This weekend we drove to Fair Park in Dallas to see the exhibit of Ancient Treasures of the Holy Land. I see it's in Dallas until July 28. You can see archaeological finds of the Bible lands and hear stories associated with them. I noted the evolution of pottery, how items such as lamps became smaller and more elaborately decorated. The displays were great, but the stories were worth listening to and made the experience more cohesive.

We had a close call last night. A huge storm with hurricane force winds ripped through central and northern Texas, with gusts over 85 mph. Our corner of south Dallas was not spared and many trees were either uprooted, split or snapped. This morning we noticed a cedar tree that split in two and nearly smashed our neighbor's roof. Hopefully we'll have electricity by this evening. At least we have candles for tonight. Our mobile home is fine, just a few chairs blown over. Even our newly planted flowers made it through in good shape.

May 1 in Pango village in Vanuatu is an annual holiday dedicated to those who 'brought the light' to their area. It's a great story of Samoans, some of whom were stranded here who later welcomed Samoan missionaries who just happened to be family. It's quite a celebration that includes a mix of Christian denominations. If you ever get to visit Vanuatu, it's worth visiting Pango village. I'm sure someone would be glad to share their story.

Pango is also the site for the South Efate Language group who are actively involved in publishing Scriptures in their own language. A number of these translators participated in a translation course that we ran back in 2005.

This Saturday some of us drove to the Heritage Park in Downtown Dallas to hear professional storytellers bend our ears. We enjoyed listening to their stories, some personal, some memorized, some rhyming, some ghost stories and some passed on through the network of other storytellers. In fact we were asked to share our own stories. What a treat! My favorite story of the afternoon? I think it was a toss up between why someone left a promising career as a lawyer to become a school teacher, and a rhyming story on what to eat. By the way, we're researching storytelling and how it relates to Bible translation. See our other blog called Blogim Stori.

This bit of meandering happened some time ago. Can you believe it, over 20 years? Anyway, my good friend urged me to see some of the Himalayans and suggested I have a guide. I agreed somewhat reluctantly, but really enjoyed that trek. My guide constantly urged me to 'bistarai janohos' 'go slowly (up those trails)'. Going slowly worked for me, plus he was great company. We chatted in Nepali. During our trek we met two other Sherpas, one carrying a 25 kilo bag of rice and the other going to see family. I didn't learn any Sherpa that I can remember, but we did have a go at writing it. My guide couldn't write in his language, and when he learned that this kind of thing was what I was trained to do, we had at it. I can't say that we produced anything, but maybe it was an 'aha' experience for him. It was for me. The fuzzy picture is another story. I dropped my camera earlier and didn't know the mirror was misaligned. Some pics were okay some not. Go to my photos at Picasa Web for some other shots of that trip.

Not only is it worth walking to the top of Enchanted Rock, but there are some beautiful areas around its perimeter as well, such as this spot on Sandy Creek.

If you're ever traveling in central Texas, the hill country, we recommend seeing Enchanted Rock. This is a panorama shot is done with the assistance of Autostitch.

What a privilige to meet the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea this September while in NYC. We attended a ceremony where the PM honored groups and individuals who've served PNG well. SIL was one of the recipients. We happened to already be in NYC so that Janet could attend the Global Literacy Conference. The conference attendees were mostly first ladies and education ministers from countries with the highest levels of illiteracy.

Auckland, NZ - Tiki and me

Elephant ride - northern Thailand

We had the pleasure of sailing in a traditional canoe to Lamen Island.

Palms will do for a makeshift sail getting from Epi to Lamen Island, Vanuatu.

Here's another way to cross a river in the Philippines.

Dozer cross - Philippines
New to motorcycles and off-road riding, I ventured through Mindanao on my brand new Honda with my colleague Dag and his well-used Suzuki. Things were okay until we came to our first river crossing. Dag offered to show me how to do it by taking his across first. While he was walking back across and bulldozer driver pulled up and offered a life in his scoop. By the end of the trip such crossings were mundane.

This is one way to cross a river in the Philippines.

That's a heap of chillies being sold in northern Maharashtra.

This was a fantastic trek through Kohistan just as snow started to fall for the season. My guide was much older than me, smoked and carried a bagful of apples, but kept right on going. I had been living in a village nearby at 8,000 ft, but took some time to get used to this altitude at 15,000 ft over the pass to Dir. Every once in a while MJ, my guide would pull out another apple for us both, I'd take another picture and we'd have a short break. We arrived in plenty of time to check into a visitor's lodge and get a meal for the evening.
Trekking to Dir from Kalam

Checking for leaks for a safe trip accross the Indus River (1987).

Getting accross the Indus River on a raft made with hides (1987).