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Wycliffe Missionaries Work in -50 Degree Weather
by Betty Stevens S o l o m o n may have been right about the sun, but surely there was something new under the northern lights recently — an Arctic Training Camp for pioneer mis sionaries opened by the North America Branch of Wy- cliffe Bible Translators. In 1954 when Wycliffe’s Deputy General Director, Dr. Richard S. Pittman, and his wife routed a trip to the Far East through Alaska, Dr. Pittman, along with his recom mendations for translation needs among Alaskan Indian tribes made to the Wycliffe Board, included this warning: “The physical dangers in the Alaskan bush are not incon siderable. Persons going in should be very careful learners before going in.” In the spring of 1956 and again in 1958, Turner Blount (Th.B., Biola ’41), director of Wycliffe’s North America Branch, made extensive surveys of Bible translation needs in the Alaskan interior. With him on the second trip were other Wycliffe members — George Fletcher, Director-to- be of Arctic Training Camp and pilot-to-be for Wycliffe’s Alaska program; Dave Shinen (B.A., Biola ’54), assigned with the St. Lawrence Islanders Eskimos; Herb Zimmer man, intending to work with the Yukon Delta Eskimo dialect; and Earl Adams (Th.B., Biola ’47), Director of Wycliffe Members in Training, also Director of the Mexico Jungle Training Camp since 1948 who, following this Alaska trip, went to Australian New Guinea, there to oversee the establishment of a New Guinea Training Camp in the Markham Valley. On this second trip into “ the great country,” the survey team was searching par ticularly for a suitable location for an Arctic Training Camp. They found what appeared to be an ideal site on the banks of the Nenana River at Nenana, Alaska, near the foot of Mt. McKinley about 45 miles southwest of Fair banks. Advantages of this location were its proximity to uncontaminated water for drinking, washing, and fishing, accessibility of supplies, variety of terrain, and nearby native homes. However, it was one of the coldest parts of “Uncle Sam’s icebox,” temperatures sometimes falling to -50 degrees and -70 degrees. On the banks of the Nenana, then, near the confluence of the Tenana River, in seven Army pre-fab uninsulated cabins owned by the Yutana Barge Company, the first session of an Arctic Training Camp for Wycliffe personnel opened on October 20, 1958, with 12 trainees in attendance. The primary purpose of establishing such a camp is
Earl Adams to teach missionary trainees the most efficient and effective methods of living and working in their chosen field — the far north. After completion of the Camp session, these missionary linguists will be allocated by the Director to Alaskan Indian and Eskimo tribes, there to begin a study of the language with the goal of translating the Bible into the languages of the tribes. Mr. Blount, who has recently returned from visiting the second session of this Camp, was himself a member of the Wycliffe translation team which early in 1956 completed the translation of the New Testament into Navajo of this U.S. Indian tribe. “ This is now in its third edition, nearly 5,000 copies having been sold.by the American Bible Society,” Mr. Blount states. Partial incentive for Wycliffe to begin a work in Alaska was the result of two invitations which came from natives of the country — one from the Reverend Roy Ahmaogak, an Eskimo missionary of the Presbyterian Board in Wainwright, the other from Dr. Walter Sobo- leff, Tlingit Indian pastor of the Memorial Presbyterian Church in Juneau. Mr. Ahmaogak, working with Dr. Eugene A. Nida of the American Bible Society, developed an alphabet in the Inupiat Eskimo language, and together they translated the Gospel of Mark which has been pub lished by the American Bible Society. Mr. Ahmaogak has also translated Romans, but because of pressure of routine mission duties, has asked assistance in completing the translation he has begun. Dr. Soboleff, trained in both college and seminary, preaches in his Juneau church in English but carries on a radio ministry in his native Tlingit language. Leaving Seattle on January 14, via Northwest Air lines, with stopovers at Juneau and Anchorage, and thence by Alaska Railroad to Nenana, Mr. Blount paid a visit to the Camp and reported that 18 trainees had attended the courses in the two sessions. The candidates, although full of enthusiasm for their new mode of life, are nevertheless finding Dr. Pittman’s warning to be very sound advice. “ One of the main problems is food supply,” Mr. Blount commented. “ Green vegetables are sometimes available in a few stores or trading posts, but missionaries can’t afford 75c for a head of lettuce or even 50c for a quart of milk. One enterprising camper had cut a hole in the three-feet-thick river ice and was catching fish. The men
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