Here are a few of the challenges we are facing. I hope they will help you pray for us.
Firstly, it is not a given that a person is skilled in both translation work and adept at using a computer or navigating through a unfamiliar recording program. The verbal skills needed for translation and the technical skills needed for recording do not always go hand-in-hand. There are challenges that the men are facing with the computers they are using and it is keeping me quite stretched and busy trying to solve all the "problems" that arise. I have had more computer problems this time than any other time. (Note: This evening while trying to write this blog post, I've had three different computer related issues to solve.)
Secondly, a challenge that arises from the first is that two of the men have lost large portions, if not all, of their translation work multiple times. Alex has had difficulties with every single session he's work on, and presently he is on session 05. As I write this portion of the blog entry, he is carrying his computer and external disk to me so I can try to retrieve more lost translation work. For anyone who has lost an email, school paper, etc. while working on a computer, it can be very discouraging. I am amazed that Alex, by God's grace, is continuing to persevere. I am thankful for his perseverance and sweet spirit, but at the same time I am not sure how he will be able to complete the Luo translation on time - by October 5th. We desperately need your prayer support for us in this area.
Thirdly, we had one day when the maintenance crew unexpectedly worked on the electricity outside my room while I was editing Edwin's translation. He was sitting next to me as I needed his help to align his translation with Scott's teaching - a common editing task. As we were working, the white box on my computer cord made a loud popping sound followed by a puff of smoke and a nasty smell. Yes, my computer cord was fried. We were able to replace it two days later with a "short" 4 hour trip to the "local" Apple store. We decided to pick up a surge protector on the same shopping trip just in case the maintenance crew worked on the electricity again.
Fourthly, just when I thought we were learning to manage all these challenges - computer questions, lost work, and other difficulties happening throughout the day - Wakshuma arrived from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to translate. It was great to see him, yet the news that his hard drive in his Macbook pro was damaged on his trip here was discouraging. I spent the afternoon trying to locate a place to repair his problem. I would normally turn to Ken Onywoki, the Romans Project (RP) director for Kenya, to help, but he is in Tanzania helping with an RP conference. Tomorrow on my way to the airport (I'm meeting up with Dave Martini and Gary Dozier during a layover as they travel back to the US from ministering in Rwanda with the Romans Project.) I will drop off Wakshuma and his computer at the only place in Nairobi that can fix his problem.
Lastly, Yohannes has been battling some kind of illness that started with symptoms of a head cold - coughing, headache, stuffiness - and progressed last night into being sick to his stomach and experiencing periods of chills and then sweating. Needless to say this has slowed him down in his translation efforts as well.
PLEASE PRAY that God would give us perseverance and joy in the face of all these challenges. I preached to our congregation in Celakovice and to the men here during our Sunday devotional about joy in ministry from Paul's letter to the Philippians. "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" Philippians 4:4
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