Dr. Halvor thinks it is essential that translators engage in training early. He points out the reaction of some translators after they visit the land: “Students tell us, ‘We should have done this at the beginning of our careers.’” He adds, “One consultant who attended the program said, ‘This course is like an index of my ignorance. I had no idea what resources are available in this country.’

Students expressed how their ministries will be affected by their studies in Israel. Jonah Kwotua, a pastor from Ghana, said: “As a pastor, it [will] change my way of preaching. ... I'm now speaking from experience. ... For example, in my church they are doing Sunday school lessons ... on Nehemiah. We studied about Nehemiah coming from exile to help rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. We read, but it becomes something like a vague picture. You don't think it is real. But over some two weeks ago, we went to Jerusalem, went to the City of David, and we [saw] the wall that Nehemiah helped to build. I had to send pictures of that kind of experience back home.”

John, a Bible translator from Ghana, attested that his education in Israel will impact how he and his team do translation together. He said: “I'll take it and apply it. ... I'll not just be checking and say, ‘Well this one is not good.’ But [we] will sit down [together] and ... I can ... explain things to them that I've learned, so that they can also [understand it more clearly in order to help] translate.”

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