This last week I (Matt) was in Germany at the Wycliffe Germany offices and conference centre for a meeting of the 'Europe Area Funding Network' - basically a coming together of a group of Wycliffe and SIL people concerned with raising funds for the work around the world. As ever it was great to get the opportunity to visit somewhere new, meet some (very lovely) new people, share about the work in Asia, and hear about the joys, challenges and opportunities others are facing around funding and fund raising. As you may well imagine, it is not a particularly easy time to be trying to raise funds in Europe!
One of the excellent 'by-products' of meetings like this is the chance to have my mind broadened once more to the huge range of impact our organisations are involved in bringing about. It reminds me of the connections, sometimes clear and sometimes very fuzzy, between what I am doing and real peoples lives around the world. As we come towards the end of another year, it feels like a perfect opportunity to pause and reflect on the amazing difference God's word can make in peoples lives. I hope you feel as inspired as I do...
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Signs
In a suburb of Tokyo, hidden away in a tiny office full of computer and video screens, a small team of Japanese Deaf are working on the first ever visual Japanese Sign Language Bible. A young Deaf woman named Uiko Yano wasn’t a Christian when she joined the team but they wanted her because she is an, “absolutely phenomenal translator.” While working on a draft translation of Matthew’s Gospel she got to unpack the Christian terminology she had never understood before and says, “…I heard God calling me.” Now Uiko is a believer who is passionate about giving Japanese Deaf the opportunity to ‘hear’ from God and says, “It is so important for Deaf people to have the Bible in their own language.” Read Uiko’s story. Please pray for the Japanese Sign Language Bible team.Photo: Marc Ewell
Words: Elyse Patten