Dictionary & Lexicography Services Workshop - May 2020
Verna and her team just concluded a 3-day virtual workshop. We met over the Internet from 9 am - 4 pm using Zoom technology. There were eight of us - three from North Carolina, two from Texas, one from Missouri, one from Alberta, Canada, and one from the United Kingdom. Each of us had two monitors, so we were able to dedicate one monitor to the group meeting and one monitor for doing the activities. Zoom also allowed us to share our screen with each other, so we could watch how things needed to be done. Several members of my team presented material, so we all learned from each other.
(1) monitor showing a video of each of the participants; (2) monitor showing the presenter sharing his screen;
(3) Verna sitting at her computer desk during the workshop.
Linguistic Society of America's (LSA) annual meeting - Jan 2020
New Orleans, Louisiana
In January, Robert and I drove to New Orleans, Louisiana to attend the Linguistic Society of America's annual meeting. Once again, Verna presented Webonary.org to conference attendees. She personally spoke to more than 100 linguists and linguistics students. Most people were favorably impressed with the work SIL International does to help preserve minority languages around the world.
Robert has completed the revision of An Exegetical Summary of Philemon. This book was first published in 1989. Since then many new English commentaries on Philemon and English translations of the Bible have been published. Robert added 12 new commentaries and 10 new English translations of Philemon to An Exegetical Summary of Philemon.
Currently, he is working on the revision of An Exegetical Summary of Colossians, adding 9+ new commentaries of Colossians and 7 new English translations of Colossians. Coincidentally, currently our pastor, Dr. Matthew Beasley is preaching from the book of Colossians.
Wycliffe USA public statistics for fiscal year 2020:
Approximately 1.5 billion people do not have the full Bible in their first language.
At least 7,000 languages are spoken or signed around the world.
More than 2,000 languages still need a Bible translation started.
About 170 million people still need Bible translation work to begin in their language.
Work is being done in more than 2,600 languages worldwide and at least 1,900 of these
projects involve Wycliffe Global Alliance partners.
Number of languages waiting for Bible translation by regions of the world:
● Americas — 123
● Europe — 64
● Asia — 870
● Africa — 643
● Pacific — 415
Source: Wycliffe Global Alliance, October 2019.
Thank you for your friendship, your prayers, and your financial support. Without you on our team, we would not be able to do the work Father God has called us to. We pray for you daily. May Father God continue to prosper you and keep you in health. May all your prayers be answered. Please drop us a line with your prayer needs, so we can pray more knowledgeably for you.