JUNE NEWSLETTER!
JUNE 1, 2012
Homeward Bound Back to America
Two weeks to go
A"er an insanely busy May we’re ready for a change of pace.
May was... a blur. We spent the first half preparing for a three day language evaluation. As soon as that was over we drove 11 hours to Northeast Thailand and spent almost two weeks (with all the driving) doing orthographic interviews with Phu Thai people
in five different villages. There’s more information about each of these important events in this letter. We’d like to let you know, though, how much we appreciate you taking the time to read about our lives and for partnering with us in this ministry. Thank-you.
HOW YOU CAN HELP This will be our first time back in the US since the fall of 2010. We hope our time back in the states will be awesome. You can help us make sure it is by: 1.Contacting us! We’d love to hang out with you, give a presentation, go out for coffee, meet your new dog Fifi or whatever.
!
Two weeks isn’t nearly long enough to prepare for our short home assignment. Besides the obvious preparations (bag packing, etc.), we also have various speaking engagements to prepare for, materials to create, videos to make, gifts to buy and much, much more. Before we can leave we face the task of coordinating our re-entry at Thailand’s immigration office, arranging our financial affairs and saying goodbye to our friends in a culturally appropriate way. Just before we go home Sharon is running a half marathon on an island in Southern Thailand. Pray for our many preparations!
We arrive June 16th
2. Giving us plenty of notice. Don’t be disappointed if you can’t get us the first time. Let’s get something on the calendar... before we arrive is even better. Call us at (517) 490-1032 now! 3. Don’t wait until the last minute. We’ll be home for three and a half months. If you call us in the last week the answer will probably, unfortunately, be no. Email us at ricandsharon@gmail.coms.
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JUNE NEWSLETTER!
JUNE 1, 2012
PHU THAI ORTHOGRAPHY SURVEY 2012 During our two weeks in Northeast Thailand we found the Phu Thai people we met welcoming and friendly. Over a hundred of them humored us by suffering through our half hour interview process just to partake of the refreshments and lunch we brought. The goal of our interviews was to see: 1. Could they read and understand Central Thai? 2. How would they spell things in Phu Thai? 3. Could they read and understand our first attempts at writing Phu Thai? Top: Presenting gi"s to a vi#age headman. Lower: Testing vi#ager’s ability to read and understand Thai.
We found some interesting things. For instance, some of the older people in the various villages that struggled to read and
CHIPPING AWAY AT THE MOUNTAIN
80
Sharon
Ric
Sharon’s language ability has progressed steadily. She’s right where she should be: at progressing high.
20
Oct 2010
This was an important step in that we met key leaders in several Phu Thai villages, visited other missionaries and continued sharpening our Thai skills.
As per the results of our last language evaluation Ric’s at Capable mid (represented by 80)
40
You start with no ranking.Your language ability is zero. 0
Overall, our time in Northeast Thailand went very well. We accomplished all the goals we’d laid out and even found some time to relax in there too! You can be praying for our c0-workers Mike and Sandy as they continue refining the set of characters that will end up being the finished Phu Thai orthography.
Our Goal: Capable High, or about 90 on our chart.
Eight months ago we had our second language evaluation. We were ranked at 60 progressing low and mid, respectively. In our first evaluation we made it to basic mid and high, respectively.
understand the central Thai stories could read and understand the ones in their own language without a problem. This is good news for our desire to see all age groups reading and understanding the Bible in their own language.
Mar 2011
Sept 2011
May 2012
OUR LANGUAGE EVALUATIONS IN A SNAPSHOT Each of our language evaluations has shown improvements in our speaking, understanding, reading, writing and cultural knowledge. We’ve worked hard to reach language proficiency in Thai as quickly as possible.
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JUNE NEWSLETTER!
JUNE 1, 2012
We’ll see you soon Calendar June 17th, 2012 Back in the US of A July 21st 2012 Sharon’s sister’s wedding August ??? 2012
We appreciate you taking the time to read our latest updates and news. It’s an honor to be your representatives in Southeast Asia, as always. Yours in Christ, Ric and Sharon Bruce
Meet with you September 2012 Various road trips, family visits, etc.
Mailing Adress: Ric and Sharon Bruce PO Box 2 Hang Dong Chiang Mai 50230 THAILAND Giving address: New Tribes Mission 1000 E. First St. Sanford, FL 32771 Make checks payable to “New Tribes Mission” and make a note, “For the ministry of Ric and Sharon Bruce”
October 2012
ricandsharon@gmail.com
Back in Thailand, slogging through our last stage of Thai study
www.ntm.org/ric_bruce
April 2013 Target date to leave Chiang Mai for Isaan
www.facebook.com/ricandsharon