Six years ago, God laid a vision for Bible translation on my husband's heart. I clearly remember how, on the way home after an ABT presentation at our church, he turned to me, and said, “This is what I want to do!”
My initial reaction was shock. We had talked and prayed about cross-cultural ministry, but Bible translation? That would take years of preparation and a lifetime overseas. We prayed about this dream over the following weeks and months. While my husband felt increasingly confident that God was calling him to this work, I secretly hoped it was a passing whim. Yet as months passed, I couldn't ignore the reality of his passion for Bible translation. Finally my excuses and defenses broke down before the Father's tender, yet relentless call to surrender my desires for a comfortable life and exchange them for His purposes.
Over the next five years, God led us on a roundabout journey of training. We attended the Institute for Global Opportunities (IGo) in Chiang Mai, Thailand, for a semester in 2014, then moved to northeastern Pennsylvania where my husband enrolled in Faith Builders’ Christian Ministries track. The two years we spent at Faith Builders were deeply formative for both of us.
Following his graduation, we moved back home, where my husband completed his degree at a local Christian college. We spent the last two summers in linguistics training at SIL-UND (the Summer Institute of Linguistics at the University of North Dakota, in Grand Forks, ND). Currently we are in our final phase of training, preparing to move overseas in the near future.
During our training, we've seen God provide for our needs, raise up a team of supporters and prayer warriors from our home church, and direct our steps. I've struggled with defining my role, battling fear of loneliness, and worrying about our children's adjustments. As I ponder the changes that await us, my desire is to cultivate a heart of worship, trust, and surrender—like Mary sitting at Jesus' feet, to choose the “one thing that is needful.”
-by an ABT translator's wife
