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June, 2009:
Publication of the 16th
edition of the Ethnologue. Matt was responsible for maps of countries in
the Americas and Pacific. New maps in this edition include Brunei, Malaysia,
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
March, 2005:
Publication of the
15th edition of the Ethnologue. Matt was responsible for many of the maps, and
these were printed in color for the first time. Judy was involved in preparing
the layout of the book.
May, 2003:
The birth of their son,
Jay.
February, 1998 --present:
"Since our time in Kenya
…" Matt has continued to work on translation status maps for Africa as
well as other continents. These are now being used by our field personnel to
assess our current progress as well as future translation and literacy needs.
Matt's work also includes preparing maps for the
Ethnologue, the
publication which lists all the known languages in the world. There is only one
other full-time cartographer (in the United Kingdom) working in SIL. Judy is
now working as a compositor. This desktop publishing work includes doing
layouts for various books and journals written by other Wycliffe missionaries.
These materials help to tell about our field work, train the next generation of
Bible translators and establish credibility for our personnel. A catalogue of
various academic publications is available on the Ethnologue web site.
February, 1997 -- February, 1998:
Responding to an
invitation from our Africa Area office, they completed a one-year short-term
assignment in Nairobi, Kenya. During that time Matt produced a series of maps
which show the status of Bible translation for the languages of various
countries of Africa. He also worked on special wall map projects for East
Africa and for the countries of Chad and Mali. These maps help our translators
and other field personnel to plan for future translation and literacy projects.
He also helped to train personnel to use our computer mapping program more
effectively. Judy had two assignments while in Nairobi. The first was to do the
layout for People Profiles, which are summaries about the culture and language
of people groups who have not yet been reached with the Scriptures. These
Profiles are used for recruiting the personnel, prayer partners and finances
that are needed to get God's Word to these people groups. Judy's second
assignment was to do layouts for book templates (called shell books) which are
used for literacy training and community development work.
March,
1994 -- February, 1997:
During their first assignment in Dallas, they
worked in the areas of language mapping, database development, and desktop
publishing.
March, 1994:
This was the beginning of our their
assignment with Wycliffe at the international headquarters in Dallas.
July, 1991 -- March, 1994:
The Benjamin's shared the vision
for their future work with family, friends, churches, and Christian business
people, and many of them joined together with them to form a team of prayer and
financial partners.
July, 1991:
Completed the Quest
orientation program and were accepted as members of Wycliffe Bible Translators.
July, 1990:
The time seemed right, and Matt and Judy began
the application process with Wycliffe. During that time they
helped with some local
Wycliffe Associates banquets and also attended Wycliffe's
orientation program.
1986 and 1987:
Judy and Matt
(respectively) graduated from Bible college. At that time, all they knew was
the Lord was leading them through various circumstances toward some type of
missions work. Their first step was to contact
Intercristo to
see what places of ministry might be available in their areas of interest.
There were several options that we considered, but God closed those doors
through different events. Looking back, they now know that it was not yet the
right time for them to go into full-time missions as a vocation. So they
continued to gain experience and prepare through various ministries the local
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