When the Impossible Becomes a Reality

After seeing how God worked during my time in Tanzania for several years you would think that I wouldn't be surprised by Him anymore.  Yet there are still those moments when the impossible becomes a reality and I am amazed, even shocked perhaps at the turn of events. 

One of those moments happened a couple weeks ago in regards to my husband's job placement.  He is part of a co-op program for newcomers to Canada who have a background in accounting.  After 10 weeks of training they place the co-op students in an 8 week unpaid work placement.  The hope is that this placement will give them Canadian experience and the possibility of getting hired when their time is finished.  Due to my husband's experience as an accountant in hospitals overseas, he asked to be placed in a hospital in the Greater Toronto Area.  The immediate reaction he received was that the finance departments at hospitals do not take adult co-op students.  He heard this statement more than once but did manage to find one person who knew of a few people who had done their placement in hospitals.  With this little bit of encouragement and in the face of much discouragement he persisted in his request to be placed in the finance department at a hospital. 

A few days after the placement coordinator began searching out possibilities for the students, the news came, Shady had an interview at a hospital!  It was the first interview scheduled and everyone was shocked!  We had been praying for a few weeks that God would lead Shady to the right opportunity but somehow didn't expect such a great opportunity so soon!  Several days later Shady had the interview, did well and was set up to begin the first of October.  This is three weeks earlier than most students will begin their placement.

This week Shady has begun his work in the Accounts Receivable department at a large hospital and has met more than one person surprised to see a full-time adult co-op student.  Apparently he is the first one they have accepted and I still wonder how he got in somewhere that no one else has been able to before.  Then I remember the kind of God we serve, the God who laughs at what we call 'impossible' and makes it a reality in our lives.

Not only is Shady's placement an encouragement to us that God is in control and has a good plan for our lives but it gives me the faith to step forward in my work with the Church Connections team.  Although I'm excited about connecting churches in Toronto with Bible translation projects overseas, it can also seem overwhelming at times.  I'm new to Toronto and don't have relationships with churches here.  The relationship I was beginning to build with the church we attend is changing as the church has recently merged with a bigger church, leaving me feeling like I'm beginning all over again.  So how do I go forward with what I'm called to do?  Most days I have absolutely no idea.  All I have is faith that the God who has opened the doors of impossibility for my husband will open them for me.

Taking A Step Back

In many ways, being a part of Bible translation in Canada has given me a more global perspective on translation than I had in Tanzania.   In Tanzania I was focused on the translation project I was a part of and the various aspects involved.   I had a narrow focus, one that I needed to have to get the work done.  Cluster projects and Bantu languages were what I needed to know.

Now that my assignment has changed I feel as if I have taken a giant step back to look at Bible translation from a broader perspective.  Although my experience in Tanzania allows me to share practically how translation might look in one context, I am also learning about many other contexts and how translation looks in those places.  It is exciting to see what is happening all over the world and encourage people to get involved.  My bias for Tanzania does come through sometimes when I am talking to people but as I learn more and more about what is happening globally I am encouraged to share about the work all over the world.

Seeing the broader picture reminds me again of how big God is.  God is not limited to one way of working in one particular context.  God works through all kinds of different people in all different places to speak to people through His Word.  Whether it’s an IT person in Asia or a linguist in Africa God takes all that is offered to Him and uses it to bring His Word to people.  He is not limited by ability, age, nationality or language but uses diverse people for the common goal of drawing everyone to Himself.

The Truth About Translation

Recently several serious accusations against Wycliffe have been spreading around the internet.  Although they are difficult and sensitive in nature, a colleague of mine from Tanzania wrote a good response and I will share it here.

 The accusation: “Western missions agencies Wycliffe, Frontiers and SIL are producing Bibles that remove Father, Son and Son of God because these terms are offensive to Muslims.” This has also morphed into a new accusation: “Bible translators are replacing God the Father with ‘allah’.”

The truth: Those words are not removed. In certain contexts, certain familial terms in Arabic may implicitly mean that God the Father had sex with Mary, and Jesus the Son was the offspring of intercourse. That ‘implicit information’ is not there in the Greek and Hebrew words, so care must be used to choose the right Arabic words that don’t imply that God and Mary had sexual intercourse. A translation that implies that they did would be an inaccurate translation. Wycliffe and SIL are 100% committed to orthodox Christianity, belief in the Trinity, belief in God the Father and Jesus His Son, and are always fully committed to translating those words accurately into whatever languages with which they are working. Regarding the use of the word ‘allah’, ‘allah’ is simply the Arabic word that means ‘god’. It is an Arabic word, not an Islamic word. Almost any religion in Arabic is going to use the word ‘allah’ for ‘god’, not just Islam, just as in English many religions use the word ‘god’.

Bible translators have to make decisions all the time on how best to translate words, phrases, and whole discourses, and these decisions are usually made in consultation with the community and a number of experts and consultants, not in isolation. These decisions range from types of boats, to names of God, from how a language can talk about loaves of bread, to the bread of life; and the processes for making these decisions are generally the same. Concerned Christians pick up on some of these themes, and unfortunately the discussion moves to the character of the translators, rather than a discussion about translation methodology.

The repercussion of this is that some in the Christian community are questioning whether or not to continue supporting Wycliffe missionaries. One of our friends commented on our Facebook discussion that her family “lives in a Muslim country where the word for ‘god’ or God is also Allah. A supporting church many years ago saw this and actually retracted their support, sending us a tract about how ‘Allah has no son.’” Regardless, our friend was able to explain to the people of their village who ‘Allah’ (God) really is, the creator God who sent his Son to die for them.

But now language communities that are waiting to hear God’s Word in their own language for the first time will have to wait even longer, as missionaries and projects struggle to maintain necessary support levels for their work. It is also heartbreaking that it is fellow Christians, and not the secular world, who are sensationalising this issue, rather than giving Bible translators the benefit of the doubt and opportunity to explain their decisions. One such website that is posting article after article on this topic is dailyjot.com. I decided to write an email to the author of the site, and I’ve reproduced the email below for you to read.

Hi Bill,

A friend pointed me to your site to get my opinion about your articles on the growing controversy surrounding some of Wycliffe’s Bible translations. I myself am a Wycliffe translator, working in East Africa, so I’m familiar with the type of issues surrounding translation, although not the specific issues regarding translating in a Middle Eastern context. So here are a few of my thoughts on the matter.

This situation reminds me a bit of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe, where Peter and Susan are confused by Lucy’s comments about there being a world inside the wardrobe, and the Professor’s response to them is something like, Is Lucy known for being a liar? Since she’s not, perhaps give her the benefit of the doubt, based on her character until you find out more about it.

Translation is one of those issues that is incredibly complex, and yet touches something that is very close to all of us – language. It must consider socio-linguistic issues, as well as purely linguistic ones. The translator must be able to differentiate style, focus, register, collocation, impact, genre, figures of speech, idioms, and various other parts of discourse of both the source language and target language – parts of discourse in which most language-speakers are subconsciously competent, but of which are consciously unaware.

Wycliffe, as an organisation of people translating the Bible into languages in need, has been doing so for some 70 years, and as you said, “The reputation of Wycliffe up until now has not been in question (The Daily Jot: Wycliffe response raises more questions about the name of God).”

Based on such a character reference, I would hope that the Christian community’s first response to a controversy surrounding Wycliffe’s translation methods would be one of patience and grace, giving the 70-year old organisation the benefit of the doubt. Does Lucy often lie? Does she often make up stories that aren’t true? And in this case, are Wycliffe translators prone to manipulating translations? Do Wycliffe translators often try to appease other religions at the expense of the gospel of the only true God, Yahweh? Are they a wicked, degenerate people, trying to subvert the glory of God and replace the gospel with a false, hell-bound gospel? Or perhaps could there be another explanation?

Based on what I know of most Wycliffe translators, they are generally people who have seen the desperation of the Great Commission, and have given up their way of life and chance to ‘get ahead’ so that less fortunate people can come to know Jesus, and how He wants to save them from their own sins.

If it sounds incredibly strange that such people would replace Yahweh with the god of Islam, or any other religion, then perhaps there’s more to it. But instead of giving Wycliffe translators the benefit of the doubt and engaging in reasonable, inquisitive discussions to understand more about the issues, people are up in arms, crying foul, and implying that Bible translators have “succumbed to the religion of the antichrist.”

Other than this being inflammatory and unhelpful, the sad repercussion is that many of Wycliffe’s supporters are hearing incomplete and uniformed fragments of the issues, and having second thoughts about where they want to put their support. Ultimately this means that people all over the world who are still waiting for God’s Word in their language, will have to wait longer.

Planning a Wedding on Faith

For many months we have been hoping and praying for Shady's immigration application to be approved.  He was in Egypt while I was first in Tanzania and then moved back to Canada in October.  We didn't know if or when his application would be approved but we had to start planning the wedding anyway.  The reason for that was we had set a date months ago that worked best for immediate family and we didn't want to postpone the wedding making it difficult for those people to attend.  As well, after so much time of being long distance we simply didn't want to put off the wedding anymore.

So we began planning the wedding on faith.  We booked the church and venue for the reception, paid the deposit, booked photographers, and started on invitations all without knowing if the groom would in fact make it to Canada in time for the wedding.  Many people prayed with us and we trusted that God would open a way for Shady to attend his own wedding.

Although it was one of the hardest tests of faith we have had, it was incredible to see how God answered!  At the beginning of January Shady's immigration visa was approved!  We couldn't believe it came so quick since it could have taken another 6 months.  The only explanation is that God was at work bringing everything together at the right time. 

Our wedding will truly be a miracle and testifies to God's faithfulness!  Although I wouldn't have chosen to plan my wedding this way it has grown my faith in God and I'm thankful that He is using our lives to show how sovereign and good He is.

Still Called

Life never goes the way I expect it to.  I should have known that and not been caught off guard by these changes in my life and yet somehow I still was.  Marrying an Egyptian man and moving to Toronto weren't in the picture when I first left for Tanzania.  However now I couldn't imagine my life without Shady and am so grateful God brought us together unexpectedly in that small town on Lake Victoria.

At the same time these changes have made me look again at my calling in life and I wonder if that has changed as well.  I knew God brought me to Tanzania and I know He has brought me back to Canada.  In Tanzania my work was clear when I worked directly with Bible translation but as I considered my move back home things became more murky.  Did leaving Tanzania mean leaving my work with Bible translation?  Was it time to to move on and find a different job?  As I prayed about this I felt a strong burden for Bible translation, the one that prompted me to come to Tanzania in the first place.  It was as if God was telling me the time was right to leave Musoma but He still had something else in store for me with Wycliffe.

Honestly, I had very little idea of what God had in mind for me in Canada but I followed Him back on faith.  It's been a journey of one step at a time, being unable to see any of the steps ahead.   But as I keep going more things are becoming clear.  Having visited the Wycliffe office in Toronto I see how I will be able to help spread the word about Bible translation and share my experiences with others.  I see how this is the right time for me to join the team out there and how my skills and abilities fit in well.  I am excited to be a part of what God is doing in that area!

So in the midst of all this change and unexpected twists I realize I am still called to do what I have always done, serve God in order that everyone will one day be able to read the Bible in their own language.  The work I am doing looks a little different now but together as a team, all of us in Canada and everyone overseas, we will work together to see God transform lives through His Word.

Culture Shock Again

When I came back to Canada in October I thought I was coming home.  I had missed my family and friends, cooler weather and coffee shops.  I was sure I would be happy just to slip back into my life here.  Although I was happy to be back I couldn't just slip back into my life.  Things had changed here and not only that but I had changed too.  Having gone through what is sometimes called 'reverse culture shock' last time I came back to Canada, I thought I knew what to expect.  I gave myself more time to adjust which was good.  However I have discovered it's not the same this time.  My situation is different and I am different.  I have left my home and work in Tanzania to move to another area where God is calling me.  I have left Shady in Egypt, desperately  praying that he will make it to Canada in the next few months.

So sometimes even though I finally look like I fit in somewhere, I don't always feel like I do. Once again I am experiencing that jarring sense of dissonance that comes when your expectations of life don't correspond very well to reality.  It comes when you realize that you don't view the world the same way most of the people around you do even though you used to.


I wish there was a book out there that had all the answers to this type of cultural adjustment but I think that even if someone tried to write that book, it could never have all the answers.  All I can do is try to understand how my experiences have shaped how I see the world and figure out how to fit that into a life in Canada.  Basically I just have to take it one step at a time, moment by moment as I learn how to live in Canada again.

  Which one is the real Rachel?  The one who lived in East Africa, spoke Swahili, hated the electricity going off all the time and loved working with the Ikoma translators or the one who lives in cold snowy Calgary, speaks English and is learning Arabic, loves coffee shops and  loves telling people about Bible translation.

A Glimpse of Heaven

Yesterday a prayer team of 21 Austrians arrived to minister to us here in Musoma. Today I sat and listened to them introducing themselves in German and then heard the translation in Swahili. Although I didn't understand the German, it was amazing to hear a little of their stories and see how God brought them to this place. There were young women who have been praying for Africa for years, a new Christian coming to learn, a prayer warrior with lots of experience in spiritual warfare, a couple who has only been married 12 days, a university student whose parents did not want their only child traveling to Africa and many more. God brought these people together from all parts of Austria to a small town in Tanzania to pray. They have been praying for us for months and are here to pray with us for a week.

After the introductions a Tanzanian bishop shared a short message. He talked briefly about the importance of prayer and how heaven opens when we pray. As I looked around the room I realized I was already seeing heaven opening. God had brought us from all different places for different reasons and only by his incredible power would it be possible to have such a diverse group worshiping Him in one room. Old and young, men and women, North Americans, Europeans and Africans, we couldn't have been more different. Yet we sang together, prayed together and shared together. Only the hand of God could accomplish that and He has only begun. He brought us together and now He wants to use us to display his glory in ways we don't even realize.

In that room this morning I caught a glimpse of heaven. I caught a glimpse of how it will be one day when people from every nation, every language group will be united by our love for Jesus and will worship Him forever.