I’m writing a book!
Okay, so I’ve actually already written it.
In 2023 I published my first devotional book The Way of Gratitude. Since then I’ve had it in my mind to release it in multiple languages, but was never quite sure where to start.
My husband and I have a friend from Burma who speaks Chin and is passionate about supporting American Chin churches in their creative spaces like worship, sound, lights, and design. We would love to support these churches, too, so I thought maybe this would be the first language I pursued. But I’ve never translated a book into another language before, and neither has our friend Phun. Our knowledge and the timing hasn’t been quite right… yet.
So although this has been a passion of mine since the book was written, I pushed the idea out of my mind and have focused on other writing projects. I released another devotional, Empowered, and have begun another book. I’ve written articles, discipleship curriculum, spiritual formation workbooks, and more.
Nevertheless, the idea of translating my first book kept circling back into my mind. So much so that it has distracted me from writing this new book! I would try to write, but just couldn’t make it work. Something in me kept saying, “Not yet. We’re not done with The Way of Gratitude.”
Escribo Libros
At the same time this cycle of writing a new book, stopping writing, starting again, and stopping again was going on, I visited Faithful Servant Missions in San Ramón, Costa Rica. I traveled to the mission for a week in October 2023, between the release of The Way of Gratitude and my 21 Days of Gratitude Challenge. As I would meet new people on this trip to Costa Rica I’d introduce myself as a writer, saying “Escribo libros.”
It would have made sense that a Spanish version would be my next step.
But of course I wasn’t even thinking about it! It was time for marketing and podcasting and all the things to do that lets people know you’ve written a book! I thought about how I could offer more resources along with the book that would give readers more support for their faith! I thought of the advice I heard to release a new book on the same date every year to build trust with your readers, and how I needed to start writing the next one!
This is easily the most distracting part of my work. The “business” of ministry and just doing ministry are completely different.
Mi Amigo Jafeth
While in Costa Rica I spent some time getting to know the mission staff and church leaders. Many of them speak both English and Spanish, and some would act as translators for us. One of them, Jafeth, was preparing for an upcoming surgery. It was going to be an intense surgery with significant recovery time. We spent many days praying for him and his family as they prepared.
After I returned back to the states, Jafeth went in for surgery, and as I’m writing this over a year later, he is finally nearing the end of his recovery. Mi amigo Jafeth is strong, resilient, optimistic, and excited to return to his work at the mission!
Jafeth has always been very active and vibrant, both in his work and faith. So as his recovery dragged on I couldn’t help but wonder if he could or would want to translate my book? I wasn’t sure if he would be feeling up to it physically. And my book isn’t necessarily the easiest to translate–it contains a few made-up words! But I didn’t want to make the decision for him, so I asked.
He said yes.
And I returned to Costa Rica a few months later with a copy of my book for him.
The Deadline
With another trip planned to Costa Rica in January 2025, I knew Jafeth was working diligently on the translation, but wasn’t sure if it would be done. Between physical therapy, planning his wedding, and regular life stuff, I didn’t know what progress to expect. I’ve never translated a book before, remember? I gave him freedom to work at his own pace, knowing he would write when he could and rest when he needed to.
That is, until I got a call about speaking at a women’s retreat in March with a large portion of the audience being Spanish speakers.
This was my “If you build it, they will come” moment! Suddenly the path to get here made sense:
- The hesitancy and struggle I had felt about writing a new book was because there was more to do with this first one!
- My desire to help my friend who was recovering to not be bored, make some extra income, and have something purposeful and life-giving to focus on all made sense!
- Even returning to Costa Rica for the third time in 16 months had a renewed purpose!
And to top it all off, I now had a Spanish-speaking audience to make my book available to.
So I asked Jafeth if he thought the book could be done in time for me to have it printed and ready for the conference, knowing this may be much too soon of a deadline for him to work with.
Once again, he said yes.
El Camino de la Gratitud
The Way of Gratitude will be available in Spanish, El Camino de la Gratitud, in just a few weeks.
Even as I write this, it’s a bit surreal. The journey of publishing a book has been full of great surprises. It has been immeasurably more than all I could ask or imagine. And now seeing my book become available in another language makes me feel so full of emotions I can’t quite explain it.
I guess “grateful” is the right word to use. Fitting, isn’t it?
You can purchase The Way of Gratitude in English now, and be sure to subscribe to my email newsletter to be notified when El Camino de la Gratitud becomes available!
