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Good Friday and Easter Sunday is the time of year when we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is an invitation to the Risen life in Jesus! This invitation is given to all, which includes all people groups who are not able to read, see or hear the salvation message in a language they understand best. To date, 99.8 million people, speaking 1,268 languages, are still waiting for God's Word in their own language. May the words of Christ be a reminder and an encouragement to you. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17) Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26) "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) Let us we go forth to proclaim to the world that Christ is the Resurrection and the Life! Join us, as we serve together to translate the Word into the heart languages of the people and testify the transformational power of the Gospel.

Stories from the Field, 5 Mar 2024 Speaker: Jim Moore Who are the “mobile masses”? Just about everyone these days! Even in the most remote of villages, someone will have a mobile phone. In 2023, there were an estimated 6.7 billion mobile phone subscriptions worldwide, and this is projected to increase to 7.7 billion by 2028! Many people, even if they are literate, prefer to access Scripture in audio and/or video formats. In language communities where literacy is low, digital publishing meets a heartfelt need. Kalaam Media Kalaam Media was set up in 2008 to distribute translated Scripture in digital formats in countries where distributing printed Bibles was not practicable. Their vision is for people in every language community to experience abundant life through receiving digital scriptures expressed in their language and culture. Their first website was launched in 2010, and since then, they have launched 1,252 websites, developed 4,031 apps and trained 1,965 website managers across 100 countries. Teams from Kalaam Media go to language communities to hold face-to-face workshops to teach locals to create and maintain the websites and apps. Some recent workshops were held in Guinea Bissau, Papua New Guinea and Cameroon. They also run a helpdesk which provides support by email or video calls. Other services provided include social media integration, cloud hosting and domain name management. Funding and Staff Kalaam Media does not charge the language communities for their services. Many communities may not be able to pay for continual upgrades and maintenance, which would make the websites and apps unusable after a while. Instead, Kalaam Media’s full-time staff raise their own support as missionaries, while unpaid volunteers serve part-time. Donations are also received from organisations and individuals. Costs are kept low – about US$50 per year to maintain a website. Kalaam Media staff and volunteers work remotely from wherever they are based. They hail from all over – US, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Singapore… Currently, the greatest needs are for a Software Development Manager, Digital Publishing Manager, Funding Manager, and a trainer for Social Media Promotion. There is always a need of volunteers to serve regularly, or for shorter durations on specific projects or workshops. If you are interested in getting a taste of what Kalaam Media does, come along to a half-day workshop on 1 June 2024. An example of a website: SuaraHakka (Voice of Hakka) Kalamm Media About the speaker: Jim is the Managing Director of the Kalaam Media team which participates in the global effort to assist language communities to have their own internet presence.

I am a few decades too old to have grown up with Taylor Swift’s music, but who could have missed hearing that she was performing in Singapore? Especially since a daughter managed to snag a ticket to a show. What grabbed my attention after the first night was the fact that she and her backup dancer, Kameron Saunders, had incorporated a Singlish phrase into the performance! As the days went on, it became clear that Saunders was going to say a different Singlish phrase each night. I began to ask my daughter each morning, as she scrolled through her Instagram feed, “So what Singlish phrase came up last night?” Singlish, that local variant of English so dear to our hearts, is the language that almost all Singaporeans use when we can be informal and unguarded, usually with our family and friends. It is also the language we use to form an instant connection when we meet a fellow Singaporean overseas. In each performance, the Singlish phrase occurred at the same point, after Swift said the line: “We are never ever getting back together”. The usual response was “Like ever”, but in the six performances in Singapore, Saunders responded with: No lah! Siao ah! Walao eh! Alamak! Wah piang eh! Hanor, abuden? Watch a video compilation of the 6 Singlish phrases Read an explanation of the 6 Singlish phases From the screams that greeted each night’s Singlish phrase, it was clear that the crowds much appreciated the efforts to connect with them using their colloquial language. Even without the star power of Taylor Swift, those who share God’s Word will likewise receive a warmer welcome if they use the language that resonates with the hearers’ hearts.

What are the hallmarks of a woman of noble character? Proverbs 31:30-31 – A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. In Proverbs 31, King Lemuel remembers what his mother told him about a “wife of noble character”. While the details may not be exactly applicable in the 21st century, the qualities are enduring! So, to mark International Women’s Day (3 March), here is a summary: She fears God. She supports her husband. She is hardworking. She is wise and responsible in the home as well as outside. She ministers to the needy and cares for her employees. She is respected by her husband and children. And while she may be worth more than rubies, her reward is the appreciation from her family: Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her, saying: “Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all.” (Proverbs 30:28-29)

Stories from the Field, 6 Feb 2024 Speaker: Mary Beth Saurman Psalm 34:18 – The Lord is close to the broken-hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit. How does arts play a part in the process of trauma healing? Does using arts actually help in the trauma-healing process? In 2020, as part of Wycliffe Singapore’s Stories from the Field series , Mary Beth, an Arts Master Facilitator and experienced Consultant, shared her experience of using ethno-arts to help others heal from the pain that results from experiencing trauma. Her talk was so well-received that Wycliffe Singapore invited her to share again this year. What are traumas? What are “traumas”? When a person suffers intense physical or emotional pain, he will experience grief at the losses he suffers. These could be the loss of something (like an arm or a house), or the loss of an ability or opportunity. If the grief is not processed and dealt with, it can settle or “stick”, and the feelings can reignite in future. These are “traumas” or “heart wounds”. In 1990, two scripture engagement specialists (Harriet S. Hill and Margaret Hill) and two psychologists (Richard Bagge and Pat Miersma) in Africa produced the book, Healing the Wounds of Trauma. This was a response to the need they saw to educate people in the churches to understand trauma and how to help those who were suffering. The methods taught in the book bring together scripture and prayer, integrated with current mental health expertise. They are also community-based, experiential and participatory, and present a sustainable process which the community can continue to apply. However, over time, it was found that these methods did not work in some contexts, and in 2010, Mary Beth was invited to work on a programme that integrated Arts in the Trauma Healing process. It was recognised that suffering trauma affected the cognitive and analytical functions of the brain, and inhibited a person’s self-regulation. How Arts worked in the Trauma Healing process was to help integrate the instinctive and emotional parts of the brain with the cognitive and analytical parts of the brain, so that the person could achieve better self-regulation. This programme focused on incorporating expressive arts as a means of self-expression and self-reflection. It recognised that the artistic expressions had to be contextualised to the culture of the group involved, and had to be meaningful and communicative. Depending on the group’s culture, meaningful arts might involve music, poetry, embroidery, and even food! There was also a strong emphasis on facilitation skills and co-journeying with the people. Although trauma healing was first developed in the mission field, it has been recognised that there is a need for Trauma Healing in all societies. The aim is to raise up trauma-informed churches with trauma teams that can provide care and support for all those who are suffering trauma in their midst. About the speaker: Mary Beth Saurman is an Arts Master Facilitator with the Bible Society’s Trauma Healing Institute. She teaches MA courses in Arts and Trauma Healing and also offers shorter training in Arts in the Healing Process. She has worked with SIL International for the last 30 years as an advocate for the music and arts of ethnic minority groups. She has years of experience working as a Creative Arts Therapist and Music Therapist in clinical settings, including mental health care, geriatric care, and special needs. Her training and expertise focus on Music and Dance/Movement Therapy. She has also used other forms of Creative Arts as therapy such as drama, visual arts, and verbal arts. Images: © Mary Beth Saurman It's Happening: Arts in the Trauma Healing Process Basic Training May 20 - 25, 2024, 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM This basic training course (Cycle 1) teaches a holistic and interactive approach to engaging Scripture and expressive arts (e.g. music, dance, drama, visual, and oral arts) in the healing process for people who suffer from the mental, emotional, and spiritual effects of trauma. The course combines biblical truths with basic mental health principles. Participants learn to address beliefs and emotions damaged by trauma in their own and others' lives through participatory learning methods and in small groups. Come and learn how to promote emotional and spiritual healing in traumatised communities through the use of local expressive arts existing in those communities. Get on our mailing list to be notified when details are released! Or watch our Events page.

by Wycliffe US How do finance professionals impact Bible translation work around the world? At Wycliffe, we connect organizations and communities with the resources they need to get the Bible and thrive under the influence of God’s Word. God is at work around the world today, and we strive to join what He is doing through local churches and communities. In 1985, God led Tim and Jan Stoker to begin serving with Wycliffe, and Tim has served in a variety of roles since then. Now as a financial analyst and special projects coordinator, his contributions are making an eternal impact as he stewards financial resources. He shared three ways he impacts Bible translation work around the world by serving in finance. 1. Connecting Global Teams God is using the global Church to impact the Bible translation movement in ways we’ve never seen before. Wycliffe USA partners with over 100 organizations around the world and our staff has opportunities to work alongside local communities. Not only does Tim work as part of a team that spans the globe, he manages the financial reports for about 40 projects in Central Africa! As part of his role, Tim is responsible for understanding translation project needs and ensuring resources are stewarded well. It can be a challenge to keep everything organized and on track. And when working in multicultural environments, numbers don’t always tell the full story. As he works with people from a variety of cultural backgrounds, Tim has to ask questions, stay flexible and be open to looking at situations from different viewpoints. But bringing together different cultures, generations and backgrounds to make an eternal impact is worth the challenges. Tim said: “God is doing amazing things. He really is on the move. … I see this especially in what I’m doing now where I work pretty closely with projects in Central Africa. I have a front-row seat to see what God is doing. It’s exciting.” 2. Ensuring Excellent Stewardship At Wycliffe, we steward resources and build capacity so local translation teams and churches can move forward with well-planned, high-quality, sustainable and community-engaged Bible translation programs. Finance mentors like Tim are critical; they come alongside teams and ensure that the teams follow best practices to steward resources. For example, a project budget is an important agreement between organizations and teams, and accountability is key to moving work forward. Tim analyzes and reviews budgets to ensure teams are on track to reach their goals. Tim said, “I can usually provide helpful information just by looking at the budget. I’m good at asking questions [that] help develop the budgets better. … That’s important too for the donors [so] that we can ensure that the resources they’re giving are being used the way they intended.” As part of his role, Tim also has the opportunity to read quarterly reports from the projects he oversees. He directly sees how more lives are being transformed as people encounter Jesus in a language and format they clearly understand. He said, “The way Scripture speaks to people’s lives … is just so concrete sometimes. … It makes a big difference in their lives. And that keeps me going.” 3. Keeping Up With How God Is Moving We’re living in a day and age where the global Church is expanding at an unprecedented rate and Bible translation is accelerating. As Tim works with teams in Africa, he is motivated and inspired by what he sees happening. He said: “This is a once in eternity thing, what we’re seeing right now as far as the opportunities that are available, as far as the way things are just exploding. They’re outside of our control, which is a good thing, because this tells us God is orchestrating it — not us.” In his own journey, Tim has had to face change as God opened doors for him. Before joining Wycliffe, Tim was working in the atmospheric science field. When he became a missionary, Tim had to use the skills he had developed to try new things, go above and beyond in his work and grow professionally. He served in roles with linguistics, desktop publishing and information technology before finding his fit in accounting and finance. He said, “I got a lot of on-the-job experience here in Wycliffe and on-the-job knowledge.” For Tim, Bible translation goes even deeper than simply words on a page. We want God’s Word to transform other people through Bible translation, but we believe transformation starts on an individual level at Wycliffe as each person treasures His Word and commits to growing in their faith. Tim said, “There have been so many times, all along the way, where one thing or another from God’s Word has spoken to me. … It is fulfilling to see God’s Word being used, being spread wider and wider, touching lives [and] making changes.” God is changing people and communities worldwide through the transformational power of the Bible as it is used for evangelism, discipleship, church planting and spiritual growth. As a finance professional, Tim impacts Bible translation by connecting global teams, ensuring excellent stewardship and keeping up with how God is moving. As he relies on and learns from others, he has forged intercultural relationships and developed a meaningful community. We’re looking for more people who are passionate about the global Church expanding through the work of Bible translation. God is on the move, and you could join in what He is doing! Are you ready to do your part? Reproduced with permission from Wycliffe US

Harum Mission Trip by Covenant Presbyterian Church 27 Nov to 4 Dec 2023 Covenant Presbyterian Church (CPC) first visited the Harum* Bible Translation (BT) project in 2018, when they got to know the local project managers H & E, and then again in 2019. Although all visits stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic, they kept in touch regularly via Zoom. Finally, they were able to resume visiting in 2023. With much rejoicing, the team of 17 from CPC made the trip with ages ranging from 6 to 74 years old! The trip was co-led by a couple from Wycliffe Singapore. The Harum people group is an unreached people group numbering about 360,000 in Indonesia. Their heart language is not the national language. As the Harum believers desired to know more about their God in their heart language, in 2011, Wycliffe Singapore and Kartidaya Indonesia began partnering in a BT project to translate the Harum New Testament (NT). CPC came to know about the needs of the Harum BT project through Wycliffe Singapore in 2018. To date, the NT translation has been completed and is being prepared for printing, and the dedication of the NT is scheduled for April 2024. The next phase of the project will focus on scripture engagement – this will involve using the translated scripture, films, songs and other materials in the Harum language to share the Word of God in the local churches and in the wider community. CPC was warmly welcomed by the local people who were very friendly and hospitable. The project managers H & E arranged a full and varied schedule for the CPC team. They visited families in the BT team, prayed for the sick, conducted a Pastors’ Workshop on divine healing, and enjoyed fellowship with Harum believers and pre-believers. They also encouraged the BT team to focus on scripture engagement with the local churches after the Bible dedication. They heard an elderly man’s testimony about how he came to know Jesus through reading the Bible and brought his whole family to Christ. Others came to know God through their involvement in BT and the dubbing of the Jesus Film. Activities were also held to reach out to the younger members of the community: teaching English in a kindergarten, visiting a Christian school, and spending time with children in the community. The CPC team also participated in a Christmas Celebration in the local church, presenting songs, a dance and a skit with a gospel message. The CPC team came home praising the Lord for a wonderful visit to the Harum people. They are now looking forward to partnering with Wycliffe Singapore to support the scripture engagement phase, and see the Word of God transform the lives of those who turn to God. * Not the real name

Who killed an army commander with a tent peg? Judges 4:21 – [Jael] drove the peg through [Sisera’s] temple into the ground, and he died. Sisera, commander of the Canaanite army, fled on foot from Mount Tabor after the Canaanites’ attempt to conquer Israel failed. He arrived at the tent of Heber the Kenite, and was offered hospitality by Jael, Heber’s wife. The Kenites were a nomadic tribe that were related to the Israelites, but also had an alliance with the Canaanites. As Sisera slept, Jael killed him by driving a tent peg through his head. Jael was lauded as a hero (Judges 5:24–27) because she acted in defence of the Israelites.

Wycliffe Singapore wishes everyone a joyous Lunar New Year filled with abundant blessings! 🍊🧧 May your year be filled with joy and love. This festive season, let's spread kindness and share the love of Christ with those around us.

Stories from the Field, 2 January 2024 Speaker: Albert Fung Albert Fung, Director of Wycliffe Taiwan, began by affirming that God’s Word is the cornerstone of missions, and that Bible translation (BT) will always be needed. However, he also pointed out that the traditional approach of recruiting people to serve overseas in projects which focus mainly on BT is not the only way for Wycliffe organisations to do missions. Albert highlighted that Wycliffe Global Alliance’s statistics showed that there were 3,658 languages with at least some scripture out of a total of more than 7,000 languages in the world. As the number of languages with some scripture only grew at the rate of about 50–70 languages a year over the period 2008–2023, and Bibles will need to be revised over time as languages change, it is certainly true that BT is a never-ending ministry. However, the number of people who have joined Wycliffe Taiwan to do BT in recent years has declined. Albert gave some reasons for this: Language extinction: the spread of majority languages “suffocates” aboriginal (ethnic minority) languages. Also, many of the remaining language needs are in difficult-to-access places. Localisation of BT: early Wycliffe missionaries not only translated the Bible, but also trained and equipped locals to do translation and literacy work. Increasingly, new BT projects are being undertaken by locals. Awakening of ethnic identity: in Taiwan, most of the aboriginal communities are well able to worship and study the Bible in the national language. The focus has switched to making audio recordings of already translated scriptures in order to preserve the language and identity of the communities. Albert shared Wycliffe Taiwan’s newly worded vision statement explicitly includes scripture engagement and life transformation as well as translation. He went on to outline Wycliffe Taiwan’s local and overseas ministries. [Note: the names of the ministries reflect the shape of Taiwan island!] Local “sweet potato” ministry Wycliffe Taiwan focuses on language preservation. From 2019 to 2023, it partnered with United Bible Societies and Faith Comes By Hearing to produce audio Bibles for the Tao, Amis, Tsou and Rukai aboriginal peoples. An audio Bible for another aboriginal language, Kavalan, is under consideration. Some speakers of another aboriginal language, Siraya, want to revitalise their language (previously declared “extinct” by UNESCO). They intend to use texts of Matthew and John which were translated 400 years ago to produce songs and textbooks to teach children the language. Wycliffe Taiwan is considering helping them to use AI to translate other books of the Bible. Upcoming event: Wycliffe Taiwan plans to hold a second Tour de Formosa in 2025! This is a 7-day, cross-island bicycle ride to raise awareness of Wycliffe Taiwan’s ministries, especially its ministries to aboriginal communities. For more information, see below. Overseas “kiwi” ministry Cross-cultural and language training: Members of Wycliffe Taiwan are accompanying seminary students (3 families) who are on a one-year course overseas. They will support the students in cross-cultural adjustment and language learning for eventual service in missions. Ministry to refugees: Wycliffe Taiwan is discussing with refugee organisations how its members can partner with them by drawing on Wycliffe’s accumulated expertise in cross-cultural adjustment, language learning, literacy, trauma healing and community development. Prayer items: Thanksgiving for the 4 audio Bibles that have been completed for the Tao, Amis, Tsou and Rukai aboriginal peoples. Pray for manpower and resources for future recording projects. Pray for Wycliffe Taiwan as they plan to help the Siraya people preserve and revive their language that has been declared extinct. Pray for the first batch of seminary students who are on a one-year programme overseas accompanied by members of Wycliffe Taiwan. Pray that they will be well prepared for the mission field. Pray for Wycliffe Taiwan as they explore partnering with other organisations to minister to refugees overseas. About the speaker: Albert Fung has served in various fields, including 7 years in the Cibarut (Africa) project. He has 20 years of national and international experience in various Wycliffe and related organisations. He has been the director of Wycliffe Taiwan since 2015 and practises dentistry on a part-time basis. Tour de Formosa in Taiwan 21 Feb 2025 (Mother Tongue Language Day) Take part in a bicycle ride across Taiwan, from south to north. Over 7 days, covering about 500 km, riders will visit aboriginal groups along the way, greeting them in their languages. Share about Wycliffe’s ministries with people you meet. Bicycles can be provided for overseas participants. There will be a vehicle for riders to get a lift if they need one! Get on our mailing list to be notified when details are released! Or watch our Events page.