If you ask David and Naomi Coward where home is, they will say, “Home is where the Lord sends us.” They actually have a small sign in their house that says just that.

The closest place to home (in the US) would be Virginia and North Carolina where they attended college and where family members live. Naomi graduated from Liberty Baptist College with a degree in Missions, while David graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in Engineering. Some years later, while on furlough, David also earned a Master’s Degree.

David and Naomi both joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in the ‘80s while they were still single. They were married in 1984, and their daughter Hannah was born in 1990.

As missionaries with Wycliffe, their assignment took them to Southeast Asia where one of their first tasks involved learning the language and culture of the place they have since come to love and now consider home.

In 1999, their work of community development and translating portions of Scripture into one of the minority languages was suddenly interrupted. Internal violence erupted in the area where they were working, resulting in the need for the Cowards to be evacuated.

In 2002, they were able to return to Southeast Asia. They continued working with the same language group, but took on more of a training and consultant role as the mother tongue translators formed their own organization. In the past few years, this translation team has been able to draft portions of Genesis, Luke, Acts, James and Revelation.

In 2008 the Cowards returned to the U.S. Currently, due to visa constraints, the Cowards are based out of the U.S., in Waxhaw, NC, where they continue working by telecommuting with the translation team via e-mail and Skype, and by reviewing and editing the translation team’s drafted scripture portions. The Cowards travel to the language area two or three times a year to work directly with the team on revisions. 

Some of their other work includes training the team in translation principles, data management, and basic computer skills. Naomi also helps them and others in the area with the development of village libraries. David continues to consult in the area of translation software development.

Hannah was married to Ben Ward in May 2010 and graduated from Liberty in May 2011 with a degree in graphic design. They had their first child, Tatiana, in September 2011. They currently live in West Virginia where Hannah is pursuing her Master of Fine Arts (online), works in a bank, and does freelance graphic design work.

Please be in prayer for the local NGO in the language area which is made up of mother tongue translators. They are currently navigating the red tape involved in getting registered with their government’s Department of Religion so they will be able to sponsor visas for expat translation consultants, including David and Naomi. Also pray for those times the Cowards are with the translation team because there can be spiritual opposition that often comes in the form of problems with equipment, sickness, distractions in the form of family issues, bad weather that prevents people from traveling by boat and air, and a kind of fog that settles in the brain, obscuring the Word. Please continue to pray that the power of the Word in their own language will penetrate their hearts with the Truth, changing lives for His Kingdom.