Hi Friends and Family,
I’m writing to you from the Wycliffe compound in Juba, South Sudan and am a little over halfway through my trip. For the past 6 days, I’ve had the opportunity to meet the missionaries and the South Sudanese who work with Wycliffe here, and I have absolutely loved it! I’ve felt so welcomed by various people making sure I have what I need and looking out for me, and several people have had me over for dinner on various nights to get to know me better. Beyond that, I’ve loved being with people who have a love for linguistics and Bible translation. From conversations about the process of Bible translation to Greek and Hebrew to the software tools Wycliffe uses to aid the translation process, I feel very at home here.
But one of my favorite things has been sitting in with a couple of translation teams (the Avokaya team and the Fur team) as they work on translating the Old Testament. The Avokaya team, who I visited on Friday, were checking their draft of Exodus 21 and talking about various exegetical and translation issues that came up. The Fur team, who I visited on Monday, were checking their draft of Joshua 14 and doing the same. I’ve learned a lot by watching them and was able to help out in small ways when they had questions about the original Hebrew text or about the cultural context of the passage they were working on.
Today (Tuesday), I will leave Wycliffe’s compound and have a different focus for the rest of my trip. Pastor Nicodeme, a missionary from Rwanda, has been in South Sudan for the past two and a half months to figure out the logistics of his family and him living here starting sometime next year. The plan is for Nicodeme and his family to be joined by Evangelical Friends Mission (EFM) missionaries in the near future so that we can partner together in planting churches in South Sudan. I, two pastors from Rwanda, an EFM missionary, and an EFM director will spend the rest of the week with Nicodeme to be with him, encourage him, and help him debrief. I’ve already gotten to spend some good quality time with Nicodeme when he’s visited me at the Wycliffe compound and am looking forward to hearing more about what the past few months have looked like for him.
Finally, I’m so grateful for all of you! Thank you for how you’ve prayed and are praying for me and for how you’ve given so that I can begin a disciple-making apprenticeship with North County Project in January. Currently, I’m 73% funded! Thank you for your incredible generosity! As a reminder, if you’d like to partner with me through financial gifts, here are the ways you can do it:
- Online: Visit the NCP Apprentice donation page by clicking this link. Once there, scroll to find my name and select your gift amount. You’ll have the opportunity to indicate whether you are giving monthly or as a one-time gift.
- Credit Card: You may give online (as stated above) or by calling the EFM office at (303) 421-8100 to provide your information to a live representative.
- Automatic Bank Transfer: Download the form here and email it to Debby McElroy (EFM Bookkeeper) at debby@friendsmission.com. Please note that ACH payments are processed on the 10th or 25th of the month.
- Check: Mail a check to EFM, P.O. Box 771139, Wichita, KS 67277. Please mark your check with “Thomas Moore NCP Apprentice Support” and indicate if your gift will be recurring (monthly, quarterly, etc.). Make the check payable to “EFM.”
Thank you again for how you’re coming on this journey with me. I look forward to giving many of you more details about this trip. I’d love to meet with you to tell you more about it if you live in Southern California or talk with you over the phone or video chat if you live elsewhere.
In Him,
Thomas Moore
English (United States) 
Spanish