Since Myra Noel is now Myra Johnson, my blog is now on our new website. You can find our site at www.SafariForSouls.com. You can find my posts under Myra’s Musings at www.safariforsouls.com/myra. There will be no new posts on this site. I will keep it open to help folks find me, but I won’t be updating it any more. I hope to see you on our new site!
Because all I am is His,
Myra Noel Johnson
Last night I finished the first go-through on the Tagalog/English New Testament! This project has taken too long, but it’s finally coming together. Migraines, sickness, trouble with files between me and the translator, and overwhelming busyness has made it a longer process than usual. Last night I finished Revelation and put all the files on a drive to mail to the Philippines. There seems to be a problem with the emailed files arriving corrupted. Satan has not liked this project, and has fought in so many ways.
I had never typeset a red-letter edition of the English Bible, so while working on this diglot (two languages, side-by-side), I’ve been adding red-letter to the English. I will be out of town for a week. When I return, I will begin the process of checking the red-letter with my Cambridge Bible to make sure I didn’t miss any doing it as I went. I will also go through it again to look for layout issues. As the proof-readers in the Philippines finish a book, they will send me any edits to be made. It’s a long process, but so worth it!
The Xhosa Bible is coming along too. There are several ladies typing it and the New Testament is nearing completion. John and Romans have been sent to Africa for proofing and editing. When those books are complete, they will send the text files back to me for typesetting, then they’ll go back to Africa for proofing again. They typing process is tedious because the original was very old and the type wasn’t clear in many places. I am so grateful for those who give of their time to get it typed for us.
I am so thankful for everyone who prays for these projects. After many struggles with the Tagalog, I asked my Sunday School Class and some friends to pray with me that the obstacles would be overcome so I could finish it. Within a couple of weeks, progress was being made and I finished the first stage of it just weeks later. Prayer partners make all the difference!
Please forgive the long stretch between prayer letters. I wrote a prayer letter in January. I had it ready to be proofed and mailed, but in the busyness of getting everyone’s January prayer letters sent, I forgot to print and send my own! I will attempt to combine the news from that letter and the last three months all in this one.
The last few month brought many changes, with more on the way. Metropolitan Baptist Church voted to launch the Metropolitan Missionary Typesetting Ministry. In November and December of this year, I will be teaching two 1-week courses in typesetting. We are praying that these classes will raise up other typesetters that I can train further in the coming months. I have long been praying that God would send more people to train, and this is an answer to that prayer. Several people are planning to attend these classes and are excited about getting involved in this ministry.
This is even more important now. For those who have not heard, I am getting married in October! Robert Johnson is from Fargo Baptist Church in Fargo, ND. Rob and I believe God is leading us to serve in Botswana and are planning to begin deputation immediately. We already have our first meeting scheduled for October 28th, just two weeks after we are married. If you would like to read more about Rob and the ministry God is calling us to, you can see our website at www.SafariForSouls.com.
The Xhosa project is in various stages right now. The John and Romans has been sent to South Africa for proofing and editing. Spelling has changed since this Bible was first printed, with some characters not even being used now. After the editing, it will be sent back here for typesetting, then sent off for a final proofing. While this is being done, the rest of the New Testament is being typed in Kentucky. Dad and Mom took it to Kentucky with them and their Pastor’s wife and others got excited about the project. They wanted to get involved, so there are 3 or 4 ladies typing.
While the Xhosa is getting ready for typesetting, I am working on the Tagalog/English New Testament. This is a huge project with Tagalog in one column and English beside it. Besides the typesetting, I am adding red letter to the English to match the Tagalog. As I finish typesetting a book, I am sending it to the translator for proofing.
In the middle of this project, I took a short break and typeset the Korean John and Romans. We had a Korean/English text, but a Korean only version was needed. Because the preliminary groundwork had been done (and folks were praying), this project only took a few days to finish and a week or two to get it checked. It is now being printed in a closed country (not Korea).
Please continue to pray for me and the typesetting. On two separate occasions in the past 6 months I was unable to typeset more than a few hours for an entire month and then again for a few weeks because of migraines. They are doing better now and I think I have found a combination of treatment to keep them under control. However, as I get more tired with all that is going on, they get worse. The pain is not the worst of it. Besides the pain, they cause a brain ‘fog’ that makes it difficult to impossible to think clearly enough to work. I don’t dare handle the Word of God (typeset) while my mind is in that condition. Satan would love to hinder this work, but our God is the Great Physician. Please pray the migraines stay away so I can not only finish these projects, but also train others to typeset.
Thank you all for your prayers. Without them, I could not continue. I pray God blesses each of you.
Because All I am is His,
Myra Noel
Tonight I listened to the movie “Beyond the Next Mountain” while I worked at typesetting the Tagalog/English New Testament. At several points, I stopped and watched. I’ve seen it before, but it’s a good reminder of the sacrifices made. It also affected me as greatly tonight as it did the first time I saw it.
I cried again when Rochunga held the completed translation close to his heart, like the great treasure it is. It represented so many years of study, work, and sacrifice.
I laughed aloud when Rochunga found the old missionary that first brought them the gospel so many years ago and told him of over 100 churches planted because of his labors. I loved the wonder on his face as he learned what God had continued to do in those mountains after he was deported.
I laughed and cried together when they hauled those boxes of Bibles up the mountain and saw the Word of God in their own language for the first time. I sobbed when Rochunga’s dad held his Bible close and knelt on the mountain, worshiping God.
One man defied men and took the Gospel to a remote people, living with them and teaching them until he was forced out. One man stayed faithful and taught his son to be faithful, even through the hardest times. One man sacrificed years of his life to learn and to translate God’s Word into his own language.
So often we think in the flesh. We see only what is before us right now, failing to see that God can take the feeble efforts of one person (or a handful of people) and start a great work.
This story is also very convicting. How often do I let fatigue or distractions come between me and this work God has given to me? Someone else (or many other people) has already sacrificed so much to get God’s Word into their language. I need to be more diligent, more faithful in my portion of the work. I need to spend more time finishing these typesetting projects so the work that has been sacrificed for can be printed and sent to those who need it most.
What has God given you to do? What corner of His field has he sent you to labor in? Let’s be faithful at it, trusting the Lord of the harvest to do great things.
“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.” Psalms 32:8
You will notice some changes in my prayer letter and enclosed prayer cards. After much prayer, and counsel from both pastors, I made the decision to move my membership to Metropolitan Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.
CaprockBaptistChurchhas been my sponsoring church since 1999. I could not have asked for a church to be more supportive and involved in my ministry. They have been a great blessing to me. Their faithfulness and love made this decision hard.
When I lived overseas, being away from my Home church was just one of the sacrifices to be made. It was hard to not be involved, but it was just part of being a missionary. These last few years God has settled me here inFort Worth. At first we were not sure if it was temporary or permanent, but gradually God gave me a job (to supplement my support) and a home here.
Being back in the States has once again given me a great desire to be involved in my own church. However, God settled me inFort Worthinstead ofAmarillo. I have been involved in Metropolitan Baptist church while living here. God has impressed upon me that it is time to make MBC my home church. Both Pastor Gene Foster of Caprock and Pastor Jim Turner of Metropolitan support this decision.
All of the previous typesetting projects are complete. The Croatian is being printed and will soon be shipped toCroatia! Thank you for your prayers. This project went very quickly and smoothly. I know there were many praying for it.
Several weeks ago I received a phone call from Bearing Precious Seed inGreenwood,Indianaabout helping them put the Xhosa Bible back into print forSouth Africa. We will begin with John and Romans. Hopefully we can complete the New Testament after the John Romans is complete.
The Bible Society had put out a new translation of the Xhosa Bible in the 1900’s and the original translation is out of print. Bro. Smith obtained a copy of the old Bible. It is being scanned to preserve it. My Dad scanned the New Testament while he was visiting. My Mom and I are typing it in preparation for typesetting. This will be quite a project. After typing it, we will go back over it, looking for typing errors. Next it will be sent to someone who speaks and reads Xhosa for proofing. After being proofed, it will be typeset, and then it needs to be proofed again. Please pray for this project!
I also received a call about helping typeset the Tagalog New Testament, with English. This New Testament will be a side-by-side version with Tagalog on one side and English beside it. The file was in a program we could not typeset from, so I have extracted the text and put it into a text file. I am beginning work on the typesetting now. As I finish a book, it will be sent back to the translators to be proofed. This second proofing is imperative when I am working with a language I do not read. This will be printed by the same printers that I worked with on the Croatian. Dual language projects are always a challenge, so I ask for your prayers about this one also.
I have begun updating the website for MetropolitanBaptistChurch. We only have the bare bones of the new site up, but we will be adding to that. The MBC site is a team effort. You can see it at www.metrobc.org. You can see the updated site for TexasTheologicalUniversityat www.texastheological.org.
I also finished the updating on Caprock’s site. You can look at that site at www.caprockbaptist.org. I am majoring on typesetting instead of web work now, but I am continuing to do some websites for churches and missionaries.
God is very good and He allowed me to make a trip toAlaskain September (I am very thankful for air miles!). My oldest nephew married a very sweet young lady and I was able to attend the wedding with my parents. I was only there for a week, but we had a great time of fellowship with family.
An added blessing to everyAlaskatrip is the time I get to spend with one of my supporting churches. It was great to see the Immanuel family and share a time of fellowship with their ladies during their Ladies Fellowship.
Because All I am is His,
Myra Noel
I have had my prayer letter up on my computer screen for over a week now. Each time I start to work on it, something else comes up – a phone call for help on a project or a website, edits on the Croatian, etc. This time I am determined to finish it and send this report to you.
The French John Romans that I mentioned in my last letter is finished. The files came in soon after my letter went out. Many people prayed for that project and it went smoothly and was finished quickly. Some have asked why I typeset it since it has been printed before. Different printing ministries use different kinds/sized presses. The format used the last time would not work for the presses of BPS in Indiana, so I gladly retypeset it for them.
The Croatian New Testament with Psalms is nearly finished! You will recall that I recently typeset the Croatian New Testament. After it was finished and sent to Croatia for distribution, Bro. Leslie contacted me again. They had finished Psalms and made some minor edits to the New Testament. They wanted to know if I would typeset the New Testament with Psalms. Of course, I was thrilled. I have sent the file to be proofed while I look through it one last time and tweak any layout issues. It should be finished shortly and in the hands of the printers. They are supposed to be shipped to Croatia this fall.
I have been contacted about the possibility of work on other Bible projects, but nothing concrete yet. I may help with consulting over the phone or via email; or I may be helping with the actual typesetting. It’s all in the Lord’s hands.
I have spent weeks updating and converting websites. Almost all of the websites I have been involved in have been converted to WordPress. It was quite a bit of work to move them all over to this format, but doing so allows the church/missionary to be able to edit and add content, while still allowing me to log in and do maintenance or help if they need it. There are a few updates still to be done on some sites, and one more site to be finished before moving over, but most of them are complete. I am working on switching our church site over to WordPress and we hope to have the new site up within the month.
I finished the video I was working on! I believe I will be crossing video editing off my list of things I do. It takes too much time for me to do simple editing and there are many others who can do it so much quicker and more efficiently. I think I will leave that to these great video editors and stick to the things God has gifted me in!
Work continues on converting Dr. Milton Martin’s seminars to DVD. This has been a stop/go project. It seems every time I make some progress, something goes haywire. This is all the “video work” I expect to do.
One type of work that I hardly mention is consulting (for lack of a better word) that I do over the phone, email, or instant message. Sometimes I may get one phone call in a month and sometimes I will get several calls in a week. These are not about projects for me to do, but people who have a problem or difficulty with a project, computer program, web site, etc. Sometimes a few minutes on the phone is all that is needed. Sometimes I spend as much as a week or two researching and helping them with the issue.
These last few months I have spent a lot of time on the phone and email, helping others sort out problems or difficulties with various projects. I am amazed, and so very thankful, for the resources God has given us to make this possible. Cell phones, computers, internet, and other tools make it possible for me to help folks in another town or on the other side of the world – from my desk in Texas. What a mighty God we serve! Only He could make such a thing possible.
Because all I am is His,
Myra
Dear Prayer Partners,
Time has gotten away from me and I was reminded today that my prayer letter is overdue. Where did the past 3 months go?!
Looking back over 2010, it has been a year of surprises, blessings, changes, and challenges. It has not been a great year for prayer letters. I apologize for that. Now that 2010 is over – along with moving, setting up house, and trying to get caught up with all these projects I got behind on – I start anew this January. I am committed to get back on track with my correspondence. Thank you for your patience.
Typesetting
The Little Bible project, now named A Look at the Holy Bible, has gone to the man who compiled it for a final proof. He has been talking to printers while I typeset it. The proof/edit/correct phase on this project has taken longer since Bro. Alan doesn’t have email and we have been sending hard copies through the mail, but it is nearly finished.
Some time ago I began working on a Falam Chin song book, but we only received part of the scans. Last month the rest of the scans started coming in. My Dad was here and he helped me clean them up, crop and resize them, and put them in order. We ended up with just a few missing or messed up scans. Those rescanned pages should be coming any day and then it will only take about an hour to get it ready to print.
Bearing Precious Seed has asked for a French John Romans when I get caught up a bit. I should be caught up enough to extract John and Romans from the New Testament files and re-typeset them within the next few weeks.
Websites
The design for a website for Immanuel Baptist Church, one of my supporting churches, has been sent to the pastor for his approval and/or correction. The content is mostly gathered and ready to put in when the design is finalized.
Another website, www.BibleNotesOnline.com, has been created. The first draft is posted online and we are adding content. Within the next few weeks I should have that site set up so Dr. Henderson can add his own sermons, lessons, and outlines without waiting on me.
Video
The Reapers ministry decided they wanted to update the look of their video, so they asked me to start it from scratch and completely redo it. The only part we kept from the original Flash was the narration. Wow! I thought Flash work stretched my talents and mind, – this video has almost blown my mind. It has been a great project, but I realized I am way too slow at this kind of work to do much of it. Knowing I had another video to do for them, and other projects waiting to be done, I called in reinforcements. A good friend is working on the second video for me while I finish the first. Thank God for talented friends!
I have finished converting Bro. Martin’s Persecution seminar and have converted his Jewish Awareness & Outreach series. I only have a bit of copying and printing to do on the discs. Next up is Combating the Dependency Syndrome.
And Everything Else
At work I have taken on another title/job. I am now Dean of Students of Texas Theological University and Seminary. The work for this position is all done during the hours I work at Metropolitan.
In spite of the extra job at Metropolitan, I have started working fewer hours there to give me more time for ministry work. It is working out well.
God blessed this past fall and I had my parents with me for a few weeks. It was a great time. Dad helped me with some of the work on my projects. Mom spoiled me with home-cooked meals and a clean house. Their help enabled me to get further caught up on my work. Besides their help, it was wonderful to be together for a while. We even had Thanksgiving together before they had to return to Kentucky. I am thankful for the time God gave us.Thank you all for praying for me, especially during this past year. Without you, I would not have been able to keep on. I am looking forward to this year before us, excited about what God is going to do – and wondering if this is the year He returns!
Because all I am is His,
Myra
“Be careful what you ask God for, He might give it to you!” These words were spoken by my Grandmother many years ago. I found out this past month how true they are!
Typesetting
I had been working on websites and video tracts for a while, and enjoying it, but I was missing typesetting. I asked the Lord if He would give me more typesetting, since it was what I loved most in this work. I just forgot to ask him to give it to me after I finished some of the projects I was working on! Before I knew it, I had more projects coming in than I could keep up with — hence, this overdue prayer letter. I ended up buying a whiteboard to keep all of my projects straight and to keep me from forgetting anything. At one point, between edits and new projects, I had 9 projects on that board. I am still not caught up, but much progress is being made.
I was contacted by Missionary Jim Taylor to make a few edits to the Korean/English John Romans before they went to press with it. I thought it was going to take days to make the edits, but God showed me a much simpler way and it was done in a matter of hours. Like we sing in the kindergarten class I teach here, “My God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do!”
Bearing Precious Seed in Indiana was able to obtain a good copy of the French New Testament file in a PDF. To typeset it for their press size, I had to extract the text from the PDF and then clean it up. The clean-up included removing extra line breaks that it ‘read’ from the original file, removing hyphens that were left over from line breaks, and finding a few words that had special characters misread by the conversion and fixing them. I thank God for my Dad and my sister, Audrey, and friend, Judy, who helped me with checking the text against the original PDF file. With all of us checking it, we were able to get it cleaned up. The bulk of the typesetting is done and I am now going through it to check the layout before sending it back to BPS. At one point, it seemed impossible to finish this on time, but I prayed and I could feel others praying— and God gave victory.
Another small typesetting job has been sent to me. I say ‘small’ because the finished project is to be pocket-sized. It remains to be seen how small or large it is in work. It is called Looking at the Bible in Panoramic View — A Little Bible. It contains at least 3 verses from every book in the Bible, a pocket-sized reference.
Web
The website I talked about in my last letter is uploaded and working. I will be adding a couple of pages as they get sermons and music ready for a download page and as they work on their missions information, but the bulk of the work is complete. You can see it at www.morningsidebaptistgraham.com. I took a weekend to drive to Graham to meet the folks at Morningside Baptist Church and take photos for their site. I met many lovely people and visited with old friends. It was a great, and productive, weekend.
One of my faithful supporting churches, Immanuel Baptist Church in Kenai, Alaska, has asked me to help them with their website as well. As soon as some of the typesetting work is caught up, I will begin work on it. Please pray I will be able to create the site for them that God will use to help reach their community and beyond.
Tracts & Video
Some time ago I helped a tract ministry in Dallas update a tract they had in Flash format on their website. That was a time of learning for me and I enjoyed it in spite of (or because of) the way it stretched my talents and mind. They contacted me and asked about turning that same tract into a DVD that could be played on any DVD player. I spent some time rewriting the script for the Flash to get it ready to put on DVD. There are a few bugs yet to be worked out, but it is nearly finished.
This same ministry, The Reapers, have asked me to turn one of their other tracts into a video also. We have had some difficulty finding the type of illustration they want and they have yet to find the narrator they want for it. Please pray God would work out these details so we could get to work on it when I finish the French.
The work on the Missions seminars from VHS to DVD was delayed further when my printer stopped working, but I have a new, working printer now, so I have resumed work on it. Discs 1-3 are converted, copied, and printed. Disc 4 is being copied and printed now while disc 5 is being converted. So far, we have converted the following seminars from VHS to DVD: Spiritual Warfare, Intercession and Missions I & II, Indigenous Principles, Chalk Art in Ministry/Teaching Children, Discipleship, and Leadership. I am working on the Persecution series now. Just recently I had a missionary contact me, saying they had been wishing someone would convert these to DVD so it would be easier to take them to the Field. Then they heard I was working on doing that very thing. Some missionaries do not have VHS players overseas, so having them on DVD is a tremendous resource for them. I am thankful to be a part in getting this wonderful resource into a format that is usable for all missionaries.
Thank you all for your prayers. I know much of this work is done, not at the computer, but on your knees. Thank you!
Because all I am is His,
Myra
1Cor 7:7 “For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.”
Several of my friends have recently married and more weddings are scheduled in the near future. The ones that have already taken place have been lovely weddings and I am sure those coming up will be also. I am happy for each couple. However, this post is not exactly about them, nor their weddings (sorry, ya’ll), but about a strange phenomenon that surrounds these events.
This phenomenon does not affect the bride, nor groom, but the single people close to them. Suddenly well-meaning people hone in on every single person in sight. Their comments range from kind (yet misplaced) to rude. They range from “It’s ok, honey, you’ll find someone soon.” to “It must be so hard to see her getting married before you…and she’s younger.” to “What’s wrong with you that you don’t have a man?” The thought behind them all is that our life is somehow wrong, incomplete, or sad.
Nearing forty and still single, most people can’t believe that my life is good – really good. It’s not just ‘okay and I will make it through somehow’, it is really, really good. I think we all need to go back and read Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth. Focus on chapter 7, verse 7. Paul writes, “For I would that all men were even as I myself. But every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that.” Contrary to the fear of those who are not content in their unmarried state, the focus here is not that you should never marry, but that your marital status is a proper gift from Almighty God. The word proper here means ‘pertaining to self, one’s own, private, or separate’.
Consider this: Almighty God, Creator of the universe, has chosen a gift for me. It is my own personal gift from Him. He who knows me best, and loves me most, has chosen the gift that is best for me and will bring the most glory to Him. He holds all of creation in His hand, yet He cares enough about me to personally choose the gift that is best for me. How arrogant it would be to disdain this precious gift, knowing that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (James 1:17) If we disdain His gift and seize another that we want instead, we set ourselves up for much hurt and heartache.
So, the next time you feel the urge to console a single friend that is happily serving God in the place He has put them, think twice and instead rejoice with them in this good and proper gift that God has chosen just for them. The next time you find yourself ready to console a discontented single person, maybe you could encourage them to rejoice in this very personal gift from their very loving God.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 2 Cor 1:3-5 (KJV)
For several weeks we have been teaching a series of lessons to our Kindergarten class on the attributes/names of God. We have learned that God is Faithful, the Bread of Life, Forgiving, Eternal, etc. Tonight we learned that God is our Comforter – The God of all comfort.
When Paul was en route to Rome and they were in the midst of a terrible storm (because they ignored Paul’s warning and advice), the angel of God stood by him in the night, giving comfort and cheer, promising no loss of life. Paul, in turn, passed that comfort on to those who were on board with him.
While this was a simple lesson, written to teach Kindergärtners that God is always with them and will always be there to comfort them, it was a good reminder for us adults too. Paul didn’t rant against the storm. He didn’t try to steer the boat or help it to land. He didn’t go around to all the prisoners and guards, telling them it was Julius, the centurion’s fault for not heeding Paul’s warning. He just rested in the word of Almighty God, trusted Him to sort it all out, and passed that comfort on to those in the ship with him.
So, regardless of what ship we are in, how bad the storm is, who is in the ship with us (prisoners and guards were with Paul), or how far away land is, remember Almighty God is there too and take comfort in His presence and His promises.
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