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Posted on August 19, 2017
by Nathan
But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. (2 Timothy 4:5)
When the Apostle Paul wrote these words to Timothy, he had something else in mind besides proofing text. Nonetheless, this past month has been a month of just that: proofing text.
For the past two months, Ralph has been working hard to convert the English, Russian, Ukrainian, and Spanish texts of Bible First into Markdown format. This is important because we intend to use the text online in the future, and it also allows us to put the text under version control. (If you want to know what that is, be sure to read Josh's article about Ralph.) Once the text has been converted, it has to be proofed for errors introduced by the conversion process, as well as for mistakes made by the translators.
In addition to the Bible First project, we are also overseeing the translation of Good and Evil into Ukrainian, and the Ukrainian text of Good and Evil is one more thing that has to be proofed. As we work on the translation into Ukrainian, I have also been making a list of suggestions on how to improve Good and Evil which will eventually be sent to the publisher of the English edition.
Josh and I proof Chapter 3 of Good and Evil via Skype.
New Team Members
I'm excited to announce that Anatoli and Anastasia Zhylavy have joined the ETO Team! I personally have known them since they were teenagers, and if you'd like to get to know them, you can visit their page on ETO's website. Initially, Anatoli's main responsibilities will be the re-translation of Bible First and Good and Evil into Ukrainian.
Anatoli (Tolik), Anastasia (Nastia), and their children: Kateryna, Valentyna, Hanna, and Lukian.
Family
Katelin's cast has been off for a month now, and life has pretty much returned to normal, except that she tries to avoid long walks and/or heavy loads. For which I am very thankful. I much prefer being Mr. Dad to Mr. Mom!
Posted on July 21, 2017
by Nathan
Kelsie and Katelin started the month off with another talk for young moms, similar to the one they did back in April. The main difference was that this was more like a half-day seminar, with three different sessions, whereas last time, there was just one session. And like last time, the event was well-attended and well-received.
Katelin, Kelsie, and the rest of the group.
Bible First
We are continuing to make progress on various aspects of Bible First. Maria Sanchez has basically finished the first draft of the Spanish translation, with only a few spots needing some cleanup. Ralph has been going great guns on converting Bible First text into Markdown format, which is necessary to make it available online. He has recently finished converting the English text, and has now moved on to the Ukrainian and Russian. I'm sure it won't be long before he moves on to the Spanish text!
Family
This month will go down in Day Family history as the month of the broken foot. Not long after the aforementioned seminar for young moms, Katelin went to the local market to buy strawberries and rolled her ankle in a pothole. An X-ray revealed that it was a break, not a sprain, so the doctor put Katelin's foot in a cast and told her to wear it for 3.5 weeks. The cast is now off, and Katelin is making steady progress in rehabilitating her foot.
All that to say, it's been a busy month on the home front! When she wasn't resting, Katelin did her best to keep things rolling around the house, but I still spent most of the month being Mr. Mom. It's a good thing that we skipped CMO this summer, because I would have had to bow out almost completely!
One of many outings that I took the girls on this month. Briana was playing in a fountain, and I had to keep a tight hold on her, just in case she tried to go for a swim. ;)
Posted on June 16, 2017
by Nathan
As I was thinking about writing this update, and was reflecting on the things that had been accomplished, I was struck by the thought that a sizable portion of the work had been done by people who are not ETO staff. And so, I would like to introduce you to some people that you may not have heard about, who are nonetheless contributing to our ministry.
Literature
In past months, Anatoli Zhylavy has been revising the Ukrainian translation of Bible First to reflect the updated English text. Recently, however, he has been translating the latest edition of Good and Evil.
Catherine Leavitt is translating Bible First into French.
Maria Sanchez is translating Bible First into Spanish, and has also been helping to improve the English version by finding typos and such.
Pat LaBarbera is heading up the Russian translation of Bible First.
Sasha Moskalenko is the printer that will produce Good and Evil once it is ready, but in the meantime, he has offered to do the layout work free of charge. Josh and I recently spent the better part of a day proofing the first two chapters, and Sasha is doing great work!
Web Development
Trevor Brown and Andy Buck are a couple of programmers that have been helping Josh to build a web application that will allow people to take the Bible First course online. In addition, Andy recently added a page to our website that displays the progress of the aforementioned translation projects.
Raphael Villeneuve will be joining us for two months this summer as an intern, focusing primarily on various computer-related tasks. However, despite the fact that he hasn't arrived yet, he has already been a big help in helping us to convert the text of Bible First into a web-friendly format so that it can be displayed online. This new format will also allow us to store the Bible First text in such a way that it will be much easier to update it when necessary, as well as reduce the chances that text will be inadvertently changed or deleted.
Raphael (Ralph) will be arriving in Ukraine on June 21st, and I'm sure he would appreciate your prayers for a good trip.
Residency Permits
Our residency permits have been renewed, and we are good to go for another year!
Three little monkeys!
Family
It hasn't been such a good month for us in terms of health. We had another bug go through the family after last month's bug, and no sooner did we all get better, but Briana and I got sick again. I'd say we are on the mend, but we are hoping that we can all stay healthy for a while this time.
Posted on May 9, 2017
by Nathan
We've had a fair amount of translation activity in the last month, with progress being made in four languages! Bible First is being translated into Spanish, French, and now Russian. The Spanish translation is now past the half-way mark, while the French and Russian translations are not as far along. In addition, Good and Evil is being re-translated into Ukrainian.
Web Development
In case you hadn't noticed, you are reading this update on a brand-new website, built by yours truly! In addition to being much faster, this site is also less susceptible to being hacked. (I've been hacked before. Not sure why someone would go to the trouble to hack a missionary's blog???) While the site (hopefully) looks good on your desktop computer, I still need to optimize it for mobile and make some behind-the-scenes tweaks that will be good stepping stones for future projects.
Residency Permits
Our residency permit renewal is going well. By this time next month, hopefully everything will be all finished.
Family
We had a nasty cold/cough bug that went through the family recently. First it took down Melissa and Lydia, then Briana, then Katelin. I thought for sure that I had escaped, but now I've come down with it.
Taking the girls to the park on a Saturday morning.
Briana starting to talk a lot more these days. Melissa and Lydia recently participated in a "talent show" organized by Abby Steele, and they got good reviews for the doll-sized patchwork quilt and pillow that they sewed for the occasion. Katelin just had her birthday, and we all had a good time celebrating that. Melissa's balcony garden is growing nicely, and I'm thinking that there will be enough spinach for a mini-salad soon!
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