Scripture App Builder

One of the challenges of teaching literacy in our context is the lack of good resources in the local languages. We have shell books, and whatever Scripture has been translated, but since the people live out in the bush, it can be difficult to get physical copies of these items into their hands. Not only that, but in a tropical environment paper does not always last. Whether the weather, rats, bugs, or whatever, paper has a limited shelf life in...

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What I've Been Up To

My wife is absolutely wonderful about keeping everyone up to date with what we as a family have been doing, and also with keeping you up to date on what she's personally been working on with PBT. I am not. But that doesn't mean I haven't been working! I suppose it's time to update y'all a bit on what exactly it is that I've been doing recently. Since we aren't yet working with a specific people group, I've been looking into ways that we can help...

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Learning to Sew Morota

One of the hardest things for me to come to terms with in the village was the simple fact that I don't have any trade skills. I am a sub-par carpenter, a mediocre mechanic, and there weren't all that many computers out there for me to tinker with. Not only that, but another student had come to the village years before me and, inevitably, I was compared to him. He was a pilot. And a mechanic. And a fat man the size of an elephant. (Being fat is a...

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Bargam Worship Songs

One of the wonderful people we've had the opportunity to meet in our time here is a man named Lazarus. Lazarus was one if the translators who worked on the Bargam New Testament while the SIL missionary lived here, and he is still a strong man of God in this area. One of Lazarus' passions is singing worship songs in his own native language, which is something that I whole heartedly encourage. One day, I asked him if we could listen to and record one of the songs they've written in Bargam. He excitedly agreed, and told me we could come over to his...

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5 Great Apps for Baby-Rearing

One of the weirder things about me wanting to live out in the middle of the jungle for a goodly portion of my life is that I unabashedly enjoy technology. Not only do I enjoy it, but it plays at least some role in most parts of my life. It just makes things easier. Since October, and the birth of my son, there have been five apps in particular that have been making my life easier, and I thought I'd take the opportunity to share them with you, in...

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Inept

I'm a Dad! Wow. One of the things I feel in this new stage in my life is a sense of complete ineptitude. I've never been a dad before. I don't know what I'm doing. I tried to put the diaper on backwards, until Elizabeth stopped me. (Thank God for wives, without them kids wouldn't be possible) But here I am, with a kid, and a need to take care of him. A burning desire, actually. I can't look at him without feeling overwhelmed. Not in the sense of, I can't do this, but in the sense of I am doing this, even though I don't know how. There's nothing...

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Our Road Trip to Pennsylvania

It was a bright and sunny day... That's pretty much how most horror stories start out, right? No? Well, even so our weekend road trip to PA ended up being a little on the rough side. It really did start out looking like a great day to take a trip. Elizabeth and I both have spent our fair share of being on the road, from our families taking trips to grandmother's house, all the way up to our more recent journeys across the country as we travel for partnership development. We really didn't expect this trip to be any different, but it was. Possibly...

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