Norman woman shares her faith on mission trip to Guatemala

Milarosa Braaten, 19, of Norman, recently got a firsthand glimpse of the international organization's methodology.

Braaten attended a Wycliffe mission trip to Guatemala July 15-Aug. 4.

Braaten, a linguistics major, said she is attending classes at Oklahoma City Community College as well as the University of Oklahoma in Norman. She said she learned about Wycliffe several years ago while she was a homeschool student.

Braaten said she signed up to be considered for one of the organization's mission trips several months ago and was pleased when she learned that she had been selected to be part of one of Wycliffe's student mission teams. As a member of Christ Community Church, a Southern Baptist-affiliated congregation in south Oklahoma City, Braaten said she knew she wanted to experience overseas missions, plus Wycliffe's mission fit hand-in-hand with her college major.

She said she and 11 other college students participated in a week of training sessions in Dallas before traveling to Panajachel, Guatemala, as part of the mission trip. Panajachel is a town in the Guatemalan highlands.

Braaten said the point of the trip was to show the students exactly what Bible translators do. She said she initially thought Bible translation would be a quick process. However, she said she learned during her trip that translators must spend time learning about different cultures so they will know how best to translate Scripture, what words may have different meanings and other cultural information.