Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz

Tentmakers

Reflections on Sixty

Posted on May 16, 2016 by Bill Jancewicz

This is not a “Northern Translation Brief”. For reports about our work in First Nations Bible Translation in Canada, scroll to another post. This is a personal reflection on turning sixty years old.

I meant to share this reflection closer to by 60th birthday, which was exactly six months ago today, on November 16, 2015. I did spend time that weekend writing these thoughts in my journal, reading the scriptures and praying–and I felt that I would like to share this with people who are close to me–so here you are reading about it. Thank you for taking this time, for “time” is what this reflection is all about. May you learn what I am learning.

In Genesis 6:3 God decreed “…his days shall be a hundred and twenty years…” Was this the time ticking down to the time of the judgement of the flood? or rather the length of a lifespan? Bible commentators differ on this, but I think that what Moses wrote in Psalm 90 was that it would be difficult for most people to live past age 70 or 80, and that the Genesis 6:3 passage refers to the time left until judgement.

In any case, I have found that reading Psalm 90 in its entirety to be a worthwhile reflection for me as I turned sixty. I invite you to do it too, just click here: (Psalm 90) and then come back to my story.

Verse 12 says: “…Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.”

If I compare my lifespan to one 24-hour “day”, and I was born at “12:01 a.m.” and if 70 years old = “midnight”, then every year of my life would be the equivalent of about 20 minutes and a half in my 24-hour “day”.

On this day, once again I make Psalm 90 my prayer to God even as Moses did.

I think about the darkening day. If indeed 70 years is all I get (and indeed, no one can know that they will even get that: Ecclesiastes 8:7-8), and if my life is like a 24-hour day, then the “time” of my life is 8:34 p.m. The sun has set (in November, in Ontario) and it is dark. The “day” is over and night has come.

We went outside to watch the sun set on my 59th year the evening of November 15, 2015. It was 4:55 p.m. The sun was just dipping through the distant bare trees on the horizon, shining through between the trunks and branches.

I wondered what time the sun would come up on November 16th. In late fall in Canada, the days get shorter and shorter. Only 9-1/2 hours long in November, and each day about 2 minutes shorter than the day before.

If 70 years is what I can hope for, then I take this time to thank God that at eighteen years of age (just after 6:00 a.m.) I learned that Christ died for me and I decided to follow Him wholeheartedly, in October of 1972.

6:03 a.m.

I thank God that I met Norma Jean Marie Kathleen Kenney in early 1975 at a sledding “social” at the Alliance Youth Fellowship (AYF)–(just after 6:30 a.m.), and accepted God’s call to full-time service by the summer of 1976 (just after 7:00 a.m.).

just after 6:30 a.m.

Norma Jean and I married in the summer of 1981 (about 8:45 a.m.)–the day was still just starting.

8:45 a.m.

Benjamin came into our lives in the spring of 1983 (just before 9:30 a.m. in my “day of life”) and Elizabeth in the summer of 1986 (I was 30 years old then, just after 10:30 a.m.).

Benjamin–9:30 a.m.

Elizabeth–10:32 a.m.

Nicodemus–11:57 a.m.

We moved to Kawawachikamach Quebec to be with the Naskapi in the spring of 1988 (I was 32, 11:08 a.m.) and Nicodemus came to us in the fall of 1990 (I was almost 35, just about noon in my “day of life”, 11:57 a.m.

Ben went off to college in the fall of 2000 (about 3:20 p.m.) then Elizabeth was off to college in the fall of 2005 (about 5:00 p.m. and Nicodemus John was left on his own in Preston in the summer of 2009 (about 6:20 p.m.).

Ben on his own–3:20 p.m.

Beth on her own–5:00 p.m.

Nick on his own–6:20 p.m.

Thinking about our family, together:

Ben was with us from 9:30 a.m. to 3:20 p.m.
Elizabeth was with us from 10:32 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Nicodemus was with us from 11:57 a.m. to 6:20 p.m.

In the equivalent 24-hour “day of my life”, each child was home with us for just six hours! They were all three together with us only from about noon until 3:20 p.m.–eight years in Schefferville and less than a year in Groton CT. Precious years, and gone very soon.

The Naskapi received their New Testament in their own language by September 2007. I was 51 years old then, and it was 5:45 p.m. We had been with them for nineteen years by then.

Naskapi New Testament finished–5:45 p.m.

The Oji-Cree started their New Testament translation project in April 2015. I was 59, and it was 8:20 p.m. already.

Oji-Cree New Testament started–8:20 p.m.

Now I am sixty. Have been sixty already for half a year, and deliberately thinking about the prayer of Moses and the admonition in Psalm 90, especially verse 12: “teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.”

Speaking of “90” (like the Psalm), my own mom just celebrated her 90th birthday (the same day as Queen Elizabeth)–with the blessings of a longer-than-average life, and a happy and good one too. Here in this picture she is 90, I am 60 and our daughter Elizabeth is nearly 30 (her birthday is this summer).

30-60-90

Show me, Lord, every morning that life is a precious and beautiful gift. Show me how to express my love and Yours to my family, my children and grandchildren, to Norma Jean and to all the others who You are daily bringing across my path.

Teach me how to effectively use the time and the gifts that You have given me each day. Remind me each day of Your great love for me and never let me forget to spend time with You and Your Word.

“May the favour of the Lord our God rest upon us; establish the work of our hands. Yes, establish the work of our hands.”

Today is May 16, 2016–8:45 p.m.

Northern Translation Brief: 2016 Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) Workshop

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

When the First Nations representatives and church leaders met with us in Prince Albert in June of 2014, they identified several priorities for the First Nations Bible Translation Capacity-Building Initiative. One of these priorities was to conduct a series of Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) Workshops to help the speakers of First Nations languages learn the skills that they need to be involved in Bible Translation and community language development.

With assistance from our friends at the Canadian Bible Society, we planned and facilitated the 2016 Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) Workshop held at the Guelph Bible Conference Centre from April 24th to the 29th. Speakers of First Nations languages from four different language communities were able to come to this workshop.

What Happens at a Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) Workshop?

Every morning we began with a hymn: we sang in Naskapi, or Oji-Cree, or Cree, either from an old “legacy” hymnbook, or an up-to-date adaptation into today’s language, or even a completely new song. The participants all enjoyed learning worship songs in their different languages from one another, praising God in their beautiful languages.

Myles Leitch, Canadian Bible Society

Then each day one of the staff shared a devotional from the Word of God. Whenever it was available, the scripture passage was read in the mother tongue of one or more of the First Nations languages of the participants. We reflected about how God uses language in His Mission (Genesis 2, John 1 and Psalm 8); how God’s Word is meant to be understood (Romans 15:1-6), which became a theme passage for the entire workshop. We considered the spiritual warfare we are engaged in when when we are working on making God’s message clear for the first time in the languages spoken in these communities, and how the stories of God’s love and grace can be communicated and passed on in engaging and life-changing ways.

Next, the staff took turns teaching chapters from the Bible Translation Basics textbook, which focuses on communication theory, along with modules from the Bible Translation Principles course, which focuses on distinguishing the “form” from the “meaning” of the message, and participants learned how to express the meaning of the message in the form that corresponds to their own language and culture. Each of these resources were useful to help learners understand the translation task and to help them gain the skills they need to do it well.

We also introduced several tools for Scripture Engagement, exploring different ways that the message of the Bible can be made available in print and non-print media, including the use of audio playback devices (Megavoice) and graphic-novel style presentations of God’s Story such as “Good and Evil“.

Resources for sustainable local Language Development programs were presented, which offered ways of involving their own community leadership, community organizations and education with their translation teams to help them:

To raise awareness of the current situation of their traditional language.
To raise awareness of how they use all of the other languages at their disposal.
To help the community come to a decision and a response about what they want to do with their entire language ‘repertoire’ in the future.

Some of the more practical and technical aspects of the Bible Translation process were covered each day, including the use of the collaborative translation software program ParaTExt, which assists translators by providing source translations and resource documents as well as tools to assist them in translating into their own language and checking their work. Several of the participants had never used this software, so we were careful to start very gradually. Those participants who were more familiar with the program helped the beginners during hands-on practice sessions in small groups.

Steve Kempf, SIL International consultant

On Tuesday and Wednesday morning, SIL International translation consultant Steve Kempf came as a guest instructor to teach us all about translating names and especially the special care and consideration that need to be taken into account when translating the Names of God, such as Elohim, Adonai, and YHWH (Yahweh).

Bill also taught modules on the Algonquian language family and grammatical structures, the history of Bible Translations in First Nations languages, and practical considerations for setting up a local language development program that includes Bible translation and individual professional development. Discussion between the translation teams from different language communities helped them to see how the different challenges that each one faces may be addressed.

So each day contained a stimulating blend of discussion and instruction, worship and encouragement from the scriptures, training and capacity-building. We closed the week with a celebration and presentation of certificates to all the participants.

Guests, Connections and Staff

Natasha and Dwayne, Word Alive magazine

For the first four days of the workshop, Word Alive editor Dwayne Janke and photographer Natasha Ramírez were “embedded journalists” with the workshop staff and team. Word Alive magazine is Wycliffe Canada’s journal whose mission is to inform, inspire and involve the Christian public as partners in the worldwide Bible translation movement. They have already featured a wonderful description of the Naskapi Bible Translation project in their Spring 2013 edition. They were with us gathering material to for a future publication to highlight First Nations Bible translation in Canada.

Throughout the week we were also visited by several guests who were interested in making connections with and serving First Nations Bible translation projects, including Paul Arsenault and Jeff Green from Tyndale University and the Canadian Institute of Linguistics (CanIL), Benjamin Wukasch, a student interested in service in First Nations language communities. Our guests also included staff from the Canadian Bible Society Scripture Translation offices in Kitchener, Ontario, Barb Penner and Tomas Ortiz.

Jeff Green and Paul Arsenault, CanIL / Tyndale

Barb Penner and Tomas Ortiz, Canadian Bible Society

On Thursday, Wycliffe Canada Korean Diaspora Church Connections 한인 디아스포라 교회 협력 brought a group representing the Korean church, who are very interested in praying for and working together to assist their First Nations brothers and sisters to have better access to the scriptures in their own languages. Many of the First Nations participants shared how blessed they were to meet their new Korean friends.

At the end of the week Elaine Bombay, a photojournalist with Wycliffe Global Alliance visited the workshop to meet the participants and also helped by taking photographs of the staff and participants and the workshop closing ceremonies. Several of the photographs posted here are her work. Thank you Elaine!

The workshop was staffed by faciliators and instructors Bill and Norma Jean, Ruth Heeg and Myles Leitch from the Canadian Bible Society, Meg Billingsley, an SIL translation consultant in training, and Matthew and Caitlin Windsor, who are preparing to serve as translation project facilitators in a First Nations community soon.

Ruth Heeg, Canadian Bible Society translation consultant

Meg Billingsley, Matt & Caitlin Windsor, and baby Hazel (ᐊᐱᑯᓯᔅ)

Participant Evaluations

On Friday, the last day of the workshop, we took some time to reflect and evaluate the
workshop program, and all the participants provided feedback for the organizers to consider for the next workshop. Here is a sampling of some of the participants’ comments:

What was something new that you learned during this workshop?

“…Translating Biblical Names.”
“…God is trying to speak to people in their language.”
“…Saying “less” can mean “more”.”
“…The features in Paratext–I got to learn more about how to use them.”

What did you particularly like about this workshop?

“…Meeting other Algonquian language speakers.”
“…The technical part–how to use the programs.”
“…I enjoyed the whole workshop.”
“…Singing hymns / Everything.”
“…Hymn singing, devotions, sharing, everything.”
“…I liked the experience with the Koreans.”

What were the best aspects of the workshop?

“…Learning from patient facilitators who were patient with me.”
“…Learning new things about translating the Bible.”
“…Giving our opinions and experiences.”
“…Sharing of other teams’ experiences.”
“…I enjoyed the visitors and all they offered for us in their prayers, and the direction of the facilitators.”
“…The singing and devotions and great workshop presenters, and the explanations about the basics of translation.”

God continues to be at work bringing His message to His people in their own languages. We are so grateful that you can be a part of this work with us. Thank you for your prayers and support for this workshop and for the wonderful things God continues to do in the lives of our First Nations friends.

Serving with you,

Bill and Norma Jean

Consider becoming more involved and supporting this work by visiting these websites:

In the USA: https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Jancewicz

In Canada: https://www.wycliffe.ca/member/jancewicz-billnormajean/

Northern Translation Brief 21Mar2016

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

We are invited back to Kingfisher Lake this week to continue to work along side the new Oji-Cree Bible Translation team with their projects. We fly from the Toronto airport to Thunder Bay on Monday, 21 March and then on Tuesday we continue on through Sioux Lookout to Kingfisher Lake.

We will be joined this time by a photographer with Wycliffe Canada who hopes to gather information, stories and photographs from the translation team to share about their translation project and the influence that it is already having on their church and community. She will be with us for the first three days.

We will be helping them learn to bring their translation work through the various stages that are necessary to ensure that their work is clear and accurate, natural and acceptable. You may remember that one of the first projects that their committee has chosen is to translate the prayer book lectionary readings for the local church in the community–the Epistles and Gospels for each Sunday in a one year cycle beginning last Advent. They have been diligent in producing these each week and many of the readings in church have been read by members of the translation team themselves.

It is also our privilege to have been invited to spend Holy Week and Easter to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord with them in their church and community. We are looking forward to our fellowship with them and for how God will use us to help them have even better access to His word in their own language.

Please pray for our provision and protection as we travel, and for our sensitivity to God’s leading and the ways and language of these people. To pray for the translation team by name, please visit this earlier post about their project, which lists their names and their pictures.

Northern Translation Brief 27Jul2015

Lord willing, we will be back home in Windham Centre, Ontario at the end of the month.

Thank you for your prayers about our meetings with First Nations church leaders and representatives from Bible Translation agencies that we attended in Toronto earlier this month. God has been at work and was present in those meetings too. We encourage you to write to us and ask if you want to know some of the specifics about how He is leading us and what we learned from those meetings, or anything else you want to hear more from us about.

Serving with you, Bill and Norma Jean

Partner with us in prayer or sharing in our financial support by visiting these websites: https://billjancewicz.com/ (personal)
In Canada: http://www.wycliffe.ca/m?Jancewicz
In USA: https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Jancewicz

Bill’s email: bill_jancewicz@sil.org

Norma Jean’s email: normajean_jancewicz@sil.org

Northern Translation Brief 28Jan2016

Posted on January 28, 2016 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

It has been good to settle into a routine of work and support for the translation projects since having our grandchildren with us for an extended visit over the holidays. Norma Jean is on the home stretch for her grad program assignments, and the translators in northern Quebec (Naskapi) northern Ontario (Oji-Cree) and Saskatchewan (Plains Cree) are all back to work on their translation projects after the holidays. In fact, the Oji-Cree translators took advantage of their holiday “break” to get even more done on their Bible translation goals, and that was a real encouragement to us and to the other teams.

This is a picture of the report we see when progress is made on any of the Bible Translation projects and we support

This is a picture of the report we see when progress is made on any of the Bible Translation projects that we work with. You can see every member of the Oji-Cree team worked on their translation; on Matthew, Romans, Luke, John and 2 Corinthians, all during the week between Christmas and New Years! What an encouragement to us.

Naskapi

The big news for Naskapi is that Tshiueten has just finished the final verse on the first draft of the book of Exodus. This has been an active Naskapi project for several years, and over the past three years, Tshiueten has been the main translator. Now of course there is a lot of checking and review to do before it is approved for publication, but this is a tremendous milestone and he is to be congratulated.

Tshiueten Vachon, Naskapi translator working on Exodus

Oji-Cree

The team is working very steadily on the Sunday “Epistle” and “Gospel” readings for the church in Kingfisher Lake. The translators, many of whom are also church lay-readers, report that the community has enjoyed hearing these church readings in the new translation, and some have also been looking closer at the old (Mason) Cree translation, giving God’s Word a closer look than they had previously.

Pictures of the Oji-Cree translation team that they took themselves and posted on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ismm2014/posts/1257611154281381

Plains Cree

Gayle and Dolores have been making good progress on the checking and review of the New Testament, completing the back-translation through the book of Acts, and working with the Bible Society translation consultant Ruth nearly every day by Internet and Skype. Bill and Ruth have also been making progress editing the hours of recorded audio of the book of Luke in Plains Cree.

Dolores and Gayle working on Plains Cree checking and review

Legacy (Mason 1862) Cree Bible

This old translation is still in use and highly regarded in many northern communities and churches, even if it is not the way people speak today. The Bible Society will be producing an updated reprint and make it accessible electronically. The Plains Cree team, along with Ruth, the translation consultant, are also making steady progress toward that goal.

Old Cree Bible at St. Matthew’s Church, Kingfisher Lake, Ontario

Day by day we work with the teams on these projects from our desks here at our new “old” house in Windham Centre, Ontario. We are grateful to be a part of God’s plan to bring his message to the First Nations communities across northern Canada.

Norma Jean working on her research paper

Bill listening to and editing the Gospel of Luke audio in Plains Cree

Prayer Requests:

As we rejoice over the completion of the Naskapi Exodus first draft, please join us in prayer as we try to connect with just the right translation consultant who will work with Tshiueten and the team for quality assurance and accuracy.

Pray with us for the Oji-Cree team and the Kingfisher Lake church as many of them will hear these messages in their own language for the first time. Remember Ruth K, Ruth M, Theresa, Jessie and Zipporah.

Remember Gayle and Dolores, the Plains Cree team, working with Ruth, their translation consultant on both the book of Acts in the new Plains Cree translation, and the preparation and review of the old Legacy Cree Bible.

Keep us (Bill and Norma Jean) in prayer as we begin to set up our calendar for our working trips into the communities up north in the months to come, for our interactions with other missions and resource partners for these projects, and that we would stay centered on God’s word in our own lives.

And one more special prayer request: Our son, Nicodemus John, is attending Trinity Western University in Langley British Columbia. He is preparing to spend his Spring Break on a missions trip with dozens of other students from TWU, working on a “Habitat for Humanity” building project. He is in need of funds to support his participation in this missions trip.

You can read about the trip here: http://twu.ca/life/ministries/gps/sprin g-trips/

He needs to raise nearly $2400 to go on this missions trip, and he just told us this week that he sold his car to a junkyard to help him with some of the costs (he got $140.00 for his car)! If you feel that God would have you support Nicodemus to go on this missions trip, you can get a tax-deductible receipt for your gift if you write your donations payable to “Trinity Western University”, and mail them to:

Allan Kotanen
Student Life Director
Trinity Western University
7600 Glover Road
Langley, BC V2Y 1Y1 CANADA

Be sure to include a note saying it is for:
Nicodemus Jancewicz
Spring Break Missions

Serving with you, Bill and Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief 23Nov2015

Posted on November 24, 2015 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

November 2015 on-site workshop at Kingfisher Lake

At the end of October, 2015, we spoke with Bishop Lydia Mamakwa at her diocesan office in the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh (Anglican Diocese in Northern Ontario) to plan on another visit to help her team prepare the first set of church Scripture readings for Advent 2015.

November 2015 Workshop, Kingfisher Lake

She asked if we might come the first week of November, so we made plans to do so.

We traveled to Kingfisher Lake from our home on Monday and Tuesday, November 2 & 3. We were accompanied by Wyclffe Canada representative Terri Scruggs, from Calgary. We were all delayed by almost one day because of weather, but were finally able to arrive late Tuesday night.

The workshops begin

On Wednesday, all five translators were available to work with us all day, starting their session at 9:00 AM. The translation team discussed their daily schedule, and since some of the translators have other duties to perform each day, they decided that they would meet each afternoon for a workshop session right after lunch, and work together until suppertime. They also agreed to meet together on Saturday afternoon as well. We worked with translators on an individual basis every morning.

Encouragement from partner organizations

Terri Scruggs

Terri Scruggs, the Wycliffe Canada project administrator, brought greetings from the Wycliffe Canada office in Calgary where she works, and reminded the Oji-Cree translation team that Wycliffe Canada is available to assist and support the project with prayer and church contacts. She shared how happy they were with the progress that the translation team has already made, and described to the team how other Christians in churches across Canada who have heard about it are excited about the Oji-Cree Bible Translation project, and interested in praying for and connecting with the Oji-Cree translation team.

She described a Wycliffe Canada initiative called “Kingdom Friendships” that they facilitate between Canadian churches and organizations like the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh that are involved in Mother-Tongue Bible translation. She also encouraged the translation team to share how the translated scriptures are having an impact in their own lives and in the lives of the other people who read them.

Daily training schedule

Oji-Cree Lectionary Chart

Each day we began the workshop day with a hymn from the Cree hymnal, prayed together for the project, and shared a devotional Bible reading that focused on the Bible text that the team had worked for that day. Next we covered a refresher lesson about basic translation principles that we introduced at the Guelph Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) workshop in April (click here to see this story). Bill also helped the translators to move the project from the “First Draft” (step 1) stage through the other checking and review stages that a Bible translation requires, spending time every day working through the procedures for the other stages.

Other topics covered were how to be sure they knew the meaning of the text before attempting to translate it, how every culture has an effect on the presentation of the meaning of the message, including those cultures that the Bible was originally written to. They also did some brief video studies of the culture and geography of the Bible lands in Jesus’ time, and constantly referred to the print and online resources available that can help the translators to understand the culture and the times.

Oji-Cree Word List

During the “Team Checking” time each day, the translators discussed the selection and spelling of words that would come up often in their translation work, and, as a group, settled on using certain words and their spelling for consistency. These were written on a flip chart by the team members, and then typed into a computer file with their meanings in English, and kept on a shared computer folder so that they could add to the list of words in the weeks and months to come and refer to it during their drafting and checking sessions.

Scripture engagement – God’s Word in Oji-Cree for the church and community

Because of the importance of connecting the rest of the Oji-Cree community with the work of the translation team, Norma Jean prepared materials to make church banners that not only celebrated the Advent season in artistic symbols, but also include Oji-Cree language scripture and scripture portions. This will help the church and community at large to connect with the translation work that the team is doing into Oji-Cree.

Oji-Cree Church Banners

The entire team participated in the hands-on activity of making designs, choosing scripture verses, preparing the syllabic lettering and assembling the banners. These banners are being displayed at Mission House and at St. Matthew’s Church during the season of Advent and Christmas. All of the spare materials and tools for making these scripture engagement banners was left at Mission House after the workshop was over so that the translation team can continue to make their own.

Christmas Book

We also described some of the Bible-based children’s books that they had produced in Naskapi, especially the full colour “Jesus is Born” Christmas story in Naskapi. They showed the translators how they could easily replace the Naskapi language text in the computer files for these books and then produce Oji-Cree versions of these books for use in the community. Translation team member Zipporah Mamakwa has already completed the draft of the Oji-Cree text for this project and we expect to have books ready for Christmas.

Another scripture engagement project that was started at Bishop Lydia’s request in the summer is the Book of Alternative Services in Oji-Cree. This started out as a rough translation of pages from the Anglican Book of Alternative Services, with a hand-written version on facing pages in Oji-Cree syllabics, produced “in-house” on a photocopier. We took these materials to start from and produced a professionally-printed prototype (checking copy) of the Book of Alternative Services, Holy Eucharist in Oji-Cree. Five of these checking copies were left with the translation team and Bishop Lydia, who will review and revise the books so that a final publication can be made for use in the church and community.

Fellowship and relationships

A “Gospel Jamboree” was also taking place in Kingfisher Lake the same weekend of the translators workshop. We were privileged to attend three sessions of the Jamboree, and we ourselves sang together once in Naskapi (In the Sweet Bye and Bye) and Bill also sang another time in Cree (Jesus paid it all). They enjoyed being part of this cultural and spiritual celebration, and it was especially good to hear many young people in the community singing Gospel songs in Cree or Ojibwe. We were encouraged and hope that this trend will continue, and that more and more people in the community become engaged in the language development work, and begin to create some of their own songs in Oji-Cree.

We also participated in the first annual Remembrance Day ceremonies that were conducted by the Kingfisher Lake First Nation Canadian Rangers patrol on November 11.

Current translation progress

Since the translation team began translating their first few Bible verses themselves into Oji-Cree on 23 April 2015 at the Guelph Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) workshop, the team has made steady progress. As of the end of this workshop they have translated a total of more than 1200 verses in “First Draft” (step 1), moving toward the goal of having all the Sunday readings prepared for St. Matthew’s Church for this coming year.

Church Lectionary Readings

During the workshop, Bill guided the team through the “Team Check” (step 2) procedure for all the readings for the Advent and Christmas services. This part of the procedure has the entire translation team working together on the same passage, reading through a translation that one of the team members has already completed. This helps the translator to make corrections and adjustments to her translation so that it is more clear, accurate and natural. So by the end of the workshop on November 11th, all the readings were ready for printing out for the Sunday church services through the end of December 2015.

Meeting with Bishop Lydia

Because of family and ministry responsibilities, Bishop Lydia Mamakwa was only in the community on Saturday and Sunday during the workshop weeks. She graciously took time to meet with us late Sunday afternoon before she had to leave for another ministry trip outside the community. During this meeting, we reported to her about the progress of her team and the activities of this workshop.

We covered several topics with the Bishop that concern the new Oji-Cree translation project. They prayed with her for her family and her travels, and reported on the work with the translators during the first four days of the workshops. They discussed some of her goals for the project and did some planning about when we might come back to Kingfisher Lake again.

The Bishop said that she would be pleased to have the Oji-Cree Bible Translation team be part of Wycliffe Canada church connections and have the Oji-Cree team, committee and project remembered and prayed for regularly.

We grateful that the Bishop took the time to meet and pray with us, and feel that God is at work in her and in the Oji-Cree Translation project.

Continuing work after the workshop

The translation team reviewed the next steps that they will need to take over the coming months to stay on schedule with the translation goals that their committee has set.

Team Scripture Checking

They will continue to translate the “First Draft” (step 1) of the Epistle and Gospel for the Sunday readings according to the schedule in their Bible Translation office. They were also encouraged to meet together as a team at least once per week, in order to accomplish the “Team Check” (step 2) for the next readings in preparation for the Sunday lectionary.
The team was taught the procedure to prepare the checking printouts for the “Community Check” (step 3), and they practiced printing out drafts of the scripture portions that they translated. These were then brought to some of the committee members and elders who have volunteered to read through and check the translations. Some of these print-outs will also be formatted and copied for distribution as “church bulletins” that contain the Sunday Lectionary Reading in Oji-Cree, and everyone in the congregation can take them home with them to read them later.

Formatting and Printing

Finally, the team will begin to do the “Back Translation” (step 4) in preparation for a consultant-check which will be eventually necessary before the publication of the scriptures in books. This checking procedure will also ensure that the translation is accurate and clear.

We are grateful for the support and warm welcome that we always receive during our stays in Kingfisher Lake with the Mission House staff, and look forward to our return to the community later in the new year.

Please pray that God will begin to use His Word in the hearts of the Kingfisher Lake Oji-Cree people as they start reading it together every Sunday starting this Advent (November 29).

And while you are thinking of us, please remember us as we will be traveling to the Naskapi community in Northern Quebec on that same day. We plan to be with them through the Second Sunday of Advent.

Serving with you,

Bill and Norma Jean Jancewicz

Teamwork for Scripture Engagement

Jesus is the Light of the World

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Daily workshop sessions

Hands-on practice

Discussing the text

Young family at church

Heading home from church

The scriptures for every generation

Northern Translation Brief 27Jul2015

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

Thank you for your prayers for us this week. We have been running a mini-workshop for the new Oji-Cree translation team in the “fly-in” community of Kingfisher Lake since last Tuesday.

Boarding Pass in Canadian Syllabics

On the plane to Kingfisher Lake

Kingfisher Lake Bible Translation Team

Last year, Jessie, Ruth K, Ruth M, Theresa, and Zipporah were recruited and selected by their local Bible Translation committee, composed of community elders and church leaders.

Jessie

Ruth K.

Ruth M.

Theresa

Zipporah

We were invited here by the committee last January to begin their formation and training. Then they all attended the 2015 Mother Tongue Translator Workshop in Guelph in April, and we are back here now to help the team to build on the skills and momentum that they gained at the workshop in Guelph.

you can read about the workshop here: <click>

We also came to listen to the committee to help them with their planning to achieve their vision for their community. Bishop Lydia Mamakwa reminded us and the committee that her diocese was led to undertake this local Bible translation initiative into Oji-Cree as one of their first projects.

The committee decided that in order to have the most immediate local engagement with the newly-translation Scripture portions in Oji-Cree, that they would focus on the shorter, one-year “Prayer Book Lectionary” of Sunday Bible readings that are read each week at St. Matthew’s Church in Kingfisher Lake. So, besides practicing and developing their Bible translation and Oji-Cree word processing skills, the team has also begun to follow a program of translating specific Bible readings that will be read in their church each week, with a goal of completing over 1600 New Testament verses over the next year.

Translation workshop at Mission House

Translation Committee meeting at Mission House

We continue our training and practice with the team into this coming week and after this we head back to southern Ontario and continue our search for a “home” base on July 30.

Our time here has been very encouraging: our friends at Mission House and the Kingfisher Lake community have shown us their usual kindness and hospitality.

Kingfisher Lake sewing group

This weekend we enjoyed fellowship and worship with them at their church and went to see the closing of their summer fishing derby, and even took home fresh fish for our supper. God is good.

Anglers returning from the fishing derby

Kingfisher Lake fishing derby

Recording the weight of each fish

…and the length

“Would you like to take some fish? They’re fresh!”

Walleye for supper tonight

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Serving with you, Bill and Norma Jean

Northern Translation Brief 18Jul2015

Posted on July 19, 2015 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

Plains Cree Gospel Audio Recording

Thank you for your prayers for us–yesterday we just finished doing the audio recording of the Gospel of Luke in Plains Cree. Dolores Sand, one of the Plains Cree translators from Saskatchewan, came to the Kitchener-Waterloo area of Ontario to read the text of the Cree Scriptures with Ruth Heeg, the Bible Society translation consultant who has been coordinating the project for the past few years.

We set up a makeshift recording studio in Ruth’s basement, with tables and chairs, microphones and mixing boards, computers and speakers, where for 10 days we recorded and listened, re-recorded and edited, and we all heard the entire book of Luke in Cree at least four times altogether. When we were finished, we had nearly 7 hours of recorded digital audio that Bill will continue to work on, matching sound and tone levels, and adjusting the pace, timing and pauses. So there are still some weeks of work to do before the finished sound files can be sent to the translators so they can listen to it for a final review.

Dolores Sand reads from the Gospel of Luke in Plains Cree

Ruth Heeg listening and following along in Cree

When that’s done, the book of Luke will be ready to publish and distribute with Dolores narrating all 24 chapters in her mother tongue for other Cree speakers to read and follow along.

Dolores asked us to begin to make plans to record the remaining Gospels in Plains Cree in the months to come. We are eager to help her do just that.

Oji-Cree Translation Project

For the next two weeks, from July 20-30, we have been asked to return to Kingfisher Lake in northern Ontario to help the Oji-Cree Bible translation team to build on the skills and momentum that they gained at the Mother Tongue Translator workshop in April.

Naskapi Language Project

At the end of August we have plans to go back to work with our friends in the Naskapi language project in northern Quebec. Norma Jean will be working with the Naskapi language teachers on curriculum and literacy, and Bill will be with the translation team and the Naskapi Language Specialists supporting their Old Testament and story projects.

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers for these trips–we also need your prayers as we keep looking for a place to call home. These last few weeks looking at houses around southern Ontario has been somewhat frustrating. We can’t yet report that we have a new address. So meanwhile between trips we’ll be staying in campgrounds or with friends. God knows our need, and we are still trusting God that He will provide.

Serving with you,

Bill and Norma Jean

Northern Translation Brief 03Jul2015

Posted on July 3, 2015 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

Since we last connected in a Translation Brief (last month), we have journeyed from the west coast of Canada to the east coast of the US. We have been enjoying connections with family, friends and partners, and we are about to travel again to support First Nations Bible Translation work in Canada.

Plains Cree Translation

From July 7-17, we have been asked to help with the audio recording of the book of Luke in Plains Cree. Dolores and Gayle, the Cree translators, have completed their translation and review of the Luke’s Gospel, and the Canadian Bible Society is facilitating a recording session in Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario. I (Bill) will work with the Bible Society translation consultant and assist with the recording procedure, as Dolores reads through the book. When the recording is made, edited and approved, it will accompany the printed text of the book of Luke, and also be available for Plains Cree speakers to listen to and hear the new translation of this portion of scripture in their own language.

Please pray that God will be in the details for the whole 10 days, helping us with travel, technical details and good relationships for this project.

You can read more about the Plains Cree translation project here:

https://billjancewicz.com/2014/12/11/northern-translation-brief-cuthand-plains-cree-translation/

Oji-Cree Translation

From July 20-30, we will be traveling up to the Oji-Cree Kingfisher Lake community in northern Ontario.

During our days in Kingfisher, we will be meeting with the translation team leadership to discuss their vision and plans for the work of the Oji-Cree translators, and their local translation committee.

We will also be working each day with the translators themselves, to help them gain capacity, learn about how and to move ahead on their translation project work, set intermediate and long-term goals, help them with the technical skills they need, and engage in more practice and training.

Please pray for our trip north to Kingfisher, for the Oji-Cree translation team and committee, and all the details, goals and relationships

You can read more about the Oji-Cree translation project here:

https://billjancewicz.com/2015/01/24/northern-translation-brief-kingfisher-lake-oji-cree/

Looking for a “home base”

As many of you may remember from a previous post, we are in the process of relocating to the greater Toronto region to better serve the various First Nations Bible Translation projects that we partner with across northern Canada. During the days of our work this month with the Plains Cree and the Oji-Cree, we will also be meeting with real estate representatives, visiting houses, looking online and listening for God’s leading as to our next new address.

Please pray for wisdom, direction and provision as we look for a new place to work from and call “home” when we are not in one of the host First Nations communities.

Later in August, we have plans to travel to northern Quebec to continue to support the Naskapi language project in Kawawachikamach. More details about that work in another post.

Serving with you,

Bill and Norma Jean

Northern Translation Brief 26May2015

Posted on May 26, 2015 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

By the time you are reading this we will have disconnected and turned in our home Internet box to the service provider, along with our land-line telephone, as we prepare to finish cleaning and packing to leave our little rented cottage in Aldergrove, BC. We have made this our home for the past two years as Norma Jean worked on courses for her graduate program at Trinity Western University.

We are starting our drive across the continent on Friday, May 29, towing a rented trailer containing some of our belongings that we acquired during our two years here–at least those items that remain after giving a lot away to others.

Along the way we will be attending the NAIITS (North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies) Symposium at Wheaton College, in Illinois on June 4-6, where we are connecting with some old friends and networking with new partners in our First Nations Bible Translation work.

Then we continue on towards the greater Toronto area where we will continue to look for a new place to call “home”. Why southern Ontario? Mainly because this puts us in a region that makes it convenient to travel to the First Nations communities that we are connecting with to assist with language development that will help them gain better access to the Scriptures in their mother tongues. Also, some of our significant partner organizations, such as the Bible Society, educational institutions and the First Nations church have their headquarters in this region as well.

But so far, we do not yet have a mailing address in Ontario. And, as of this Thursday we will no longer get mail at ~~25133 0 Avenue in Aldergrove, BC~~, so please cross that address off your address book. You can also cross out our old home phone number ~~(604) 381-4440~~ too, because that won’t work either. You can still follow Norma Jean on Facebook, and news will still be posted here on this website–and our email addresses are still remain the best way to stay in touch with us. We did get an android-based “smart” phone, and if you email Norma Jean she might give you the number so that you can send us a text (and we will try to remember to keep the phone charged up so that we can answer you!)

Bill’s email: bill_jancewicz@sil.org

Norma Jean’s email: normajean_jancewicz@sil.org

We plan to drop off our belongings in a storage facility in the Kitchener, Ontario area in June, and continue our search for a new home somewhere around there, and as soon as we know where that is, we will let you know.

Later on in June we plan to visit family, friends, and supporting churches in New England and parts of the northeastern United States while we continue looking for the house that God has for us.

During the second half of the summer we will be going back to northern Ontario and northern Quebec to continue to support the First Nations Bible Translation projects there in the Oji-Cree and Naskapi languages.

We are grateful for your prayers for God’s continued guidance and safety as we follow Him into this new phase of His work in our lives and in the lives and languages of the First Nations people of Canada.

Serving with you,

Bill and Norma Jean

Partner with us in prayer or sharing in our financial support by visiting these websites: https://billjancewicz.com/ (personal)
In Canada: http://www.wycliffe.ca/m?Jancewicz
In USA: https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief: Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) Workshop

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Bill Jancewicz

Our Dear Partners,

When the First Nations representatives and church leaders met with us in Prince Albert last June (click here for the story), they identified several priorities for the First Nations Bible Translation Capacity-Building Initiative. One of these priorities was to conduct a series of Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) Workshops to help the speakers of First Nations languages learn the skills that they need to be involved in Bible Translation and community language development.

With coordination and assistance from our friends at the Canadian Bible Society translation office in Kitchener, Ontario, we planned and facilitated the 2015 Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) Workshop held at the Guelph Bible Conference Centre from April 20th to the 24th. Speakers of First Nations languages from three communities were able to come to this first workshop, which was a “re-boot” of a series of annual workshops that were started in the early 1990s for North American translators, initially held at the “Christian Hope Indian Eskimo Fellowship” (CHIEF) in Phoenix, AZ, and later at the SIL Mexico Branch Center in Catalina, AZ.

Naskapi translators at an MTT workshop in Catalina AZ, 2002

Over the years, many First Nations, Native American and translators from other minority language groups have improved their translation skills by attending these workshops. The Naskapi language team in particular has benefited by attending these–but unfortunately the workshops were discontinued after the last one was held in 2011, in Sydney Nova Scotia.

Even though some of the Naskapi translators had been to the workshops several times through the years (George, Silas, Seasi) most of participants had never been to one, and needed to start at the beginning. A very good place to start.

First Nations Translators from across Canada

It’s expensive to travel in and out of the North, and plans were already being made last fall to secure funding for the participants to come together this spring in Guelph. The Anglican Healing Fund provided a significant portion of the money needed to pay the airfare and accommodations for most of the Naskapi and Oji-Cree translators to travel from their communities. Although our intention was to include translators from several different language communities, in the end only three translation projects were represented at the workshop: Naskapi, Oji-Cree, and Plains Cree.

Besides the translation team from the Naskapi translation project (six persons: Silas Nabinicaboo, Tshiueten Vachon, Amanda Swappie, Medora Losier, Kissandra Sandy and Kabimbetas Mokoush), the Naskapi school also sent along a Naskapi language teacher Seasi Swappie and their curriculum development technician Jessica Nattawappio.

Oji-Cree translators from Kingfisher Lake

The Naskapi Nation sent their senior translator George Guanish, and Cheyenne Vachon, the project coordinator for Status of Women in Canada for the Naskapi Nation and church lay-reader.

The newly-formed Oji-Cree translation committee selected five persons from the Kingfisher Lake community to be trained as translators: Ruth Kitchekesik, Zipporah Mamakwa, Jessie Atlookan, Theresa Sainnawap, and Ruth Morris. Bishop Lydia Mamakwa accompanied them on their first day.

The Plains Cree translation project sent one of their translators, Gayle Weenie.

A Full and Varied Schedule

Each day of the workshop began with hymn singing in Cree, which is a language through which much of the sacred music tradition came into First Nations churches across Canada. We took into account language differences, learned to sing one anothers’ favourite songs, and also learned something about the linguistic relationships that connect the language varieties that were represented.

We also had daily devotions, reading the Bible (when the translation was available) in the languages that are represented, and having a short Bible study.

The first session every morning covered Bible Translation skills. The learning alternated between using lessons from “Bible Translation Basics: Communicating Scripture in a Relevant Way” which focuses on communication theory, and modules from “Bible Translation Principles” which focuses on distinguishing the “form” from the “meaning” of the message. Each of these resources were useful to help learners understand the translation task and to help them gain the skills they need to do it.

Each day after the lunch break we had basic training in the use of the collaborative translation software program ParaTExt, which assists translators by providing source translations and resource documents as well as tools to assist them in translating into their own language and checking their work. Most of the participants had never used this software, so we were careful to start very gradually.

Plains Cree Translation in ParaTExt

Also, the entire Oji-Cree team received a set of five new laptop computers to bring back to Kingfisher Lake with them, along with a new printer and data projector for their translation committee. This needed equipment was provided thanks to support from the Canadian Bible Society translation office. They received training in keyboarding in their own language, and some basic computer skills for beginners.

ParaTExt with the New Oji-Cree translation

The New Oji-Cree translation in ParaTExt

Other modules covered throughout the week included such topics as “From God to Us: Bible Translation and History”, “Planning the future of our language”, “The Algonquian Language Family” and the importance of personal Bible knowledge for translators.

Preparing for a “consultant-check”

During the whole workshop, the participants all learned something about the process of Bible translation–but simply getting the message into the words of your own language is just the beginning. Tuesday of the workshop we focused on some of the next steps that are necessary after a “first draft” is produced.

Steve Kempf teaches about translation checking

Steve Kempf, a certified translation consultant with SIL International (Wycliffe Bible Translators) who has had many years of experience and specializes in Old Testament source material came to be with us Tuesday, and presented two modules about the necessity and procedure for checking a translation. He covered working together as a translation team and the importance of thoroughly checking the naturalness and clarity of a translation with other speakers of the language throughout the community. He provided methods and examples of how to do this on a regular basis as sections of a translation are written.

Naskapi translator Tshiueten Vachon, checking Exodus with consultant Steve Kempf, and team-members Amanda Swappie, Jessica Nattawappio, and George Guanish

He also provided a “live” demonstration of some of the ways that a translation consultant like himself works with the translation team to help them to ensure that the translation is both accurate (faithful to the original) and acceptable (how the readers perceive a translation as trustworthy). To do this, the Naskapi translation team provided him with their draft translation and a back-translation (a literal translation of the Naskapi back into English) of the book of Exodus, one of the current active Naskapi translation projects. After examining the translation during the weeks before the workshop, Steve conducted a consultant-checking session with the translator and other Naskapi participants as a demonstration to the rest of the workshop attendees of what to expect when a consultant comes to check their translations.

Encouraging Connections

The workshop participants were not only encouraged by each other, finding that their vocation of Bible Translation into their own language was shared by speakers from other First Nations language communities from across Canada,

Bishop Lydia Mamakwa

but also we were visited by church and organizational leaders who are counted as partners and friends of the First Nations Bible Translation movement. Bishop Lydia Mamakwa, the first bishop of a new indigenous diocese in the Anglican Church of Canada, the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh, accompanied the new Oji-Cree translation team from the community of Kingfisher Lake in northern Ontario. We were pleased to have her encouragement and fellowship for the first full day of the workshop on Monday.

Dr. Myles Leitch

Dr. Myles Leitch, the newly appointed Director of Scripture Translation for the Canadian Bible Society, came to observe the workshop and greet the participants on Wednesday morning, staying for lunch and connecting with some of the workshop organizers and facilitators. The Canadian Bible Society played a significant role in seeing that this workshop was a success, by making arrangements for the venue and providing on site technical and administrative support. Sharon Peddle and Tom Ortiz from the translation office assisted during the week, and Bible Society translation consultant Ruth Heeg participated and provided her help and input for the entire workshop.

Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald

The Right Reverend Mark MacDonald, the National Indigenous Anglican Bishop, visited the workshop on Wednesday afternoon and encouraged the participants in their work. He reminded us all that the Bible is a “…sacred book, a miraculous book, (ᐁᒫᒪᐦᑳᑌᐣᑖᑿᐦᐠ ᒪᓯᓇᐦᐃᑲᐣ e-maamahkaatentaakwahk masinahikan) that changes people’s hearts and minds. It is a living thing. When something is translated into another language, usually something is lost. But the Bible is the only thing that the more you translate it the more you get. So when we translate it into our languages you know more about God. When I tell you what Jesus has done in my life, you know more about Jesus.”

He also told the participants that it’s just not their own communities, but that people all across the land are really excited about this workshop, and are supporting and praying for them. He said that it is his hope that it will grow and grow until every First Nations community across the land is doing what they are doing–that the participants in this workshop are the ones “breaking trail”, and making the way for the others to follow.

Fellowship and fellow-SHOP

Most of the workshop participants come from home communities that are very remote in the far north of Canada. Indeed, even though they traveled by air, it took most of them two days to come to the workshop from where they live. So during their free time, arrangements were made for them to visit the local shopping mall and department stores–an opportunity that many readers of this report may take for granted but is impossible to do in the remote areas where the participants live. All the workshop participants gladly took advantage of this opportunity and were able to get many things that they have been saving up for or special gifts or treats to bring to family back home.

We also enjoyed a dinner “out” at a local Chinese buffet restaurant together, another treat that was very deeply appreciated by all the participants and the facilitators.

On Friday, the last day of the workshop, we took some time to reflect and evaluate the workshop program, and all the participants provided feedback for the organizers to consider for the next workshop. Here is a sampling of some of the participants’ comments:

“I feel more encouraged and refreshed in my job as translator.”

“I felt that I have helped other in starting their own translation projects.”

“I have learned some great ideas for how translation goes; for example, what materials and helps are available to use.”

“I felt blessed to involve myself in this workshop: meeting different Nations and learning about similar cultures and languages to my own. I liked the teamwork, involvement and singing together the best.”

“I felt that I learned that there was more that I could do for my community.”

All of the participants indicated that it was a privilege to come and would definitely want to come to future workshops to learn more.

At the end of the last session the participants were awarded certificates of completion, and the workshop was closed with hymn singing in Cree, prayers and good-byes.

Many thanks to all of you who faithfully prayed for us all during this workshop, to all who contributed their time, expertise, and money to make this workshop a success and inspiration for all who attended. We would like to especially thank the congregation at Harvest Church in Byron, Georgia, USA for their generous support to the Wycliffe Bible Translators’ “Western Cree Partnership” project, which supports this initiative to build Bible translation capacity in First Nations communities in Canada.

Serving with you, Bill and Norma Jean

PS: We include a collection of photographs below taken throughout the workshop.