Don & Sharon Hutchisson: Wycliffe Bible Translators • Papua New Guinea

Contact Information: SIL-Box 120 • Ukarumpa, EHP 444• Papua, New Guinea • don_hutchisson@sil.org

Anniversary: March 15, 1969

Birthdates: Don 11/15 • Sharon 11/24

Mission Agency: Wycliffe Bible Translators • P.O. Box 628200• Orlando, FL • 32862-8200 • 800.992.5433 • 407.852.3600                                    Fax 407.852.3601 • www.wycliffe.org

Synopsis of Ministry:

We are currently in the final stages of translating the New Testament into Sursurunga.  The initial draft is complete and has been checked and approved by translation consultants.  We are booked to typeset in mid-2009.  Until then, we have lots of checklists and read-thoughts to do in preparation for publication, including quite a lot of revision and editing.  During this time as well, we continue to encourage the Sursurunga Language Committee in their part doing literacy and promoting Scripture use among their people.  The very successful AIDS Awareness Workshops also continue in different parts of the Sursurunga area.  And above all that, our goal is for Sursurunga lives to be redeemed and changed through our testimony and that of the Word of God in their language.

About Wycliffe Bible Translators

Today more than 300 million people do not have the Bible in their own language.  Wycliffe’s vision is to see the Bible accessiable to all people in the language they understand best.  To make this vision a reality, Wycliffe also focuses on literacy development, community development and church partnerships.  We are men and women, young and old, from many nations and of many colors and cultures.  We come from many different churches and denominations, but we all worship one Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Unified in our calling, we pray for and work towards the day when every language community will have an equal opportunity to discover God’s truth in the Bible.

More Interesting Tidbut from the Hutchisson’s

Both of us like to read and usually spend some time every day doing light reading for enjoyment.  Both of us enjoy and are touched by natural beauty.  For Sharon it’s the beauty and fragrance of flowers that touches deepest; for Don it’s the broad vistas of which there are many both on the ground and in flight during the four hours of flying from our main center out to the Sursurunga area.  We enjoy traveling (and educating our kids through travel) and have tried to visit different places in the world as we’ve come and gone to Papua New Guinea over the years and as we’ve done administrative or teaching trips on behalf of Wycliffe.  We’ve not visited South America or Antarctica yet, but we’ve managed to hit the other continents and several islands.  Don heads for the vistas, Sharon for the flowers!  And since the Sursurunga people live on a tropical island surrounded by coral reef, we’ve had wonderful opportunities to snorkel and swim and enjoy the lavish colors of both the coral and the tropical fish.

When we got married at 22, we kiddingly said that, with good health and God’s blessing, we might celebrate our 75th wedding anniversary at age 97!  Just in case that doesn’t happen, we celebrated the halfway point. On March 15, 2010, we celebrated our 41st anniversary.

To me (Don), my job of translating the Scriptures is an art.  There is a lot of science involved – studying the sound system and grammar of the language you’re translating into, becoming familiar with good translation techniques and how to handle different situations and ways of speaking, studying and knowing the source language and how it works.  But in the end, when you’re actually in the process of turning those words from Greek and English into Sursurunga for me it’s more a matter of searching out both the thoughts and feelings of what the author wants to communicate and then finding the best way to get those thoughts and feelings across to the hearers.  For this result, just science can sometimes be too cold, so art needs to take over and fill in the blanks so the hearer does not get lost.  It’s very important to remain faithful to the original text, but being faithful includes communicating accurately the original meaning in a way that the hearer can understand and get the right meaning and the right sense, and of course the right path for the Holy Spirit to touch his life.  The end product – the New Testament in Sursurunga in our case – should not only be an accurate ‘reproduction’ of the original, it should be a beautiful one as well.  It’s exciting to be part of that process!