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January, 2012

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you many glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6

Romans 15:5-6 reminds me of the importance of unity this year. Family unity and unity among colleagues at work are ever so important, especially among Christians as that is one way we glorify God! I have been continually blessed by the unity displayed within the Translation Department that I head, the translation consultants whom we work closely with, and my fellow Entebbe office staff. When people are working together in unity the work gets done and God is glorified!

Grace, Ella and Frankie, in front of their underconstruction home, near Entebbe, Uganda

There has, however, been an underlying division between the Uganda translation and literacy and Scripture Use departments for many years. It is encouraging to be involved in beginning efforts to see these departments brought back together and working in unity again! Although a tremendous amount of work, it is a goal that ultimately will bring more glory to God. November was a busy month at work, which made up for December when everything slows down in anticipation and preparation for the holidays The beginning of November two new translators with the Bwisi project came to Entebbe and received basic computer and Paratext training. They will start translating Genesis this year while the senior translators translate the Gospel of John, thereby completing the last book of the Bwisi New Testament! Next there was a two week consultant check of the Old Testament book of Jonah and Luke chapters 1, 2, 9,10, 16 and 17 in the Kwamba language. At the end of November Bible Translation Basics 2 was piloted in Entebbe with four translators from two of our projects and one of our consultants attending. Seven participants from the Anglican West Nile Diocese, representing three different languages from the north of Uganda, were also invited to attend. SIL Africa Area, of which our branch is a part, asked to pilot the course in Uganda before translating it into French and teaching it in West Africa later this year.

The last to hear

In November I was able to attend the dedication of 32 chronological Bible Stories into Uganda Sign Language, work that is being done by DOOR International, a ministry for the Deaf. This was one of the most moving and convicting Scripture dedications that I have ever been to, as Deaf Ugandans a largely forgotten about people and language group- received completed Bible stories in Uganda Sign via video, for the first time. There are an estimated 700,000 Deaf in Uganda, who are largely unreached because of the inadequacy of English, Luganda, Swahili and other Bibles to reach this particular language group. DOOR has completed Phase 1 out of 3 of their goal to translate 112 Bible A Deaf man receives a Scripture DVD stories. The focus of these stories are on evangelism, discipleship and believers fellowship, but DOOR has no intentions of completing the entire New Testament. As a result of this experience and subsequent talks with those who are actively involved in the DOOR translation, I approached our Uganda-Tanzania Branch Director about the possibility of adding Uganda Sign to Ugandas New Testament translation projects, after DOOR is finished with Phase 3 of their work. I was amazed and encouraged by her positive and encouraging response! The possibility of working with this people group in the future is an exciting one. John Drafting Workshop and Introductory Course in Translation Principles This month the translation department is running two courses simultaneously a drafting workshop on the Gospel of John, and an Introductory Course in Translation Principles (ICTP) for our newer and less experienced translators. The John drafting workshop is being led by consultants from the U.S and is being attended by four of our six Uganda translation teams and one from Tanzania. During this workshop participants will be doing exegesis and drafting the Gospel of John together, as well as the Uganda consultants receiving further mentoring in facilitating a drafting workshop. Several Consultants in Training will also be coming from Tanzania. It is the first time that the Uganda Translation Department has been able to invite our Tanzanian colleagues to a workshop like this and we hope that this will become a trend! The ICTP is being facilitated by our three Uganda consultants, who have tailored the course in such a way as to have the Consultants in Training and each of the more experienced translators who are attending the John drafting workshop teach a topic in the course. Our Uganda consultants have the unique opportunity to have had long working relationships with most of the participants, thereby being able to tailor the training to fit the participants individual strengths and weaknesses. This is just one of the added benefits to having home grown consultants who each began, and helped to start, one of the translation projects and have also done extensive consultant checking with them.
Grace_Halland@sil.org http://bridgerandsanyu.blogspot.com P.O Box 750 Entebbe, Uganda

Happy Holidays for the Hallands

Our family really enjoyed the holidays this year. Our office is always closed the week after Christmas, so we were able to have a lot of good family time, going to the zoo, swimming, playing at home and doing crafts (!) together. We had a wonderful Christmas at home together in Entebbe, attending an awesome church service and going out to eat together. It is so easy to put children on the back burner of life and this was a great time to just focus on and enjoy our family.

What a find!

Ready to play!

While out on a Pack Walk one evening we came across three tiny, two week old calico kittens abandoned alongside the road. Knowing they would die if they were left, we bundled them up and brought them home, thereby beginning four weeks of bottle raising kittens! Surprisingly they all lived, thanks in part to the TLC they received from our little dog, Madea. Thankfully we have been able to find homes for two, will keep the third, and my days of taking a crate full of kittens to work with me every day are over!

Tickets booked to the U.S.A!!!

We have booked and bought our tickets to the States this year! We will be arriving April 23rd and departing September 11th staying for almost five months! I am looking forward to our time in the States with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Im looking forward to seeing family and friends and enjoying all the American activities and food , but am feeling anxiety about speaking events, coordinating them, and what I will talk about. Im also starting to miss my dog Pack, and we havent even left! One of the challenges of having homes on two different continents is that you cant be both places at once!

A change of plans

Ella and another kitten she found

Frankie and Ranger with a kitten Grace_Halland@sil.org

Due to financial factors, I have decided to complete the kids adoptions this October, after weve gotten back from furlough. That way we are assured that both adoptions will be completed and save on attorney fees. In addition to attorney fees, tourist visas are also far less expensive than immigration visas and are what we can more easily afford right now. I am at peace with this turn of events and grateful that it does not affect our furlough in any way.
P.O Box 750 Entebbe, Uganda

http://bridgerandsanyu.blogspot.com

Construction Progress!
Happily, we saw some progress on the construction project of our house in part of November and December. This was a huge encouragement as prior to that construction had almost been at a standstill! Because of the continued delays and the rent that has incurred waiting for the houses completion, we will not be able to afford to have the house completely finished before we move in. It is quite common here in Uganda to wait and finish the extra bits and pieces later on, after youve moved in.

Prayer Requests

Please pray that we can move into our house in March (or earlier!) so that we can have a month or more to settle in before leaving for the States. Pray for those of us working together in the Uganda Language Programs Department as we begin the process of uniting the translation and literacy and Scripture Use teams again. I am blessed to be working alongside my good friend, Prossy, and it is encouraging to think about the possibilities that could result from the language projects being united again. Pray for all of the preparations that would need to be put in place to make a New Testament Sign translation project succeed, and for a good partnerships with DOOR International. The Deaf translation team would need a person who could function as a "facilitator," who knows how to sign and could work with the team on a daily basis. In addition to that, a translation consultant who knows Sign would be needed in the future as well. Pray that I would get my focus back and finish Ellas first grade with her. I sort of lost my focus in October and need to gain it back so that we can finish in the Wycliffe Bible Translators next couple of months. P.O Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862-8200

Thank you all again for your invaluable prayer and support. I look forward to seeing many of you again this year! In Christ, Grace, Ella, Frankie and The Pack
Grace_Halland@sil.org

If youd like to contribute financially: Make checks payable to Wycliffe and attach a note For support of Grace Halland # 285005. Then mail to Wycliffe Bible Translators.

http://bridgerandsanyu.blogspot.com

P.O Box 750 Entebbe, Uganda