audio Archives - Christ Church

Abidjan and Touadji here we come

Bakwe' Mission on August 14, 2009

Five days left until I take off for Côte d’Ivoire for about a month of good intense work with my Bakwé colleagues. This time out we are going to spend about three weeks in Abidjan. I’ll be doing Scripture checking for two weeks. When Benjamin and Scott (two young men from our home church) arrive, at the end of the month, they will be working on audio Scripture recording and setting up the computer equipment we are bringing out. Kjell (a previous consultant for the World Bank, and resident of Côte d’Ivoire for three years) will arrive the second week of September and then we all will drive to Touadji and spend about a week there. Kjell will be running a small business seminar for our volunteer literacy teachers while we all work on other important stuff.

We are praying for productivity, health, safety on the roads, and that we may be an encouragement to the saints in Bakwé land. Keep checking back here for both pictures and news updates.

Harris Choir Music

Bakwe' Mission on June 24, 2009

Here is a song, ‘Ba pa -na ‘jü ‒sukuli, from the Harris Church choir of our village Touadji-II. We recorded this during our trip in June ’08. Perez, our Bakwé colleague, is the choir leader and the faint voice you hear leading the song. This song is an exhortation to put your children in school. The rattles are the only instrument that you hear, made from a medium sized gourd and covered with a net-webbing of shells. Perez is the one playing them. One hand holds the strings attached to the shell webbing, and one hand holds the gourd handle and pulls.

I love the harmony!

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What’s happenin’

Bakwe' Mission on June 24, 2009

June is here. The old body knows its alive with the the nose sneezing and running. But its great! My bees are bringing in the nectar! Lisa’s garden looks beautiful! The flowers are busting out everywhere and some of the early crops –the spinach and first batch of lettuce — are already done. Now the strawberries are ripening and the zucchini are six inches long!

In the office I continue to work on the translation of Acts along with other Bakwé related work. Check out the “Ministry” pages of the web site and you will see some more content about the translation process, as well as a list of most of our Bakwé publications. I also have been working on getting ready for my trip out to the Bakwé in August/September. Part of this preparation includes meeting with the men who will accompany me and planning out what we want to accomplish.

Benjamin Nieuwsma will come out again to train my Bakwé colleagues in audio recording. His goal will be to record all the Scripture we have translated so far in audio format. Scott Hieronymus will be coming out for the first time and helping troubleshoot and set up computers and an office network. His goal will be to set things up so that the team can return to original settings without too much help. Dr. Kjell Christophersen will come out again to run a follow-up small business seminar with our Bakwé micro-entrepreneurs. Part of what he will be doing will be evaluating how the first three projects went.

We’ll be keeping you posted via this blog while we are over there, so keep checking back for more info and pictures. Have a great June!

Boneem International donates sound equipment

Bakwe' Mission on April 28, 2008

Rick Trader, a good friend of mine from college days, started a non-profit organization that focuses on ministering to families in Russia. Visit their web site www.boneem.org to find out more. Boneem puts aside some ‘tithe’ money for the Bakwé ministry from the monies donated to Boneem. Recently Boneem bought almost 1K worth of audio equipment and donated it to our Bakwé colleagues. This audio equipment will be used in Africa to make audio CD’s of all our published literature in the Bakwé language–from health booklets to Scripture.Although this generation of Bakwé are learning to read, it will be another generation or more until the society as a whole becomes literate. Today most families have at least one ‘boom box’ with a CD player, so audio CD’s will reach a larger number of people in this generation than the written page will. Thank you Boneem!

Benjamin writes …