Nairobi Translation: Back Home!

I am writing this post to wrap up our first ever Nairobi translation trip. Though we were not able to complete the entire 18 sessions in either Swahili or French, we did make good progress and learned a lot. Joel and Bonheur did a great job translating into their respective languages (Swahili and French). Below is an example of each as they worked on translation. (Joel in the first video and Bonheur in the second.)

Joel was able to complete 11 sessions of the Romans teaching and Bonheur completed 12 sessions. I was able to do the initial editing of all the sessions and then get them sent off to the Romans Project home base at Southwest Bible Church in Beaverton, Oregon. The recordings still need to be further edited - mainly cutting out blank spaces so that the teaching and translations flow smoothly together.

Joel, Bonheur, and I are checking our schedules in hopes of meeting back in Nairobi, or actually Karen, in the next month or two so as to finish the remaining sessions.

PLEASE PRAY that we would be able to find a block of 7 to 8 days in the near future so as to finish this project and then get them loaded onto new mp3 players for those who are working on the Romans Project challenge of reading Romans 20 times and writing it out  once by hand. There are already a number of people in Tanzania awaiting the completed translation of Swahili, so it is important that we finish this as soon as possible.

Thank you for your interest and prayer support of the Romans Project and particularly our translation efforts the past weeks near Nairobi, Kenya.

Nairobi Translation: Nearing the End

We had our last Sunday worship time for this trip together at Ken's church and then an afternoon at the safari.

Joel preached this morning from 1 Samuel 12:24 - "Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you." It was a good three point sermon with a lot of stories to illustrate. I could see the influence of his training at Dallas Theological Seminary, which he finished a few years ago, and his deep roots in the African culture that utilizes lots of stories to communicate a message. Joel was sharing with Bonheur and me yesterday about the influence his mother has had on him with her sharp Bible memory and excellent story telling. Bonheur helped translate for me as Joel preached in Swahili. Bonheur knows at least five languages well, so had no trouble translating for me. Ken and his congregation welcomed us warmly and it was a delight to worship with them.

After church we all piled into Ken's vehicle and headed back to the Subiaco center and had lunch. (Ken's son, David, is pictured with Joel and Bonheur) Then from lunch we went to the safari that Matt, Justin, and I had attempted to go to with Ken during our May Romans Project trip. At that time we had purchased passes for the Nairobi National Safari, but then we were denied entrance because the Chinese prime minister was visiting and no one else was supposed to enter the park. Ken, however, managed to get us in a side entrance, but military guards kept us contained in one small section riding around in circles seeing the same animals all afternoon.

This time it was completely different. The park had given us vouchers to be used by the end of the calendar year, so Ken and I decided to take Joel and Bonheur along with his three kids and niece. I thought of Matt and Justin the whole time as we saw numerous animals: baboons, zebras, gazelles, giraffes, ostriches, hippos, antelope, and much more. Ken had really hoped to show us a lion, so we scoured the huge park in search of a lion, but didn't find them in their usual places. Just as it had gotten dark enough to turn on our lights and as we were only a few miles from the exit gate, we finally came upon a lion in the road. It walked in front of us a ways and then sat on the side of the dirt road just 10 feet from the vehicle as we passed by. It was quite the thrill to see.

The perseverance with which we pursued our goal of seeing a lion this afternoon illustrated for me the perseverance that Joel and Bonheur have exemplified in their translation efforts this past week and a half. I thank God for these men and their diligence to present themselves as living, holy, and acceptable sacrifices to God in their translation efforts. Tomorrow is our last full day of work and both have their sights set on completing one more session. Bonheur hopes to finish session 12 and Joel session 11.

PLEASE PRAY that God would grant them grace to work well throughout the day.

Tuesday morning we leave to go back to our respective countries. Bonheur and I  leave for the airport at 5am and Joel leaves on a bus later in the morning.

PLEASE PRAY that God watches over us during our travels and that we make our destinations safely.

PRAY also that God would allow us another block of time in the near future to finish the remaining sessions of translations.

Nairobi Translation: A Typical Day

The delay in getting an update out should give you some idea of what a "typical day" entails. We are working from morning until almost midnight most days with breaks just for meals.

We meet for breakfast at 7:30am and enjoy a meal of cornflakes and something similar to shredded wheat biscuits. There is warm milk to pour over it which quickly turns into a warm, soggy mush. The milk is local - i.e. on the property of the Subiaco retreat center where we are staying. As you can see by the picture below, they grow their own produce. The overall property is much bigger than this and has livestock and other garden areas. The dirt is a rich red color and reminds me of the soil in the state of Georgia. Anyway, back to breakfast. Joel and Bonheur also fix toast to go with a hard boiled egg. And then there's coffee, tea, or hot chocolate with the fresh warm milk.

We head off to translate (or edit, in my case) from 8:30am until lunch at 1:00pm. Joel and I have two rooms in the wooden house and Bonheur has moved from his room in the small stone building to a small sitting room in the main building. We took four thick blankets from the room I sleep in and hung them over the windows to dampen the outside noises. The students left several days ago and thus the whole place has been quieter.

Several times an hour Joel has translation questions for me that I can assist him with immediately since we are in the same location. Then every hour or so I go over to the main building to check on Bonheur and he usually has written down several questions for me to address all at once. In the midst of answering translation questions, I work on editing their previous translation sessions. The computer I'm using is still going extremely slow, but I'm thankful that the one's they are using have not had problems. Once I finish editing a session, I then have them make corrections. At first, Bonheur didn't understand that when Scott gave a longer passage to be read that he was supposed to read it on the recording. So those had to be fixed for the first three sessions. On occasion both of  them will overlook a phrase or sentence to translate. Often it has been one that gave them problems and then they never went back to it. I also edit out noises that appear in the translators' track (such as dogs barking, planes flying overhead, etc.) especially when it overlaps with Scott talking. If they are not edited out at this point, then they get all meshed together in the final version. Spacing of when Scott finishes a phrase and when Joel or Bonheur being is another common thing to listen for.

 At one o'clock we meet up for lunch. It is a joy to hear Joel and Bonheur sharing back and forth what they are learning from Romans as they translate. This is exactly what I have been praying for them and I'm sure you have as well. Thank you! They also have fun with some of the words or phrases that Scott repeats from Romans such as: "Me genoito" for "God forbid", or "doreon" for "freely", and the phrase "But now". Other things that have caught their attention are concepts like: "coming unglued", "bookends", and others. Short rests after lunch on the lawn are enjoyed while I go and transfer files from their computers to the one I'm using for editing.

Dinner is at 7pm when we take another hour for our meal. The food is set out in a self-serve manner. One of the things that Bonheur particularly enjoys at lunch or dinner is the fresh juice they have - mango, papaya, banana, avocado, etc. Again, I think they are all grown here at the center. We often have bananas, mangos, or pineapple as a fruit for one of the meals and a salad of sorts for the other. I try to watch what I eat in the salad selection so as not to get sick. Joel's weakness is for the hot pepper sauce they have on the tables. He puts it on most everything. One night he didn't see the bottle of pepper sauce so used a shaker filled with cayenne pepper and won't soon forget that experience. They also have filtered water in pitchers on each of the tables.

After dinner we head back to our work until around 10pm for Bonheur and 11pm for Joel and me. After we get back to the main building where there is Internet access, I check my email and write Cathryn and, if I have the energy, I post a new blog.

Presently, Bonheur has finished translating session 10 of 18 and Joel completed session 9 before dinner and started in on session 10 after dinner. I caught up with them on editing this afternoon, so was able to prepare this post. We are grateful to the Lord for your prayers.

PLEASE PRAY that Bonheur and Joel would have stamina to continue. Joel has mentioned a few times that he can't imagine doing all 18 session in one block of time. It is really hard work and mentally draining. Pray that God would grant them good rest each night and that our fellowship around the table would also encourage them and bring renewed energy for translation.