AdaptIt Training in Weh

After learning how to use "AdaptIt" a computer application that takes a translated scripture and easily adapts to a neigbouring language that has more or less a similar structure, Pastor Mei Eugene now things that the translation of the Weh New Testament is going to advance rapidly. It took only two days in October 2013 for me to get Eugene started on AdaptIt and he could almost finish adapting the first chapter of Matthew from the Aghem to the Weh language in just less than two days.
There is no electricity where the Weh Bible Translation and Literacy Office is located so they depend on the generator to work. They also use the BGAN technology to get their emails. Pastor Eugene has to set the BGAN outside daily and hook up the generator to get things up and running during the working sessions.

In Wum there is a lot of farmer-grazier problems as you can see cows almost every where

On my way back from Weh on a motor bike, I witnessed an interesting accident. The bike rider drove past us at top speed but for some reason something sort of bind his breaks and she and the lady he was carrying fell off and the maize they were carrying poured out of the sac.

Oku NT Dedication 12 October 2013

The people of Oku now have the word of God in the language that they understand better "Əblam Əbkuo". Oku honey is very sweet but the Ŋwaale Feyin Kelef Kefɛɛ as the Oku New Testament is called is sweeter than the Oku honey.

Paratext 7.3 training at BRTC

We had 8 translators coming from 3 teams from the North West Region of Cameroon for an applied computer course - Paratext 7.3. Paratext is the main software translators use to keyboard, edit, check, format etc etc their translations as they work on them on each phases of the Bible Translation. The Babanki team learned different checks that they will use to tidy up their translators. The Mmen team learned how to use Paratext and above all how to collaborate Paratext and AdaptIt. I taught the Mmen team AdaptIt backin February; so they have been adapting the Kom New Testament into their language since these two languages are closely related. The Weh team learned a lot about Paratext and are hoping to be trained on AdaptIt as soon as possible so that they can use the Aghem Translations to Adapt from. I look forward to making a trip to Weh to train this team on how to use AdaptIt sometimes next month.

Hello from Frans, Lilian & Caritas

Welcome to National Polytechnic Bamenda

  Praise the Lord!The results of the long awaited Higher National Diploma (HND) examinations were published on Friday 30th August, 2013. Frans was successful for which we are so thankful to the Lord for his goodness. After two years of hard work, internship, writing a research paper and schooling every weekend plus keeping his full time job the Lord has indeed blessed him with success.
What Next?
School begins again sometimes in October and for two more semester, Frans will study to graduate with a Professional bachelor's degree (BTech) in Education, specializing in Guidance and Counseling (GAC).

The B.I.B.L.E (Bible)

The BIBLE, yes thats the book to have
I stand alone in the word of God
the BIBLE.
The BIBLE, yes thats the book to read,
I stand alone in the word of God
the BIBLE
The BIBLE, yes thats the book for me
I stand alone in the word of God the
the BIBLE
The BIBLE, yes thats the book to buy
I stand alone in the word of God
the BIBLE

Helen paging through her new TEV Bible

Leadership Tips...

# Fix The Problem, Not The Blame.

# Tell People What You Want, Not How To Do It.

# Manage the function, not the paperwork.

# You never have to make up for a good start.

# Get out of your office.

# Lead by example.

# Delegate the easy stuff.

# Quality is just conformance to requirements.

# Learn from the mistakes of others.

# Set S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

# Set an example.

# Know Your G.P.M. ( Goal + Plan + Measurements )

# Train Your Supervisors.

# You Can't Listen With Your Mouth Open.

# Practice what you preach.

# Leaders create change.

# Don't Limit Yourself.

# Anyone can steer the ship in calm waters.

# You have to make a difference.

source: Unknown

Friendship recognizes faults in friends but does not speak of them...

True friendship acknowledges imperfections, accepts them as part of our individual makeup, and focuses on our positive aspects instead of expounding upon our faults. Your friends don’t like you to comment upon their failings any more than you like them to criticize you. When your friends are discouraged or disappointed in themselves, a word of encouragement will serve much better than a sermonette. To be the kind of friend you would like to have, be a good listener, offer advice when you are asked for it, and treasure the trust that your friends have placed in you. Praise them for their achievements and sympathize when they fall short, but avoid offering “constructive criticism” or playing devil’s advocate. Most of us expect more from ourselves than anyone else ever would, and we are painfully aware of our shortcomings. We don’t need to be reminded of them by our friends. [NHF, August 15th 2013]

2013 CABTAL Personnel Forum

5th-9th August 2013 was another opportunity for all CABTAL staff to get together this time at the new Bamenda Regional Training Center (BRTC). Topic was "Stewardship in Service". Key verse "... So then men ought to regard us as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the secret things of God. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful."". We enjoyed a time of sharing experiences encountered in Bible Translation, wonderful devotions, working in sessions in departments and in sessions as a big group. Wonderful presentations were given the steps involved in Bible Translation; what is Linguistics and why Linguistics in Bible Translation, Church Engagement etc We hard a speaker Rev. Ngoh Joel of Hope Baptist Church Ndamukong speaking for three days. He really challenged us with his messages on: - Stewardship in Ministry: You can't steward if you are not a servant. If you truly want to be a servant of God, you must deal or allow God deal with your values. Ambition can be a problem unless we are like mindedness with Christ in our ambition. Hierarchical problems can be an issue because value positions unless they remind themselves of their position in Christ - Examples of Servants: Experiences make a lot of meaning to us in our culture. First example of a servant is God himself. Rebekah, Ruth/Boaz, Dorcas. In our days of much insecurity, being a servant is not without challenges. Christians don't just listen but they do what the word of God says - What a servant should do: Use your gifts to serve others. As Africans, we are so dependent on our thinking which doesn't help us at all. A stewards primary goal is to be faithful. The gospel is God's total response for man's total need. The steward must be faithful. A steward should be industrious and not lazy. Stewards need to be accountable

Learning that L.A.S.T.S

July 29 to August 2nd, 12 participants from different areas of Cameroon came together at BRTC to take the Advanced Learning that LAST training. Here are some of the things were were working on amongst others Learner Centered: "Don't teach content, teach peope" Action with Reflection: "Don't just do something, sit there" Solving Problems: "Necessity is the mother of invention, problems are the mother of learning" Teamwork: "All of us are smarter than any of us" Self Discovery/Self Direction: "He teaches best who teaches least" As you plan to teach an event, make sure your lesson has the following parts: Connection: Maybe a get together with the participants to get to know each other before the even proper begins. Connections could also come in during devotions. Content Take the essential content from your WHAT. How many modules will be needed? It is better to have one Learning Task per piece of content. Learning Tasks are the building blocks of modules. What knowledge will learners need? How could they acquire this knowledge? What attitudes do they need? How could the acquire these attitudes? ChallengeIs there an opportunity in the event you are planning for them to practice the content? What skills do they need? How could they acquire these skills? This is part of the workshop where you see immediately if they have acquired the K,S,A's you have been aiming for. Change How will they take this learning into the future? Think about your Indicators of Learning How can they set goals or make plans for putting into practice what they have learned when they get back into their context? Closure How will you bring the event into a meaningful closure? In order to get the Resources and Needs Assessment, you need to ASK, Study and Observer your learners. 3 indicators of learning are: Immediate: Commitment > During or before the workshop comes to an end Transfer: Actually doing it, maybe one month after the training event Impact: More people involved maybe a community Knowledge is what you need to know in order to practice a skill Evaluating learning involves collaborating with all stakeholders in setting evaluation goals, planning what learning will be evaluated and how it will be evaluated

Purge out the leaven

At church today, the preacher links from communion homily to sermon on the topic, "Purge out the leaven" We all have something in us that is not good which are are suppose to purge out. Most often than not, we are not taking care of that but rather finding faults in others even without proof. Some people are even excommunicated from villages as witches and wizards when they are innocent. As for Christians, we should rejoice in that someone is sent away as a witch or wizard but in that someone turns to Christ. The Christian life is that of purging out and that is exactly how we can grow. 1Cor. 5:1-2 M kér gháʼ feyì fó yu ji wìr wùmòʼ lò ne, e kèʼ joonè e věn mvəm, a bó yòʼ dzə̀ wo dzə̀ wír wo bó wù yòʼ fə̀m kiìn Nyùy wàa mùm. M yú ji wìr wùmòʼ shìíy e wiiy tàr wov. Vèn yén kfəə́ joònè vən, kfə̀n raʼsì wún ji ka? Bo vèn kì yíi a dìy dìyìn. Vèn kér fó fəə́r wír wo wù yiìn kfəə́ kinyò kee ben fəə́rín fo věn mvəm

Who are you?

For Church today, Rev Kwih Jonathan, the CBC Nkwen Association Pastor visited our small church and preached. His lesson was from Matthew 5:13-16. The question is who are you and this portion of scripture has got three answers: You are: verse 13: The salt of the earth but what good is salt if it loses its flavor? So as Christian, we ought to strive to remain salty else we risk being trampled upon. verse 14: The light of the world - like a city on the hill top that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket, instead it is placed on a lamp stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. So as Christian's we ought to make sure darkness doesn't overshadow the light of Christ that is shinning in us. We gonna keep the light shinning so that others might glorify our father in heaven.

Marriage Seminar in our Church

This July, we are having a marriage seminar in our church "Redeemer Baptist Church" (RBC) Bamenda. It is a wonderful time of discussions, ideas, questions and answer sessions all geared towards building and sustaining a happy marriage.

Jesse & Josephine's Wedding

"He who finds a 'spouse' finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord". Proverbs 18:22" Jesse and Josephine celebrated their marriage at Full Gospel Church Cow Street Bamenda on 27th July 2013. The preacher reminded couples that when you are married you are suppose to be transparent with your space. He said something that I have never looked at it that way. He said when we are young, our parents see our nakedness but when we grow up, they cannot but our wives are the only ones who can see it. Children go away but spouse remain. So your spouse is all you've got, cultivate it, take good care of it and you will all enjoy the marriage.

DressMaking

My wife loves dressmaking so much.  I am often times amazed at what she can produce.  What a wonderful talent she has got in that area.  Now that she's gotten a multifunction machine, she will certain do quite a lot and thrill her customers.

Bamenda Regional Training Center in Mbessi

We constructed our residence in Mbessi neighborhood in 2010 and moved in March of 2010.  Three years later, CABTAL has constructed their offices in the same area not far from our house.  This is a big blessing for us as I don't have to drive far to go to work.  I don't have any traffic to deal with.  Infact, I can actually walk to work easily.

Julia's girls and their mom

What world that God has made.  You never know who you are going to meet and how you people are going to connect.  All of this because of the love of Jesus.  It is wonderful to know Winifred and her daughters, Scipora, Emmanuela and Marinnet from Babanki in the North West Cameroon.  The girls are doing very well in their education while the mother (widow) is working hard on the farms, rearing pigs and chickens taken good care of them.  May the Lord richly bless these girls to grow up to be wonderful women with a heart for the Lord.  Thank you Lord for giving us an opportunity to minister to them in our own small way.

Send off for Roland & Lena & Bjorkestedt's

Roland & Lena has been serving with CABTAL since 2009. Lena worked in Bafmen doing

preliminary linguistic work. She traveled to Bafmen even so often and most of the time by motorbike something that is not common especially for women of her age. She also found a family and stayed with in Bafmen whenever she goes out there.
He worked more with Literacy especially functionary literacy with the Meta & Oku teams. He traveled to these villages every so often with the Suzuki vitara. They were also able to teach at the Ndu CBTS Seminary where CABTAL & SIL are running a BT degree program for sometime. Today we could hear everyone say it has been a blessing to have this couple. They've also been a source of encouragement to many people through their simple nature and teachable attitude. Roland wounds it all up saying that in all that we do, let us look at it a little more and be sure Jesus can be seen in it.

Development brings difficulties

When development comes, things can also be stressful for some people at least for a short while.  The people on one side of the road in Kimar in Jakiri Sub Division in the NW Region of Cameroon are having a hard time going home due to the road construction going on.  They rely on ladders to across the road for any business.  For kids, this is very interesting as they are smart but for adults, this is a very challenging exercise.  This also mean that they will have to work on their own to fix the roads to theirs homes when the road works company must have done its part.  This can really be very frustrating for these people.  In some cases two or three ladders are needed to reach one house.  Ladder makers can certainly make some business here.

Eulogy to Eve

Sister Evelyn,

The last time we spoke at length was on the 4th of May and our subject of discussion was that we were afraid we were missing one member of the family.  Thankfully, the Lord did not allow that to happen.  Little did I know that we will be missing you for real in just less than two months? 

I always look forward to talking with you because you are such an important person to me.  My wife Lilian was not only your sister but you were a father and mother to her.

When I got a "call me back" from your telephone number that fateful Friday night, I was excited to call you back but just to get the heart breaking news that you had already gone home!  To this very day, it is still very difficult for us to come to terms with the fact that you are no more. 

Just this year, I cannot count the number of times you've sent us food at the least opportunity that you see someone coming to Bamenda.  We did not even get the chance to say thank you for taking care of us.

Thank you very much for your silent lesson of love and concern for every member of the family. 

We will miss you so much

Adieu Eve, until we meet again in glory

~Frans, your brother-in-law

Bible Translation Sunday (BTS) in CBC Church Bambui

In the Bambui CBC Church, Brother Ernest Kinga presented about CABTAL saying what God is already doing in the lives of people around Cameroon as they hear Him speak in the langauge that they understand better.

Pastor Claude in his preaching said that we ought to watch out for the historic gospel, the gospel that saves us from sin and not only the gospel that heals us quickly or makes us rich.
When the work of Bible Translation succeeds, evangelism will equally succeed because people will understand the gospel clearly and live spirit filled lives to the glory of God.

People are encourage to join CABTAL which is the arm of the Church to partner in the work of Bible Translation.  People are encouraged to NOT only give money but to commit to prayer.  If we are to succeed in Bible Translation, we need to pray and pray and pray because the enemy doesn't want this work to go ahead


~Frans

Adieu Evelyn!

Evelyn & Caritas during our wedding in Nov 06

My sister-in-law Evelyn Leila was in good health from every indication until the late hours of Friday 21st June 2013 when she suddenly started vomiting and later collapsed, she was rushed to the hospital but couldn't make it.

She was staying by herself in the neighbourhood of Ngambe-Tikar in the far off forest area of Yaounde.  We hardly could reach her by cell phone so normally she is the one who will call us from time to time when she gets into the network.  When I saw a "beep me" from her number that Friday night, I was quick to call hoping to talk with her was shocked to hear she had died.  I was the first family person to get this sad news.  The last time I spoke with her was on the 4th of May when she was in Nkambe visiting her brother Hans.

Leila was the first in a family of four - Lilian my wife is the fourth.  Leila was more like the head of the family since their parents are all of late.  She has left behind Caritas a 9 year old who is now without a mother and a father as her father died a few years ago.

Leila always has time for everyone.  She never forgets to send someone a gift at the least opportunity.  In fact it is not long that we finished the "bush meat" that she sent to us.  We did not even have time to send you a gift.  We did not even have time to thank you for always sending us something.   You have just gone so fast my sister, it is hard to believe that we will not see you again until that glorious day.

Pray for comfort, joy and peace for the entire family as this difficult moment.

Leila, sister Eve or Mami Caritas as we fondly call you. Adieu! until we meet again in glory

~Frans

Africa IT Connect Series 3 in Nairobi - Kenya

Africa IT Connect is a community for Africa based IT support staff.  IT Connect series 3 was help at the BTL center in Ruiru from the 12 through the 24 of May 2013. It was a wonderful two weeks of sharing, problem solving, getting to know one another and to hear the stories of one another.

BRTC

Bamenda Regional Training Center (BRTC) as of 2nd of May 2013 when we started working from there.  In this picture, you can view the from of the offices on the left and the front with reception area on the top photos.  On the photos below, you can see the dorms and the back of the offices as well as the dorm in the far back.

Maternal Grand Parents

Visiting Grand Ma and Grand Pa on April 2013.  It was a wonderful moment to be with these wonderful people.  I am always amazed at who they are.