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JAARS tour and Alphabet Museum, Waxhaw, NC

Before 1920 William Cameron Townsend (1896 - 1982), started translating the new testament into a Guatemalan Indian tribal language.  Eventually in the 1940s he formed the Summer Institute of Linguistics and Wycliffe Bible Translators. Volunteer translators were trained and sent to various countries to translate the new testament into tribe's previously unwritten languages.  As tribes begin to learn to read their own language, they become more autonomous, being freed from depending on other cultures for training and leadership. 

In the 1940s in Latin America, it saved so much time to fly to a villages high in the mountains that short runways were built next to villages.  Instead of hiking for days, Townsend saw the need for planes and radios in order to work in geographically remote language groups. In 1948 Jungle Aviation and Radio Service (JAARS) was formed.  In 1961 the Belk family of Belk Dept. Stores donated land for a headquarters for JAARS in Waxhaw, NC.  JAARS helps make bible translation possible through the support for day-to-day needs in the areas of air, land, and water transportation, media, and information technology.

JAARS works closely with the worldwide parent organization SIL International and partners with Wycliffe Global Alliance to understand needs in the support areas and develop solutions to meet the needs.  There are translation and linguistic development happening in 2,167 languages across 131 countries.  Self supporting volunteers serve JAARS as pilots, mechanics, nurses, teachers, etc. to support the translators.

Air travel into and out of the remote areas where translation takes place saves hours and days.  But airstrips in these difficult locations are not long, flat, and paved.  There are no runway lights, control towers, or fences to keep out wandering animals.  That is why helicopters are important, no long runways needed.  When a plane or helicopter flies a translator, they sometimes bring a paying customer, supplies, or in some cases a medical emergency is flown.

JAARS hosts daily tours of their facilities and quarterly JAARS Day open houses in Waxhaw to introduce visitors to JAARS role in supporting worldwide Bible  translation.

The Alphabet museum in Waxhaw, across the street from the JAARS Center, recounts the development of writing systems.  Tours are given through the museum and samples of a variety of scripts from around the world are shown.  The museum tells the story of alphabet makers from ancient history to modern times.

My son Franklin and his wife Sarah are JAARS volunteers.  He is a helicopter pilot and she a nurse.  They have a beautiful 2 month old baby girl.  They will be headed to Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea

in January.  Franklin will be using his skills as a helicopter pilot to transport missionaries and supplies to remote villages.  Sarah will be raising their baby and serving in the clinic when able.  Currently they are in training at JAARS in Waxhaw.  They are seeking financial partners to reach their goal so they can go in January.  They have a monthly newsletter at franklinandsarah.com.  There email is franklinandsarah@gmail.com.  To partner, go to Wycliffe.org/partner/wascura.

If you ever are in the Orlando area be sure to visit the Museum of languages at the Wycliffe headquarters.

 

  

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Stone Mountain State Park in Georgia is a granite mountain where the soil eroded off the mountain over the years exposing the granite.  For many years the granite was quarried until 1978.  Many buildings in Florida and most other states have granite on the building from Stone Mountain. 

On one side of the mountain is a carving of Robert E Lee, Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson.  The carving is 90 feet high by 190 feet wide.  The carving was started in 1923 and abandoned in 1928 due to lack of funds.  The state bought the mountain in 1958 to make a park.  Work on the carving resumed in 1964 and finished in 1969.

For the $15 daily parking fee, you can walk the many trails, visit the grist mill and quarry exhibit, view the carving from a terrace, view a lazer light show at night, visit the environmental center, and walk up to the top of the mountain.  The very steep trail to the top is one mile long going from 900 feet elevation to 1,686 feet elevation. I climbed to the top in 37 minutes.

You will have to buy a ticket to take the skylift to the top, or tour the antebellum plantation, or visit the Stone Mountain Museum at Memorial Hall.  A 732 bell Carillon plays twice daily.

 

view from the top

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Kings Mountain was a major battle in the Revolutionary War in 1780.  The British and loyalists were camped atop Kings Mountain, South Carolina when several patriot militias surrounded the mountain. The patriots hid behind trees firing at the British and loyalists who stood out against the sky on the cleared mountain top. The patriots advanced going from tree to tree. The British responded with a bayonet charge.  The patriots retreated, then set up behind trees firing at the British.  This was repeated several times with the British receiving heavy losses.  The last time the patriots advanced uphill the British pulled back. Despite the British having an uphill advantage, the patriot techniques resulted in fewer losses. During the battle some loyalists switched sides and fought for the patriots as some were their neighbors. Today the battlefield is a national park with a museum that explains the battle well.  A trail leads around the mountain with diagrams explaining the battle.  This gives you a clear understanding of what transpired.

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Callaway Gardens in west Georgia is a 2500 acres of pine woodland, with lakes, hiking trails, cycling trails, floral gardens, indoor tropical orchid garden, tropical butterfly conservatory, and a bird of prey show.  During the spring acres are covered with azaleas.  A vegetable garden is where the PBS show, the Victory Garden, has been filmed.  A chapel next to a lake is available for weddings. 

The butterflies in the conservatory are all tropical in a tropical landscape.  The crystallis are air freighted from Asia and South America.  As the butterflies emerge from the crystallis , personnel release them into the observatory.  This is the same system used by the Butterfly Rainforest in Gainesville, Butterfly World in Coconut Creek, the Butterfly Conservatory

 

 in Key West, and the Butterfly House at Fairchild Gardens.  I am still looking for a butterfly conservatory that uses Florida native butterflies besides Lucas Butterfly Encounter at Lucas Nursery in Oviedo.