JAARS

We left early Monday morning and as it was the holiday Monday, the traffic was light for the first few hours.  It was a beautiful drive through the Virginia countryside, up over the Blue Ridge Mountains and into the Shenandoah Valley, until the rain came. And then the fog.  When we left the valley to go over the mountains again, the fog was so thick, it slowed the interstate traffic to a crawl.

We got to JAARS at about suppertime, found our site in the RV park and settled in.  We’re staying put for about two weeks to do some volunteering.  The next day we got our marching orders!

The JAARS Centre is located in Waxhaw near Charlotte, North Carolina.  It is a support organization for Bible translation.  They provide training in transportation, technology and media to help the work of Bible translation to be done more effectively and safely. The name used to mean Jungle Aviation And Radio Services, but their scope has broadened and changed to include more communication technologies and also marine transportation.

As a training base, many people come through their doors, either for a few days or a few months.  The centre provides housing, and that housing needs to be maintained.  That’s where we come in as volunteers.  I’m on the housekeeping team. I’m learning how to make beds the right way, and clean bathrooms spotlessly clean.  When I applied for the job, I was asked what my least favourite cleaning task was.  I said bathrooms.  God has a sense of humour, and I'm cleaning bathrooms, with a smile!  There are over 90 units, from hotel style rooms to fully furnished apartments that need to be cleaned and kept in repair.

Dave's on the facilities team. He gets to bomb around in a golf cart, washing windows on the office buildings, fighting the cobwebs and wasps as he goes!   

But it’s not just all work time.  We’ve had time to take care of business, like an oil change, buying new tires for the truck; and a new tire for the trailer.  It's also nice to be in one spot for a while and have relaxing evenings at home. 

On the JAARS campus is the Museum of the Alphabet.  That sounds like a real nerdy, it is! If you're interested, its about the history of our writing systems, from Egyptian hieroglyphics to Roman letters to Chinese characters and Cree syllabics.  It's amazing how many times in history a writing system was developed for a language in order to translate the Bible into that language.  This work is continuing today with the support of JAARS.  By the time I was half-way through the museum, my brain was in overload. It is something to visit in bits and pieces.   

Our last day at JAARS ended with the annual Scripture Celebration.  We were so glad we were able to attend as this put all our efforts into perspective.  

The service began with a parade of nations, with one person carrying a national flag and another carrying the scripture of a language from that country.  The translation of the full Bibles or New Testaments have been completed in 38 languages in this past year. This was the culmination of projects that began decades ago. They were in places like Papua New Guinea, Columbia, Central African Republic and Indonesia to name a few.  What’s also very exciting is that the whole Bible is now available in American Sign Language.  

Following this beautiful introduction, the program continued with presentations from people who were directly involved in the translation work.  It was moving to hear stories from people who were impacted by now being able to read the scripture in their own native language, not just the country’s national language or another second language.  The Word of God spoke more clearly to the heart. 

At the end was a fellowship dinner of  fried chicken, risotto, green beans, salad and buns.  It was a time of reunion for many people.  We sat with some people and got acquainted.  It has been great to meet so many people, to hear their stories about what brought them to JAARS and how God has worked in their lives.