Ken Onywoki is the Romans Project National Director for Kenya. He is a hard worker for the Romans Project and compassionate pastor at his church in the Kibera slums. God has used Ken and his regional coordinators to expose several thousand pastors and church workers to the Romans Project this year - many of those being in western Kenya. During our May trip Ken took Rick Calenberg, Matt Miranda, and me (see past posts) to that region where we had a day seminar for over 1,000 church leaders. It was the first time I ever taught the Bible under an enormous avocado tree. Well tomorrow there will be no avocado tree in Kibera that I remember, but there should be a church filled with hungry people for God's Word. I plan to preach from John 2:1-11, the wedding at Cana and Jesus' first sign - turning water into wine.
PLEASE PRAY that God would enable me to preach in a clear, straightforward manner that exalts Christ as our Bridegroom and his work on the cross as the perfect provision for the cleansing of His Bride, the Church.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
From Place to Place: Day 2
We're on our second day of translation work and in our second location. Each day it has taken a lot of prayer and perseverance to first communicate the need and then secure a satisfactory setting for translation. Subacio is a Catholic retreat center in Karen on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. It is known as a place of quiet for meditation and prayer. While most talk in quiet tones, yet the things that create havoc for recording are cars and trucks passing just meters from the main building, doors squeaking and slamming when opening and closing, guard dogs barking at night, and 23 coed college students from the Netherlands unacquainted and unconvinced about the desire for quiet -- especially upon arrival at 1 a.m.
Oh, the challenges of a project like this!
PLEASE PRAY that God would provide the right set up each day to carry out this mission of translating Scott Gilchrist's (senior pastor at Southwest Bible Church, Beaverton, Oregon) 18 sessions of teaching through the New Testament book of Romans into French and Swahili.
The following pictures show Bonheur and where he was translating today.
The following pictures show Joel and where he was translating today.
Oh, the challenges of a project like this!
PLEASE PRAY that God would provide the right set up each day to carry out this mission of translating Scott Gilchrist's (senior pastor at Southwest Bible Church, Beaverton, Oregon) 18 sessions of teaching through the New Testament book of Romans into French and Swahili.
The following pictures show Bonheur and where he was translating today.
The following pictures show Joel and where he was translating today.
Translation Work: Day 1
We are three. Bonheur from Rwanda, Joel from Tanzania, and I - the new kid on the continent.
I arrived late last night and nearly had an uneventful flight from Czech to Nairobi. In the Nairobi airport they take your temperature and mine was in the "red". It was projected up on a screen, so was no secret to all in line behind me that something wasn't right. I failed the test five times in a row waiting 5 minutes between tries. Then I had to fill out a long form with contact information in the case of a "complication". One question asked if I had been in the dreaded "E-zone". No, I hadn't been to Liberia and it's neighboring countries in the past 21 days. In the end, it seems that my medicine against malaria was the culprit. At least there were no bells and whistles. I met with Ken Onywoki on the other side of the visa desk and check out line. We enjoyed fellowship on the drive to the retreat center where we will be working on translating Scott Gilchrist's Romans talks from Ethiopia in May, 2014.
Bonheur arrived by plane earlier in the morning and Joel arrived today, Friday, just before lunch from his overnight bus ride from Tanzania. I started Bonheur out with translation while Joel freshened up from his night sleep on the bus - yes, he can sleep anywhere and through anything. We all met up for lunch and then tried to find suitable places for them to work the rest of the day on translating.
Expectations of the translation process are constantly being adjusted. I expected there to be a period of getting used to the recording program and Scott's teaching style, but I didn't think it would take the better part of a day. The initial goal was to translate 2 sessions a day for 9 days to cover all 18 sessions on this trip. By 10 pm tonight Bonheur was able to complete session 1, after having lost half of his work around 7 pm. Joel is taking a little longer with things, but is a determined learner. They are both hard workers and conscientious to offer their best to the Lord. We have come to realize that there is a difference between interpreting live at a conference and listening to recorded messages and translating.
PLEASE PRAY that God would use the teaching of Romans in their own lives while they diligently work to translate these rich truths into French (Bonheur) and Swahili (Joel).
I arrived late last night and nearly had an uneventful flight from Czech to Nairobi. In the Nairobi airport they take your temperature and mine was in the "red". It was projected up on a screen, so was no secret to all in line behind me that something wasn't right. I failed the test five times in a row waiting 5 minutes between tries. Then I had to fill out a long form with contact information in the case of a "complication". One question asked if I had been in the dreaded "E-zone". No, I hadn't been to Liberia and it's neighboring countries in the past 21 days. In the end, it seems that my medicine against malaria was the culprit. At least there were no bells and whistles. I met with Ken Onywoki on the other side of the visa desk and check out line. We enjoyed fellowship on the drive to the retreat center where we will be working on translating Scott Gilchrist's Romans talks from Ethiopia in May, 2014.
Bonheur arrived by plane earlier in the morning and Joel arrived today, Friday, just before lunch from his overnight bus ride from Tanzania. I started Bonheur out with translation while Joel freshened up from his night sleep on the bus - yes, he can sleep anywhere and through anything. We all met up for lunch and then tried to find suitable places for them to work the rest of the day on translating.
Expectations of the translation process are constantly being adjusted. I expected there to be a period of getting used to the recording program and Scott's teaching style, but I didn't think it would take the better part of a day. The initial goal was to translate 2 sessions a day for 9 days to cover all 18 sessions on this trip. By 10 pm tonight Bonheur was able to complete session 1, after having lost half of his work around 7 pm. Joel is taking a little longer with things, but is a determined learner. They are both hard workers and conscientious to offer their best to the Lord. We have come to realize that there is a difference between interpreting live at a conference and listening to recorded messages and translating.
PLEASE PRAY that God would use the teaching of Romans in their own lives while they diligently work to translate these rich truths into French (Bonheur) and Swahili (Joel).
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Back to Africa: Nairobi Translation Trip
Preparations - Preparations - and Packing!
The past two weeks I've logged untold hours editing the Romans talks from Scott's teaching in Ethiopia during our May conference. There was a need to clean up the English track by deleting the other language that Scott's mic picked up during the conference. It took 4+ hours to clean up each session and their were 18 sessions. But now, by God's grace, I'm able to head off to Nairobi, Kenya early tomorrow morning to meet up with Bonheur from Rwanda and Joel from Tanzania who will be translating the Romans talks into French and Swahili respectively.
I packed all day and Cathryn treated me to an early Thanksgiving meal for two. Now for a few hours of sleep before she takes me out to the airport. I should arrive in Nairobi tomorrow (Thursday 27 Nov) in the evening. Ken Onywoki, RP's Kenyan National Director, will pick me up from the airport and take me to a retreat center where the other men and I will work until Dec 9th on recording and editing the two languages. We appreciate all the prayer support you can provide us with.
The past two weeks I've logged untold hours editing the Romans talks from Scott's teaching in Ethiopia during our May conference. There was a need to clean up the English track by deleting the other language that Scott's mic picked up during the conference. It took 4+ hours to clean up each session and their were 18 sessions. But now, by God's grace, I'm able to head off to Nairobi, Kenya early tomorrow morning to meet up with Bonheur from Rwanda and Joel from Tanzania who will be translating the Romans talks into French and Swahili respectively.
I packed all day and Cathryn treated me to an early Thanksgiving meal for two. Now for a few hours of sleep before she takes me out to the airport. I should arrive in Nairobi tomorrow (Thursday 27 Nov) in the evening. Ken Onywoki, RP's Kenyan National Director, will pick me up from the airport and take me to a retreat center where the other men and I will work until Dec 9th on recording and editing the two languages. We appreciate all the prayer support you can provide us with.
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