Glass Museum Part II

Greetings,

Today I am going to post the second part of my glass museum trip. Last time my pictures were mostly from inside the museum. This section covers the work on a bridge outside the museum. There is a walkway over the nearby freeway connecting this museum to a number of others. Along the bridge there are several large showcases of glass works. It is pretty cool.

Two massive pillars of glass.

The next three pictures are all glass works in the ceiling, so you are looking up at them. It was cloudy, so not much light was coming through. However, still pretty neat.

My mother Anita and I

My mom Anita and dad Jon

The elevator outside the museum leading to the parking garage

After we were done, our family met up with the Dyk's to have some lunch.

Glass Museum

Hello my friends,

During my recent travels I was fortunate enough to visit the glass museum in Tacoma Washington. I thought I would share some of the pictures I took there. I was impressed by the works exhibited. The techniques used and the intricacy of work were sometimes amazing. One of the best parts of the museum is being able to watch glass blowers work live. They have a studio right in the museum.

If you have not seen it yet, I posted my first blog report of the year earlier today. Check it out in the next post below.

This would really look neat with water fountains flowing around it. The glass sculpture is just outside the main entrance.

The tea kettles in the picture above and below have impossibly small spouts, so it would take a while to pour your tea. However, they look neat.

This picture above was one of the most unique items I saw in the gallery. It is one of my favorite pieces there.

An acorn around 18" long.

This was an impressive glass sculpture. It is a little over a meter tall. The blue you see shifts as you walk around the glass.

There was quite a description on a few sculptures like this one. They were something about the conquering of nature over the material world. Kind of a funny thing to look at.

Here is a multi-layered glass work.

There was a visiting collection from Ireland. I liked the glass work, but not the paintings on the sides. They look like a kid had some fun.

We watched the glass blowers for at least a half an hour. They made a glass leaf and four glass acorns while we were there.

Every year, there is a kids competition to design a glass sculpture. The kids make a drawing and the visiting glass artists try to recreate the picture in glass.

Water shoots up out of these poles. They are around eight feet tall and would be nice to play around in the summer.

 

 

A New Year, New Possibilities

Happy New Year everyone!

We are half way through the first month already and this year looks interesting. Before I get to that, I will fill you in on what I have been up too these past few months.
After my trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo, I returned to Orlando for about three and a half days before heading to Boise Idaho. Air France lost my luggage going to Congo, but just two days ago I was able to retrieve one of the lost bags. The other bag is in Paris France and I am still working on getting that one back here.
I had a wonderful time meeting my friends in Idaho. I was allowed to set up my computer in a room above the maintenance hanger. I attended the MAF Christmas chapel and was able to share my work and vision with some of my MAF friends. I even was able to go bowling with Ian Rask.
I then headed up to Spokane WA for Christmas. It has been a year since I last saw my brother and almost the same with my parents. I have been away for many years with just a couple short visits so it was nice to get back.
I began January with a week of meetings here in Orlando FL. There is a lot of exciting work going on around the world and plenty to come. One of the main points I took away from the meetings was concerning the difficulty of work. Lets compare all the Bible translations in the world to a tree. Of the 7,000-8,000 languages in the world around 6,000 have starts and around 1900 have yet to be started.  Basically, the low fruit of translations on the tree has been picked. The remaining languages are in places harder to reach or in countries much less open to Bible translation. A couple good examples are countries in the middle east. The goal most of the world translation groups are focusing is vision 2025. This goal is to have a translation started in every language in the world by 2025. This goal is possible but it will be harder to finish than it was to start.
Another take away I had was that there are multiple exciting ways the gospel is reaching those who do not have it. BILD is a group dedicated to training Christians from layman to Doctor. The idea is to educate the church so that it can be more effective in teaching and preaching. BILD has a huge curriculum that is being translated into many different languages so that Christians can be educated to preach and teach. India is a real focus of BILD at the moment, but eventually they should reach China as well. They also have a presence in many other countries of the world.
Distant Shores Media is another really cool group. They have created a platform somewhat similar to Wikipedia where Bible materials can be stored and translated all around the world. The Distant Shores platform shares the strengths of Wikipedia but not its weaknesses. It has means of making sure the content on its site are Biblically correct.
Tying together the training material from BILD and Distant shores with the Bible itself will create a library and education system for churches all over the world. The end result is a people who have more resources than ever before to understand and teach the Bible in more languages than ever.

So what is coming up for me? I am hoping to get back to Angola soon to install the equipment the national translation teams strongly need there. The delay has been getting permission from the local wireless company to install the repeaters we need. Hopefully we can get this soon. But we are also looking at alternative options.
I have been working on setting up equipment that national translators will be using oversees in the office here. We have quite a few teams who will be needing computers and other equipment and in the short term, that will be my focus.

I have been blessed by the work I have been able to do this last year and look forward to what is next.
I will leave you with a few pictures from my last few weeks.

Keep In Touch Adam's Blog: Pictures from a BTAK install in DRC

Keep In Touch Adam's Blog: Pictures from a BTAK install in DRC: Here are some pictures from our successful BTAK (Bible Translation Acceleration Kit) install. Running the wires from the solar unit outsid...

Pictures from a BTAK install in DRC

Here are some pictures from our successful BTAK (Bible Translation Acceleration Kit) install.

Running the wires from the solar unit outside to the control unit inside the office.

Blake is teaching some of the Bible translators how to use the bgan. This is a satellite unit that allows them to send e-mails.

Building the wood frame for the solar power panels.

The finished solar power panel set up.

The control unit and deep cell batteries for the BTAK.

 

These pictures come from my friend Matt who traveled with me on this last trip.

Trip Report from Democratic Republic of Congo: failure and success

There is nothing quite like flying at 34,000 feet about the ocean while noticing the ever changing nature of the clouds. I am writing while aboard a Delta airlines flight heading back to the USA. I just finished a couple week trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country of my birth and yet it is a country in many ways still foreign to me.

The purpose of my trip was to deliver and set up two BTAK’s or Bible translation acceleration kits. This acceleration kits would dramatically decrease the time it would take to finish the translations being worked on by many years.

The trip was a success in some ways and also a failure in some significant other ways. I traveled with two other men. One is a volunteer with Wycliffe Associates named Matt who has been on more trips with Wycliffe than I have. The other is a Wycliffe Associates member living long term in DRC named Blake Berry.

My initial flight out to the Democratic Republic of Congo was delayed several days at the start. This meant Matt and Blake met up and started the work before I got there. Happily a previous trip to the DRC had brought enough equipment that the first national translation team was equipped with a BTAK.

When I did get to the DRC myself, I barely got off the plane when I was met by my contacts in Kinshasa who whisked me away to my flight to Gemena. It felt like a whirlwind carried me through the airport. Though I did not pay any bribes at the time, I was asked for money at least five times by different officials.

This trip to Gemena went ok, except I soon found out my luggage had not arrived. I had checked three 50 lbs. bags of equipment and computers on the Air France flights. The third bag, which held computers, came through. However, the first and second bags with the equipment for the second deployment did not. We were told the bags were just delayed at first and would come the next flight. When they did not show up, we were told surely the next flight, and then the next. The day before my departure from the DRC back to the US we received word the second bag had arrived. When we got it, it consisted of only the lid. The rest of the bag (a large plastic footlocker) and its contents were simply gone. The first bag is completely lost. Beside the equipment for two complete BTAKS which accounts for thousands of dollars, I lost a good portion of my work and dress clothes. I also had some other equipment I was bringing for national Bible translation teams that were worth several hundred dollars and some more personal items.

Disappointed? Yes, I still get the pleasure of working with Air France to see if I can get the bags or reimbursement for the bags back. I’ll update you on that latter. The result was that our second BTAK install was called off. I learned a few things from the misfortune of the lost bags. First of all, my colleagues showed real class in how they responded. Matt had experienced difficulties before and was simply glad for the work that he was able to do and the work God will be able to do through the improved office he helped with. Blake knows all too well the difficulties of working in the DRC. The country runs very fundamentally in a different way than the US. I won’t pretend to understand how it does work. There is corruption on all levels of society which presents big questions about how those outside can help. The state of Congo is a topic far too big to talk about now, but I strongly believe having God’s word available to all the people there will be significant in changing the society. Blake worked tirelessly to help me with my bag issues as well as another missionary who was having issues with obtaining a visa.

I have nothing but respect for the work Blake and his wife Lindsey are doing in the DRC. They work selflessly all week long, all year long. They have a baby on the way and are not coming back to the states, but will raise their child with them in DRC.

I am reminded that our plans do not dictate to God what will happen. After I discovered our trip to the second install was going to be cancelled; I also learned that the only airline that could fly us back to Kinshasa had cancelled all flights in our part of the country. We would have missed our connection to Kinshasa and also the flight back to the US. That would have complicated things quite a bit.

Everyone will face challenges and changes in plan. How we respond to these challenges says a lot about who we are. The generous and kind reactions by my colleagues were a good witness to those around them. Does the love that overflows us from God overshadow the problems we face? God’s work will go on in the DRC with or without the BTAKs and help I can bring. I hope in the long run this trip will help mold me in a positive way just like other successful trips can. You tell me, how have failures and disappointments made you a stronger individual or believer?