Our main focus this month was to update our servers. We regret to say that there were at least two periods when our audio servers were down this month, therefore we have been trying to find better solutions for our audio distribution. Nevertheless we still recorded almost 10 terabytes of audio downloaded, in spite of the glitches. The volume of data might have something to do with the interruptions, therefore we have been trying to spread the audio files more evenly between the 3 servers. The application has been going out very fast too and we are approaching 100 thousand downloads. Of course, from those downloads, only a fraction of users really keep the app, and that is the most important factor. We register near 30 thousand users of the app in different languages.

Alexa page

Our website is raking 164500 worldwide in Alexa traffic ranking, while in India we are ranking 59731 at this moment. This measurement gives us an idea of how popular the site is. We have a long ways to go but Wordproject has made steady progress in the past year. We were pleased to notice this month that the New York Times had a reference to our site. The article is here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/arts/exhibitions-of-medieval-biblical-masterworks.html?ref=arts&_r=1

and the reference is in the last paragraph where it says:

…’Now, of course, anyone with an Internet connection can read the Bible — or hear it read aloud— in almost any language. Gutenberg would be amazed.’

NYT article

by Jorge

Icon Wordproject China

There is always work to be done online. We are currently correcting some code that only now came to our attention to be wrong. Our many active websites and servers keep us very busy with updates and monitoring. We found out that our site is now less visible in China with traffic declining considerably in recent months. This could be due to our filter (cloudflare) filtering Chinese users as potential threats, or maybe some other reasons: We need to investigate this further and is in our TO DO list. Meanwhile, also because our servers are becoming over loaded, we decided to rent a new server in Singapore, which has  good reputation for quality service therefore we are giving it a try.  Wordproject.com, has been changed to a Chinese interface, is being hosted there for now. Prayers are appreciated.

On the application front, we have passed the 70 thousand download mark, for the last 6 months. With Benjamim’s help with put together a new and synthesized version of wordproject APP. This version has 2 languages only and is the one we intent to use for China and promote in Chinese platforms. Emanuel and Mandy, hopefully, will be helping to test the Chinese “market”, and we hope to make some progress there.

Chinese App Splashscreen

On the legal front, we have been receiving some flak from a particular Bible Society. They are claiming rights over a few of the texts we offer online and trying to force us to take them down. We have responded and challenged their claim since the texts in question are at least 50 years old. We also claimed non-profit, fair use and public interest. We have investigated online and we found quotes like this: ‘Translations are a derivative work, and only the copyright owner can authorize a translation that will be distributed.  This envisions a work that is translated into another language and distributed in the parts of the world where that language is spoken.  Derivative works are infringing if they are not created with the permission of the copyright holder.’ Also this: ‘Limitations and exceptions to copyright are provisions in copyright law which allow for copyrighted works to be used without a license from the copyright owner. Limitations and exceptions to copyright relate to a number of important considerations such as market failure, freedom of speech, education and equality of access ...’. We appreciate your prayers against those who would rather we do not offer Biblical texts online to protect their  business interests and for complete freedom of publishing the Holy Bible in its oldest and most integral forms without restrictions for all mankind.

Copyright-cartoon

From a pure business perspective the debate over copyrights and the extension of it has been raging for scores of years: In the 19th century it was already a big issue. Some Thomas Macaulay in the British House of Commons is quoted as stating: “Copyrights is monopoly and produces the effect which the general voice of mankind attributes to monopoly.. I may take safely for granted that the effect of monopoly generally is to make articles scarce, to make them dear, and to make them bad… It is good that authors should be remunerated and the least exceptional way of remunerating them is by  a monopoly. Yet monopoly is evil. For the sake of the good we must submit to the evil; but the evil must not last a day longer than is necessary for the purpose of securing the good.” – The travesty is that, in fact, these Bible Societies are not the authors not even, in most cases, the translators of the Bible, but only self proclaimed trustees.

You might want to be enlighten by a very interesting work on this topic called : ‘copyright God – Enforcement of Copyright in the Bible and Religious Work‘ – which starts with this quote from Mark Twain: ‘Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense to any copyright law on the planet’.

http://www.regent.edu/acad/schlaw/student_life/studentorgs/lawreview/docs/issues/v14n1/Vol.%2014,%20No.%201,%201%20Syn.pdf

♡ 2015 Mimi and Eunice. Copying is an act of love. Please copy and share.

Courtesy: http://mimiandeunice.com/category/law/page/2/

By Donna

Our home focus was to finish the school requirements of this academic year. Jason’s memory theme this month is Proverbs 3: 1-12. Hopefully it is now “written upon the table of his heart” and thus able to permeate his thoughts in years to come. He has also done much artwork with our neighbors, and invested time in learning the guitar and piano. Both he and Gloria have made ‘beaucoup’ of progress in their Portuguese language studies – a real victory indeed. [click pic to enlarge]

Gloria spent a myriad of hours practicing 52 new scales ranging from A flat minor to G flat major, studied the composers, music styles, and dynamics of the classical, baroque and romantic eras, improved her sight reading and sight singing and perfected three beautiful pieces for her exams with the Royal School of Music. She is confident that she passed the exam, even though the results will only be revealed in August.

Gloria before piano exam.

Gloria has also been journaling, an art form in which thoughts are journaled through pictures, collages, etc. It has been a fun and challenging journey which is just beginning, as she has yet many entries to make.  Besides the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic and science, we have had a great year of learning experiences and we are looking forward to doing new things this summer!

Gloria journal

Gloria and cat

We received news that Mandy is doing well in Shanghai and as time approaches for delivery she already found a nice place and very competent people to help. Mandy has been helping out with prospecting the publication of Wordproject app in the mobile platforms in mainland China. God bless her. A real challenge now-a-days, wherefore we request your prayers.

Emanuel in Portugal: History is everywhere!

Mandy: ‘There is such a special sweetness in being able to participate in creation’ (quote)

Philip and Julie reported Julie’s graduation as a physician. Congratulations!! We were also informed that her pregnancy is going well and  now they are enjoying a break in the beautiful Islands of Hawaii.

Julie’s graduation

Julie next to biggest tree in the world…: ‘two blossoms on a single branch’ (quote)

Philip in Hawaii: Practicing for his next show…

This month Ben is volunteering at a Christian summer camp here in Kenya. He will be leading devotional singing, taking responsibility for a group of kids during their weekly activities, and eventually sharing the gospel with them as a senior counselor. Let’s continue in prayer for him.

The Cristiana, Joana and Gabriel have been keeping  the fire burning in Macau with great activity and lots of work. We have been blessed to talk with them often through Skype. Mom and all celebrated mother’s day on May 10th. She received many signs of affection and appreciation from all her children. It was a blessing to be able to talk with everyone.

Mother’s day Skype

Two Sisters: Cristiana and Joana in Macau

By Jorge

We were invited and blessed to be able to attend a Christian Media Conference in the Netherlands, for 4 days. This was a series of meetings and workshops to discuss strategies and present tools related to the spreading of the Gospel via internet, mobile phones, video and other modern means of communication.

There were near 400 attendants and the meeting was held at a youth campground where most people, including ourselves, slept in bank-beds and trailers. The organization was good and the campground beautiful

We were able to meet with some of the most prominent developers of applications and web sites and meet personally and discuss issues related to our own ministry. Copyrights, audio recordings, internet security, and many other topics were discussed.

I got acquainted with many other  ministries that are working on translating and publishing the Bible in many minor and major languages and people who are working on different tools to either reach out to the world or to help those who are doing it.

I collected dozens of contacts and brochures which I intend to analyse withing the next few months. I also shared our vision and some materials with others who were attending.

Here are pictures of a small fraction of the brochures available at the Conference:

Brochrues 1

Brochures 2

by Donna

As we reflect back over and think of all the things that Christ has done through and for us we find them wonderful and yet pale in light of what Christ has done for us on the Cross, and the miracle of Resurrection!

As every day passes we realize that we are one step closer to the grave.  Death is our greatest enemy and it has conquered all men but Christ. It is the decree pronounced by God upon Adam in the garden. No man is wise enough to outwit death or wealthy enough to purchase freedom from death or strong enough to vanquish death. The grave always wins the victory and every person sooner or later returns to the dust.

But Jesus Christ is alive! It is true that He died and was buried, but unlike other men He resurrected His own dead body, made it henceforth immortal, and emerged from the tomb, alive forevermore! This was the greatest of all miracles since the creation itself, and could have been accomplished only if Jesus was God as He claimed He was.

Jesus’ work of creation was finished from the foundation of the world. (Gen 2:1, Heb 11:3.) It was perfect and complete, without needing any fictional process of evolution to assist it. It was because of man’s sin in the garden, (Genesis 3:17-19) that our creator cursed man, and it is He alone who can reverse the curse and change it. When dying on the cross, Jesus exclaimed victoriously,  ”It is finished.” (Jn 19:30) Christ’s redemptive plan to give his life for the sins of the world and break the curse for those who believe had been accomplished! Returning to the body three days later, imparting to it a glorious, eternal, resurrection life, He demonstrated to all men of all ages that He indeed was the Creator; the problem of sin had been resolved, and death had forever lost its sting!

Now we look towards the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (Tit 3:15 )  “Until that day, when He makes all things new” (Rev 21:5), we await the Restoration  of all things, the new heaven and the new earth, and the redemption of our bodies, when all of creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God”! (Rom 8:21)

The Empty Tomb

Hallelujah! We serve a living Saviour, He’s in the world today! All glory be to Jesus.

As usual we have been distributing audio Bible machines whenever we have  an opportunity. One of our customary recipients is Samuel, who brings African missionaries to our home to be blessed with this wonderful gift. This time we were also sharing together the vision for future digitalization of the Kisii Bible, their native language they speak.

With Samuel and local pastors

Explaining the digital Bible vision

We also were able to send some audio Bibles to Mocimboa da Praia, in the North of Mozambique, through Patrick, who has just finished a two month visit here. Our stocks are getting low and we are now in the process of placing a new order thus we appreciate your prayers for the funding of this project.

Audio Bibles for Mozambique

This has been a busy month with some substantial improvements made to our application.  The updated version already available HERE, is now bookmarked, which means, you can chose to go back to the page of the precious session after you have closed up. Another feature allows text and audio downloads to be made through either DATA, or WiFi, not just WiFi, as it was the case in previous versions. This allows many people, who do not have access to WiFi, but can contract good Data packages from their internet providers, to be able to download audio or text from just about anywhere.  Benjamim helped to start this update and Konstantin, our very helpful and competent developer in Greece, gave it the final touches.

Benjamim at work