BCC Blog Articles

Terry Gibbs, Wycliffe Bible Translators, reports on some work in his department at Payap. The Field Methods class took a field trip to Issan in Northern Thailand to gather data for their class work. The Language Data Management class learned about language data analysis using the Speech Analyzer and Phonology Assistant programs he helped develop years ago. They then use a database program called Flex. Other courses are Discourse Analysis, Typology of South East Asia and Lexicography (dictionary) building. A lot of his time has been spent helping student finalize their thesis so they can graduate.

They had their yearly Mainland South East Asia Conference April 1-7. They had a Help Desk in the meeting hall where he worked on 3 to 5 computers each day. Recruitment in Wycliffe last year saw a six-year high of 207 new members. Some recent information regarding the Gospel was: there are currently 6.9 billion people on earth who speak a total of 6909 languages. About 4.7 billion of those people (68%) have a Bible available in their first language; a further 542 million people (8%) have at least the New Testament. Translation work is currently underway in a 2,026 languages, but an additional 2,078 languages need translation work to begin. 75% of these unreached languages are in Asia.

Terry's daughter, Leilani, reports better health since she was diagnosed with celiac disease and is now using a gluten free diet. She was able to travel to visit a friend and even take up some jogging again. She is planning to move back to North Carolina sometime in the beginning of August to prepare for her return to UNC Charlotte for fall classes. First though, she needs to get the official confirmation that she has been accepted in to the clinical portion of her major. Notification of who is accepted is supposed to be mailed during the month of May, so she is anxiously waiting that letter right now. Terry's elder daughter, Jamie, and her husband, Chris, both Air Force officers now stationed in Florida, will be reassigned soon, Chris to Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, and Jamie hopes to be relocated there, too. Then in two years, they will move to Colorado where Chris will teach at the Air Force Academy. Jamie currently provides support to deployed Special Operations personnel.

Prayer requests are that: Terry will continue to be effective in the work he does in Thailand; everything will work out smoothly for all of Leilani's college needs; and that Jamie will get the assignment she needs for working at Wright Patterson AFB.