Though James and Karen Ashley are now based in the Dallas area, their work is still centered on the task of Bible translation. The Saꞌa New Testament was completed in 2005, and work on the Old Testament is now making good progress, with James and the national translators working mostly by Zoom. Regular trips to the Solomon Islands keep the personal connection strong and also allow James to check the translations of other teams for accuracy, clarity, and naturalness. His years of experience help him to spot problems and train the translators in ways to solve the issue at hand and apply similar strategies to other passages.
For her part, Karen works at Dallas International University as an Associate Instructor for the Foundations of Translation course, supporting the professor by giving an occasional lecture and grading a large part of the homework, exams, and papers. This course gives new Bible translation students a good grasp of the complexity of the translation task, helping them see that it goes beyond merely substituting one word for another. God wants to communicate his message to all the people groups he has created, and the languages they speak fit together in a wide variety of ways that are quite different from Hebrew, Greek, and English.
Location
Pacific
Wycliffe Ministry Budget
Wycliffe establishes a Ministry Budget for its members to reflect recurring expenses related to family factors and their geographic location of service. Giving to Wycliffe directly impacts members' ability to begin and remain in their assignment.
This monthly budget covers ministry-related expenses, insurance and retirement, social security and taxes, and Wycliffe administrative costs. The remainder is what the members receive as "take-home pay" for their daily living expenses.