From the time of the very first survey our team did into the Amdu tribe and continuing to now, we have been telling the people what it is we have come to do. We tell them often and we try to make it as clear as possible. We explain to them that we are there to do the following things: 1) learn their language, 2) teach them to read and write in their own language, 3) translate the Bible into their language, 4) teach them (in their heart language) what the Bible says, and 5) hand this work over to them to carry on.
Even though we think we are being very clear, sometimes the people are still confused about why we are there! We keep plugging along and pray that as we continue to do what we have said we are going to do, they will see the progress we are making and grow more excited about the things that are coming.
When we left Amdu for furlough earlier this year, we were right in the middle of CLA (culture/language acquisition). Our teammates who remain in the tribe continue to work hard to gain fluency in both the language and culture. As you can see from the above list, learning the tribal language is the first step in the process of church planting in Amdu.
Just this past week, our team reached a huge milestone in accomplishing the second goal. In order to teach the Amdu people to read and write in their own language, we must first develop an alphabet. We won’t bore you with explaining the whole process of how that happens. However, we are happy to share that for the first time in history there is now an alphabet in the Amdu language!!! There are still many steps and much work ahead before we can begin teaching the people to read and write, but this milestone is a big one. Praise the Lord with us for this accomplishment. And please continue to pray for our team and the Amdu people as well. Our teammates have been working hard and it is so neat to see these steps being made.
Even though leaving family and friends will be hard, we are excited to get back to the tribe and continue to work towards gaining fluency in the Amdu language. Our Amdu friends need to hear God’s message and that is now one step closer to happening!