil and checked out the dashboard lights, and sent me home with the pronouncement that I have a healthy car! Praise the Lord for working that out for me!

I also praise the Lord that I've gained more support this month, bringing my support level up to 35%. I now have 3 supporting churches in southern Illinois! God's timing was actually really neat. I have realized recently that I really need to set up a landline in my unit at Shepherd's Bethel. Cell phone reception is not very good from here, and I often have to go outside in order to get a good enough signal to have a coherent conversation - which is okay at the moment since it is nice outside, but won't be very practical once winter sets in! A landline would make it much more feasible to keep up with my deputation phone calls as the weather gets colder. So I started praying that the Lord would provide more support soon so that I would be able to afford the extra expense. And I'd only been praying about that for a short time - no more than a week or two - when I learned of this new support, which is enough to cover the extra expense! So I've made arrangements and am now just waiting for the phone company to turn it on. Soon I'll be able to make my deputation phone calls even in bad weather!

If you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember that as soon as my school loans from Faith were paid off, I started planning my finances for a series of linguistics courses (about a semester's worth of classes) that I need to take next summer at Bob Jones University in South Carolina. After a discussion with some of the consultants at BI, it has been determined that there is one class that I don't need to take, which cuts the tuition amount that I need down to about $4,600. That does help at bit, but please keep praying that God will provide for this need.

How large are the language groups you are working with?

I used to think that a language spoken by a tribal group meant, say, a few hundred people in a handful of villages. And you might assume that so much translation work has been completed that tiny language groups like this are all that are left. Well, let's have a look at what the figures are actually saying...

Africa contains about 30% of all the world's languages, around 1800 different languages. The most recent figures I have seen say that only about 170 of those languages have a complete Bible translation - less than one-tenth of the languages in Africa. Now, it is true that this one-tenth includes some very major languages in Africa, such as Swahili. But it is not true that only tiny language groups are remaining, or that the need is not still very great. There are still many quite major language groups that are in need of a Bible translation.

Although getting an accurate census of the population for each group can be difficult, the following statistics may give you an idea. These figures are just for the language groups that we are working with on the continent of Africa:

• The smallest African language groups we are currently working with have about 30,000 speakers.
• The largest African language group that we are working with is estimated to have at least 2-3 million speakers, and some say as high as 6 million. Three others of our language groups also have estimated populations that reach as high as 7 digits.
  
• Using the most conservative figures, the average size of the African language groups we are working with is over 450,000 speakers.
• Again, using the most conservative figures, our current translation projects in Africa will provide Bibles for a total of over 7.2 million people (using the highest figures would bring the total number as high as 14 million people).

Our motto at Bibles International is "Millions Still Wait", and as you can see, it is still a very accurate statement!

Views of Consultant Seminar

Here's a few photos, to give you a taste of what we experienced together at the BI headquarters in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for 6 full working days.

This was our group. From left to right: Sana Singh, Joshua Hedges, Alex Wheeler, Tom Reynolds, Glenn Kerr, Connie Champeon, Birch Champeon, Troy Manning, Anna Beth Wivell, Kim Hibbard, Cathy Hodsdon, Hantz Bernard, Ross Hodsdon, Debbie King, Leigha Reed, and Susanna Smith. Most are consultants, and all but one have done at least some work for BI.

This is what we spend most of our time doing -- sitting in sessions, working together and discussing various issues. Here, Connie Champeon is giving a presentation on linguistics.

What did we do when we weren't in meetings? How's this for a consultant's view of a social life -- working in the same room together with computers everywhere! And this was photo was only half of the room!! Actually we didn't do this every evening, but we did have our moments when it was like this!

Okay, so we did have some "normal" moments as well. We have a picnic together every year on an evening during consultant seminar. We really enjoy having a good time together and letting our hair down a bit after several days of hard work. This is Bob Thompson, taking a break from his usually extremely busy ministry as head of the Projects Department to grill some hot dogs and hamburgers for all of us.

At the picnic, translation consultant Sana Singh got a chance to show off his storytelling skills. There was just one catch: he had to make his story match with the interesting noises that the sound effects crew was making behind him. The results were most entertaining!

The next day, it was back to the BI headquarters and back to work. But we did take occasional (short!) breaks for refreshments or prayer time.

What I can't show you through these photos is how much we were able to accomplish during this important time, the good spirit among our team, and the blessed fellowship we enjoyed together. May the Lord continue to bless our ministry!