Joel - December 10

Barbara - February 1

Address:

E-mail: joel_trudell@sil.org barbara_trudell@sil.org

Joel and Barbara Trudell

 ·  Graduates of Houghton College, 1979 and 1980

·Literacy specialists with Wycliffe Bible Translators and SIL International since 1980

· Supported by Houghton Wesleyan Church right from the start

·    Peru, Kenya, Cameroon, Scotland… and Texas!

News

Hello friends,

Well I was going to write you on Tuesday, but who believes anything they receive on April 1st? We do hope this note finds you well. We're in Nairobi again, in between trips as usual! These days having a whole month at home is such a marvelous luxury...

And it's good to be here. I saw a wonderful signboard on the road recently: Montezuma and Mona Lisa Ltd. Funeral Home. Their slogan? "Your home away from home". (Oh dear, I hope not!) In yet another learning experience, one of my more hip Kenyan friends told me the other day that some guy was "c f-squared, f-squared c". At my bewildered look, she explained: Cute from far, but far from cute! Gosh, sometimes I feel old AND not-hip.

But the Internet challenges we face here can get discouraging. I have read that Kenya has among the most expensive Internet connectivity in the world, mainly because there is no undersea cable that has made it to the East African coast. They are telling us that in 2009 we will see things improve in that department, but for now we live with the inadequate service we can afford.

And to compound the technology disillusionment, two days ago I completely lost the computer folder that contained all my work in Microsoft Word for the month of March. The risky business of computer dependence caught me out, and – yep – I lost a whole lot of stuff. OH NO!! I was surprised at how much it hurt, actually. Eventually I patched some of the data back together, but not all - and the paper I had half-written for a conference in July is gone, gone, gone.

Now, a friend of mine had just given a devotional on how the Lord prunes us to make us more fruitful. Feeling the distinct pinch of the pruning shears on my heart, I wondered what I am supposed to make of this reaaaaalllllly annoying event. And aside from the value of regular backups (!), I think I may have learned a little about the importance of “being sad without sinning” - which is a lot like the verse that says, “don't sin when you are angry.” Blaming ourselves and others is so easy when we feel bad.

And then the Lord reminded me of all the encouraging things He is allowing us to be part of here. For instance, here's a photo of an Africa literacy specialists' meeting that I was part of in February. These people are from (left to right) South Africa, Uganda, the UK and Ghana; the South African woman works in Niger, the British woman works in Tanzania, and the other two work in their home countries. Which one is a literacy consultant? Guess!

The Ghanaian guy is. So there they are, all talking about strategies for getting non-literate communities to take interest and ownership in literacy programs in their own languages. This is the best kind of partnership between African and non-African colleagues - sharing their experience and thinking through ideas together, and respecting wise words wherever they are found.

If you'd like to pray for us, here is what is on our hearts these days:

1. The political situation in Kenya is calmer on the surface, but the hurt and alienation between ethnic communities is deep. We pray for great grace and forgiveness, starting in the Kenyan church and radiating out to the whole nation.

2. In late April Joel and I will attend the triennial international conference of Wycliffe and SIL leaders. It's in Thailand. You could pray for lots of wise heads and wise words as a couple hundred of us meet there from all over the world. (My own feelings about Thailand are not terribly positive - I've been there twice before, and I got a stomach virus, sprained my knee, fell on a cement step and banged up my ribs, and [in a separate incident] badly wrenched my back. Hmm. Maybe I should stay home!)

We love you, friends. Thank you again for your friendship, your prayers and your financial help. You are our mainstay!

Yours,
Barbara (and for Joel too) Trudell

P.O. Box 44456
Nairobi 00100, Kenya
Tel: +254-20-271-8183
Mobile: +254-735-893-746
Email: barbara_trudell@sil.org