Morgan Freeman has a well recognized and soothing narrator's voice. He
is sought out because of his voice to do commercials, documentaries, and
voice overs.
His timbre, his tone, his fluent English reading, are the reasons he is
chosen to sit in recording sessions.
Our criteria is a bit less exacting.
We're looking for people who can read.
Sometimes we get fluent readers. Often times we don't. Even fluent
readers are not experienced in how to record, so they may read well, but
they touch their face, make lip smacking noises, touch the page, jitter
their fingers, and otherwise pollute the sound recording with extraneous
noise.
The less fluent readers make a lot of mistakes. To adjust for this, I
do a lot of editing, and rely heavily on someone who knows the language,
to tell me 'we need to retake that' when there are pronunciation mistakes.
Since we're recording Scripture here, you can be sure, that mistakes are
bad bad.
That's what recording is. Listening for mistakes, coaching readers out
of being monotone, and trying make the Scripture come alive as best as
possible.
A recordist in PNG, is much more than a technician, he has to be a
linguist too. I may not know the Bola language, but I know when someone
is reading it wrong... if that makes sense. I know vocal patterns, I
detect when someone needs to drink water, or is not inflecting
properly. I read hundreds of words I don't know to make sure none are
being missed.
Yesterday was one of those days I was trying to apply the patience of an
elementary teacher who is teaching children to read for the first time.
It was taking forever to get through a single verse,with so many
mistakes, and hard to pronounce words. I actually stopped for a moment,
closed my eyes and prayed
"God, give me patience!.. please!" It can be very frustrating, but then
you have the reward of knowing at the end, there is something
permanently recorded that generations can listen to!
5/01/2013
4/28/2013
water what now?
I Cor 3:6
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.
Recently, a translator posted this story because it occurred to him, that in PNG, the act of watering your garden is non-existant.
=================
In almost every part of this country (except for a very few areas like the rain shadow area around Port Moresby, where they in fact have to import produce from the highlands) people have to make ditches, drains, and mounds in order to get rid of excess water.
During the big El Niño drought of 1997, an Australian support worker at Ukarumpa advised her village friend whose garden was right by the river, to get a bucket of water from what was left of the river, and pour a bit of water at the base of each plant in her garden. The local woman responded with surprise - such a thought had never occurred to her!
=================
Here people don't water their garden because of the excessive rain. They plant something, and it just grows. But then again, in our home country, you don't burn away the tall grass (kunai) to make a place to plant. They till the soil by hand after burning away brush and chopping trees down. The place once called 'lone tree' (because it had a single tree on top of the hill) now has hundreds of trees.
Things grow quickly and easily here.
I thought it an interesting translation to culture dilemma.
I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.
Recently, a translator posted this story because it occurred to him, that in PNG, the act of watering your garden is non-existant.
=================
In almost every part of this country (except for a very few areas like the rain shadow area around Port Moresby, where they in fact have to import produce from the highlands) people have to make ditches, drains, and mounds in order to get rid of excess water.
During the big El Niño drought of 1997, an Australian support worker at Ukarumpa advised her village friend whose garden was right by the river, to get a bucket of water from what was left of the river, and pour a bit of water at the base of each plant in her garden. The local woman responded with surprise - such a thought had never occurred to her!
=================
Here people don't water their garden because of the excessive rain. They plant something, and it just grows. But then again, in our home country, you don't burn away the tall grass (kunai) to make a place to plant. They till the soil by hand after burning away brush and chopping trees down. The place once called 'lone tree' (because it had a single tree on top of the hill) now has hundreds of trees.
Things grow quickly and easily here.
I thought it an interesting translation to culture dilemma.
4/27/2013
Dad's two favorite words 'I'm bored'
Whenever I hear 'I'm bored' from one of my kids, they get put to work.
They know this. I have a board of chores, and whenever I hear 'I'm
bored' they get one, mandatory.
Today my daughter let it slip, and I said ' WOOHOO!! Okay kids, follow me!'
my son said 'But I didn't say it dad! IT was her!'
I took them outside and taught them how to change a flat tire.
My son was very into it, my daughter, no so much.
"Geez, I'm never going to say that again around dad."
I replied, "hey, you're lucky, it was either that, or splitting fire
wood. This time I chose to educate you, instead of give you a chore,
but say it again and see what happens!"
They know this. I have a board of chores, and whenever I hear 'I'm
bored' they get one, mandatory.
Today my daughter let it slip, and I said ' WOOHOO!! Okay kids, follow me!'
my son said 'But I didn't say it dad! IT was her!'
I took them outside and taught them how to change a flat tire.
My son was very into it, my daughter, no so much.
"Geez, I'm never going to say that again around dad."
I replied, "hey, you're lucky, it was either that, or splitting fire
wood. This time I chose to educate you, instead of give you a chore,
but say it again and see what happens!"
4/25/2013
Common Ground, Thanks Grandad
Today during a break in recording, I was trying to find some common ground with the men I was working with. In conversation I realize they were from a beach area so I assumed they were fishermen. We began to talk about fish, their stories, my stories, and I decided to try and tell a joke.
Jokes do NOT often cross cultural boundaries, so I told him 'I'm going to try and tell this joke, but it may not be funny to you.'
I then told an old fishing joke my grandad told me:
"Tambuna papa bilong me, wanpela day, em i go long kissim pis" (one day my grandad went fishing)
"Na em tromawae hook, na wetim" (he cast his line, then waited)
"wanpela bigpela fish kaikai huk, nau paitim paitim, na tambuna papa, em pulim pulim" (a huge fish bit the hook, and then my grandad began to fight to reel him in)
"na dispela pis, em kirap, na kaikaim han bilong em" (now this fish, leaped up, and bit off my grandad's arm)
"tasol papa, em paitim em, na banisim insait long boat na kissim em" (but my grandad, still caught him, and got him on the boat)
"behain, mi bin askim tambuna, Papa? Dispela Pis, em stap long wanem saiz?" (later I asked my grandad, "how big was this fish?")
"i bekim, 'Dispela bik'" (holding up 1 hand, he replied, "This big")
The joke got a big laugh. They liked it quite a lot....
thanks Grandad.
Bakovi Dagi
In the Bola language, Bakovi Dagi means 'God'.
I've recorded 50 chapters of the New Testament and must have heard this
phrase several dozen times, in my earphones.
So it's no surprise that this morning I woke up and began my prayers,
"Bakovi Dagi, thank you for this day, for my wife, and kids....."
and didn't even realize what I had done until later.
Ever see that scene in the 13th Warrior where the man by listening
suddenly understands the language of the vikings? It's never happened
to me. I wish it would! But, until it does, apparently I do soak up a
few terms.
I've recorded 50 chapters of the New Testament and must have heard this
phrase several dozen times, in my earphones.
So it's no surprise that this morning I woke up and began my prayers,
"Bakovi Dagi, thank you for this day, for my wife, and kids....."
and didn't even realize what I had done until later.
Ever see that scene in the 13th Warrior where the man by listening
suddenly understands the language of the vikings? It's never happened
to me. I wish it would! But, until it does, apparently I do soak up a
few terms.
4/24/2013
Reading
This is Peter, he speaks Bola. He's one of the readers I am recording this month. We are recording an audio version of the entire Bola New Testament for play on AudiBibles and cell phones. Previously a Jesus Film was also created, and we're converting that to play on cell phones too, as many Bola speakers have cell phones capable of playing video. (amazing isn't it?.. they live in huts made from bamboo and grass, but have cell phones that play video. They have no power in the village to CHARGE their cell phones, but they find places to charge them.)
Peter reads at what I am guessing to be a fourth or fifth grade level. He's young and enthusiastic so his reading is good, but he often makes mistakes. This is where I come in. I edit my recordings on the fly to make sure that post-production is faster. I use Adobe Audition or Audacity for my recordings, I use an AKG mic, or a Audio Technica, I'm using a SHURE USB interfance with a RANE pre-amp. I don't run throuhg a compressor or a noise gate, but I could use this DBX if I wanted to. I don't want to. Peter doesn't shout. (-;
As you can imagine the process of recording has a lot of stop and go. A word is missed, or mispronounced. It is VERY important we be grammatically correct for multiple reasons
1 - it's the Bible.
2 - People listening to this, and looking at the Bible, may in fact increase their reading ability so we want to be accurate with pronunciation.
For this reason, I'm recording, checking levels, pausing, editing, restarting, etc,... AND scanning the Scripture in a foreign language for words that may have been skipped. Meanwhile one man sitting next to me.. Peter, checks to make sure pronunciation is accurate.
It can look like a rather boring process... three men, in front of mic's... saying things like 'stop, start over, good job... pause...' and then being quite for long periods of time. If you were to watch me do it, you might think I spoke Bola. I don't. But I can read.
Peter, has a heart for the Bola people getting God's Word, or he wouldn't be here. His home is way across the ocean on another island in West New Britain (Kimbu).
He tends to get down on himself when he makes mistakes, but I remind him, that's why we have editing. When he makes mistakes, culturally, he becomes more shy, and thus more quiet.
So for you audio geeks... imagine, that every couple of verses, I have to stop, and restart, and also check my levels, because the readers get shy when they make mistakes.
You have to learn your reader.
PETER starts off a -12 or so, maybe -9, but after a few mistakes, goes down to -10db
But if he doesn't make mistakes, he jumps up to -6 at times. I have to keep an eye on the mic gain.
Pastor Benjamin, rarely makes mistakes, he reads at a high school level. However he is older and his voice gets tired more quickly, so we take breaks, and often only do 1 chapter at a time. Which means, I'm always checking levels, editing out long pauses, etc.
So, what may look boring to the casual onlooker, is actually an adrenaline filled, constantly vigilant, always looking at things, trying not to tweak or make changes but reacting when I need to.... high energy process.
Which is why when I get home, all I want to do is sleep.
People ask me 'why are you so tired'.
Yesterday, a translator tried his hand at recording and said 'wow, I got home, and just fell asleep instantly.'
SEEEEEE!
4/23/2013
God can use the illiterate
(this story has more power if you recognize the role of women in this
culture, and also the current context of a lot of violence against
women. For this woman to speak took courage in multiple ways)
This is from the Oral Bible Storying work in the Sepik:
Susan is a pastor's wife in the remote Kwomtari area of Sandaun
Province. She has always been soft spoken and quiet during gatherings as
she listens to others speak and express opinions. Susan is humble and
submissive in her attitude and behaviour. She is however illiterate. Why
was she selected as one of the Oral Bible Storytelling team members from
the Kwomtari community? Susan has a deep faith in God but has been
frustrated by her inability to read and therefore participate fully in
leading the women's fellowship group or even sharing Bible stories with
her children. It was for this reason she was chosen but God had a much
bigger picture in mind.
After the first OBS workshop Susan began to share her stories first with
her family and then with the ladies' fellowship group in her village.
The other women on the committee however were not pleased. They felt
Susan was trying to put herself forward, to make a name for herself.
They were literate and Susan was not so she should keep to her place.
Her husband seeking to shield his wife forbade her to tell the stories
outside of the home. Just recently over 150 women attended a regional
women's meeting. There was opportunity to clarify the goal of the OBS
method. When the stories in God's Word, become part of the heart and
mind of a person, whether literate or illiterate, they come alive and
impact lives. Susan, a woman once shy and lacking in confidence, opened
the devotional time by telling a Bible story. The ladies listened
spellbound.
Susan's husband found another way to encourage his wife. If you travel
to the Kwomtari area you may witness Susan telling a Bible story during
the church service and her husband then following her by preaching his
sermon based on the message contained in the story she just told.
Together they are planning an outreach trip to other Kwomtari villages
and beyond.
Yes, God had something special in mind for the Kwomtari and he used a
most unlikely person to deliver it.
culture, and also the current context of a lot of violence against
women. For this woman to speak took courage in multiple ways)
This is from the Oral Bible Storying work in the Sepik:
Susan is a pastor's wife in the remote Kwomtari area of Sandaun
Province. She has always been soft spoken and quiet during gatherings as
she listens to others speak and express opinions. Susan is humble and
submissive in her attitude and behaviour. She is however illiterate. Why
was she selected as one of the Oral Bible Storytelling team members from
the Kwomtari community? Susan has a deep faith in God but has been
frustrated by her inability to read and therefore participate fully in
leading the women's fellowship group or even sharing Bible stories with
her children. It was for this reason she was chosen but God had a much
bigger picture in mind.
After the first OBS workshop Susan began to share her stories first with
her family and then with the ladies' fellowship group in her village.
The other women on the committee however were not pleased. They felt
Susan was trying to put herself forward, to make a name for herself.
They were literate and Susan was not so she should keep to her place.
Her husband seeking to shield his wife forbade her to tell the stories
outside of the home. Just recently over 150 women attended a regional
women's meeting. There was opportunity to clarify the goal of the OBS
method. When the stories in God's Word, become part of the heart and
mind of a person, whether literate or illiterate, they come alive and
impact lives. Susan, a woman once shy and lacking in confidence, opened
the devotional time by telling a Bible story. The ladies listened
spellbound.
Susan's husband found another way to encourage his wife. If you travel
to the Kwomtari area you may witness Susan telling a Bible story during
the church service and her husband then following her by preaching his
sermon based on the message contained in the story she just told.
Together they are planning an outreach trip to other Kwomtari villages
and beyond.
Yes, God had something special in mind for the Kwomtari and he used a
most unlikely person to deliver it.
4/22/2013
Laughter and Chickens
Every two years we have an odd event. Hundreds of missionaries gather to discuss weighty things, strategies, policies, etc, on how we will minister in PNG for the following 2 years.
As a result, there is stress, which means, laughter is good medicine.
This year, I did not have time to rehearse a complicated banjo number, so I decided to do more of a comedy act with my banjo as the main prop. Sadly, the video and audio is actually well done, and yet, I don't really play banjo so much as strum around for effect.
One of my side-ministries is trying to do things that help people 'STAY'. To increase their longevity, it is important to, from time to time, laugh. So I wrote this comedy act, with a friend, to get a lot of laughs. Some of the jokes are impromptu, and some are written but not rehearsed.
Please excuse the poor mic'ing of the event. I tried to make it easier on our sound techs by sharing a mic, but the end result is that I had to do a lot of leaning and looking back and forth. Like I said, very very little time or rehearsal went into this. The laughter you hear, is 300 or so non-profit volunteers from all over the country, who know me, and my guest, Andrew. It'll be funnier for them.
Hopefullly in 2 more years I'll be able to post a more serious banjo piece but, in reality, I can't take myself that seriously... after all, I play the Banjo. (still 2 years ago, my dueling banjos between me and my laptop was something to see).
And before you get all 'this is what he spends his time doing?' remember, I spent very little time preparing this number... and also, yes. I do spend some portion of my time encouraging others in creative ways.
I hope you enjoy...
4/18/2013
2500
you do that has eternal significance?'.
And I thought 'Every thing I do here, has eternal significance, and
everyone who supports us to be here, is doing things with eternal
significance.'
Today was a banner day.
-I trained a translator how to record audio Scripture.
-I setup the recording studio to begin 5 weeks of recording the spoken
BOLA New Testament
-I mastered and burned 3 DVD's of a LUKE video
-I passed my first quality exam for an Audio version of Luke
and....
-I received 2500 new AudiBibles, pictured here. 2500! Our typical
order is 1500, but we blew through that in 3 months. That's right, 1500
Audio Bibles went through our doors into the hands of PNGians.
That's a Lot of Bibles!!!
2500! WOW... look at all those boxes! I better stop blogging and get
to work. I got to put Scripture on all of those!
4/17/2013
communicating
Sometimes we get requests that have us write a blurb or a photo.
This month we've had 2 or three 'flat stanley' requests... we've done those for kids in school, because it helps them see the world as BIGGER than the one they live in.
We have gotten pen-pal requests from kids in Awana programs who are required to speak to missionaries, or who want to know more from our kids.
And this week we got a little 'can you send us a pic of what you do'... so here's what I sent them regarding me:
Chad works at several jobs. He is currently spending 12% of his time as a network engineer with CTS, 50% as the E.C. Secretary and 38% of his time doing Scripture Use Media. Recording Tok Ples scriptures so that the people of PNG can hear God's Word in their own language is very important to him. Sometimes he travels to the village to get the recordings done, and sometimes he edits the recordings at his office back in Ukarumpa. Audio recordings help some people in PNG who can't read, to hear the Word of God in their heart language.
This month we've had 2 or three 'flat stanley' requests... we've done those for kids in school, because it helps them see the world as BIGGER than the one they live in.
We have gotten pen-pal requests from kids in Awana programs who are required to speak to missionaries, or who want to know more from our kids.
And this week we got a little 'can you send us a pic of what you do'... so here's what I sent them regarding me:
Chad works at several jobs. He is currently spending 12% of his time as a network engineer with CTS, 50% as the E.C. Secretary and 38% of his time doing Scripture Use Media. Recording Tok Ples scriptures so that the people of PNG can hear God's Word in their own language is very important to him. Sometimes he travels to the village to get the recordings done, and sometimes he edits the recordings at his office back in Ukarumpa. Audio recordings help some people in PNG who can't read, to hear the Word of God in their heart language.
4/10/2013
Passports!!
Here's a crazy little story of how planning ahead actually ended up
burning me.
2 years ago I noted down our US passport expiry dates, and then, a year
in advance put it on my calendar to 'renew passports for the kids'.
2 weeks ago that reminded popped up. So I wrote to the proper people
and asked "how do I renew my children's passports" and got back 'the
consolate embassador is actually coming next week, you asked in great
timing, this will save you a trip to port moresby to get the kids
sited! show up next thursday at 3pm."
Now I should have known this next bit, it was my failure. I think I was
too busy to put 2 and 2 together. The LAST time I did this was around 4
years ago and I had a slew of paper work to fill out and copy, etc etc..
BEFORE the siting.
So what I should have had was all my ducks in a row, all my papers
copied, applications filled out, etc.. before 3pm today.
But I didn't. Because I forgot that's what you had to do. I had no
idea the consolate SITING was the LAST part of the process and not the
FIRST part.
I asked the right question, but at the wrong time....
Anyway we show up today 'here we are. the Owens' what do we do?'
And the next hour was all 4 of us running around with our heads cut off
trying to get birth certificates, passport photos, social security
numbers, etc.
But the cool part was... we did it! We actually got passport photos
taken and printed, we got in the door moment before they closed!
Still, you don't really like to have to jerk your family into panic mode
unnecessarily.
Now, hopefully, even though our papers weren't turned in all neat and
orderly, we'll still get 2 passports renewed for the kids.
The reason I do this a year in advance is:
1 - to get a free siting when the consolate is here
and
2 - to get the passport renewed before the visas get printed.
-chad
burning me.
2 years ago I noted down our US passport expiry dates, and then, a year
in advance put it on my calendar to 'renew passports for the kids'.
2 weeks ago that reminded popped up. So I wrote to the proper people
and asked "how do I renew my children's passports" and got back 'the
consolate embassador is actually coming next week, you asked in great
timing, this will save you a trip to port moresby to get the kids
sited! show up next thursday at 3pm."
Now I should have known this next bit, it was my failure. I think I was
too busy to put 2 and 2 together. The LAST time I did this was around 4
years ago and I had a slew of paper work to fill out and copy, etc etc..
BEFORE the siting.
So what I should have had was all my ducks in a row, all my papers
copied, applications filled out, etc.. before 3pm today.
But I didn't. Because I forgot that's what you had to do. I had no
idea the consolate SITING was the LAST part of the process and not the
FIRST part.
I asked the right question, but at the wrong time....
Anyway we show up today 'here we are. the Owens' what do we do?'
And the next hour was all 4 of us running around with our heads cut off
trying to get birth certificates, passport photos, social security
numbers, etc.
But the cool part was... we did it! We actually got passport photos
taken and printed, we got in the door moment before they closed!
Still, you don't really like to have to jerk your family into panic mode
unnecessarily.
Now, hopefully, even though our papers weren't turned in all neat and
orderly, we'll still get 2 passports renewed for the kids.
The reason I do this a year in advance is:
1 - to get a free siting when the consolate is here
and
2 - to get the passport renewed before the visas get printed.
-chad
4/09/2013
output
today, we put out 40 Kwomteri Audio Bibles
20 Bo-Ung Audio Bibles
21 UmbuUngo Bibles
that's 81 Bibles that went out of this office today, and into the hands
of Papua New Guineans who either can't, or prefer not to, read.
NICE!
20 Bo-Ung Audio Bibles
21 UmbuUngo Bibles
that's 81 Bibles that went out of this office today, and into the hands
of Papua New Guineans who either can't, or prefer not to, read.
NICE!
I am da REPLICATOR!
The way we distribute AudiBibles requires SEVERAL steps:
1 - the audio has to be recorded
2 - the audio has to be edited (remove mistakes and check grammar and Scripture accuracy)
3 - the audio has to be post produced (remove lip smacks, make sure volume and EQ are at good levels for our players)
4 - the audio has to be organized (placed into the proper order by filename so that it the chapters play in the right order)
5 - the audio has to be converted and compiled (into the proprietary format for the player)
6 - the compiled audio has to be placed onto a Micro SD card
7 - the Audio player has to be charged (power), and the SD card has to be put into it, tested, and then a small plastic door has to be screwed into place to prevent SD card theft.
Step 1 takes the longest
2 - the second longest
3 - the third longest
4,5,6,7 all relatively short periods of time.
But.. step 6, can take a LONG time.
The way we WERE doing it, until today, was to have a 10 port USB hub, on a linux machine running a script that would copy files from a CIFS share.
It took 15 minutes for every 10 SD cards and it was a huge pain to put them into those USB to MicroSD adaptors, plus the Linux script would fail and we wouldn't know which card was the issue... etc.
So, I proposed we purchase an SD card replicator. It was an idea that another technician had as well, but he hadn't the time to pursue it.
We got it yesterday, a translator came in an said 'we have to get 96 Audio Bibles into the village by May 4'.
It was time to use our new replicator.
WOW is this easy and fast.
It takes 2 minutes to do 15 with NO errors and NO hassle now. No USB adaptors, it is soooo amazingly simple and fast. We're on cloud 9.
Today we may actually get a lot of Audio Bibles into the hands of PNGians, faster and easier than we ever have before! I'm pretty excited about that, as I'm constantly trying to find ways to improve our productivity.
Doing MORE with LESS is preferred over doing LESS with LESS but that's the reality of our situation. We have 1 technician here (me) for the time being... so tools like this, are super helpful!
4/05/2013
Work Done
This week:
-scheduled the next 2 years of meetings and work for the executive committee
-organized and documented a house relocation for 8 households
-completed post production of Genesis and Luke in Maia language
-completed 1 episode of Luke dvd Uka
-upgraded linux server from fedora to ubuntu 12.04 w/wiki
-built a web calendar
-attended 2 days of committee meetings
-made a birthday video
-executed a 40th birthday party for my wife.
-fixed emergency plumbing problem this morning when pipe burst
It has been an intensely busy week, with a lot of stresses outside of
the work load, but amazingly God has blessed us through it with a high
level of productivity (completely unexpected) which in turn relieved
some of the stress because I was sure I would never be able to get all
that done in even a month, much less 5 days. I'm blogging this at 1am
of course, because when I am busy my brain is busy, and I end up not
sleeping. I think... I think.... I can rest now....
-scheduled the next 2 years of meetings and work for the executive committee
-organized and documented a house relocation for 8 households
-completed post production of Genesis and Luke in Maia language
-completed 1 episode of Luke dvd Uka
-upgraded linux server from fedora to ubuntu 12.04 w/wiki
-built a web calendar
-attended 2 days of committee meetings
-made a birthday video
-executed a 40th birthday party for my wife.
-fixed emergency plumbing problem this morning when pipe burst
It has been an intensely busy week, with a lot of stresses outside of
the work load, but amazingly God has blessed us through it with a high
level of productivity (completely unexpected) which in turn relieved
some of the stress because I was sure I would never be able to get all
that done in even a month, much less 5 days. I'm blogging this at 1am
of course, because when I am busy my brain is busy, and I end up not
sleeping. I think... I think.... I can rest now....
40
The last few weeks have been... those kind of weeks. Where you wake up
on Monday morning and pray 'Lord let me make it to the weekend in
tact...please.'
One of the things I've been working on in the background was a surprise
40th party for my wife. She doesn't like BIG surprises, she likes to be
told to expect a surprise. So about 4 days ago I told her we'd be doing
a little something tonight.
I baked 3 cakes. But we opted to have her blow out a single candle
since she has a cold.
I made a platter of crackers and cheese (Cheese is like Ukarumpa caviar,
it is costly and people LOVE it so they swarm the cheese plate, but
there is a bit of missionary guilt there too, so they don't over
indulge, so that everyone can share the cavia....cheese)
I delegated some activities to two different groups of ladies, to make
my life easier, but also to invoke the feminine element to the party.
I hired an industrious high school student to wait tables and wash dishes.
I asked people to bring a dish to share, and made the party potluck.
Which, here, is a very acceptable thing, and the food was GREAT!.
I built a playlist for mood, starring a lot of popular songs from 'our era'.
So...
we had 45 people, from all over the world.
we sat and shared a meal together, and played an awesome mixer game.
There were posters to write words to the wise about turning 40, around
the room, and notecards to write Kendal a loving note.. we wore name
tags that said how they knew Kendal,etc
Then, I played a 3 minute video of Kendal and baby pictures up to modern
day.
Then we moved to a game where people had to race to draw, sculpt or mime
something about Kendal. The game got hilariously crazy.
People were having fun.
We sat Kendal in this throne, put a ridiculous hat on her, and brought
her cake, and posed for pictures, etc.
Then I ended the festivities by playing the guitar to her and seranading
with 'She's got a Way' by Billy Joel. Yeah it might be a bit cheesy,
but I humble myself this way to honor her in public in front of her friends.
In the end, a great time was had by all, and for 1 night, she felt on
top of the world!
It was a good night, which highlighted a good day. She finished her
village program work, and we got a good email that answered a huge
prayer request of ours.
God seemed to time everything so that Kendal could have a very good
day. Thanks to Him.
4/02/2013
Stress
The other day I stood up in front of over 400 people as they asked me questions before they eventually voted me is as the Executive Committee Secretary. The question asked was "how do you cope with stress?"
-I go outside, inhale, look at the scenery
-I go for a walk or a drive
-I punch my punching bag
-I listen to music
-I play my banjo
-I pray
-I vent and talk with my wife behind closed doors
Today was a crunch day. It was one of those days when the weight of the world is trying to crush you. Sure I could write out all the things going on, but it's enough to know that it wasn't a great morning. On top of all that stress, nothing was working right. Even the computer mouse was failing.
One of the major things, is that because of my new responsibilities, I now had only 6 days to do 2.5 months worth of work. I had to finish post producing Genesis, Luke and Acts.
I got 12 chapters into Luke, I was on a roll, when I realized, I was working from the wrong source files and had to scrap all of my work.
STRESS + WASTED TIME = not a good mood for Chad.
I did some of the things on my list at lunch time. Definitely prayed!
After I got back from lunch I learned a new answer to 'how I deal with stress'.
I WORK.
Being productive is the best thing for stress. Completing things, getting them done, getting them OFF your plate, is hugely helpful. Not only did I finish a ton of paperwork I'd been unable to get to. I posted Genesis, and 98% of Luke, in only 4 hours.
WOW.
That drastically alleviated my 6 day crunch, so now I can proceed with much less stress.
Sometimes, the way I handle stress.... is I work. I don't work like a work-aholic, I just narrow my focus, tune the world out, and go at it, until it's done.
3/27/2013
I'm a Secretary
If you are wondering 'why did he let his name stand?'. '"Why on earth
did he take on yet ANOTHER job"
I want to address that for you.
2 weeks ago, I would have laughed at you if you presented this idea.
But God has been doing a work and given me eyes to see it. 2 weeks ago
our lives (my wife and I) were in chaos. We were at the breaking edge
of stress. We were told in 4 days, that we may have to move out of the
house we purchased, we had 2 break ins, were told our grandfather was
dying, a family member railed against us publicly for something, and we
had lost support.
The enemy was using stress against us, because my wife and I had been
experiencing victory in ministry, in our personal lives, in our
spiritual lives, and this was a blatant attack.
We turned to prayer support, and God started doing very cool things.
We gained 2 more supporters..... WHAT? How do you GAIN supporters while
on the field! Wow.
We were given financial gifts to cover the tools lost in the break-ins.
Work productivity went into super drive (I was getting stubborn and
refusing to let the stress stop me from working in my ministry, because
if it was an attack, I didn't want to lose it.... I started to see it
all as 'noise'.)
In my quiet time I was led to verses regarding rejoicing while
persecuted. That theme kept popping up everywhere. Even in the
conference speakers.
I couldn't sleep well at night, and so, it is my tendency to read my
Bible and pray to calm my mind. At 3am one morning in that quiet time I
got the sense that.... 'something bigger is coming at you, and this was
simply to help you focus'.
Then I got the call, and realized the wisdom of it. I said yes, and I
didn't need to deliberate, I had been deliberating for weeks and didn't
know it. I knew I was being asked to do something, but didn't know what.
So... because I'm positive God gave us grace at a rough time, and I'm
certain that He prepared me to be E.C. Secretary, and I'm confident He
moved me INTO that department, and I'm amazed at how productive I've
been able to be outside of my own abilities.... I'm talking supernatural
productivity that amazes me while it's happening.. .. it's like God is
greasing the skids... coupled with the incredible things happening with
audio in this country....
that I am convinced, God has the ministry of SUM in mind, and me saying
'yes' to the Secretary position, is completely inside of His will and
capabilities to provide us, and me, with whatever it takes to do the job
set before us.... and do it well.
I see this path, this possible path, and in the midst of all these
worries, I see God giving us a way out... and I'm encouraged He has a plan.
-Chad
did he take on yet ANOTHER job"
I want to address that for you.
2 weeks ago, I would have laughed at you if you presented this idea.
But God has been doing a work and given me eyes to see it. 2 weeks ago
our lives (my wife and I) were in chaos. We were at the breaking edge
of stress. We were told in 4 days, that we may have to move out of the
house we purchased, we had 2 break ins, were told our grandfather was
dying, a family member railed against us publicly for something, and we
had lost support.
The enemy was using stress against us, because my wife and I had been
experiencing victory in ministry, in our personal lives, in our
spiritual lives, and this was a blatant attack.
We turned to prayer support, and God started doing very cool things.
We gained 2 more supporters..... WHAT? How do you GAIN supporters while
on the field! Wow.
We were given financial gifts to cover the tools lost in the break-ins.
Work productivity went into super drive (I was getting stubborn and
refusing to let the stress stop me from working in my ministry, because
if it was an attack, I didn't want to lose it.... I started to see it
all as 'noise'.)
In my quiet time I was led to verses regarding rejoicing while
persecuted. That theme kept popping up everywhere. Even in the
conference speakers.
I couldn't sleep well at night, and so, it is my tendency to read my
Bible and pray to calm my mind. At 3am one morning in that quiet time I
got the sense that.... 'something bigger is coming at you, and this was
simply to help you focus'.
Then I got the call, and realized the wisdom of it. I said yes, and I
didn't need to deliberate, I had been deliberating for weeks and didn't
know it. I knew I was being asked to do something, but didn't know what.
So... because I'm positive God gave us grace at a rough time, and I'm
certain that He prepared me to be E.C. Secretary, and I'm confident He
moved me INTO that department, and I'm amazed at how productive I've
been able to be outside of my own abilities.... I'm talking supernatural
productivity that amazes me while it's happening.. .. it's like God is
greasing the skids... coupled with the incredible things happening with
audio in this country....
that I am convinced, God has the ministry of SUM in mind, and me saying
'yes' to the Secretary position, is completely inside of His will and
capabilities to provide us, and me, with whatever it takes to do the job
set before us.... and do it well.
I see this path, this possible path, and in the midst of all these
worries, I see God giving us a way out... and I'm encouraged He has a plan.
-Chad
3/26/2013
Funny
Today I was elected the Executive Committee Secretary. This is a support job that will require 50% of my time. When I went to explain it to my kids, I asked them if they remember the show "Dirty Jobs".
They said 'yes'.
I asked 'what was the premise?'
They replied "it's that show where that guy does jobs that nobody else wants to do, but that need to be done."
Bingo... that's what the EC Secretary's job is. 24 hours no one was allowing their names to stand for this position. The phone rang at 5pm last night, and I was asked to please strongly considering letting my name stand if nominated.
God has been doing a work in our lives lately, and I feel very strongly as if He was saying 'I'm about to ask you to do something you don't want to do....... please do it and do it rejoicingly.'
There are a lot of CONS to me doing this job, but the only other people willing to stand, were Bible Translators.... so just in saying 'YES' I have already supported Bible translation by taking this off their plates.
I will still be doing the Audio work, but now I understand why God kept throwing this theme at me:
Act 5: 41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
I know I wrote you all a while back about all the trouble that's been coming at us, but God has been doing an incredible work. The burdens have been lightened, and during it, we refused to give in to self-pity, or any kind of persecution complex. We just kept working, and praying. Through it God showed up. I am confident that if this is the job the community of 300+ people here decided to vote for me to do, I will do it to the best of my ability.
My kids asked me what the job required... I told them I would be sitting at a computer and doing a lot of typing. After I was done, my daughter said,
"I get it dad... you're going to be like Mr. Incredible sitting at a desk"
we all laughed at the image... of how she saw this job. I think at 13, she has a pretty good grasp of it, except that I don't intend to have such a look of boredom on my face... I HOPE!
They said 'yes'.
I asked 'what was the premise?'
They replied "it's that show where that guy does jobs that nobody else wants to do, but that need to be done."
Bingo... that's what the EC Secretary's job is. 24 hours no one was allowing their names to stand for this position. The phone rang at 5pm last night, and I was asked to please strongly considering letting my name stand if nominated.
God has been doing a work in our lives lately, and I feel very strongly as if He was saying 'I'm about to ask you to do something you don't want to do....... please do it and do it rejoicingly.'
There are a lot of CONS to me doing this job, but the only other people willing to stand, were Bible Translators.... so just in saying 'YES' I have already supported Bible translation by taking this off their plates.
I will still be doing the Audio work, but now I understand why God kept throwing this theme at me:
Act 5: 41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
I know I wrote you all a while back about all the trouble that's been coming at us, but God has been doing an incredible work. The burdens have been lightened, and during it, we refused to give in to self-pity, or any kind of persecution complex. We just kept working, and praying. Through it God showed up. I am confident that if this is the job the community of 300+ people here decided to vote for me to do, I will do it to the best of my ability.
My kids asked me what the job required... I told them I would be sitting at a computer and doing a lot of typing. After I was done, my daughter said,
"I get it dad... you're going to be like Mr. Incredible sitting at a desk"
we all laughed at the image... of how she saw this job. I think at 13, she has a pretty good grasp of it, except that I don't intend to have such a look of boredom on my face... I HOPE!
3/23/2013
the OTHER concert
Things in life were pretty hectic, I had no plans of playing banjo at
our biennial talent night because I simply had too much to worry about.
Getting on stage and performing makes me nervous. Well, admittedly it
made me more nervous back at the first time I did it. But this community
is so welcoming to everyone that the love and applause you get from
doing even a mediocre job is enormous. Not to mention that the banjo is
fun, even when played poorly.
Last year I did a complicated act that had me dueling banjos with my
laptop playing my dueling opponent through Garageband. As a joke, I had
configured my laptop to CRASH in the middle of the performance, which
was a brainstorm that came to me when I was trying to figure out how to
work in a banjo solo into a song that was too short. During the act on
the screen people saw my computer cycling through garageband and hearing
it battle me, playing banjo live. RIGHT in the middle a big blue screen
of death shows up and the laptop goes silent while I continue picking on
live... and then I look down at the laptop in mock surprise... and try
to FIX it. Which is funny because I was the CTS computer guy. As a
result I end up KICKING my laptop which gets it back to going RIGHT on
cue, and the song finales with the final banjo dueling end.
It was funny, entertaining, surprising, and the next day everyone asked
2 questions 'Wait, that was a MAC, but the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH is a PC
thing!?" and "was that planned or did that really happen?"
I loved that it was funny, and surprising and also that it was this
enigma that people were left wondering about.
I wanted to do something like that THIS year... and during my times over
the past 2 years of plinking around, I always thought 'oh this would be
fun to do'. So there was a long series of things I COULD have done. I
let my imagination run.
I was thinking of doing a sort of thing involving a video screen that my
friend Matthew got popular on youtube with doing... I had a long list
of ideas.
And then I decided not to do anything at all, because I was too busy.
9 days ago someone said 'you going to play your banjo again this year
right?!' Folks remembered my act from 2 years ago. More than once
people commented on looking forward to it, and rehashing my old act to
me in fond memory.
I remembered why I perform.
My acts are geared to be entertaining and funny, because laughter
lightens the heart and brings people together. We do this concert every
2 years because every 2 years ALL the in country members come together,
seeing each other all TOGETHER only happens every 2 years. We discuss
heavy topics. Lightening our hearts is helpful, but also anything that
joins us as a community is important because we get to see each other
ALL TOGETHER so rarely.
So... I decided to do an act, but because of the amount of stress and
work, to make it simple.
Which translated into 'not rehearsing much' and 'not worrying much'.
I typically can't sleep for days before a gig, as my brain is trying to
process the BEST way to do something. So what was the best way to do a
good banjo bit without the hours of preparation and stress? I simply
couldn't afford to invest any time into this.
As I was filtering through my list I had prepared over the years, a
totally new idea hit me... and honestly until I performed it, I was
wondering if I would get a laugh at all.
One idea was doing an homage to the smother's brothers 'streets of
laredo'.... but as I was rehearsing that, I found a new song and a new
idea.. what if I just totally failed my act on purpose? It might be
funny, and it might be easy to rehearse. My buddy said 'dude, how do
you come up with this stuff?' I was worried the rubiks cube bit would
flop.. but it didn't.
This is the final act I performed, but I had 2 other acts completely
rehearsed before switching last minute to this. This is possibly the
LEAST rehearsed I had ever been, but apparently the funniest too.
What came out was 1/2 rehearsed, 1/2 ad libbed.
I come on to stage and sit with my banjo in my lap and pick through
Cripple Creek and improvise a little picking then stop suddenly.
"Hi, my name is Chad Owens, and as the man said, I play banjo."
pick some more...stop
"Tonight, I am going to attempt to do something.... never
before....ah...attempted. I AM going to try to do 2 things at once."
(unexpected laughter).
"I am going to attempt to solve THIS 12 sided rubiks cube, while
simultaneously playing the banjo." (ooh!/laughter)
"I need a young volunteer from the front to come mix this up.. you come
on up"
"okay mix this up really good" (I shake my head to be opposite of what
I'm saying.. as in 'no not really don't mix it up good')
"give it a lot of turns (whisper: like maybe one or two. don't...)
while he is mixing it up, I pick some banjo.. but then say um.... 'yeah
that's pretty good there..... okay about finished?.... wow.. great
job... okay... maybe one more turn... and.....' (this gets a lot of
laughs as it's obvious I don't want him to mix it up really good at all)
The kid finally hands me the cube, I say 'wow, good job, you're really
good at mixing things up... you have a career in politics ahead of
you.." the crowd half laughs, but then I give a PA DUM TA drum hit on my
banjo and the rest of the crowd then joins the laugh.
"Okay, here I go."
What proceeds that, is my picking, and every time I hit an open chord,
my left hand grabs the cube and gives a twist. The song starts quickly,
but slows down whenever I'm twisting the cube. I ham this up really
well... the song lags more and more.. and at one point completely stops
as I use my right hand, I even accidentally drop the cube and have to
pick it up.
The crowd is dying. I'm feeling so good that this is working.... but
the coup de gras is coming up.. will they laugh?
I finally pick so slow and stop and look at it... deciding not to milk
the gag... and simply say 'WELL.... THAT didn't work!'
The crowd loses it. I mean roars of laughter.
I suddenly feel really good, like I have this crowd in my hands... and
so I make a few more jokes, get more laughs... self deprecating stuff
like...
"I don't know why I thought that would work.... (laughter) it didn't
work in rehearsal either..... I dunno, I thought.. maybe the adrenaline
of being on stage.... might give me super powers... "
and
"Son, you'll have to solve this for me when we get home."
and
"you should have seen my try to pick banjo and play the yo yo at the
same time....I broke a few windows".
between each joke, I'm picking banjo, keeping the flow.
the audience is laughing, I'm feeling good, I begin to improvise a bit
more picking... then suddenly stop.
WELL... in an attempt to recover from that fiasco... I think I'll do
another thing I've never done before, I'm going to sing and play banjo
at the same time.
But to help me in that, please welcome to the stage my good friend,
"Mister Andrew Koens."
Now what the crowd doesn't know, is that I'm about to hit them with the
FUNNY part. The rubiks bit was a warm up for this bit. But they think
'it's Chad, so that was his joke' They were expecting me to make a
joke, so they assumed I had and this was going to be a serious song.
They didn't expect I had another gag.
Andrew, a guy my size, comes out, he has incredible stage presence. He
sits without a word. I set up the gag
"This is a ballad, a ballad is a story put to music, and some of you may
know the chorus, so feel free to sing along,.... this one is for the
kids, but I warn you, it's a little bit scary".
I proceeded to play the song "Ghost Chickens in the Sky" which is a
parody of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" same tune.
Only instead of "yippy kai yay! yippy kai yo oh oh.." as the chorus,...
Andrew was going to cluck like a chicken.
Remember, people are thinking this might be a serious song... until they
hear the lyrics.
They're all waiting for Andrew to sing.... but he doesn't... he
clucks... and I mean he put his heart and soul into it. And he was
hilarious.
The crowd completely lost it. I mean... they fell apart... people were
running for the bathroom, it was hilarious.
I played the straight man to Andrew's chicken and let him go. The
hardest thing for me was I was singing the lyrics baritone while playing
banjo AND trying hard to be super dramatic, and NOT laugh. The dry look
on our faces ... sold the bit.
Ghost Chickens in the Sky
(To the tune of "Ghost Riders in the Sky")
A chicken Farmer went out one dark and windy day
And by the coop he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a rotten egg hit him in the eye
It was the sight he dreaded, ghost chickens in the sky
Squawk cluck, squawk cluck
Ghost chickens in the sky
This farmer had these chickens since he was twenty four,
Working for the Colonel for thirty years or more
Killing all theses chickens and sending them to fry.
And now they want revenge, ghost chickens in the sky.
Squawk cluck, squawk cluck
Ghost chickens in the sky
Their beaks were black and shining their eyes were burning red
They had no meat or feathers these chickens were dead.
They picked the farmer up and he died by the claw
They cooked him extra crispy, (pause) and ate him with coleslaw.
Squawk cluck, squawk cluck
Ghost chickens in the sky
=======
I had a blast doing this, and I enjoyed even more making people laugh
and forget their woes for 10 minutes. The rest of the concert I was
amazed at the talents God has given this body of people. Our dentist
was an accomplish musician and has a wonderful singing voice. He is
korean, but he played a John Denver song in English, and it was
beautiful. Story telling, comedy, dancing, a band. The Other concert
is about highlighting the fact that God has blessed us with talents to
bless each other with. We are diverse group of people who from time to
time, get to use our other giftings to benefit each other. It is a good
time for my soul because it reminds me of that, of God's splendor, His
variety, His wonder. When we employ these gifts for the purpose of
building each other up, wonderful things happen. And we do that daily,
but this concert we do every two years, is meant to see that side of
people we RARELY see, and it's a wonderful gift to behold.
A big thanks to my buddy Andrew who was hilarious in his role, and
really sold the bit.
-Chad
our biennial talent night because I simply had too much to worry about.
Getting on stage and performing makes me nervous. Well, admittedly it
made me more nervous back at the first time I did it. But this community
is so welcoming to everyone that the love and applause you get from
doing even a mediocre job is enormous. Not to mention that the banjo is
fun, even when played poorly.
Last year I did a complicated act that had me dueling banjos with my
laptop playing my dueling opponent through Garageband. As a joke, I had
configured my laptop to CRASH in the middle of the performance, which
was a brainstorm that came to me when I was trying to figure out how to
work in a banjo solo into a song that was too short. During the act on
the screen people saw my computer cycling through garageband and hearing
it battle me, playing banjo live. RIGHT in the middle a big blue screen
of death shows up and the laptop goes silent while I continue picking on
live... and then I look down at the laptop in mock surprise... and try
to FIX it. Which is funny because I was the CTS computer guy. As a
result I end up KICKING my laptop which gets it back to going RIGHT on
cue, and the song finales with the final banjo dueling end.
It was funny, entertaining, surprising, and the next day everyone asked
2 questions 'Wait, that was a MAC, but the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH is a PC
thing!?" and "was that planned or did that really happen?"
I loved that it was funny, and surprising and also that it was this
enigma that people were left wondering about.
I wanted to do something like that THIS year... and during my times over
the past 2 years of plinking around, I always thought 'oh this would be
fun to do'. So there was a long series of things I COULD have done. I
let my imagination run.
I was thinking of doing a sort of thing involving a video screen that my
friend Matthew got popular on youtube with doing... I had a long list
of ideas.
And then I decided not to do anything at all, because I was too busy.
9 days ago someone said 'you going to play your banjo again this year
right?!' Folks remembered my act from 2 years ago. More than once
people commented on looking forward to it, and rehashing my old act to
me in fond memory.
I remembered why I perform.
My acts are geared to be entertaining and funny, because laughter
lightens the heart and brings people together. We do this concert every
2 years because every 2 years ALL the in country members come together,
seeing each other all TOGETHER only happens every 2 years. We discuss
heavy topics. Lightening our hearts is helpful, but also anything that
joins us as a community is important because we get to see each other
ALL TOGETHER so rarely.
So... I decided to do an act, but because of the amount of stress and
work, to make it simple.
Which translated into 'not rehearsing much' and 'not worrying much'.
I typically can't sleep for days before a gig, as my brain is trying to
process the BEST way to do something. So what was the best way to do a
good banjo bit without the hours of preparation and stress? I simply
couldn't afford to invest any time into this.
As I was filtering through my list I had prepared over the years, a
totally new idea hit me... and honestly until I performed it, I was
wondering if I would get a laugh at all.
One idea was doing an homage to the smother's brothers 'streets of
laredo'.... but as I was rehearsing that, I found a new song and a new
idea.. what if I just totally failed my act on purpose? It might be
funny, and it might be easy to rehearse. My buddy said 'dude, how do
you come up with this stuff?' I was worried the rubiks cube bit would
flop.. but it didn't.
This is the final act I performed, but I had 2 other acts completely
rehearsed before switching last minute to this. This is possibly the
LEAST rehearsed I had ever been, but apparently the funniest too.
What came out was 1/2 rehearsed, 1/2 ad libbed.
I come on to stage and sit with my banjo in my lap and pick through
Cripple Creek and improvise a little picking then stop suddenly.
"Hi, my name is Chad Owens, and as the man said, I play banjo."
pick some more...stop
"Tonight, I am going to attempt to do something.... never
before....ah...attempted. I AM going to try to do 2 things at once."
(unexpected laughter).
"I am going to attempt to solve THIS 12 sided rubiks cube, while
simultaneously playing the banjo." (ooh!/laughter)
"I need a young volunteer from the front to come mix this up.. you come
on up"
"okay mix this up really good" (I shake my head to be opposite of what
I'm saying.. as in 'no not really don't mix it up good')
"give it a lot of turns (whisper: like maybe one or two. don't...)
while he is mixing it up, I pick some banjo.. but then say um.... 'yeah
that's pretty good there..... okay about finished?.... wow.. great
job... okay... maybe one more turn... and.....' (this gets a lot of
laughs as it's obvious I don't want him to mix it up really good at all)
The kid finally hands me the cube, I say 'wow, good job, you're really
good at mixing things up... you have a career in politics ahead of
you.." the crowd half laughs, but then I give a PA DUM TA drum hit on my
banjo and the rest of the crowd then joins the laugh.
"Okay, here I go."
What proceeds that, is my picking, and every time I hit an open chord,
my left hand grabs the cube and gives a twist. The song starts quickly,
but slows down whenever I'm twisting the cube. I ham this up really
well... the song lags more and more.. and at one point completely stops
as I use my right hand, I even accidentally drop the cube and have to
pick it up.
The crowd is dying. I'm feeling so good that this is working.... but
the coup de gras is coming up.. will they laugh?
I finally pick so slow and stop and look at it... deciding not to milk
the gag... and simply say 'WELL.... THAT didn't work!'
The crowd loses it. I mean roars of laughter.
I suddenly feel really good, like I have this crowd in my hands... and
so I make a few more jokes, get more laughs... self deprecating stuff
like...
"I don't know why I thought that would work.... (laughter) it didn't
work in rehearsal either..... I dunno, I thought.. maybe the adrenaline
of being on stage.... might give me super powers... "
and
"Son, you'll have to solve this for me when we get home."
and
"you should have seen my try to pick banjo and play the yo yo at the
same time....I broke a few windows".
between each joke, I'm picking banjo, keeping the flow.
the audience is laughing, I'm feeling good, I begin to improvise a bit
more picking... then suddenly stop.
WELL... in an attempt to recover from that fiasco... I think I'll do
another thing I've never done before, I'm going to sing and play banjo
at the same time.
But to help me in that, please welcome to the stage my good friend,
"Mister Andrew Koens."
Now what the crowd doesn't know, is that I'm about to hit them with the
FUNNY part. The rubiks bit was a warm up for this bit. But they think
'it's Chad, so that was his joke' They were expecting me to make a
joke, so they assumed I had and this was going to be a serious song.
They didn't expect I had another gag.
Andrew, a guy my size, comes out, he has incredible stage presence. He
sits without a word. I set up the gag
"This is a ballad, a ballad is a story put to music, and some of you may
know the chorus, so feel free to sing along,.... this one is for the
kids, but I warn you, it's a little bit scary".
I proceeded to play the song "Ghost Chickens in the Sky" which is a
parody of "Ghost Riders in the Sky" same tune.
Only instead of "yippy kai yay! yippy kai yo oh oh.." as the chorus,...
Andrew was going to cluck like a chicken.
Remember, people are thinking this might be a serious song... until they
hear the lyrics.
They're all waiting for Andrew to sing.... but he doesn't... he
clucks... and I mean he put his heart and soul into it. And he was
hilarious.
The crowd completely lost it. I mean... they fell apart... people were
running for the bathroom, it was hilarious.
I played the straight man to Andrew's chicken and let him go. The
hardest thing for me was I was singing the lyrics baritone while playing
banjo AND trying hard to be super dramatic, and NOT laugh. The dry look
on our faces ... sold the bit.
Ghost Chickens in the Sky
(To the tune of "Ghost Riders in the Sky")
A chicken Farmer went out one dark and windy day
And by the coop he rested as he went along his way
When all at once a rotten egg hit him in the eye
It was the sight he dreaded, ghost chickens in the sky
Squawk cluck, squawk cluck
Ghost chickens in the sky
This farmer had these chickens since he was twenty four,
Working for the Colonel for thirty years or more
Killing all theses chickens and sending them to fry.
And now they want revenge, ghost chickens in the sky.
Squawk cluck, squawk cluck
Ghost chickens in the sky
Their beaks were black and shining their eyes were burning red
They had no meat or feathers these chickens were dead.
They picked the farmer up and he died by the claw
They cooked him extra crispy, (pause) and ate him with coleslaw.
Squawk cluck, squawk cluck
Ghost chickens in the sky
=======
I had a blast doing this, and I enjoyed even more making people laugh
and forget their woes for 10 minutes. The rest of the concert I was
amazed at the talents God has given this body of people. Our dentist
was an accomplish musician and has a wonderful singing voice. He is
korean, but he played a John Denver song in English, and it was
beautiful. Story telling, comedy, dancing, a band. The Other concert
is about highlighting the fact that God has blessed us with talents to
bless each other with. We are diverse group of people who from time to
time, get to use our other giftings to benefit each other. It is a good
time for my soul because it reminds me of that, of God's splendor, His
variety, His wonder. When we employ these gifts for the purpose of
building each other up, wonderful things happen. And we do that daily,
but this concert we do every two years, is meant to see that side of
people we RARELY see, and it's a wonderful gift to behold.
A big thanks to my buddy Andrew who was hilarious in his role, and
really sold the bit.
-Chad
3/19/2013
3/18/2013
5 a day status
My new work motto:
"five chapters a day, and I'll be done in August."
Yesterday I did 7 chapters.
Today I did 5 chapters, but I also mastered an entire video episode of
Luke onto dvd, converted a Jesus film onto a cell phone, cleaned out an
old storage shed with ancient technology destroyed by dust and mildew,
and organized parts of the office.
People who see me are telling my wife 'Chad seems a lot happier these days.'
I am.!
"five chapters a day, and I'll be done in August."
Yesterday I did 7 chapters.
Today I did 5 chapters, but I also mastered an entire video episode of
Luke onto dvd, converted a Jesus film onto a cell phone, cleaned out an
old storage shed with ancient technology destroyed by dust and mildew,
and organized parts of the office.
People who see me are telling my wife 'Chad seems a lot happier these days.'
I am.!
3/17/2013
Respecting Teachers
I want to take a minute or two, to give much respect to, the teachers of Ukarumpa International School.
I am married to one of the elementary school teachers, and we share an email inbox. As a result I see all the email that gets sent to her, (and as soon as I realize it's for her, I ignore it.... mostly).
I'm not one of those kids who enjoyed a majority of his teachers in school. I got good grades, but mostly I did it so that the teachers wouldn't have any leverage on me. I was a good student grade wise, but not a good student as far as contributing to class, being a good listener, etc. So when I take a moment to pay respect to teachers, it is because after many years of being married to one, and watching them, I've come to respect them.
The teachers here, care. They care to the point of pain. Personal pain, sacrifice, stress, sleepless nights, over working, arguing, ....caring.
I've seen flurries of emails and concern over students who are lagging behind for one reason or another. Issues of culture, communication with parents.
I've seen the teachers here put up with things that teachers in home countries would NEVER have to face, because they don't live 50 feet from their student's parents.
The teachers here care greatly about every student. They pray over them, they labor over them, they care more than I've ever seen teachers care before and I am in awe of it.
I respect the teachers who sacrifice what they sacrifice to be here and teach the kids who may never truly be appreciative of the wonderful education they are getting. And yet, the teachers, continue on.
It is a noteworthy thing.
3/14/2013
the work load
The Ura Luke video needs to be mastered to DVD - 1-2 weeks of work.
The Maia language needs Genesis, and Luke post produced (105 chapters
plus intros) at 5 chapters a day, that's 21 days (but 5 chapters a day
is VERY aggressive).
The Onobasulu NT needs finishing.
The Weibe recording needs begun.
The Hongs need a Hope Video in their village.
This is a year's worth of work.
most of it is due in June.
Whoever out there has been praying for me to be productive.. thank you.
This week has been a record high in productivity for me, and possibly
this department.
Today alone, I finished posting Phillipians and James. Yesterday I
finished Galatians and part of I Tim, earlier I finished Ura audio Luke
narration.... it's been absolutely supernaturally productive this week.
If I complete 5 chapters a day... by August, I think this department
will be caught up on the back log!
5 chapters a day, when my average is 1.
Pray for me.
I'm pretty stoked because of all the things that has been accomplished.
I would be very excited to get us all caught up on Scripture recording
and producing, and sending out 2500 AudiBibles by August would be huge.
I JUST put in a new order for another 2500 Audio Players, because that's
how fast things are going out the door.
Praise God, give me energy... and thanks to those who have been praying!
The Maia language needs Genesis, and Luke post produced (105 chapters
plus intros) at 5 chapters a day, that's 21 days (but 5 chapters a day
is VERY aggressive).
The Onobasulu NT needs finishing.
The Weibe recording needs begun.
The Hongs need a Hope Video in their village.
This is a year's worth of work.
most of it is due in June.
Whoever out there has been praying for me to be productive.. thank you.
This week has been a record high in productivity for me, and possibly
this department.
Today alone, I finished posting Phillipians and James. Yesterday I
finished Galatians and part of I Tim, earlier I finished Ura audio Luke
narration.... it's been absolutely supernaturally productive this week.
If I complete 5 chapters a day... by August, I think this department
will be caught up on the back log!
5 chapters a day, when my average is 1.
Pray for me.
I'm pretty stoked because of all the things that has been accomplished.
I would be very excited to get us all caught up on Scripture recording
and producing, and sending out 2500 AudiBibles by August would be huge.
I JUST put in a new order for another 2500 Audio Players, because that's
how fast things are going out the door.
Praise God, give me energy... and thanks to those who have been praying!
Yes means No
You and I have something in common. We both have the exact same amount
of hours in a day to spend how we choose.
We all have a different amount of 'free time' however.
Inside of the realm of 'free time', we make decisions on what to do with
it. Saying YES to one thing, often means saying NO to another.
Because we hate saying 'no' to some things we try to multi-task. For
example, Calling your Mother AND Watching a Movie with your kids. You
end up doing both things rather poorly.
"So how's Uncle Nemo? I mean Uncle Tony?"
"DAD! I can't HEAR THE TV!"
So how do you decide what to say NO to? Or.. rather.. what to say YES to?
I'm in the situation where I can be doing something for other people,
24x7. Today for example, I have post-produced the book of James in the
MAIA language, but to do so, I had to put the video mastering of Luke on
hold, put the duplication of Storybook DVD's for Aitape West on hold,
and put the Onobasulu post production on the back burner. Saying YES
to one thing, meant saying 'NOT NOW' to 3 others.
It's called prioritizing and we all do it. Some do it better than others.
I've had some people say to me: "How do you find time to blog?" or "How
did you find time to make that video?".... I think I happen to be a
very good manager of my time.
My guiding principles for time management:
-Prioritize your tasks using the following formula:
when they are due, how long it will take , how much work NOT doing
the task will create.
e.g. if a task will take you ten minutes to do, but in not doing
it, the person asking for it will take 40 minutes of your
time in emails... do the task, get it OFF your plate.
-Free Time is for family and you. This time is much more precious than
non-free time so spend it wisely. Many people dip into this time to
complete work tasks, I highly advise against this. It is like spending
$5 to make $1. Free time has a value much higher and is NOT an even
trade. Build a brick wall between your free time, and your work time
and don't cross it. Once you do, it's too easy to keep doing. Work
will consume every ounce of time you have if you let it. SLEEP time is
NOT expendable, maintain your regular sleep habits. I've seen people
deprive themselves of sleep which only makes them function worse during
the time they do have.
-Refuse the tyranny of the urgent. IS this really urgent? What would
happen if you completely refused to admit it was urgent, and put it at
the bottom of your pile of things to do? What would truly happen? Doing
this, allows you to react when things truly ARE urgent. Saying 'no'
isn't a sin.
-Always always, always, stop whatever it is you are doing, to be PRESENT
when a person is talking to you. Miscommunication and bad communication
are HUGE time suckers. It's best to listen well the first time.
-Speed is often the enemy of quality. Which do you want to be known
for, doing a LOT, or doing it well?
That's it.
If you come to me and say 'Chad, I need this done by TOMORROW!' You will
hear 'no'. It does no one any good, for me to burn myself out and be
useless and broken for the upteen other tasks I have due. If I have
free time, and all my ducks are in a row, then you will hear "yes". And
it will get done. I have said 'yes' before, only to find out that the
person forgot to tell me 'oh that wasn't important any longer'. 9/10
what was urgent a minute ago, won't be urgent in 24 hours.
As a result of being able to say NO, I am a man who keeps my word. I am
reliable. If I say it will be done by a certain date, it will be done.
If you rush a miracle worker, you get bad miracles.
Think about the people you know. Are they more well known for the work
they do, or the way in which they do it? You will most likely become
more well known for the personality that derives from good time
management, than you will for the tasks you accomplish. If you appear
flakey, distracted, busy, stressed and tired, people will notice that
much more than the work load you complete.
If you appear organized, approachable, and calm, people will see that.
As a result they will ask you to do more work. Won't they be surprised
when they heard 'NO, I am too busy.'
"But you don't seem all strung out like that other guy, I figured you
were not busy."
That's an easy misconception to have, and I don't blame you for having
it. The answer is still no. I'm sure you could ask Mr. Stress over
there, and he'll say yes, but you'll be contributing to his stroke, and
you'll never get your job done on time. Come see me in three weeks, if
this job is still important by then, I think I will have time for you.
-Chad
of hours in a day to spend how we choose.
We all have a different amount of 'free time' however.
Inside of the realm of 'free time', we make decisions on what to do with
it. Saying YES to one thing, often means saying NO to another.
Because we hate saying 'no' to some things we try to multi-task. For
example, Calling your Mother AND Watching a Movie with your kids. You
end up doing both things rather poorly.
"So how's Uncle Nemo? I mean Uncle Tony?"
"DAD! I can't HEAR THE TV!"
So how do you decide what to say NO to? Or.. rather.. what to say YES to?
I'm in the situation where I can be doing something for other people,
24x7. Today for example, I have post-produced the book of James in the
MAIA language, but to do so, I had to put the video mastering of Luke on
hold, put the duplication of Storybook DVD's for Aitape West on hold,
and put the Onobasulu post production on the back burner. Saying YES
to one thing, meant saying 'NOT NOW' to 3 others.
It's called prioritizing and we all do it. Some do it better than others.
I've had some people say to me: "How do you find time to blog?" or "How
did you find time to make that video?".... I think I happen to be a
very good manager of my time.
My guiding principles for time management:
-Prioritize your tasks using the following formula:
when they are due, how long it will take , how much work NOT doing
the task will create.
e.g. if a task will take you ten minutes to do, but in not doing
it, the person asking for it will take 40 minutes of your
time in emails... do the task, get it OFF your plate.
-Free Time is for family and you. This time is much more precious than
non-free time so spend it wisely. Many people dip into this time to
complete work tasks, I highly advise against this. It is like spending
$5 to make $1. Free time has a value much higher and is NOT an even
trade. Build a brick wall between your free time, and your work time
and don't cross it. Once you do, it's too easy to keep doing. Work
will consume every ounce of time you have if you let it. SLEEP time is
NOT expendable, maintain your regular sleep habits. I've seen people
deprive themselves of sleep which only makes them function worse during
the time they do have.
-Refuse the tyranny of the urgent. IS this really urgent? What would
happen if you completely refused to admit it was urgent, and put it at
the bottom of your pile of things to do? What would truly happen? Doing
this, allows you to react when things truly ARE urgent. Saying 'no'
isn't a sin.
-Always always, always, stop whatever it is you are doing, to be PRESENT
when a person is talking to you. Miscommunication and bad communication
are HUGE time suckers. It's best to listen well the first time.
-Speed is often the enemy of quality. Which do you want to be known
for, doing a LOT, or doing it well?
That's it.
If you come to me and say 'Chad, I need this done by TOMORROW!' You will
hear 'no'. It does no one any good, for me to burn myself out and be
useless and broken for the upteen other tasks I have due. If I have
free time, and all my ducks are in a row, then you will hear "yes". And
it will get done. I have said 'yes' before, only to find out that the
person forgot to tell me 'oh that wasn't important any longer'. 9/10
what was urgent a minute ago, won't be urgent in 24 hours.
As a result of being able to say NO, I am a man who keeps my word. I am
reliable. If I say it will be done by a certain date, it will be done.
If you rush a miracle worker, you get bad miracles.
Think about the people you know. Are they more well known for the work
they do, or the way in which they do it? You will most likely become
more well known for the personality that derives from good time
management, than you will for the tasks you accomplish. If you appear
flakey, distracted, busy, stressed and tired, people will notice that
much more than the work load you complete.
If you appear organized, approachable, and calm, people will see that.
As a result they will ask you to do more work. Won't they be surprised
when they heard 'NO, I am too busy.'
"But you don't seem all strung out like that other guy, I figured you
were not busy."
That's an easy misconception to have, and I don't blame you for having
it. The answer is still no. I'm sure you could ask Mr. Stress over
there, and he'll say yes, but you'll be contributing to his stroke, and
you'll never get your job done on time. Come see me in three weeks, if
this job is still important by then, I think I will have time for you.
-Chad
3/13/2013
Speed idea
In June, we have a Bible dedication and there is a lot of work in the
Maia language to get the NT onto these audio players.
First the Scripture has to be recorded
Then edited to remove mistakes
Then checked for grammar
Then cleaned up in post production to be put on players
Then renamed, split into small files, and compiled.
Then placed onto the Audio players themselves.
Each step takes a significant amount of time. EACH recording is often 1
section of a book. There are 66 books in the Bible.
Acts has 28 chapters, and 18,451 words in it (in English).
I have to check each word to make sure it's not duplicated or missing.
Then I have to remove noise, like tongue clicks and roosters.
Then I have to normalize it to keep the amplitude inside the ride
measurement for our devices.
And... it goes and goes.
If I can finish 1 Chapter a day, it's a good rate of speed.
TODAY I finished 4 and here's how.
I got this idea, that if I wrote a batch process that would remove the
noise, normalize the audio, and then change the playback speed to double
fast.... that I could listen for the grammar faster than the normal rate.
This has shaved HOURS off the process. I dump my files into the batch,
hit GO, wait 30 minutes or so..
hit PLAY and then I'm listening to VERY fast talkers. The thing is,
since I don't know the language, I'm only required to look for the words
against a Bible. I don't have to have any comprehension.
When I realized, I didn't have to comprehend what was going on, I
decided to speed it up.....
and that... is how you do it when you only have 1 technician and way too
much work. I'm mass producin' baby!
of course the faster you go, the lesser the quality, but our standards
are well above what this country would consider 'good'.... we're still
in the 'excellent' range of quality... but yes, in order to speed things
up, I am sacrificing some quality.... and in this country, we're okay
with that. It's more important that people hear the Word, than that
they hear it in HD. (-;
-chad
Maia language to get the NT onto these audio players.
First the Scripture has to be recorded
Then edited to remove mistakes
Then checked for grammar
Then cleaned up in post production to be put on players
Then renamed, split into small files, and compiled.
Then placed onto the Audio players themselves.
Each step takes a significant amount of time. EACH recording is often 1
section of a book. There are 66 books in the Bible.
Acts has 28 chapters, and 18,451 words in it (in English).
I have to check each word to make sure it's not duplicated or missing.
Then I have to remove noise, like tongue clicks and roosters.
Then I have to normalize it to keep the amplitude inside the ride
measurement for our devices.
And... it goes and goes.
If I can finish 1 Chapter a day, it's a good rate of speed.
TODAY I finished 4 and here's how.
I got this idea, that if I wrote a batch process that would remove the
noise, normalize the audio, and then change the playback speed to double
fast.... that I could listen for the grammar faster than the normal rate.
This has shaved HOURS off the process. I dump my files into the batch,
hit GO, wait 30 minutes or so..
hit PLAY and then I'm listening to VERY fast talkers. The thing is,
since I don't know the language, I'm only required to look for the words
against a Bible. I don't have to have any comprehension.
When I realized, I didn't have to comprehend what was going on, I
decided to speed it up.....
and that... is how you do it when you only have 1 technician and way too
much work. I'm mass producin' baby!
of course the faster you go, the lesser the quality, but our standards
are well above what this country would consider 'good'.... we're still
in the 'excellent' range of quality... but yes, in order to speed things
up, I am sacrificing some quality.... and in this country, we're okay
with that. It's more important that people hear the Word, than that
they hear it in HD. (-;
-chad
3/11/2013
Mad Skillz
Maybe you don't think about this much, but I sure do. It amazes me how since I was a little kid, God was equipping me to do exactly what it is I'm doing right now.
In 1989 I took a video class in high school. The instructor later said 'I only taught there, for those 2 years and I'm convinced it was because I was meant to teach you.' ?!?! What?
One of the things he taught me, was how to do certain repairs on the VTR/VCR's we had. He happened to teach me the proper method of cleaning a VCR head.
These days, people don't hardly use VCR's and so it's not a skill people know. Also, they have VCR cleaning tapes and people used those. So, really it's not a skill that most people would find useful.
However today, it was useful. Today we were doing duplication of training tapes and converting them to DVD from VHS tape.
We had 2 vcrs, and both were exhibiting problems. After troubleshooting a bit, I decided that it's possible, that both vcr's needed their heads cleaned. We ran a tape cleaner on them but nothing worked.
I decided to take them both apart and give it a nice deep cleaning of the heads with q-tips and alchohol. Sure enough, they started playing video again.
I sat there, and thought. WOW.
It feels so good to know that I had the ability and experience to troubleshoot and then solve this problem.
And I realized....
God prepped me years ago, for a moment like today. He's done it so many times over I can't barely begin to tell you all of them (though I have blogged a few).
There is something extremely satisfying about knowing that you're serving the function you were intended to serve, about having the skills, through no fault of your own, but instead by God putting people in your life, and experiences in your life that perfectly equipped you.
You may say 'bah, anyone can do that'. I prefer on the other hand, to give thanks to God that I was able to. I love it when someone says to me 'how on earth did you know how to do that?' and I say 'it's a funny story really......' because most often, those funny stories aren't coincidence at all... but they were God crafting my life.
I tell you what, the last 2 days, God has been showing me some neato stuff!
2 years
Have you ever wondered exactly what it is we're doing here? We support
the work of Bible translation by using our skills, as do nearly 300
others here in PNG. Here, for your benefit is the last 2 years in
summary (this is meant to be brief, but there are pages of information
for each bullet item)
Publications (22 linguistics, 10-sociolinguistics,13 -literacy,
5-enthnomusicology/anthropology, 163 Vernacular works including:
Bariaia New Testament translation
Haruai NT
Maiwa NT
Ono NT revision
Pele-Ata NT
Seimat NT
Madak NT
Keyagana NT revision and much of the OT
Agarabi NT and Audio NT
Dedua Audio NT
Maia Mini Bible (and Audio NT in progress)
Vernacular Works, Literacy Materials - 359
Training - a lot of training of nationals to do Bible translation work
Language Software and tech (INSPIRE - low power computing project)
Building relationships and partnerships in the country
Engaging the local churches to use Scripture in their heart language
Leadership development
Literacy - more opportunities in churches and schools than we can respond to
New training courses added (LLEAD)
6 Surveys done gathering data on 20 languages
Translation - 47 consultants checked 1917 chapters of Scripture in 65
different languages in the last 2 years.
7 teams graduated translation training in Bougainville. 3 of those teams
were already able to print a complete book (Mathew, Mark, Genesis). All
6 languages were able to record audio chapters for use on the local
radio station, as well as an oral story teller to use in the villages.
Oren-Maiwa NT dedication in April, 2012. 600 copies sold.
Bwaidoka NT funding completed, so they can finish that NT.
12 languages in MILNE Bay Province are 68% done with translating the Old
Testament Panorama (these are VITAL students, nationals doing
translation work with training)
Sudest people have Romans, 1 Cor. 2Cor, Galations and Titus checked
ready to publish.
73% of the Doromu-Koki NT is drafted.
Baruga NT 3 books checked, 60% done with NT.
Computer training and Literacy in Gapapaiwa language (after the NT was
dedicated 3 years ago).
2 Dialects of Kaugel loaded on audio players
Kamano-Kave NT is 32 chapters away from complete revision (55% checked)
Pinai-Hagahai, Madang and Enga Province We have been greatly encouraged
over the past two years about how the four Gospels and Acts in audio
format have been received. By means of the small, solar-powered
"MegaVoice" players, the Gospel has gone out to the most remote corners
of the language group. Many people listen to it daily, have become
Christians, joined the various churches and have experienced changed lives.
Vitu - 68% of the NT is checked, and 15 letters of the NT have seen
progress.
Barai NT dedicated in April 2012.
Mandara NT published in May 2010 and being used actively in church
services (this is huge, the Bible isn't always used in church services,
thus our role in church engagement of Scripture)
ATA NT dedicated April 2011 - 700 copies sold.
Ko language - people excited about megavoice players.
NITI (multi language project) 18 titles published.
Ura - Luke Video in January 2013 boosted literacy. 12 literacy books
published.
Siar-Lak language - Luke dedicated and Matthew nearly drafted.
Bola language -On June 25th, 2011 celebrated the completion of the Bola
NT, Pentateuch, Joshua, Ruth and Jonah with the Bola people near Kimbe,
WNBP. It was the culmination of 19 years work. It was a joyous
celebration, but since Aloysius, their only Bola translator, had died
the previous November, the turnout at the dedication was not what they
had hoped. Bible sales neared the 300 mark, but with 4500 Bibles
printed, there is a lot of work to do now to distribute them.
Bau Language - this group of PNGians have struggled but continue to
translate, having no ex-pat to help guide them. Still they make
progress, and are taking local responsibility (that's huge). We're
working more towards training nationals to translate into their own
language. They will be audio recording Mark in a week's time.
The list keeps on going, it is more than twice this long. The reality is
that work is getting done. It's never as fast as we'd like. Often times
people have to take breaks to raise funds, treat their health, care for
family, battle obstacles in the village. It seems like these projects
are always running into low-staffing issues, or other obstacles. But
when you get this biennium report, you realize.. YES a lot did happen in
2 years. We're constantly struggling against the lack that we have, and
yet, God is doing something, books are getting translated. Progress is
being made. It is comforting to know that we support this work, as do
you, and that because we know it takes a LONG time and endurance, we're
glad we are here, and we're glad that God sees the big picture. It is
nice to get a big-picture glance from time to time. Each line item above
(and it's only a fraction of the report) has dozens of stories of
heartbreak, struggle, and triumph associated with them. This life is
like a roller coaster, and you really learn to celebrate when a work is
done. And yet.... the work is never truly done. Our prayer is that the
work we do, begins a new work, in the people of PNG.
the work of Bible translation by using our skills, as do nearly 300
others here in PNG. Here, for your benefit is the last 2 years in
summary (this is meant to be brief, but there are pages of information
for each bullet item)
Publications (22 linguistics, 10-sociolinguistics,13 -literacy,
5-enthnomusicology/anthropology, 163 Vernacular works including:
Bariaia New Testament translation
Haruai NT
Maiwa NT
Ono NT revision
Pele-Ata NT
Seimat NT
Madak NT
Keyagana NT revision and much of the OT
Agarabi NT and Audio NT
Dedua Audio NT
Maia Mini Bible (and Audio NT in progress)
Vernacular Works, Literacy Materials - 359
Training - a lot of training of nationals to do Bible translation work
Language Software and tech (INSPIRE - low power computing project)
Building relationships and partnerships in the country
Engaging the local churches to use Scripture in their heart language
Leadership development
Literacy - more opportunities in churches and schools than we can respond to
New training courses added (LLEAD)
6 Surveys done gathering data on 20 languages
Translation - 47 consultants checked 1917 chapters of Scripture in 65
different languages in the last 2 years.
7 teams graduated translation training in Bougainville. 3 of those teams
were already able to print a complete book (Mathew, Mark, Genesis). All
6 languages were able to record audio chapters for use on the local
radio station, as well as an oral story teller to use in the villages.
Oren-Maiwa NT dedication in April, 2012. 600 copies sold.
Bwaidoka NT funding completed, so they can finish that NT.
12 languages in MILNE Bay Province are 68% done with translating the Old
Testament Panorama (these are VITAL students, nationals doing
translation work with training)
Sudest people have Romans, 1 Cor. 2Cor, Galations and Titus checked
ready to publish.
73% of the Doromu-Koki NT is drafted.
Baruga NT 3 books checked, 60% done with NT.
Computer training and Literacy in Gapapaiwa language (after the NT was
dedicated 3 years ago).
2 Dialects of Kaugel loaded on audio players
Kamano-Kave NT is 32 chapters away from complete revision (55% checked)
Pinai-Hagahai, Madang and Enga Province We have been greatly encouraged
over the past two years about how the four Gospels and Acts in audio
format have been received. By means of the small, solar-powered
"MegaVoice" players, the Gospel has gone out to the most remote corners
of the language group. Many people listen to it daily, have become
Christians, joined the various churches and have experienced changed lives.
Vitu - 68% of the NT is checked, and 15 letters of the NT have seen
progress.
Barai NT dedicated in April 2012.
Mandara NT published in May 2010 and being used actively in church
services (this is huge, the Bible isn't always used in church services,
thus our role in church engagement of Scripture)
ATA NT dedicated April 2011 - 700 copies sold.
Ko language - people excited about megavoice players.
NITI (multi language project) 18 titles published.
Ura - Luke Video in January 2013 boosted literacy. 12 literacy books
published.
Siar-Lak language - Luke dedicated and Matthew nearly drafted.
Bola language -On June 25th, 2011 celebrated the completion of the Bola
NT, Pentateuch, Joshua, Ruth and Jonah with the Bola people near Kimbe,
WNBP. It was the culmination of 19 years work. It was a joyous
celebration, but since Aloysius, their only Bola translator, had died
the previous November, the turnout at the dedication was not what they
had hoped. Bible sales neared the 300 mark, but with 4500 Bibles
printed, there is a lot of work to do now to distribute them.
Bau Language - this group of PNGians have struggled but continue to
translate, having no ex-pat to help guide them. Still they make
progress, and are taking local responsibility (that's huge). We're
working more towards training nationals to translate into their own
language. They will be audio recording Mark in a week's time.
The list keeps on going, it is more than twice this long. The reality is
that work is getting done. It's never as fast as we'd like. Often times
people have to take breaks to raise funds, treat their health, care for
family, battle obstacles in the village. It seems like these projects
are always running into low-staffing issues, or other obstacles. But
when you get this biennium report, you realize.. YES a lot did happen in
2 years. We're constantly struggling against the lack that we have, and
yet, God is doing something, books are getting translated. Progress is
being made. It is comforting to know that we support this work, as do
you, and that because we know it takes a LONG time and endurance, we're
glad we are here, and we're glad that God sees the big picture. It is
nice to get a big-picture glance from time to time. Each line item above
(and it's only a fraction of the report) has dozens of stories of
heartbreak, struggle, and triumph associated with them. This life is
like a roller coaster, and you really learn to celebrate when a work is
done. And yet.... the work is never truly done. Our prayer is that the
work we do, begins a new work, in the people of PNG.
3/10/2013
Supernatural Speed
After having recorded the URA Luke bible in video and audio a month ago,
I've been laboring to get at least 1 thing done a day on that project in
post-production.
Because of the nature of this job, and all the many projects we have due
for Bible dedications, and the fact that conference is coming up (2
weeks of meetings), I've resigned myself to the fact that I may not be
even able to get that much done.
But as you know, we've definitely been under seige lately, and so...
I've been stubborn about getting at least 1 thing done a day.
As I wrote before God requires us to have Faith. So I have been having
faith that each day, I still will work to accomplish... SOMETHING.
My personal best record, for doing audio episodes of Luke in a day is
3. 3 episodes post produced, bounced, eq'd, normalized, split up and
ready to be put on players. THAT is a hyper fast speed, assumes no
equipment failure, no errors etc.
Today I accomplished
7 episodes. And I'm not rushing, because I'm checking and double
checking for errors. I have never felt like this before.
Normally doing audio tires my ears, and I need a break. But after 5
episodes I looked up and said 'WOAH is that the time?' It's like time
is standing still.... I'm in the zone..... it feels....
I hate to say God is doing something if He isn't... but I feel
charged... like lightning is going through me....
my eyes are picking up errors and fixing them, my brain isn't tired....
things are going super quickly.....
and I have to wonder... if somehow, I'm getting a supernatural boost
here in completing this project! I mean, I hadn't anticipated it would
be done in the next month, but at this rate, I may finish tomorrow with
this portion of it.
I can't explain it, my the hairs on my head and arms are standing up...
it's like I'm operating outside of normal human time....
Anyway, Thanks to God if that's what's going on. I'm not a coffee
drinker, I've had zero caffeine today.. so you tell me ... is someone
out there praying that I get this project complete...
One translator told me once, that THIS project was the shining beacon at
a time in his work when other things are failing.
I think it's becoming that for me too! When other things are failing
all around me.... this....
this day, this last 8 hours, have been more productive than I can ever
remember. Things are working, they are going right. WHAT A GREAT DAY!
PRAISE GOD, I'm stoked!
I've been laboring to get at least 1 thing done a day on that project in
post-production.
Because of the nature of this job, and all the many projects we have due
for Bible dedications, and the fact that conference is coming up (2
weeks of meetings), I've resigned myself to the fact that I may not be
even able to get that much done.
But as you know, we've definitely been under seige lately, and so...
I've been stubborn about getting at least 1 thing done a day.
As I wrote before God requires us to have Faith. So I have been having
faith that each day, I still will work to accomplish... SOMETHING.
My personal best record, for doing audio episodes of Luke in a day is
3. 3 episodes post produced, bounced, eq'd, normalized, split up and
ready to be put on players. THAT is a hyper fast speed, assumes no
equipment failure, no errors etc.
Today I accomplished
7 episodes. And I'm not rushing, because I'm checking and double
checking for errors. I have never felt like this before.
Normally doing audio tires my ears, and I need a break. But after 5
episodes I looked up and said 'WOAH is that the time?' It's like time
is standing still.... I'm in the zone..... it feels....
I hate to say God is doing something if He isn't... but I feel
charged... like lightning is going through me....
my eyes are picking up errors and fixing them, my brain isn't tired....
things are going super quickly.....
and I have to wonder... if somehow, I'm getting a supernatural boost
here in completing this project! I mean, I hadn't anticipated it would
be done in the next month, but at this rate, I may finish tomorrow with
this portion of it.
I can't explain it, my the hairs on my head and arms are standing up...
it's like I'm operating outside of normal human time....
Anyway, Thanks to God if that's what's going on. I'm not a coffee
drinker, I've had zero caffeine today.. so you tell me ... is someone
out there praying that I get this project complete...
One translator told me once, that THIS project was the shining beacon at
a time in his work when other things are failing.
I think it's becoming that for me too! When other things are failing
all around me.... this....
this day, this last 8 hours, have been more productive than I can ever
remember. Things are working, they are going right. WHAT A GREAT DAY!
PRAISE GOD, I'm stoked!
Super Productive 2 hours
so I decided to lock myself in the office this morning... and with help....
I got 51 new audio bibles begun distribution....
2 episodes of the Ura Luke Audio version completed
and updated the Maia NT project files
in comparison if I can get 1 episode of the Ura Luke Audio done in a
day, it's a good day... this is only 2 hours.
I like not answering the phone or the door and just hunkering down and
getting work done!
I got 51 new audio bibles begun distribution....
2 episodes of the Ura Luke Audio version completed
and updated the Maia NT project files
in comparison if I can get 1 episode of the Ura Luke Audio done in a
day, it's a good day... this is only 2 hours.
I like not answering the phone or the door and just hunkering down and
getting work done!
Not A Dizzy Spell
today around 8:50am I felt my body swaying, really subtle like. And I
thought 'uh oh, I'm nearly 40, this must be one of them dizzy spells
I've heard tale of.'
it lasted forever... swaying, in a gentle little circle, no visual cues
of anything else jostling...
finally I said out loud 'I sure hope this is an earthquake, otherwise I
need to see a doctor' and the lady I work with said 'I'm glad you said
something, I thought I was having a dizzy spell!'
it lasted for nearly two minutes, this odd, uncharacteristically gentle,
swaying earthquake.
thought 'uh oh, I'm nearly 40, this must be one of them dizzy spells
I've heard tale of.'
it lasted forever... swaying, in a gentle little circle, no visual cues
of anything else jostling...
finally I said out loud 'I sure hope this is an earthquake, otherwise I
need to see a doctor' and the lady I work with said 'I'm glad you said
something, I thought I was having a dizzy spell!'
it lasted for nearly two minutes, this odd, uncharacteristically gentle,
swaying earthquake.
3/07/2013
Endurance
Luke 21:
NIV:
12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. 13 And so you will bear testimony to me. 14 But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. 15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. 16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. 17 Everyone will hate you because of me. 18 But not a hair of your head will perish. 19 Stand firm, and you will win life.
We're having a pretty tough last 2 weeks. And not only us, but those around us. Your burdens are also our burdens. Almost unbearably so, but each morning, in our devotional time, God seems to be giving us what we need to make it through that day without cracking. This is what I got today... and it is very timely.
There are 3 points I want to make from this.
1 - I have never believed we've been promised safety. Christ is talking to His disciples here and He says 'some of you are going to die'. And then later says 'NOT a hair on your head will perish'. It seems contradictory unless you'll looking at the world with eyes that see heaven beyond death. DIE = end of life on earth PERISH = no heaven. That's how I'm reading it. Even though this is a promise to His disciples, the distinction seems to be made about how any of us may be persecuted if we stand for Christ on this earth. So when the bad things come... we do what?
2 - Witness. Our lives through persecution are to be a witness. (v13). No one writes inspirational books about paraplegics with bad attitudes. There is no movie made of a girl who had her arm bitten off by a shark, then became a bitter, angry, quitter. To have a good witness, we have to bear bad stuff...well. It doesn't mean faking our emotions and putting on a wax smile, it actually means being able to get through BAD times and be able to say through it, 'God is Good! I trust Him.' Each person has to find their own way to do that without letting the Bad Stuff destroy their faith. In the end, our response, our attitude is the only thing we have any control over, because when the Bad Stuff happens, you have no control anywhere else.
3 - Endure. I love the NET version of verse 19 "By your endurance you will gain your lives' The message says, "by your patience" the NIV says 'stand firm'. This particular word is a bit hard to distinguish in the greek, but the idea seems to be..... ENDURING is measured by the retention of your faith through the trials. Keep the Faith. I really like this because, without faith it is impossible to please God. So when the Bad Stuff happens, whatever it is, we should take every measure we can to endure, by keeping our faith in God, in Christ, in His ability to save our souls.... so that when it's over, we had a good witness, and we endured it for a reason.
I absolutely LOVE that Christ knew we would be facing difficulty, and He poised my devotional time so that I got to read that Scripture today. This has been happening regularly all week long. My Bible is my protein bar, it helps me endure. I wonder if I should start calling my devotional times 'carbo loading'. (-;
Almost the moment we asked for prayer coverage from you all, our burdens became bearable, and our perspective shifted into battle mode. My family is in a fight. When it's fightin times, you use fightin words.
We are stubborn, and we've dug in. We've decided not to be conquered. So we are fighting each day not only to have good attitudes and glorify God during this, but also, that our ministry, the ones that the enemy seems so intent on distracting us from... becomes our main focus. So on the days when I have no energy to turn out chapters of the Bible into wav files.... I work extra hard and power through and get it done.
Every day this week I've been able to go home, completely exhausted but able to say 'Today I finished another chapter!'
My daughter is walking around the house singing 'what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.' I'm hoping we are incredibly frustrating to the enemy.
prayer update
We asked for prayer from folks last week,
a quick note....
since we asked for prayer, things went from 'overwhelming' to 'bearable'.
Thank you for praying. We are definitely in a fight right now. I am
the sole person doing audio recordings/editing right now, and I've had
to say 'no' to two translators this morning because I simply have far
too much work to do.
But several small things have begun going right.... I expect we're in a
spiritual fight, and seeing that, and with your prayers, we are
hunkering down to endure, and continue serving God and are encouraged
that it's a fight we've already won!
-chad
a quick note....
since we asked for prayer, things went from 'overwhelming' to 'bearable'.
Thank you for praying. We are definitely in a fight right now. I am
the sole person doing audio recordings/editing right now, and I've had
to say 'no' to two translators this morning because I simply have far
too much work to do.
But several small things have begun going right.... I expect we're in a
spiritual fight, and seeing that, and with your prayers, we are
hunkering down to endure, and continue serving God and are encouraged
that it's a fight we've already won!
-chad
3/03/2013
Change
Today I was editing some video for the high school drama department, and a thought hit me. I was teaching myself something I hadn't done before with Final Cut. Multi-clip switching (for those who care). It was a bear to get the three camera angles synchronized with the audio from another track. I spent hours, getting all my sampling rates together, all the angles synchronized. It was difficult and time consuming. (most of the reason why was because I didn't shoot with this in mind, and also I shot with 3 different TYPES of cameras because that's all I could borrow).
So, finally, after hours of sitting and trying to get everything synced up.... just so I could BEGIN to edit.... I took a break.
And then I began to ponder all of the change hitting my family right now.
Then the change hitting this country.
Then the change hitting the U.S.
and then the change hitting the world.
And I thought. "I'm so GLAD, that God doesn't change."
When you're editing video, you need something constant. Something static, that doesn't change. Whether it be timecode, control track, A roll, whatever it is, you can't synchronize until you have something to synchronize to, that doesn't move. It stays put. EVERYTHING else is completely confused until you sync it up with that one ...unchanging thing.
That's how my life is with God. This weekend was a perfect example of everything that could go wrong, did. Except, that each morning I spent my time with God, and each day I was able to not let the crazy confusion of things falling apart around me, affect my relationships with my children, my wife, my neighbors. Because I was grounded... I was synced to God.
“And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind” (1 Samuel 15:29).
12 But Thou, O LORD dost abide forever; And Thy name to all generations. . . 25 Of old Thou didst found the earth; And the heavens are the work of Thy hands. 26 Even they will perish, but Thou dost endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing Thou wilt change them, and they will be changed. 27 But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end. 28 The children of Thy servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before Thee” (Psalm 102:12, 25-28, emphasis mine).
“For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6)
Man changes. We change our speech, our fashion, our technology, our home countries, our families, we change a LOT.
But God, He's the same God that Abraham prayed to, that Adam spoke with, that Job stayed faithful to. He's the exact same God.
Paleontologists and archeologists dig through the past to see what it was like... when they come across an ancient artifact they ponder it, and how things were back then.
But I serve, and spend time with, the most Ancient .... it amazes me that I pray to the same God that Moses did.... and I'm very very thankful He is the one constant, unchanging thing in my life.
2/26/2013
2/24/2013
Audio
The last 4 days have been a very exciting time for me, in the context of
seeing Audio Bibles become popular in the country.
I work primarily in getting the Scripture to people in PNG in ways other
than written. As an organization, the written Word is essential.
Audio/video is simply another medium/tool for them to receive the Word.
The demand for it is far exceeding our staff resources.
In 5 days, I'll be the ONLY technician able to do recording and editing
in this country for quite some time.
At the same time, people are very excited about the possibilities and
are desperate to get on the calendar for projects.
I could EASILY say yes to 5 recording projects in 2014, but I would
almost never be home and that's not good.
Right now, I'm editing 1 project I just recorded, while lining up 2 more
recordings.
It's absolutely on fire right now, exploding, but well beyond our
capacity to do the work.
Please join me in prayer, asking God to raise up people with the needed
skills (when you're swamped like this it's hard to do training) to join
our team!
We need people who can do distribution, management, recording, and
editing audio AND video, with preferably decent computer skills to.
Be praying for that, because there is no one in the pipeline for the
next, 2 years. Which means if someone were to get in the pipeline now,
we'd still be 3 years from seeing them arrive without God doing a miracle.
-Chad
seeing Audio Bibles become popular in the country.
I work primarily in getting the Scripture to people in PNG in ways other
than written. As an organization, the written Word is essential.
Audio/video is simply another medium/tool for them to receive the Word.
The demand for it is far exceeding our staff resources.
In 5 days, I'll be the ONLY technician able to do recording and editing
in this country for quite some time.
At the same time, people are very excited about the possibilities and
are desperate to get on the calendar for projects.
I could EASILY say yes to 5 recording projects in 2014, but I would
almost never be home and that's not good.
Right now, I'm editing 1 project I just recorded, while lining up 2 more
recordings.
It's absolutely on fire right now, exploding, but well beyond our
capacity to do the work.
Please join me in prayer, asking God to raise up people with the needed
skills (when you're swamped like this it's hard to do training) to join
our team!
We need people who can do distribution, management, recording, and
editing audio AND video, with preferably decent computer skills to.
Be praying for that, because there is no one in the pipeline for the
next, 2 years. Which means if someone were to get in the pipeline now,
we'd still be 3 years from seeing them arrive without God doing a miracle.
-Chad
2/21/2013
Clonin
why all the screens?
Cloning systems, rebuilding them, getting them ready to go back into the hands of Bible translators, support workers, etc.
It's not unusual to be working on 5 screens at once with the CTS dept. (This is my friend Andy's desk I think). Right now I'm looking at 4 screens, how many are you looking at?
Sounds like a song... to the tune of Rawhide...
clonin' clonin' clonin'
keep them laptops clonin'
rebuilding their platform OS!
Through rain and heat, corrosion,
Must keep the apps from closin,
Or translation data will be lost.
yeah, it's Friday.
Gandalf the grey
Kendal made the patchwork hat and yarn beard. The cloak was found at a thrift store for 1 dollar the sword is kwila made years ago for a skit and the ring is my ild wedding ring.
2/20/2013
Opening my first iPhone
No... not the box. The phone itself. 2 years before I came to PNG I decided to buy a Mac to learn how to support Mac's because this place was predominantly Windows driven. Before that, I learned in my job how to be a Unix guy.
So when smartphones hit the U.S. only a short year or so after the second iPhone was released, we started seeing them here too. I tried to become an expert on them.
And, I did a fair job of helping people who needed help. Yes I learned to jailbreak them to make them work in PNG. I've done my fair share of hacking around the iPhone for people. EVERY time I was nervous I might destroy it.
But today was a first.
Someone came to me and said 'my power button is jammed'. I asked if it was under warranty, and it wasn't because a friend had given them the phone.
So, I decided to Google it. I found a quick youtube video of a guy who fixed this problem with a piece of paper. I remember fixing my 3Com palm pilot a decade ago, with a 3m Post it Note, so I decided to give it a try.
2 screws opened the phone. That was easy.
Inside I saw the issue, there was a bit of gunk around the button. I took a piece of paper, cut it, folded it, and got it in there with my screwdriver, using it like a sort of squeegee, getting the gunk off.
And now it works.
PHEW!.... nothing like working the first time on a $600 phone and having NO idea what you are doing.... and then having it work fine when you're done!
2/18/2013
Burning Witches
Recently there has been some attention regarding this subject on PNG. Last week an article came out from the local paper explaining that a witch was burned... the implication 'to death'.
Then an Australian newspaper said she was 'rescued by police'.
Today I read this paper... basically, she was burned, tortured, but survived.
http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/its-2013-and-theyre-burning-witches/558/
WARNING, this article contains nudity and graphic detail of the torture.
The reason I post it:
-This article is written from a Catholic perspective. It hits one of the issues square on the head regarding how quickly the PNG people are to blame witchcraft for something. Many PNG people still believe in witchcraft, and for good reason. Sorcery is not a lie. There are people in this country who can summon and deal with spiritual powers, but there is ALWAYS a price.
Often times that price is that people are very quick to blame sorcery for deaths of loved ones. Remember this is a culture that still have large groups who do not fully understand that clean hands, and clean water, can cure a large amount of ailments.
There is a delicate balance of science and spirit. Anything we don't understand could easily be considered 'magic', and parts of this country has a lot to learn about basic health and medicine.
It all combines to create horrible events like what this article describes above.
THESE PEOPLE truly need God's truth to change their lives.
Fwd: Audio Bible First time
This gentleman is holding and listening to the Bible in his language
(Onobasulu) on an audio player for the first time.
The people are gathered around because it's something new. You can feel
the interest, you can feel the energy and excitement, the wonder.
I specifically notice the contrast in the older man, with the younger
children around him.... God's Word endures through generations!
I helped with the post production of the Onobasulu audio Bibles, but I
wasn't the only one.
It takes several of us.
-a translator creates the text
-a project manager requests funds and does the paperwork
-a funder donates money to purchase units and pay for travel
-a PNG reader reads the text to a recordist
-a recordist captures it digitally
-an editor runs the recording through post production and prepares it
for final copy
-a distributor charges the audio bible's battery, copies the recording
to SD card and inserts (for dozens of audio bibles)
-someone delivers it to the people
Sometimes one person can do multiple roles, but there is still a huge
team that goes into accomplishing this.
Thank you for your role!
(Onobasulu) on an audio player for the first time.
The people are gathered around because it's something new. You can feel
the interest, you can feel the energy and excitement, the wonder.
I specifically notice the contrast in the older man, with the younger
children around him.... God's Word endures through generations!
I helped with the post production of the Onobasulu audio Bibles, but I
wasn't the only one.
It takes several of us.
-a translator creates the text
-a project manager requests funds and does the paperwork
-a funder donates money to purchase units and pay for travel
-a PNG reader reads the text to a recordist
-a recordist captures it digitally
-an editor runs the recording through post production and prepares it
for final copy
-a distributor charges the audio bible's battery, copies the recording
to SD card and inserts (for dozens of audio bibles)
-someone delivers it to the people
Sometimes one person can do multiple roles, but there is still a huge
team that goes into accomplishing this.
Thank you for your role!
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