Our dear partners,

We have been blessed with a new young Naskapi co-worker who we have hired to work part time on translation projects. His name is Tshiueten Vachon (pronounced “Chee-wa-tin”, which is the Naskapi word for “north wind”.) He started working along side Bill on February 23 and has been learning to use the computer to type in Naskapi, and is just beginning to learn about translation into his Mother-tongue.

Our other co-worker, Silas, has been out of work on a medical leave for about a month, and may be out for another month, as he recovers from a back injury. Bill has been doing training with Tshiuetin and some of Silas’ work himself and with the help of others at the office.

We have another window of opportunity to visit the Naskapi’s closest neighboring dialect community again, the Mushuau Innu speakers at the Natuashish community in Labrador. You may remember that we attempted a language survey trip there in 2008 but were hindered by bad weather on the Labrador coast. We are planning to attempt a visit at the end of this month, so see what interest there is in that community for work on local language projects, including Bible translation. Bill and some Naskapi co-workers are planning to leave Schefferville on Friday, March 26 for a week-long visit.

We have known for a long time that the languages of the two communities are very close, but among the questions that need to be answered are “how close?” and to what degree that materials we have produced for Naskapi may be useful for the Mushuau Innu, what adjustments are necessary, and the feasibility of making those adjustments.

Norma Jean is about to begin a weekly sewing group with the Naskapi women in the community; they have also asked her if she could incorporate a Bible study at the same meeting.

So praise God with us for these opportunities and pray with us as we seek to follow God’s guidance in them all.

Serving with you, Bill and Norma Jean