One week to go. A lot of progress has been done but there are a lot of items on the project list to still do.
• Two old servers have been replaced with two new ones and the internal processing that was causing so much grief earlier seems to have been resolved. There’s still one area where the two servers aren’t sharing what each knows but it’s not a show stopper and I’ve pointed out the problem to Larry.
• All six (currently) servers have been installed in the server room and neatly cabled to a KVM box that lets the operator use one keyboard/video display/mouse (hence, KVM) setup to work with up to 16 servers.
• The accounting software has been moved onto one of the new servers and Jonathan (from the Uganda-Tanzania branch of SIL) left Friday afternoon.
• Each of the servers are now protected by the Kaspersky Anti-virus system.
• Finally, the central system to control updates on all Windows computers is setup and working correctly.
Yet to do? A lot of little stuff that, should I leave before it’s done, the local IT team should easily get done, though over time because of their daily workload. It all boils down to shifting printers, files and storage limits off three current but old/slow servers and onto the ultimately three remaining ones and removing them permanently from the network. I’ve also been asked to review network security before I leave. One important job I’d like to get done is to document what their network looks like when I leave so that our JAARS organization can provide quality support from across the Atlantic.
My friend from Burundi, Francois, arrived Thursday afternoon and we were able to spend some good time together Thursday night, Friday before work, and then Friday evening. He is actually a Congolese man with a wife and seven girls (ages 4 through 18) who is the senior pastor of one church, oversees the pastors of 9 other churches in his area of Burundi and over the border into DR Congo, and has a Biblical passion to take care of widows and orphans. He came to Nairobi to see his friend Jon but I think for two more important reasons: to exhort me to get a vision of how to become involved in his ministry at home and to find out how a Bible translation work for his people can be started.
I didn’t give him a wonderful tour of the center here because I’m just a visitor myself but I did introduce him to Serge, who is involved with Bible translation in DR Congo. I’m sure it was hard and surprising for Francois to hear that there were some daunting prerequisites that needed to be met before a project could be started in Burundi. Worsened because there just aren’t enough SIL workers here nor enough funds, Francois would need to find enough local church support, identify people to commit to the project, and money from his people who he firmly believes are too poor and struggling with daily life.
I sat in on the final quick interchange between Serge and Francois just before Francois left Saturday morning. Francois believes his people are poor and I know that, should I visit him, I would agree. Serge, on the other hand, who has spent a lot of time in DR Congo working on Bible translation work, said several things (which I can only later paraphrase) that I’m challenged to consider myself. “They only think they are poor.” “Should they receive the Word of God, which is expensive, by expecting to invest only a little?” “Each translated word in the Bible costs $26” (after costs for travel, salaries, equipment, printing, etc).
Knowing Francois’ heart desire, I know how hard and disappointing that was for him to hear. Afterwards, Serge told me how much he appreciated my friend because he had an open mind. If a project is to start in Burundi, it’ll be an act of God (which it always will be, of course).
Julie and I, like everyone who goes into full time ministry requiring the support of churches and individuals, have often wondered at how many people think they are so poor that they cannot provide support for missionaries. Yet we can tell many stories of people who have sent us something out of their real poverty because of their love for God and his work. We are extremely grateful to God for all financial gifts His dear ones have sent us these past 3 years. But there’s no comparison in our minds when we opened a letter from a dear grandmother who sent us $1. Because we knew her circumstances, we consider her gift more valuable than the larger sums others have provided us.
“You don’t have because you don’t ask.” Do you only think you are poor?
• Two old servers have been replaced with two new ones and the internal processing that was causing so much grief earlier seems to have been resolved. There’s still one area where the two servers aren’t sharing what each knows but it’s not a show stopper and I’ve pointed out the problem to Larry.
• All six (currently) servers have been installed in the server room and neatly cabled to a KVM box that lets the operator use one keyboard/video display/mouse (hence, KVM) setup to work with up to 16 servers.
• The accounting software has been moved onto one of the new servers and Jonathan (from the Uganda-Tanzania branch of SIL) left Friday afternoon.
• Each of the servers are now protected by the Kaspersky Anti-virus system.
• Finally, the central system to control updates on all Windows computers is setup and working correctly.
Yet to do? A lot of little stuff that, should I leave before it’s done, the local IT team should easily get done, though over time because of their daily workload. It all boils down to shifting printers, files and storage limits off three current but old/slow servers and onto the ultimately three remaining ones and removing them permanently from the network. I’ve also been asked to review network security before I leave. One important job I’d like to get done is to document what their network looks like when I leave so that our JAARS organization can provide quality support from across the Atlantic.
I didn’t give him a wonderful tour of the center here because I’m just a visitor myself but I did introduce him to Serge, who is involved with Bible translation in DR Congo. I’m sure it was hard and surprising for Francois to hear that there were some daunting prerequisites that needed to be met before a project could be started in Burundi. Worsened because there just aren’t enough SIL workers here nor enough funds, Francois would need to find enough local church support, identify people to commit to the project, and money from his people who he firmly believes are too poor and struggling with daily life.
I sat in on the final quick interchange between Serge and Francois just before Francois left Saturday morning. Francois believes his people are poor and I know that, should I visit him, I would agree. Serge, on the other hand, who has spent a lot of time in DR Congo working on Bible translation work, said several things (which I can only later paraphrase) that I’m challenged to consider myself. “They only think they are poor.” “Should they receive the Word of God, which is expensive, by expecting to invest only a little?” “Each translated word in the Bible costs $26” (after costs for travel, salaries, equipment, printing, etc).
Knowing Francois’ heart desire, I know how hard and disappointing that was for him to hear. Afterwards, Serge told me how much he appreciated my friend because he had an open mind. If a project is to start in Burundi, it’ll be an act of God (which it always will be, of course).
Julie and I, like everyone who goes into full time ministry requiring the support of churches and individuals, have often wondered at how many people think they are so poor that they cannot provide support for missionaries. Yet we can tell many stories of people who have sent us something out of their real poverty because of their love for God and his work. We are extremely grateful to God for all financial gifts His dear ones have sent us these past 3 years. But there’s no comparison in our minds when we opened a letter from a dear grandmother who sent us $1. Because we knew her circumstances, we consider her gift more valuable than the larger sums others have provided us.
“You don’t have because you don’t ask.” Do you only think you are poor?
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