Chris, Janine, and Sean Pluger have moved in!

Chris Pluger wrote the following article early this month, when his family moved from their temporary housing to their permanent home in Petauke, Zambia:

We are glad to announce that the whole family has officially moved (or “shifted” in Zambian English) to the house in Petauke. We came on Sunday night and were all ready for our first guest on Monday.

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We’ve spent a while unpacking and sorting (kind of a trick with little furniture and no kitchen cabinets), as well as getting the appliances up and running. We can now cook, shower, wash dishes, and do laundry. The fridge works with the help of a “voltage stabilizer” – a little box that boosts our typically low voltage by 25% so that the fridge always has a steady 220V supply. We have a makeshift table made out of a door. Our hot water heater (or “geyser” [rhymes with ‘weezer’]) works well. Sean is making friends with the neighborhood boys – he says he feels like the new toy at Christmas, since everyone wants to play with him.

From here on, our house progress will be slow-but-steady. There are many things to do – paint, cabinets, furniture, and more – but it is a big step to just get here. Thanks to all of you for your prayers for our housing and settling-in.

Along with our arrival in Petuake is the beginning of some serious activity with the Nsenga Bible Translation Committee. Last week the Translation Consulatant from the Bible Society and another colleague came out from Lusaka to spell out step-by-step the things the Committee needs to do to start and support their project. This Saturday, the Committee is meeting again to formulate an Action Plan for 2012, taking into account the recommendations of Bible Society.

Big items on their list are fundraising, publicity (“sensitisation”), translator interviewing and hiring, the establishment of review teams in various Nsenga regions, and some basic sociolinguistic research, as well as making sure their Translation Advisor learns some Nsenga. It is very important to figure out how much time these activities will take, and then at what time it would be realistic to plan on starting the actual translation work.  We appreciate your prayers!

You can email us by visiting our web page on the LBT web site.  We love to hear from you. You can also learn more about us by visiting our personal web site, The Plugers.