SIL International

 

We finally arrived in Dallas.  This was our goal for the US part of the trip.  But to explain that, I have to back up a bit.

Dave has been volunteering with SIL International on the Mapping Team for the past four years or so.  Each week they have team meetings over Zoom.  When we started planning the trip to Steve’s wedding, we thought we might return home via the US.  And where should we go?  Why not stop to see some of his colleagues where they live, scattered about the continent.  Then the team leader decided, why not have a series of meetings and training sessions and gather everyone together at the head office in Dallas.  And that’s how this has come about. 

We arrived just in time for coffee break, were introduced to the team, and then continued to get everything sorted before joining everyone for a Texas BBQ supper.  It was a buffet style line where you ordered your meat and then got sides in separate bowls.  I had pulled pork and brisket with coleslaw and potato salad as sides.  Dave had the brisket and sausage.  They also brought around freshly baked dinner rolls. It was all very filling.

The next day we had a tour of the campus. We are in a gated community, the International Linguistics Center, which hosts Dallas International University, and several faith-based organizations including SIL International.  SIL International is a global faith-based non-profit that works with local communities around the world to develop language solutions that expand possibilities for a better life.  This would be through literacy, education, linguistic research, developing language tools and, most importantly, Bible translation. 

A copy of the Bible in all the languages it has been translated into so far. 

Dave’s role in this organization is part of the mapping team that updates the Ethnologue, a database of all the 7,000 plus languages of the world. This database helps in the decision making of which minority languages are viable enough to pursue further in creating a written form for literacy development and scripture translation. As I mentioned earlier, this is the first time in a few years that the team is meeting in person. It’s exciting to be here to interact with the rest of the group, both formally and also informally.

All the languages of the world listed on this wall.

My involvement is through Wycliffe Canada and they arranged a volunteer opportunity for me.  I am helping out at the Boutique.  This is a free thrift store for the people living on this campus.  This would include staff, students, returned or furloughed missionaries, RV park volunteers, and retired missionaries.  

The first day I was put in the sewing room.  That was a bit of stretch for me as my sewing skills are really quite basic.  It was ok when the mending involved sewing on buttons or fishing out the lost elastic in a waistband!  The next day I was given the task of reorganizing the fabric shelves.  I overheard someone saying, “Wow!  Who cleaned up in here?  It looks great!”  Those were encouraging words.  

We are located right on the edge of Dallas.  It occurred to me that the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, as it is known, has twice as many people as all of Alberta.  It feels a bit overwhelming at times and has led to a few adventures.  More to come in the next post….