DOOR-Asia/Europe, Manila, Philippines
Translation Consultant Assistant in Training
Julia, the sole survivor of triplets, was born in Hanover, PA, and grew up in a Mennonite home as the oldest of six children.
While attending a private Christian Day School in her hometown, she became a Christian at age 14. During this time she became interested in missions. The Lord called her into personal involvement in missions while she was a student at Gallaudet University (the only university for the Deaf in the world) from 1989 to 1992.
After Julia worked and trained others in hotel housekeeping for several years, God led her to DOOR. She successfully completed DOOR's one-year intensive training in Chronological Bible Storying (CBS). In 1999, after graduation, she became a missionary to Budapest, Hungary with DOOR-Europe.
Julia’s official title was Director of Hospitality, Special Events and Residence. She spent a great deal of her time helping the Deaf students adjust to DCLTC (Deaf Christian Leadership Training Center) life and responsibilities. Julia did most of the planning and preparation for Easter, Christmas, birthdays, student graduations, and many other events. She also helped guests and visitors to feel comfortable and welcome, and to see the sights of Budapest.
In November of 2005, Julia and the DOOR-Europe/Asia team relocated to Chiang Mai, Thailand. The team’s name was changed to DOOR-Asia/Europe.
In 2006, Julia relocated to the Philippines where she is in training with Wycliffe International to become a Translation Consultant Assistant. This will enable her to help Deaf translation teams as they translate the portions of Scripture (CBS) into the different Sign Languages of the world. Not only has she been working on “back translations” for the ASL (American Sign Language) Bible stories (translations from ASL to written English for non-signing translation consultants), but, recently, she spent one month in Kenya (DOOR-Africa) assisting translation consultants as they checked the Kenya Sign Language translation. Part of her training is to assist a Deaf team from the Philippines with their CBS translation into Filipino Sign Language.