Jim Akovenko, the JAARS President, was encouraged by the response to our recent trip to Brazil. Here is his letter, soon to be published in some of the JAARS publications. The letter is such an encouragement to me I thought I would share it. It is obvious that investing in the lives of others during January's trip to Brazil's ALEM center had a tremendous impact on the leaders and students of ALEM, the Brazilian national missionary training organization, Davi, the local computer support technician, and Cristiano, a Brazilian with excellent IT skills involved in Bible translation.
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February 2006
Recently some men from our Information Technology (IT) department went to Brazil to assist with training for ALEM, a national Bible translation organization. For Cristiano and Davi, Brazilian men who show promise, the training had a twofold benefit: they participated in a desktop computer evaluation and installation process, as well as received positive input from the IT team.
Another result of the visit was getting ten desktops installed and working, which will enhance the training of young people this year. Two students commented, “It is hard to imagine that such high quality technical people would come to help set up computers so that we can be better trained. And who paid for all of these computers?” This was an opportunity to explain the team effort—some people willing to fund, some willing to plan, and technical experts able to evaluate and put things in place.... The students’ response was “only in God’s kingdom is that kind of love and service seen.”
Our IT staff are competent professionals, gifted technically, and know that investing in the lives of people is just as important as working with machines and systems. The input the ALEM students received will have a lasting impact in their lives—for eternal purposes. They saw and they learned the way IT professionals can contribute to Bible translation. One of the men, a quiet influential leader, said how pleased he was to see Christian organizations willing to commit to excellence in their work and not just “dar um jeito” (get by).
Thank you for being part of the team investing and impacting lives for eternal purposes.
James S. Akovenko
President
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