We arrived safely in Dallas earlier tonight. It's good to be home.

Now, all that's left is to adjust to my time zone and sort through hundreds of still pictures, some 18 hours of video, and several additional hours of audio recording to see what we can safely work with...

Thank you very much for your prayers and support. I'll continue to add information and media about the trip in the coming days and weeks.

pictures

We are currently in Kolkata (Calcutta). Everyone arrived safely with almost all our luggage. Tomorrow, Sunday, we will attend the Assembly of God church here. Please continue to pray for our team and the translators as we are traveling: for good health, safety, and no hassles with flights and luggage.

Here are a few pictures of our trip. We'll post more later.

It was a lot of fun getting to know the children of the translators. We played football (the real, non-American kind), caught insects (which did nothing to diminish the millions that there were), and experimented with the cameras, among other things.

I was very pleased with what I got to record through audio and video. It was a good experience.

This is a shot of the training center from down the road. It has four stories, two of which are still under construction. The fourth floor will have offices, a few bedrooms, the chapel/conference center, and a prayer room. The third floor will house a library/computer hall, recording studio, and several bedrooms. The second floor contains bedrooms where translators or pastors and their families gathering for training can stay. The first floor has several bedrooms, a fellowship hall, the dining room, and kitchen.


This is one of the training sessions we had. Eventually this room will be a place for gathering and fellowship, once the large chapel/conference center on the top floor is completed.

We had the opportunity to speak at the school located on the property. There are about 80 students, with the school currently going up to class 5.This is at one of the morning chapel services. We also got to teach several 4o minute classes.

This was taken on the second floor balcony of the building. Note the bamboo scaffolding. The upper floors are still under construction, and finishing work still needs to be done everywhere. However, the completed parts are very nice as they are currently. The balconies on each floor and on the roof will be areas to gather for fellowship.

going home

We are getting ready to start going home. Several of our group were scheduled to leave yesterday, but their flight was cancelled. We all hope to be able to leave Nagaland today and fly to Calcutta. They will take a different route and arrive home Monday, July 2. We will attend church in Calcutta tomorrow before heading onto Dubai, and then to New York and Dallas on Tuesday, July 3. Please pray that we have no more problems or hassles with flights and that we can all make it home safely. Several people have also been sick, so prayers for good health while traveling would be appreciated.

Our time here has been very good, although much different than anticipated and planned. Pastor Syvelle Phillips was not able to join us here due to unexpected visa problems. That was a disappointment for everyone, but it has still been a good time of fellowship and training. Almost all of the translators have left for their homes, and we are also looking forward to being home (though not the long process of getting there). We are grateful for the fellowship of the Spirit and the faithfulness of the God we serve.

Thank you very much for your prayers and support.

It is about 9:40 PM local time in Nagaland, India. Ten of us from Dallas arrived safely today, with good flights and all of our luggage. Many of the translators and their families are here now, and a few will join us in the next few days. Tomorrow we will start training sessions on Bible translation.

Please pray that the training will go well, those still travelling will arrive safely, and that we can adjust quickly to the local time-zones.

Thank you for your support of EBT and the Kingdom.

Pastor Syvelle and Lovie are currently in Africa. They spent a week in Kigali, Rwanda, and today they went to Entebbe, Uganda. They will be there until Friday, June 23. Lovie and her team will fly home to Dallas and Pastor will continue on to India.

Eight of us from Dallas are going on to India a week ahead of Pastor. Several already left, and my dad and I leave tomorrow. We will meet in Dubai and travel on to India together on Wednesday, June 20.

Please be in prayer for the Africa team, that they can accomplish all they need to and have a good visit with the pastors and orphanages and schools.

Please also pray for those of us traveling to India in the next few days. Already there have been some problems with delayed and missed flights and missing baggage. Please pray that all goes smoothly while traveling and that we are attentive to what God wants to do.

Thank you very much,

Lauren Shirley for the EBT team

Nagaland Training Center

This is a short segment from a 15 minute video filmed on location at the training center EBT is building for their Bible Translators in Nagaland, India. This footage is at least a year old.

Here is a more recent picture of the building, taken about 6 months ago.

EBT's Background

"I am sure you will agree that for new Christians to become strong spiritually and for the church to be stable and fulfill its destiny, the Word of God must be available in the mother tongue - the language of the heart.

This is why God has called Evangel Bible Translators into existence. We who honor the Holy Spirit and love what the Spirit of God is doing in the world today must become more involved. There are yet thousands who wait for their first copy of God's Word in their own language.

Evangel Bible Translators was founded in 1976 at the encouragement of "Uncle" Cameron Townsend, the revered founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators and is a member of the Forum of Bible Translation Agencies. Evangel Bible Translators has a strong commitment to giving the Word of God to language groups that have no Scriptures in their mother tongue."

--Rev. H. Syvelle Phillips, founder and president of Evangel Bible Translators

For more information, please visit EBT's website.