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July Prayer Letter

July 14, 2009 by proftroy

Dear Family and Friends,

 

I like to read missionary biographies to keep my heart aflame with a passion for the lost. Borden of Yale ‘09, by Mrs. Howard Taylor, accomplished that goal. I wanted to pass on to you an encouraging poem to from this book.  Would you keep it in mind as you pray for me and my ministry?

The weary ones had rest, the sad had joy

 That day, and wondered “how?”

A ploughman singing at his work had prayed,

“Lord, bless them now.” 

 

Away in foreign lands they wondered “how”

Their simple word had power.

At home, the “Gleaners,” two or three, had met

To pray an hour.

 

Yes, we are always wondering “how?”

Because we do not see

Someone, unknown perhaps, and far away,

On bended knee.

 

As I mature in my Christian walk, I’m beginning to realize more and more just how dependent I am upon the prayers of others. I used to wonder how a person could say, “I know someone must have been praying,” but I don’t wonder any more.  Thanks for all your prayers and support! 

DEPUTATION

Over the past three months, my deputation schedule has taken me to Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Though my support dipped down some, I’m thankful for a new supporting couple and the additional support of another individual. I’m still at 45%, but I’m encouraged to hear of another family that has prayerfully decided to take me on for support. It’s such a blessing to see how God’s people continue to give through monthly support and love offerings. In the next few months, I have only one meeting, but my deputation activities will pick up once again in the fall.

My back continues to heal, though I still experience pain, especially at 3:00 a.m. each morning. It’s so nice to be out of my back brace and exercising once again. Please pray for continued recovery, especially as I will no longer be able to enjoy the comfort of my own bed in SC.

MINISTRY

Though I won’t be involved in deputation activities over these next few months, I will be heavily involved in ministry activities. During the first full week of July, I’ll be attending Baptist Mid-Missions’ annual conference. I look forward to rubbing shoulders with missionaries from around the world and being challenged and encouraged by the workshops.

On July 14 I head to Togo, West Africa, for a two-week translation workshop to check portions of the Kabiyé NT. I’ve spent numerous hours preparing for this workshop over the past few weeks. The Togo team sent me a back-translation of the texts in very literal French. It’s been challenging to piece together the French and then compare it to the Greek NT. Please PRAY as I continue to prepare and then as I conduct my first workshop by myself and in French for the first time. PRAY that I would have wisdom and grace to help this project. PRAY also that I would have great facility in French in the workshop and with other ministry opportunities. I’m excited to get back to the continent where I spent two years of my life. I’m also thankful to help the Kabiyé churches gain access to the precious truths of the NT. There are over half a million speakers of this language, so the need is great!

As soon as I return, I will begin preparing for the BI staff retreat and consultant seminar in late August. I look forward to catching up with the staff on various issues, since I have been away from the office since mid-April. I have almost weekly meetings with the director and another manager, but there’s nothing like face-to-face conversations. PRAY for wisdom as I meet with various people, especially the consultants. The seminar is a very crucial week because it’s the only time in the year in which most of the consultants can gather together in one room to discuss various matters and chart out the next year.

PRAY also as we bring 11 Scripture projects to completion in Chad, Ghana, India, Myanmar, Peru, and Venezuela. We still have to raise $140,000 and to finish much detail work to get these projects ready for publication. We have faced many obstacles in this last stage of the work, and no doubt many of them have been satanically engineered.  PRAY for the Lord to smooth our way as many around the world wait for the Scriptures.

For a conservative translation in every language,

Troy

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Still in Ohio

July 10, 2009 by proftroy

I’m so thankful for the opportunity to attend the BMM Annual Conference.  As I said in my last post, I was greatly blessed by the fellowship with other missionaries.  Until this week, I’ve felt like an outsider to BMM, even though I have been accepted as an appointee.  I felt that I still didn’t know what BMM was all about.  I did spend over a week at the BMM office for Candidate Seminar in 2007 and I have been working with BMM missionaries for the past two years at BI, but I guess it took this week to really pull me in. 

Since BMM is such a long and established board, it enjoys some blessings that go along with that.  On Monday night, we honored those who have gone on to be with the Lord.  There were around 20 missionaries, most having passed  away because of old age.  On Tuesday night, we recognized those who had served with BMM for 20 years or more.  There were around 70 missionaries honored, with the total number of years of service being almost 1,900! 

On Wednesday night, BMM gave the William Haas (founder of BMM) lifetime service award to two people, one of whom is the first to occupy the position that I am now in–Henry Osborne.  He faithfully served the Lord in Venezuela, helping the Warao Indians to get the NT in their language.  Eventually (after engaging in other ministry) he became the first head consultant at BI, where he had the privilege of working with some 50 different languages around the world.  It was a blessing to learn more about my predecessor.  I trust the Lord will grant me as many years of faithful service and as wide a ministry! 

I also enjoyed the various informal conversations with missionaries.  I talked to one older couple who has been working with the Native Americans in Canada for around 40 years.  They are thrilled to have 14 national pastors leading the local churches.  I also had a good time talking to my golfing partner, who with his wife sold his farm which he had managed for probably 40-50 years, so that he could become a missionary to Zambia.  They currently have no place in America that they own, but they evidence the joy of the Lord as they have given up all for Him. 

It was also a joy to hear about the works of BMM on various fields.  It was neat to hear that on some of the fields the nationals have actually formed up their own mission agencies and are sending their own people to other countries.  As our director said, that’s when missions has come full circle.  And lastly, it was very moving to see that 32 candidates are now preparing for future missionary service.  Some will be staying in the US to plant churches, while others will be going to various countries.  I’m very thankful that one candidate will be joining BI–Alex Wheeler. 

I’m still in Ohio because I’ve been asked to fill in for Pastor Todd Nye, who has been suffering from some sort of facial palsy recently.  A man from his church asked if I can stay in town so that I can teach SS and preach in the AM service on Sunday.  I’m thankful for the opportunity! 

But that also means that I have only 1 night and 1 day to do all that needs to be done in Grand Rapids–unpacking after being away for 3 months and repacking for Africa.  I think it can be done, but it will be fairly rushed!

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Support Increase

July 7, 2009 by proftroy

After seeing my support level fluctuate back and forth around 45%, I’ve finally see it break away and now get a little over 47%.  Praise the Lord!  I’m thankful for how the Lord led in the hearts of a family in Illinois to take me on for support. 

I’m currently at the Baptist Mid-Missions Annual Conference.  I’ve already been blessed by the speakers, the fellowship with other missionaries, and the excellent special music.  I feel quite humbled to be rubbing shoulders with such faithful servants of the Lord.  I’ve especially appreciated Dr. Doran’s messages.  He is speaking on biblical discernment. 

I’m looking forward to going golfing tomorrow with some of the missionaries.  This event has actually been a blessing in disguise.  I wasn’t sure if my back was ready for golf, so I got out my clubs last Friday and practiced a little in my back yard.  I felt pretty good, so I went to the driving range on Sat morning and still felt quite good.  And the best part about it is that it led me to discover a secret… playing golf helps my back!  I slept better those two nights than I have in a while.  I guess the action of swinging a club loosens things up in my back so that I don’t have the same amount of pain at around 3am.  Not that I’m going to go golfing now every day, but I am going to do some golf-like exercises each night before I go to bed.  It helped last night, so I’m going to try to keep it up.

I was able to finish Titus, 1 and 2 Peter, Jude, and Philemon in preparation for the workshop in Togo.  If we get through all of those, I can work on others while I’m there.  They have also finished Ephesians, Philippians, and Hebrews.  We can’t keep up with their hard work!

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Kabiyé

June 30, 2009 by proftroy

I’ve been spending many hours preparing for the upcoming workshop in Togo, West Africa.  I found out that I didn’t need to worry about the Gospel of Mark, so I moved to Titus.  I’ve finished Titus and 1 Peter, and am now working on 2 Peter.  It was quite distressing when I first begin checking the back-translation in the epistles.  I was getting into quite a groove as I worked through Mark, since narrative usually doesn’t have complex sentence structures.  But when I looked at the first few verses of Titus, I was quickly brought to a snail’s pace.  Paul’s introductions are notoriously condensed and complex in Greek, but Kabiyé cannot always match the same structure.  Here’s a literal translation of the first three verses:

Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to (the) faith of the elect of God and (the) knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2 in (the) hope of eternal life, which the trustworthy God promised before eternal times, 3 but at the proper time manifested, (even) His word, in (the) proclamation with which I was entrusted according to (the) commandment of God our Savior,

Knowing how to translate this sentence into a different language becomes extremely difficult when that language doesn’t have the same prepositions and nouns as Greek does, which appears to be the case with Kabiyé.  When you lack these grammatical items, you have to restructure the phrases into finite sentences.  But that means you have to answer many questions as you do the restructuring.  How do you understand “according to the fact of the elect of God”?  What’s the connection to “the knowledge of the truth”?  In what way is this truth “according to godliness”?  Or does this phrase connect to knowledge?  Or does it connect to faith and knowledge?  Or does it connect to all three?  How should we understand “in the hope of eternal life” and its relation to v. 1?  And the list could go on…

I’m hoping that we can maintain some of the ambiguities in this sentence, since good translation doesn’t seek to remove these ambiguities.  But since I don’t know the options in Kabiyé, I need to be prepared for anything and then work through the possibilities with the translator.  Please pray for wisdom as I prepare and then wisdom as I work with the translator in French.  Again, this will be my first time to work with a translator by myself and my first time consulting in French.  His assistant will also be present, and maybe a missionary or two. 

Why go through such work to get the Scriptures into Kabiyé?  Why not just teach them French?  Usually this isn’t possible since many don’t speak French often enough to know the language well.  But they speak their own heart language, so they know it well.  Therefore, they can connect to God best through that language. 

We are nearing the completion of this NT translation, which will be accessible to at least 520,000-700,000 people, depending on which website you believe.  Kabiyé is one of two national languages in Togo, and it is the smaller one being spoken in the north.  Published material in Kabiyé includes magazines, newspapers, a dictionary, and a grammar.  According to Ethnologue, a book on health and one on culture/folklore have also been published.  Radio program and TV are also done in Kabiyé.  Another Bible society has completed the entire Bible, but apparently the conservative churches reject it for various reasons. 

Please pray for safety as I travel.  I leave on July 14 from the US.  I will arrive in Lomé, Togo, late in the night on July 15.  On July 16 I’ll ride by van up to northern Togo, which will take 6-8 hours.  Each morning I will be picked up at a guest house and ride by motorcycle to the workshop. 

Please pray also as I prepare messages and devotionals for preaching in French.  And pray that I would be able to strengthen the team as they continue their work in Togo.

Next week I’ll be at BMM’s annual family conference, so please pray for safety as I travel to Cleveland, OH, for that, and pray for the Lord to encourage and challenge me as I attend the various workshops and rub shoulders with other missionaries.  Pray that I would be an encouragement as well.

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Togo

June 22, 2009 by proftroy

I thought I was going to have 2 months in Grand Rapids to catch up on things, but it turns out that the Lord had me block of part of that time for a translation consulting workshop in Togo, West Africa.  Since our consultants are already stretched to the max, it was decided that I should do this workshop by myself.  I have done two workshops with the Haitian Creole OT, but those were with the oversight of Dr. Bernard.  This is my first opportunity to conduct the workshop by myself.  It’s also my first workshop in the NT.  Dr. Bernard feels that I am ready for such a task, if I prepare myself thoroughly before I go.  Please pray for that preparation to go well.  They sent us 12 translated books.  I won’t be able to get through all of them–not even half of them–but I would like to get through a number of them so that we don’t get too far behind.

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Not Just Hebrew and Greek

June 19, 2009 by proftroy

Lest you think that only people with a knowledge of Greek and Hebrew can help at Bibles International, you need to check out this picture album on Picasa:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kristy.mont/ChadLiteracyTeacherTrainingJune2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCK6t25jPuLD7Eg&feat=directlink. 

Connie Champeon and Kristy Montgomery went to Chad, Africa, to strenghten the literacy program.  The Africans seemed to have a very good time playing such word-learning games as Go Fish and Hangman.  I’m encouraged that the believers will have an interest in learning how to read and will then read their Bibles more so that they can know God better.

(I won’t mention the fact that Connie has studied Greek and Kristy has studied Greek and is now working on Hebrew.  I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone with those facts, since they aren’t requirements for what they did in Chad. :-) )

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What’s Happening on ESPN?

June 16, 2009 by proftroy

Some of you may remember a post a few months ago where I dispelled the false notion that I spend most of my waking hours sitting around watching sports.  I can assure you that nothing has changed.  I did watch bits and pieces of the NBA playoffs, but I’m getting tired of watching overly tatooed, overpaid, cry babies playing a sport that contributes very little of substance to our existence. 

So what exactly did I do last week?  Well, here are some highlights.  I sent out a thank-you to the church I visited the previous Sunday.  I correponded with the director about an article for the next Briefings, first in just giving feedback and later doing the editing myself.  I exchanged emails with a consultant about the possibility of teaching a Hebrew discourse analysis course in another country, and then we talked about it for almost an hour on Wed.  I exchanged multiple emails with consultants in India, helping them to finalize a list of footnotes and glossary items that we can put in our soon-to-be published Scriptures, and then we talked on the phone for 45 minutes on Friday.  I sent and received emails from another consultant who is putting together an online resource guide for our consultants. 

On Tues I drove to Statesville, NC, for a pastors’ fellowship.  This fellowship took the entire day as I tried to make contacts with NC pastors with the hopes of securing future deputation meetings.  On Wed I called some other pastors that I had already established relationships with.  Thankfully, two called back and we set up meetings for next spring!  That afternoon I spent some time preparing for that evening’s meeting.  On Thurs I spent about 2 hours meeting with the director and another manager via a teleconference.  Later in the day I skyped with a consultant who was finishing up a literacy workshop in India. 

I spent around 5 hours on Fri and another 2 hours on Sat helping with the footnotes and glossary project (which is still ongoing).  On Sat afternoon I spoke with a Burmese friend (and future adjuct consultant) about another Burmese guy who might be a potential consultant for us.  Then, I prepared for my two meetings on Sunday, and finally I drove down to Sumter, SC, for a men’s fellowship at one of those churches. 

So, I’d say I didn’t get to watch much sports last week! 

I had a good meeting at Temple B/C in Sumter, SC.  I spoke in SS and the AM service.  The pastor and I were ushers together at BJU, so it was good to renew contact.  I also enjoyed speaking with a former missionary couple who were celebrating 50 years of marriage.  I also had a good time at Northside B/C here in Greenville.  I’m glad I got to establish a relationship with Pastor Samargo. 

I still haven’t heard anything about an increase in my support, but I did hear of one new supporter who informed me that he mailed in the paperwork recently. 

My back is still sore at time, but it’s getting stronger.  I have found a way to not have to use the recliner for part of the evening.  I still wake up almost every night at around 3 or 4, but now I figured out how to get back to sleep relatively quickly without further pain.  Praise the Lord!  I’ve been going to the fitness center at BJU to strengthen it, and it seems to be helping.

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Lots of NC

June 10, 2009 by proftroy

I’ve been in NC often lately.  I had a meeting in Raleigh in the middle of May, and it seems like I keep getting back up into the state.  Last Wed I drove up to Connover to meet with a pastor for lunch.  Then I drove to Clayton for my meeting at Community B/C (the meeting went very well!).  I visited another pastor south of Raleigh on Thurs and then I wrapped up the week by spending it with a friend and her family in Wilson.  I was also able to meet her pastor on Thurs evening.  On Friday I got to go to the outer banks for the first time. 

We also visited the Wright Bros museum.  Though we honor the Wright bros for their significant accomplishment, I went away praising the Lord for His ability to create flying animals with just a word.  No trial tests.  No lives lost.  No thoughts of giving up.  Just a few words and instantly numerous species of birds appeared in all of their variegated glory.  What an amazing God! 

After driving back on Sat, I had to turn around and head back to the NC/SC border for a meeting at Gaffney (which also went very well!).  Then today I went to Statesville for a pastors’ fellowship.  I spent the entire day traveling and rubbing shoulders with NC pastors.  My eyes are definitely being opened to the regional differences amongst the independent Baptist pastors in this country!  Nuff said. 

Now I need to call these various pastors to set up meetings in NC for next April.  My schedule is slowly filling up.  I haven’t heard yet about any increase in support.  I checked my account today and the only item on there is a deduction for the DVDs they mailed to me. 

The Lord has provided 1/3 of the $300,000 we still needed for the 11 projects coming to completion.  Jehovah jireh! 

Pray for the Chad field.  The wife of the newly arrived consultant (they arrived less than a year ago) recovered from her bout with malaria, but it appears that the kids are having health difficulties.  So they are going to have to return to the states to be evaluated.  Since we already lost Ouya and another missionary couple that was working in a complementary BMM ministry, it’s tough to see them have to leave as well.  Plus, the other BI couple is leaving soon for furlough and the BI lady consultant is coming back towards the end of the year.  The field is really suffering over there.  Satan did all he could to keep the recently departed literacy team from going to Chad, but thankfully, they are there now doing the work.  We desperately need literacy to be strengthened there so the people can know how to read the Scriptures.  Please pray!

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“A Man’s Heart Deviseth His Ways…

June 2, 2009 by proftroy

… but the Lord directeth his steps.”  I marvel at the way the Lord orchestrates my schedule.  I set aside a month to be in Grand Rapids in Jan-Feb so that I could work on things at the office, but the Lord had me set that aside so that I could get into an accident and then recover.  I planned on being down here in SC so that I could visit the various churches in NC and SC, but the Lord knew that I also needed to be at home so that I could enjoy the comforts of home as I transition back into a back-braceless life.  I couldn’t fill two months in the summer (July and August) with deputation meetings, so I decided it would be a good time to prepare for two annual events at BI (staff retreat and consultant seminar) at the end of the summer.  But the Lord kept those months free so that I could also take a trip to Togo.  I just found out this morning that I will be sent to Togo to help with translation consulting.  Apparently, the translators have been working diligently and have 10 books ready for consultation.  I won’t be able to check all of them, but at least I can get some checked.  I look forward to getting back to the continent of Africa. 

In my immediate future (i.e., tomorrow), I will be heading to Tar Heel country.  I have a meeting at Clayton, and I plan on visiting a few other pastors in the area.  My current plan is to return on Friday evening. 

Over the past few days I’ve been working on an interesting project–at least, it’s interesting to me.  I prepared a worksheet that a consultant can go over with a translator as he prepares to translate the book of Ezra.  The worksheet includes a book introduction, a content summary, a list of difficult vocabulary, explanations of difficult passages, and a few other items.  Such a worksheet will give the translator all the information he needs (hopefully!) to make his work easier.  The list of vocabulary items is particularly helpful, because it explains what each Hebrew term means so that the translator can figure out which words to use in his language.  I organized the words according to semantic domain.  For example, Ezra has numerous words for government officials (king, governor, lieutenant, prince, lord, chief, ruler, counselor, judge, magistrate, elder, chancellor, scribe).  These are all in the same semantic domain of “government officials.”  The translator can then take these words and figure out what matches he has in his language.  This will be a difficult task for the translator (since two country’s governments are rarely the same, especially if those governments are separated by thousands of years and thousands of miles), but at least he can wrestle through those issues before he begins translating.  If he did it as he translated, he would need to constantly rethink his decisions as he came across new words that he hadn’t accounted for. 

I haven’t heard whether or not my support increased to 55% last month, but I am trusting in the Lord.  It usually takes a while for the new support to be processed through the BMM system.  Keep praying!

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Encouraging Developments

May 24, 2009 by proftroy

I’ve asked people to pray that my support would increase to 55% by the end of May.  So far, I haven’t seen the increase in any reports from BMM.  But that’s partly because the process of reporting can take some time.  Though I haven’t seen any new support, I have heard encouraging indications from 2 or 3 prospective supporters.  I’m thankful for how God is answering prayers! 

I’ve also been encouraged by how some friends have responded to a BI project.  I began the project back before I even started at Bibles International–the writing of book introductions for each book of the Bible.  I wrote the 27 NT intros, but I needed help from my OT PhD friends to write the 39 OT intros.  I sent out an appeal last summer, but I didn’t get any takers.  But this year, three men have offered their help, and I’ve already received one intro from one of them!  Praise the Lord!

It’s been a year since I posted anything on my “Translator’s Page”, mainly because it takes time to write a meaningful and substantial post for that page.  I finally decided to post something today, partly because it’s of interest to various people as I visit churches.

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