Livin and Lovin It

A couple days have past since Laura and I (Gretchen) got back from some pre-training in what our job as Bible translators will look like. We were able to spend one whole week under some amazing Wycliffe teachers/missionaries who where able to impart some knowledge on the translating subject.
I walked away a lot more aware of my stupidity. :) Isn't that amazing how some subjects can do that!? But as a result, I am a lot more aware of what translating takes and I am pumped about schooling that we are going to be able to receive next year.
We are finalizing some schooling options that will take us to Australia in January 2009 for a year and then back to Vanuatu. Our schooling would be through SIL and be in literacy and linguistics. It seems that the training is quite intense and pumps you out a "translator" a year later. Although the work really belongs to the Lord, the tools that this school will be teaching us is INVALUABLE. We are thrilled that SIL is willing to train us although we are not officially Wycliffe missionaries.
Here are some pics from Laura and I's trip :

Laura and I in front of an awesome full-room mural in the Wycliffe conference room

The group that attended Total It Up
For a class we spent time each day with a language teacher who was a native speaker in a different language. I was in a group with Max who is Indonesian.
Laura and I accidentally took THIS road...we only lost control of our car once :) It took us 5 hours to drive about 200 miles...the view was fabulous though!