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Hi all, I’ve been busy here - looking for a place to stay mainly. Tomorrow (or today your time), I shall be moving on to the third family who have kindly agreed to (been roped in to) letting me stay at their house for a while. I was going to blog this weekend, but due to technical difficulties (me losing a computer cable), I couldn’t. So without further ado…

On Sunday, I had the opportunity to see Spear and Song, an event featuring a father and daughter from a Maasai village in Kenya who are helping to bring the Lord’s word to many people across East Africa. It was really incredible to hear about how translated scripture is being shared with people in distant lands by people from the same communities. (This really reflects how Bible translation organisations are changing, particularly Wycliffe and it’s partners).

It really makes a difference for these people to hear the scripture in their ‘heart language’ and apply it to their own culture. As Josiah puts it – “I am one hundred percent Christian and one hundred percent Maasai”.

Also, I’d like to thank everyone who has been commenting, e-mailing and even snail-mailing (thanks Audrey!). It’s great to keep hearing from everyone!

I’ve been in Canada now for almost a week, and I’m sure you’re wondering what I’m really doing with Wycliffe here. Or maybe not. Never mind, I’m going to tell you anyway.

I have said on several occasions whilst still in the UK that I will be helping develop a tool to write in several languages and scripts on a computer. There are people working on that in the Calgary office, but it’s not what I’m doing right now.

Wycliffe is currently looking at “Low power computers”, in particular the One Laptop Per Child association and similar projects. Whilst this project is aimed primarily at education, the idea of a computer that can be run on either a solar panel, a handful ‘AA’ batteries or even a hand crank is perfectly suited to translators working in remote locations around the world where mains electricity is not always an option. Indeed, low power devices are already in use in the field for some applications, but the systems in use at the moment do not have the capacity to run full scale Bible translation software.

So, my job right now is to study what can be done within the restraints of the OLPC computer and similar devices. I will be using a full scale desktop PC to simulate a low power computer and exploring the possibilities of moving our existing software (which is effectively tied to chunky desktops and battery munching laptops) onto devices more suited to use in the kinds of remote locations where much of the translation work is done.

It’s only been two and a half days since stepping off the plane in Calgary airport, but I’ve had the chance to do so much. It’s really been non stop since I got here – I’m afraid this is going to be a large entry.

First of all, the plane journey was (after a bit of a delay) brilliant. We flew right over the Arctic Circle and the views were stunning. I don’t have the photos at the moment, but you’ll see them soon.

I’ve been into the office at Wycliffe for a while, the people there are great. Loads of names to try and remember though. I’ve had a chance to get to know the team now (and vice-versa), and to be introduced to the projects going on at the moment. I’ll be starting to work on aforementioned projects next week, and will be able to tell you more then.

A lot of the time so far has been spent dashing about the city with Andrew Weaver (one of the guys in the Wycliffe software office), getting things organised. There are accounts to open, immigration stuff to sign up for, lots of things to buy… It’s been busy

As well as that, there’s been a chance to explore Calgary a bit as well. The area where the Mayhews and Weavers live is stunning. (The Mayhews and Weavers are the two families who are very kindly letting me stay with them for my first few weeks in Canada). No doubt you will get to see some pictures of the area in the future.

Downtown Calgary is cool place as well, even if it did take me a while to ‘get’ it. Most of the shops are inside the huge buildings that make up the city centre, connected by walkways that run above the streets. Makes sense if you consider the climate here, but that didn’t stop me from wandering around the city for quite a while wondering where all the shops (and the people) had gone to. I can’t say that much about the place yet – it’s a big city and you can only see a little bit of it in the two or three hours I was there.

So, lots of learning, exploring and generally dashing about so far. I’m sure I’ve still missed a bunch of stuff out. Right now is Sunday morning, and I’ll soon be heading off to church with the Weavers. Over the course of the next week, you’ll be able to read about the work we are doing at Wycliffe.