Thank you for praying for our team as we hit another milestone here in Amdu – our very first Bible translation check! Our consultant Jason was recently here with us for about 3 days and during that time he was able to officially check 9 chapters – 4 chapters in Genesis that Bart had done, as well as 3 chapters in Exodus and 2 chapters in Numbers that our teammates Benjamin and Missy had done. All of this was part of the training to officially get the go-ahead to become approved translators. Our consultant was encouraged with how well the check went!
We’ll give you an idea of how the process worked. Our consultant would ask Bart to read a chunk of the text that he had translated into Amdu. The Amdu guys helping (who had not previously heard the translated material) listened and then told our consultant in Melanesian Pidgin (the trade language here in PNG) what they heard. It was pretty neat to see how they could listen to large chunks and be able to very accurately retell what they had heard. That shows us that the translation was very natural to them, and therefore easily understood!!
Our consultant Jason, Bart and 3 Amdu guys during the translation check
Jason had lots of good advice for us and was able to answer many questions we had about the whole translation process. We are very thankful for his experience and expertise in this area! There were only a few places in the text where corrections needed to be made for accuracy. Those have been completed, and we now have 9 chapters of the Bible officially translated into the Amdu language! However, there is much more to go!
Last year at this time we were still in the trenches of culture and language learning. Since then all four of us on the team have finished formal culture and language learning (although of course we are still learning!). The first literacy class has graduated, and the second one is going very well and getting close to graduation. And now with this translation check, we have the first portions of Scripture in the Amdu language! But just having Scripture available is not the goal. We are working towards chronologically teaching our Amdu friends God’s Truth from the beginning – building a foundation for them to be able to understand all of God’s message of salvation! That day is getting closer all the time, but there is still much work to be done in preparation. Please continue to pray for our team as we make decisions and plan for the coming months.
Thank you for praying with us and rejoicing in these milestones! We are grateful for the larger team that is a part of the ministry in Amdu through prayer, financial support and encouragement. Thank you!!