Inaugural Blog Post
Hello, friends!
This is my inaugural blog post: my first blog experience ever. I can hardly believe that I am venturing into the blogosphere, as it was never my aim to do so; the word "blog" sounds unappealing to me, like a mix between blur and fog, blah and sog, and besides, it just seems so "trendy"! However, we have waited so long to jump on the blog bandwagon that blogging is practically a centuries-old tradition now (in techno-years, that is); no one can accuse us of being faddish. :)
So why the blog? We decided that for sanity's sake, it is time to allow a blog to replace our e-mail list. Each time I've had to change computers for any reason, I have lost my e-mail address lists, and they are difficult to reconstruct! You can subscribe to receive any new updates to this blog via e-mail, and you can unsubscribe at any time. I hope that this will be a convenient way for you to follow what's happening in our lives in Papua New Guinea!
Some historical review:
We've been with Wycliffe Bible Translators since 2000, and assigned to Papua New Guinea since December 2002. We were first assigned to work in music, literacy, and Scripture use in the Alamblak language group, where we served from 2003-2006. We networked with area churches to assess needs, teaching church leaders, helping Alamblak men and women to write Christian songs in their own language and styles, seeking to increase reading fluency and literacy levels. We facilitated a variety of workshops and projects to reach these ends. In addition, Neil was involved in assessing the trends in music and language endangerment in the area.
When we returned to the U.S. in 2006-2007 (this return period has traditionally been called a "furlough" year), we enjoyed traveling around the country and updating our partner churches on the exciting work in Papua New Guinea. During that furlough, we also added a third son to the family (we now have James, 10; Cameron, 7; and Will, 4) and a new title to Neil's name (Ph.D.). Needless to say, it was a full year!
We returned to Papua New Guinea in December 2007, and Neil took on the role of Arts Consultant, based in Ukarumpa (our organization's center for training and language work in the Highlands of PNG) and traveling to various towns, cities, and remote villages where he was invited to conduct research, teach songwriting workshops, and encourage indigenous hymnody. His work has been a unique mix of teaching, research, discipleship, encouragement, networking, recording, transcribing, documentation, academic writing . . . with the added adventure of travel by foot, truck, boat, and plane over some of the most unstable terrain on Earth! We have so many exciting stories from the past four years of music workshops in PNG. . . .
I am a high school English teacher by profession, and we found out upon our return to PNG that the international school in Ukarumpa was in desperate need of an experienced English teacher who could teach Advanced Placement English. The principal called me a week after we arrived back in the country, asking me to take over the class mid-year (they'd been trying distance-learning, and it wasn't working). Will was 3 months old at the time, and I hadn't been planning to go back to classroom teaching until he was in school, but I said yes and have loved almost every minute of teaching at Ukarumpa International School for the past four years! After that first semester, I took on a few more classes over the years, as needed. American Lit 11, Honors English 11, and British Lit 12 are other classes I taught over the course of our second 4-year term in PNG. I love teaching the kids at Ukarumpa, and I highly recommend it to any of you teachers out there who are feeling called to support the work of Bible translation in an immensely practical way!
One of the big questions we've heard during this furlough year is: Will you be going back to the same jobs you've been doing for the past 4 years? The short answer is, yes, but with some added roles upon our return. Neil has been asked to be the Director of Language Services, overseeing the department that includes his section (Ethnomusicology & the Arts) as well as Translation, Linguistics, Anthropology, Literacy, and others. Administrative roles such as this position are usually held for a few years at a time in our organization; we don't know how long he will fill the role, but Neil is looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities. And he will continue to respond to invitations for music work around the country, though we don't expect that he will be able to respond to as many requests each year while he is overseeing the Language Services department.
I, too, have been asked to take on a new role in addition to teaching at the high school. My new position has a big name--"Chief Member Communication Consultant"--but it will be a part-time job. It boils down to editing (newsletters and official branch communications) and teaching (others to edit newsletters and other forms of communication). Neil and I will be traveling to Wycliffe's headquarters in Orlando for a few days this May in order to take some training for our new roles.
Do you have a question about us, our family, life, or work in PNG? Please ask, and if possible, we'll answer it on this blog. You can post a comment, or e-mail me directly at this address. Thank you for your interest in our family and our work!
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17, (ESV)
This is my inaugural blog post: my first blog experience ever. I can hardly believe that I am venturing into the blogosphere, as it was never my aim to do so; the word "blog" sounds unappealing to me, like a mix between blur and fog, blah and sog, and besides, it just seems so "trendy"! However, we have waited so long to jump on the blog bandwagon that blogging is practically a centuries-old tradition now (in techno-years, that is); no one can accuse us of being faddish. :)
So why the blog? We decided that for sanity's sake, it is time to allow a blog to replace our e-mail list. Each time I've had to change computers for any reason, I have lost my e-mail address lists, and they are difficult to reconstruct! You can subscribe to receive any new updates to this blog via e-mail, and you can unsubscribe at any time. I hope that this will be a convenient way for you to follow what's happening in our lives in Papua New Guinea!
Some historical review:
We've been with Wycliffe Bible Translators since 2000, and assigned to Papua New Guinea since December 2002. We were first assigned to work in music, literacy, and Scripture use in the Alamblak language group, where we served from 2003-2006. We networked with area churches to assess needs, teaching church leaders, helping Alamblak men and women to write Christian songs in their own language and styles, seeking to increase reading fluency and literacy levels. We facilitated a variety of workshops and projects to reach these ends. In addition, Neil was involved in assessing the trends in music and language endangerment in the area.
When we returned to the U.S. in 2006-2007 (this return period has traditionally been called a "furlough" year), we enjoyed traveling around the country and updating our partner churches on the exciting work in Papua New Guinea. During that furlough, we also added a third son to the family (we now have James, 10; Cameron, 7; and Will, 4) and a new title to Neil's name (Ph.D.). Needless to say, it was a full year!
We returned to Papua New Guinea in December 2007, and Neil took on the role of Arts Consultant, based in Ukarumpa (our organization's center for training and language work in the Highlands of PNG) and traveling to various towns, cities, and remote villages where he was invited to conduct research, teach songwriting workshops, and encourage indigenous hymnody. His work has been a unique mix of teaching, research, discipleship, encouragement, networking, recording, transcribing, documentation, academic writing . . . with the added adventure of travel by foot, truck, boat, and plane over some of the most unstable terrain on Earth! We have so many exciting stories from the past four years of music workshops in PNG. . . .
I am a high school English teacher by profession, and we found out upon our return to PNG that the international school in Ukarumpa was in desperate need of an experienced English teacher who could teach Advanced Placement English. The principal called me a week after we arrived back in the country, asking me to take over the class mid-year (they'd been trying distance-learning, and it wasn't working). Will was 3 months old at the time, and I hadn't been planning to go back to classroom teaching until he was in school, but I said yes and have loved almost every minute of teaching at Ukarumpa International School for the past four years! After that first semester, I took on a few more classes over the years, as needed. American Lit 11, Honors English 11, and British Lit 12 are other classes I taught over the course of our second 4-year term in PNG. I love teaching the kids at Ukarumpa, and I highly recommend it to any of you teachers out there who are feeling called to support the work of Bible translation in an immensely practical way!
One of the big questions we've heard during this furlough year is: Will you be going back to the same jobs you've been doing for the past 4 years? The short answer is, yes, but with some added roles upon our return. Neil has been asked to be the Director of Language Services, overseeing the department that includes his section (Ethnomusicology & the Arts) as well as Translation, Linguistics, Anthropology, Literacy, and others. Administrative roles such as this position are usually held for a few years at a time in our organization; we don't know how long he will fill the role, but Neil is looking forward to the new challenges and opportunities. And he will continue to respond to invitations for music work around the country, though we don't expect that he will be able to respond to as many requests each year while he is overseeing the Language Services department.
I, too, have been asked to take on a new role in addition to teaching at the high school. My new position has a big name--"Chief Member Communication Consultant"--but it will be a part-time job. It boils down to editing (newsletters and official branch communications) and teaching (others to edit newsletters and other forms of communication). Neil and I will be traveling to Wycliffe's headquarters in Orlando for a few days this May in order to take some training for our new roles.
Do you have a question about us, our family, life, or work in PNG? Please ask, and if possible, we'll answer it on this blog. You can post a comment, or e-mail me directly at this address. Thank you for your interest in our family and our work!
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17, (ESV)
Comments
Post a Comment