Odds and Ends

My last official work at JAARS was to prepare 59 drums of AvGas for shipment to Cameroon. It's crazy, but AvGas is getting so hard to find in certain parts of the world that it is cheaper to buy AvGas in the US and ship it to Cameroon than it is to buy it there!  It sells for, like $22/gal in Cameroon, if you can find it. That is one thing that is driving JAARS/Wycliffe to replace piston aircraft with the turboprop Porter and the Kodiak.

Stenciling and sealing the drums was my last official work, but my last official act was to gather at the "Coke machine" (it's actually a Pepsi machine, but we're only 4 hours from Atlanta, you know).  A tradition in The Hangar is to thank a departing volunteer by presenting him a certificate and buying a round of sodas for everyone. I should leave more often!  But in truth, I was the one who was blessed by the privilege of serving in The Hangar.  Thanks  to them for their hospitality.

-------------------------------------------------

We, who have dozens of translations of the Bible in our first language, may not realize how special it is to hear Christ's promises in your mother tongue.  Imagine only being able to read about God's promises in the language of some other country.  "If this God is so great", you may say to yourself, "how come he doesn't speak my language?" It still surprises me to see an aircraft mechanic get choked up when he recounts how thrilled a person was to read their first Bible in their "heart language."  

While Aviation is my favorite, there are others that are making a direct impact on carrying God's word to people groups throughout the world. I recounted a couple of them in my last post.  Forgive me for falling back to a military analogy, but much of what JAARS does is act as a "force multiplier." Technology allows one translator to do the work of several.  I mentioned Information Technology and Vernacular Media last time, but there are others. For example:

One of the newest branches of JAARS is Maritime Services. It has been discovered that the largest percentage of remaining people without the Bible are in tiny water locked islands. Too small even for a runway, so the only way to reach them is by boat.  So Maritime Services was formed ten years ago.  Their area of support also includes river and swamp craft, water safety, etc. They have developed a light-weight boat, towable by a motorcycle, that allow them to ford rivers.  Maritime services.

The Construction and Maintenance branch works to relieve translators of much of the stress of building and caring for their homes and facilities on the field.  Translators should be able to focus on their strength - translating.  By using their strengths in the building trades, CAM works to keep translators translating.  Construction and Maintenance.

 There are other areas too.  Check out www.jaars.org/whatwedo for a complete list. It's really impressive to see the global impact that a few hundred dedicated missionaries working out of Waxhaw, North Carolina are making in the world of Bible translation.  Pray for their work.

iXs,
        The Rev