Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz

Tentmakers

Northern Translation Brief 28Apr2014

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners and Friends,

We have been working on a new newsletter that fleshes out the details of our work and new ministry developments for First Nations mother-tongue Bible translation, but we have a pressing need related to the big picture that we would like you to join us in prayer about today.

Several persons in the Naskapi church and community have been reading the Bible in their own language more and more in the past few years since the dedication of the New Testament, and God has really been speaking to them in their heart language. More and more they desire to have Gods Word in their lives and to continue the work on the Old Testament, and reading the Bible to their children.

At the same time, there remain several other First Nations languages that are related to Naskapi that still do not yet have adequate access to the scriptures in their own language. To address this need, the Canadian Bible Society is partnering with Wycliffe and First Nations church leadership to convene a gathering with a view to building capacity for Bible translation in these languages.

The Naskapi who have been involved in working on their own translation could have a motivational, inspirational and partnering role with their Cree-speaking brothers and sisters who do not yet have the access to the scriptures that the Naskapi enjoy. Several Naskapi speakers are eager to come an share what it has meant to them, and to share the load by training or mentoring.

So we have been communicating with the Bible Society and church leadership to participate in these meetings, which are scheduled for June 9 and 10 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. We were hoping that a translator or a Naskapi lay-reader or church leader could come.

But here is the issue-today we realized that one of our Naskapi language specialists, Old Testament translator Amanda is planning to have her wedding day on June 7 (so she obviously can’t come!) But we were also hoping for Naskapi church lay-readers or translators to come.

However, of the main Naskapi church lay-readers, one (Cheyenne) is mother-of-the-bride, and another (Marianne) is the bride’s aunt. Silas, the church deacon (and our main translator), is officiating at the ceremony!

Yet, I have heard from Cheyenne again today and she feels that God would really want her to be at this Bible Translation gathering too, and has asked me if it would be possible for her to travel right after the wedding, and to arrive on the second day of the gathering.

She is praying about it, and so is the whole wedding party getting ready for a June Naskapi wedding.

We would ask you to pray about it too. Pray that everyone can have a wonderful day at the wedding. And then,

Pray that Cheyenne, and possibly Marianne or Silas or one other Naskapi can get a flight out of Schefferville the next day, and traveling via Montreal and Saskatoon, can arrive in Prince Albert in time to share what God has laid on their hearts about how He speaks to them now in their mother tongue.

Pray for all the participants of the meetings, for the bishops and other church leaders, and Bible Society and Wycliffe representatives (that’s us, Bill and Norma Jean) that we would listen to each other and to God and learn just how He is drawing these Nations to Himself in the language of their hearts, and how we and the Naskapi people are going to be used to help bring this about.

Thank you for your prayers. God is hearing and answering!

We are eager to share more of how God is at work in our lives and the lives of those we serve.

Love, Bill and Norma Jean

Northern Translation Brief 09Apr2014

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

Even though we are still living here in Aldergrove, BC where Norma Jean is working hard on her MA studies, we are still working with the Naskapi translation team in Kawawachikamach.

The celebration of resurrection day is nearly here, and this year marks a special Easter for the Naskapi community. We have completed the final book in the Walking With Jesus series, ᒋᓴᔅ ᑲ  ᐅᓂᔅᑲᑦ The Resurrection of Jesus, printed and delivered in time for Easter at Kawawachikamach.

The Walking With Jesus series was a literature promotion and scripture translation initiative sponsored by the Bible Society in the early 1990s, that consisted of a series of six booklets containing scripture portions from the Gospels that could be translated “shell-book” style for multiple languages and produced at lower cost because of the volume printed. The Walking With Jesus series played an instrumental role in the establishment of the Naskapi language project for Bible translation in 1993, and books 1, 2, 5 and 6 were completed at that time. These were the first books ever published in the Naskapi language.

George Guanish working on the Walking With Jesus books in Bill’s office in 1993

For various budgetary and human-resource reasons, in the middle 1990s the project was set aside by the Naskapi Development Corporation (NDC), in order to focus on pursuing other language development projects. Still, the booklets that were produced found a niche readership within the Naskapi community, and were distributed through the NDC, the church, the school and the local store. Meanwhile, as we slowly moved ahead with other language development and translation projects locally, the Bible Society discontinued the production of more booklets in the series. Consequently, books 3 and 4 were not completed.

Fast-forward to 2007, and the dedication of the Naskapi New Testament: The Bible Society partnered with the Naskapi Development Corporation for the publication of this truly significant book. You were there to share the excitement with the community on September 16, 2007, when the Naskapi population at large was introduced to a book that they valued greatly, and were just starting to appreciate just how much it meant to them. This marked the beginning of a period of deepening community interest in Naskapi literacy, language development, education and literature. Several NDC projects in partnership with the Naskapi school, daycare, and church were initiated at this time that resulted in the acceleration of the release of book titles being produced and read in Naskapi in the community. The Naskapi community needed books, and they needed good books, and right away, too.

So the Translation and Linguistics Services Department at NDC revived the “Walking With Jesus” project, and entered into a special agreement with the Bible Society to produce the “missing volumes” in the series: Books 3 and 4, the “Parables” and “Teachings” of Jesus.

Books 3 and 4 finished in 2010

In June of 2010, we signed an agreement with the Bible Society for the use of the Illustrations in the Walking With Jesus Series, and work begun on completing the series that was begun 17 years earlier.

Thanks to the advent of “print-on-demand” publishing services, our tiny department now had the resources it needed to produce bookstore-quality resources in small quantities needed for the Naskapi community. Also at this time, Norma Jean Jancewicz completed a literacy course at SIL at the University of North Dakota, and immediately applied what she learned to the production of quality literacy materials for Naskapi children at the Naskapi childcare centre and at the school. Also, now that the New Testament was completed, our department could focus on Old Testament readings and work towards the completion of the complete set of Sunday lectionary readings with the local Naskapi Anglican church.

But it was the inspiration that was directly related to the Walking With Jesus series that had one of the most significant impacts in our community. Kyle, the young grandson of Ruby Sandy-Robinson, the Administrative Director of the Naskapi Development Corporation, was heard at home reading from Book 3 of the Walking With Jesus series in Naskapi. Ruby was so moved and inspired by the fact that her grandson could read the story of Jesus in his own language (having learned to read through the result of the

Kyle Shecanapish reading “The Good Samaritan” in Naskapi

Naskapi curriculum program at the school) that she also was encouraged to increase her own efforts to learn to read her own mother tongue better. She says that her own desire and subsequent ability to read the scriptures had their foundation in her late father, Deacon Joseph Sandy, reading the Cree scriptures to the family when she was a girl–but it was her own grandson reading in Naskapi to her that helped her realize that being able to read the scriptures herself in her own language were indeed a blessed possibility. She actively encouraged the Translation and Linguistics Services Department at NDC to not only complete the two “missing” Walking With Jesus books, but to also complete a revision and re-issuing of the entire Walking With Jesus series in Naskapi. Here is a video of Kyle reading, which has been such an inspiration to his grandmother Ruby (and others) in the Naskapi community:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vimqT144lg

So over the past three years, we have made steady progress on the publication and review of the complete set of the Walking With Jesus books in Naskapi. These books have become a centerpiece of literacy education in the Naskapi language, being used at home and in the school, and have also been used in several adult-literacy initiatives over the past several years.

Serving with you, Bill and Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief: First Nations in Canada

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

As you are all aware, the Naskapi Bible translation project is just one of dozens of languages across Canada still spoken by First Nations people. Some are so closely related to Naskapi that we understand them and they understand us very well–such as the Mushuau Innu in Natuashish, Labrador or the Northern East Cree at Whapmagoostui on Hudson Bay. Still, there are many other communities across the north part of Canada clear west over to the Rocky Mountains where there are people who speak related dialects that are like each other but less and less like Naskapi.

Some of these languages have had a long history of Bible translation work in them, like Plains Cree, Moose Cree, Montagnais, Atikamekw, Algonquin, and Southern East Cree, with translated New Testaments or whole Bibles in those languages.

Some of these languages have work going on by our contemporaries and colleagues even now, and people who have waited for many years are just hearing the gospel in their own mother tongue for the first time.

Yet still some speakers of these languages are still waiting for translations in their own mother tongue.

This week, we have an opportunity to meet and discover how God is at work in many of these communities across Canada, and how we might be used to help all of the First Nations language speakers in Canada to have adequate access to God’s Word. Representatives from the Canadian Bible Society, our own field director, and other interested parties will be meeting together with us all day on Thursday at CanIL (the Canadian Institute of Linguistics) here in British Columbia to:

Pray together
Share how God has been at work in the existing projects we have all been involved in
Look at the big picture of how God is at work in all the other language communities in Canada
Discuss how we may be used by God in our partnerships together with the Bible Society, SIL/Wycliffe, and the First Nations communities that are still waiting for God’s word in their mother tongue, and continue to help the Naskapi with their goals

On Friday, Bill and Norma Jean will be meeting with our field director to pray and discuss our ways we can work to best meet the language development needs of many communities including and beyond Naskapi.

On that same day, Bill and Norma Jean will be celebrating the work that God has done in the Naskapi project with a presentation to the entire staff and student body at CanIL, and challenging them to consider how they might be involved in the work that remains in Canada in the future.

Later that day, we will join our field director meeting with some of the linguistics students who have expressed an interest in First Nations language work in Canada. Maybe God will use some of them to join us in the work.

You can pray with us,

that we will be sensitive to God’s Holy Spirit as we meet together this week,
that God will continue to work in the hearts of First Nations communities who we would partner with to do translation work,
that God would open our eyes so that we can see where the fields are ripe,
that He might send more workers into His harvest field here among the First Nations languages of Canada that are still waiting to hear the Good News in their heart language.

Serving with you,
Bill and Norma Jean

Translation Brief 19Nov2013 “FAQ”-3

Posted on November 20, 2013 by Bill Jancewicz

Our dear partners,

This is the third follow-up to answer Frequently (F) Asked (A) Questions (Q). Thank you for your response to FAQ-1 and FAQ-2, and for the great questions that you have asked to keep this going!

Another question that (understandably) many people are thinking about is:

(3) “So… what about the Naskapi Translation?

The short answer is that it’s “still going on”… and more of us are sharing the load.

Most of you will remember the remarkable story of “The Fantastic Four”, describing the new “Naskapi Language Specialists-in-training” that were recruited, hired and trained by Bill to work at the Naskapi Development Corporation. They are all young (in their 20s) and enthusiastic about their work, and each one has taken on the translation of an Old Testament book of the Bible in Naskapi. They are following a training plan in which they study translation principles, Naskapi history and culture, history and geography of Bible times, and Naskapi grammar, along with practice in using some of the computer technology that has been set up so that they can type in Naskapi and organize and edit their work.

Amanda is assigned to the book of Joshua, Kissandra is working in 1 Samuel, Kabimbetas is working on 1 Kings, and Medora will be starting on 2 Kings soon. These are all stories of the history of God’s relationship with Israel.

In addition, Tshiueten, who has worked as a Naskapi translation intern now for about 3 years, has made significant progress through the book of Exodus, the “prequel” to all those stories, the beginnings of the nation of Israel.

Silas is still the senior translator, and besides his own work on the Psalms and his service as deacon at the church, he reads through and revises the work of the younger translators.

Bill interacts with the team several times each week, answering questions and teaching sections of their training plan, and also mentors and guides them into the correct spelling and other translation procedures. But they are gaining experience and their enthusiasm at the translation office at Kawawa is an encouragement to all their co-workers.

Also, our friend Rene Labbe, a former pastor from Quebec City now works as a science teacher at the Naskapi school. He comes by each week to present an inductive Bible study on the period of history and the books of the Old Testament that they are working on. We are so grateful for his involvement with the translation team.

The very first books of scripture that were translated in the 1990s, the “Walking With Jesus” series, have met an important need for beginning and intermediate readers of Naskapi. These are transitional readers that have large print and colorful illustrations, comprising six short (32 page) books that contain highlights of the life of Christ. These have recently been completely revised and the last book of the series “The Resurrection of Jesus” is in the final checking stages. These books make reading the Bible familiar and accessible to children and adults who are motivated to learn to read in their own language. The local radio station also plays audio-book versions of these that Bill produced as MP3s.

The books of Naskapi Lectionary readings, the cycle of readings that are read each Sunday in the Naskapi church, have been through one complete three-year cycle as of the end of this month. Bill worked with Silas to revise and correct the “Year A” book over the past several weeks, and it is now ready for it’s re-release for the first Sunday of Advent this December 1.

The first book of the Naskapi Legend series, “Kuihkwahchaw: Naskapi Wolverine Stories” was completed this summer, and Bill is working with the translation team and consultant linguists to prepare the second book, “Chahkapas”, which will be completed early in 2014. These books not only provide good quality reading material in Naskapi, but also give a glimpse into the traditional storytelling genres that is such an important part of Naskapi culture. These two latest books, along with several others were illustrated by our daughter Elizabeth, and we have hopes that she will continue to be invited to participate in the development of these literacy materials. While the main location these books are distributed is at the Naskapi Development Corporation office in Kawawachikamach, anyone can find them on-line as well at http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/naskapi.

Even though Bill keeps pretty busy with his other work [link] our time in British Columbia is giving him some of the margin he needed to bring some Naskapi linguistics and documentation projects further along, like the Naskapi dictionary, grammar, toponyms (names of places in Naskapi territory), maps, the Naskapi Hymnbook revisions, the Book of Common Prayer in Naskapi, and archiving. We are encouraged that there is now a growing staff of Naskapi-speaking language specialist who are gaining some of the skills they need to carry on this work themselves.

Thanks for your prayers for them, and for us.
Serving with you, Bill and Norma Jean

Translation Brief 11Nov2013 “FAQ”-2

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Bill Jancewicz

Our dear partners,
This is the second follow-up to answer Frequently (F) Asked (A) Questions (Q). The response to “FAQ”-1 was so positive that we are thinking that this is the highlight of your week!

The question we get a LOT (especially once folks understand the answer to the first question) is:

(2) “So… what does Bill do […all day long…] ?”

The short answer is that he serves as Norma Jean’s “support staff” **.

But Bill also keeps pretty busy outside of those responsibilities as well. Trinity Western University (TWU), where Norma Jean is enrolled, is also the home of CanIL, a training partner of Wycliffe Bible Translators and the center for SIL training in Canada. Besides the opportunity to connect with and serve along side the staff at CanIL, Bill is also upgrading his skills by taking a class to use current computer software for applied linguistics–language documentation, dictionary-making, grammar writing and preparing literacy materials. So at least two days a week Bill goes to the campus with Norma Jean to attend his classes there.

Bill is also involved in a Consultant Development program as part of Language Program Services for the Americas Area. He is completing assignments related to “Field Linguistics Specialist Certification”. In short, he is continuing to upgrade his linguistics skills to better serve the Bible translation needs of the minority language groups we serve, including Naskapi, Mushuau Innu, Cree and other related languages.
There are also the Old Testament Bible Translation projects that the Naskapi team is working on, which he facilitates from a distance by internet communication with the Naskapi language specialists in the Naskapi community in Quebec. Several projects are just beginning and some are about to come to completion: We’ll be sharing about these Naskapi publications in particular in the weeks to come.
Finally, and related to all of these, Bill is working on needed revisions to the Naskapi dictionary, moving the database to the current language documentation software, working on Naskapi literacy books, and training (via Skype) the Naskapi language specialists to use the translation tools.

As usual, if you have any further questions, feel free to send them to us. Maybe yours will be chosen for another “Frequently Asked Question” answered soon!
Thank you for sharing our vision for everyone to have access to God’s Word in the language of their hearts.

Serving with you, Bill and Norma Jean Jancewicz

** “administrative assistant, driver, bodyguard, personal chef, APA guidelines resource, critic, editor, encourager”

Translation Brief 04Nov2013 “FAQ”-1

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Bill Jancewicz

Our dear partners,

A few weeks back we sent out a newsletter [link] to everyone, and from the responses we got from many, it seemed to raise more questions than answers!

So I thought that it would be good to send out some answers to those questions most frequently asked. “FAQ” has become a regular feature on many websites, in an attempt to anticipate those questions (Q) that are most frequently (F) asked (A). Unlike such websites, we had not anticipated the many questions that were raised, but we will take this opportunity to answer those which occurred most frequently since that newsletter.

(1) “Why did you move to British Columbia?”

Most questions like this one were expressions of surprise that we had moved at all! We apologize that we had not made this clearer in earlier messages. Last January [link] we mentioned Norma Jean’s plans to pursue graduate studies of her own to in mother-tongue and multi-lingual education, building on her experience and work with Naskapi and Innu. At that time, she had not yet been accepted into the program at Trinity Western University here in BC, so we were still waiting ourselves for that direction.

At the same time, our son Nicodemus was considering his own transfer to Trinity Western University after having completed two years at Three Rivers Community College in Connecticut. When both Norma Jean and Nicodemus were accepted, our plans started to become more clear.

In order to better serve the Bible translation and language development needs of Naskapi, Innu and other First Nations people groups across Canada, we have been encouraged by our Wycliffe field administration to continue our professional development which includes completing our graduate degrees. Bill accomplished this during five summers at SIL-UND, and earned his MA in linguistics. Norma Jean started her MA program in August here in British Columbia. The program Norma Jean is taking has components that help broaden her insight into language education for First Nations people, which she has already been involved in for several mother-tongue communities [link], [link]

It has also been a great opportunity to be here where we can connect with Nicodemus and encourage him in his own undergrad program.

Another answer to a “Frequently Asked Question” coming soon!

Serving with you, Bill and Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief 20April2013

Posted on April 21, 2013 by Bill Jancewicz

God is doing lots of good things here in Kawawa this spring, I just want to highlight a couple of them. Back in February, I received some remarkable news from the directors of the Naskapi Development Corporation (NDC), where I have been working with Silas over the past two decades plugging away at Naskapi Bible translation, and other Naskapi language development projects (New Testament, Naskapi children’s books, church lectionary readings, Naskapi dictionary… such things).
The directors decided that to better serve the community, they should increase the translation staff–they decided to quadruple it!–and so, I was invited to recruit and hire persons for two to four new “Naskapi Language Specialists-in-training” positions to continue the Naskapi translation work beyond the projects we already have underway. So, in February, we posted the positions, that carry a modest (for Kawawa) salary, but include the possibility of becoming a life-changing career for the recruits with “the right stuff”. On the last week of the posting, I interviewed four bright young Naskapi people: two women and two men, all of them between the ages of 25 and 30.
After testing their baseline skills in Naskapi, I prayerfully decided to hire and train all four of them, and began to work with them at the office on March 1.
Since then, Amanda Swappie, Kabimbetas Noah Mokoush, Jimmy D. Shecanapish and Kissandra Sandy-Dominique have made tremendous progress surviving my instruction and applying themselves with daily practice, as they are learning to read Naskapi fluently, type and transcribe Naskapi syllabics into the computer, learn the various computer-based translation tools that help us today in language work (parallel Bible tools, dictionary and digital audio tools, commentaries and grammars), and study the structure of the Naskapi language.
The NDC office has been regenerated with the youthful enthusiasm of these new recruits, and we have started to refer to them as the “Fantastic Four“. They are learning to work both as a team and independently, and have improved on many levels during their current probationary period of employment.

For the first three weeks of April, I was once again given the wonderful opportunity to serve as the guest instructor for the Naskapi-McGill teacher training program, teaching another section of the Naskapi Language Foundations course (Naskapi IV) to the cohort of about a dozen undergrad Naskapi students enrolled in the McGill University program. I was able to bring the “Fantastic Four” with me into the classroom to audit the grammar and literacy training that is being provided to this bright group of students.
And now, this week each of the “Four” will be starting on the adventure of translating a portion of the Old Testament into Naskapi–they are each beginning on a different “historical” book (Joshua, 1 & 2 Samuel, and Kings), which, Lord willing, they will all be working through for the long-term, as they continue to learn the skills and art of crafting a translation of the Bible into their own mother tongue.
All this while at the same time I am in “thesis mode” as work through the write-up of my own MA in linguistics final project. Our plans are to leave Schefferville at the end of this week as we begin to make our way over to SIL at the University of North Dakota where I am scheduled to defend my thesis this summer. If a candle had more than two ends I guess I would be burning those as well.
But I am so deeply grateful for the privilege of working with our new “Naskapi Language specialists-in-training” (the Fantastic Four) as well as the Naskapi-McGill teacher-training class. Seeing God at work in the lives of so many people here in the Naskapi community is exciting and humbling at the same time.
We know that you will want to remember to pray for each of them by name, but even if you can’t remember their names, just bring the Fantastic Four working on the Naskapi Old Testament to the Lord, and He’ll know who you are asking about. Remember us too, as we have many thousands of miles to travel in the next month or so (and all the loose ends to take care of, and a thesis to write…)

Serving with you, Bill and Norma Jean

Northern Translation Brief: Naskapi Genesis Dedication

Posted on February 20, 2013 by Bill Jancewicz

On Sunday, 17 February 2013, the Naskapi community celebrated during the dedication of the translation of the book of Genesis in Naskapi. This dedication was held during the Sunday morning services at St. John’s Anglican Church. Rev. Martha Spence led the congregation in thanks to God for the many years of work by the Naskapi Development Corporation (NDC) translation team that brought this portion of God’s Word into the hands of the Naskapi community in their own language.

Silas Nabinicaboo, who was recently ordained a deacon at the Naskapi church, has served as the lead translator on this project since it was started in 1996. At that time, his salary was completely funded by donations from interested individuals and churches who partner with us for Bible translation. After a the first few years, however, Silas was invited by the NDC board of directors to continue work as a full-time employee as they realized the importance of Naskapi Bible translation as one of the core activities related to Naskapi language development.

The cover design of the books was inspired by the hand-painted caribou-skin ceremonial coats that were made and worn long ago by ancestors of the Naskapi. The Genesis books were printed in two sizes: standard 6″ x 9″ size for general reading and use in church, and “large print” 8″ x 10″ size for distribution to elders, use on the pulpit, and anywhere where large print text would make reading easier. Both sizes are available in library-quality hardcover or paperback. The NDC presented a gift copy of a large print edition to each Naskapi elder household. The remaining books are available for sale to the general public at the NDC office at Kawawachikamach; $20 buys a hardcover book in either large print or regular size. Paperback versions are $10.

Outside Kawawa people can order their copies online here:

Regular size hardcover, large print hardcover, regular size paperback, large print paperback.

During the service, the books were displayed on the platform at the front of the church and all those assisting in conducting the service gathered around the books to pray God’s blessing on all who would read His word from them in the years to come. After the prayers, gift editions were given to all the elders who could be present at the service.

Following the service, a community feast was held in the church basement. We are grateful for God’s faithfulness and the prayers and generous support of all our partners that has made this milestone possible.

You can read a related article on the Naskapi News website here.