About us

Nick is from Christchurch, New Zealand, and Lydia is from North Carolina, USA. We met at the Canada Institute of Linguistics while studying for our Master's degrees. While studying, we got caught up in the excitement of Bible translation and felt called to the mission field. We officially began our journey as Bible translators when we became Wycliffe members in 2020.

How are we serving?

We are moving to Iquitos, Peru in order to help provide a complete Bible for the Napo Quechua community in their own language. They are a group of about 32,000 who live in communities along the Napo River in northeastern Peru. The Napo Quechua people’s wellbeing as a community is greatly hindered by shamanism and alcoholism, and they need to be set free by God’s truth.

Still, there are those in the community who have encountered Scripture, realized that they no longer needed alcohol or shamanism to dull the pain of life, and found freedom in Jesus. We know that we will see more set free through God’s Word, and we’re excited to be a part of what He is doing.

Why Bible translation?

In 1980, the crucifixion story had been read every year at a Cameroonian church in the language of wider communication—French. One year, this church decided to read the story in the local language of Yambetta. Even though they had heard this story every year and already understood French, the attendees began weeping and said, “We have never heard this story before. We had no idea that someone would love us enough to suffer and die for us.”

When a person hears a message in their heart language—a person’s first language that they grew up speaking, the weight of it touches both the mind and the heart. If a person speaks a second language, like French for example, they would likely get the gist of the message in French, but it wouldn’t reach their hearts. It’s the same case with Scripture.

We felt called to work in Bible translation because we want God’s words to touch people's hearts deeply and transform them.

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