imagine with me for moment...
you are in a foreign country. you speak the language fluently but writing doesn't exist. you write a note in English to your spouse asking them to do you a favor and the people believe the marks you are putting on the paper are magic because they can send someone a message without speaking.
now, your job is to analyze that language phonetically, come up with an accurate written alphabet, produce your own teaching materials, and then teach them how to read and write, (and remember these are illiterate people to whom writing has never previously existed, so this is a big job)....

thank you for taking a moment to imagine with me, but actually this is reality for millions of tribal people around the world. they are oral cultures and little to none of them have a concept of what writing is.

well Brett and I just took a course training us how to teach literacy to an oral culture. It was an eye opening course on what a huge job this is but that it can be done. it also showed us the huge benefit writing is to a culture. not only does it allow them to have a clear gospel that can sustain through generations, but it also simply gives them the gift of writing and a whole new way to express themselves and create.

this really gets to my heart because i'm a lover of reading. (ask brett, one of his biggest regrets in life is buying me a kindle because he complains I don't hang out with him anymore.) but anyway, it was exciting to learn the skills needed to give a culture the gift of writing.

-morgan