Linda Markowski’s Wisconsin roots run deep. She grew up in Oconto, moved to Green Bay in third grade, graduated from Southwest High School and earned an elementary education degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
After graduation Linda returned to Northeastern Wisconsin and spent five years teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in Green Bay, primarily at Chappell Elementary.
So how do you explain that Linda, with strong local ties and who admittedly is reluctant to make dramatic decisions, has been living in Southeast Asia for the past 15 years, including the last decade working on a Bible translation project with a team of national colleagues?
The only plausible explanation is that Linda has followed God’s leading, one small step at a time.
“I feel God has prepared me to do it,” she said. “I find so much joy in it. Now I cannot not do it."
Linda receives some of her financial support from Green Bay Community Church, where she started attending in 1990. She has been back in Wisconsin since late September and will return to Southeast Asia in early January.
It’s been a long journey from Green Bay to the other side of the planet, but Linda has taken baby steps to get there.
“Everything was a little step,” she said. “I don’t like big steps."
Markowski got a taste for what life was like in other countries early on. She traveled to China while in college, and during her teaching stint in Green Bay one summer visited a refugee camp in Southeast Asia.
Those overseas experiences helped prompt Linda to leave her teaching job and move to Dallas to spend a year in a linguistics training program. That led to a two-year teaching commitment in Papua New Guinea before she moved to Southeast Asia, where she studied the national language and earned her Master’s degree in linguistics.
In 2005 she moved to a more rural area in Southeast Asia to learn the minority language there and later helped local community members develop a writing system for their language. Starting in 2010 Linda has been the academic advisor for a local translation team consisting of two men and two women, and their goal is to translate the entire New Testament into the native language.
A total of 15 of 27 New Testament books are completed with six more books in progress and another six that haven’t been started. Linda estimates it will take three to four more years to complete.
“I’m committed to seeing it through to the end,” she said.
Linda lives in a simple cement block house, drives a pickup truck and has a few modern conveniences like a washing machine, stove, electricity and Internet access. The climate is hot, with average temperatures ranging between 80 and 100 degrees year-round.
Rice is a major diet staple, and the local people gather as much food as they can from the environment, which includes fruits, vegetables, leaves, bugs and fish.
Linda has to travel a half hour to the nearest grocery store, but there’s a local fresh market with vegetables and tropical exotic fruit like mangos, guava and pineapple. She also grows bananas in her backyard.
When asked about the biggest misconception people have of her working in a distant land, Linda replied: “That I’m somehow different or special. Really all of us who are Christians are called to share with those around us. In the great commission Jesus said, ‘Go and make disciples and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.' I do that in one way. We all do it in our own ways, sharing with our neighbors. I’m not that much different than anybody else. There’s nothing special about me just because I do it in a different country. We all do it in different ways. We’re all called to live obediently and to share with others."
Linda said it’s exciting to see the locals reading for the first time, a skill that’s often taken for granted in the United States.
“I come and try to help them,” Linda said. “They are so appreciative and excited about learning something. Also seeing the translation team grow spiritually as they learn more and more about God’s word is rewarding."
Linda has seen the translation team members go from viewing the Bible as mere words on paper to something that can transform their lives.
“The teaching it gives them, they see how it can help them,” Linda said. “It’s not just a religion, it’s a relationship. The Bible helps them grow, change. … it comforts them."
Linda's hope is that the translation team members live out what they learn from Scripture so others in the community take notice.
“The biggest thing is seeing, watching them learn that the Bible is meant for them,” she said. “That it’s meant to change them and to help them deal with life. They tend to be a people who do things because they’re supposed to, without thinking too much or feeling things."
Linda likely won’t return to the U.S. for another two years. While there are things she will miss, such as family, friends and the change of seasons, she can't imagine doing anything else.
"I don’t think long term,” Linda said. “I just do one thing at a time. If it works, just keep doing it. I see the need and I see how the Lord is growing me through it. With the investment in learning the language, the more you learn the more opportunity you have to make a difference. It’s just getting really exciting now. You see growth in people you’re working with and the programs. Why quit now?"
