It is October 24………….and we are almost halfway thru our current trip to the Philippines. We hit the ground running, so to speak…….lots of plans and prescribed timetables in our minds…..but events happening here and unexpected challenges in the translation work quickly brought us back to reality and well, here we are……busy, and moving forward BUT……well, let us explain.
Translation Issues
The work of getting the text in a final form for printing is taking longer than we expected. And here’s why. Since the time that the Kalanguya NT was first translated in1983 and even since its first revision in 2001, there have been more changes in the Kalanguya language along with the people’s knowledge of the Word. The later is a good thing, of course. Also the people’s interaction with the trade languages of the Philippines thru education has also influenced them to conceptualize metaphors and figures of speech more accurately thus making it possible to remove implied meanings from the text and insert necessary information for clarity in footnotes. Some of the language changes we had not anticipated but we are working with very good tribal trained translators and know that their understanding of not only their own language changes but also translation principles compels us to listen carefully to their suggestions. Consequently, we are projecting that the New Testament revision will go into next year before we can submit the whole Bible for printing. In some ways, that’s a bit discouraging but at the same time, when this Bible does go to print, we want its usage to be for a long time and not go “out of style” too quickly. The 2001 version of the New Testament and the Old Testament are in digital format and many of the people who now use smart phones have them as well as our songbook on their phones. That will help with printing costs as we may not have to print as many Bibles as originally anticipated. PRAY for patience, wisdom and strength to keep going.
Our plans for working with Grace School of Theology have been hampered by the lack of good internet. We finally are in contact with a company that will hopefully be able to give us fiber optic capability but we are still waiting on that! Some things just do not happen quickly here and we exercise patience everyday! In the meantime, leaders from NTM of the Philippines (Filipino co-workers) have been teaching a course in Christian Leadership and Pastoral Ministry to several of our church leaders and teachers. Their commitment to continue to further the tribal folks’ understanding of the Word and the function of the local church has been much appreciated!
Just to keep things interesting…..just after we arrived here, we began hearing the constant daily sound of dump trucks, front loaders and cement mixers and many men working right ON our CFM property! A new bypass road is being built that will go around the edge of our property which is on the outskirts of town instead of through the middle of town to lessen the load of traffic that passes thru on its way to Manila.…….a road that is incidentally taking away some of our land here at CFM!! A huge PLUS in this is that the road will provide us more protection from the river which had bordered our property and which has caused some flooding in past rainy seasons. This area where we live is known as the vegetable capital of the province, vegetables distributed as far away as Manila. They are brought to a huge buying station on the other side of town, then loaded into big trucks. So the road work is going on almost on top of us and is progressing rapidly! Bob and I walk out there everyday to see the progress, knowing this is good for the town, but grateful that none of the land being “taken” from CFM has any housing on it! (We hear we will be reimbursed us for the value of the land….we hope) Aaaah, progress! It has added a measure of excitement to each day! And the workers have been friendly and helpful in explaining just what they are doing!
Writing newsletters and typing Bob’s teaching notes have always been my main part of the ministry, that is, since the early days when typing translated Scripture text kept me busy!)………..along with making sure we have clean clothes to wear and meals on some kind of schedule that fits in with whatever each day holds! My lifelong job……making sure Bob is ready for whatever is next!
We are still actively trying to get word out to friends (and friends of friends) that funds need to be raised to get the Kalanguya Bible into print next year! We are about halfway to our goal. Bibles will cost about $10 apiece so any gift, large or small, will be appreciated.
There are 3 avenues for giving to this project:
- For giving using a credit card, we have a printing fund on the ETHNOS360 website https://ethnos360.org/projects/kalanguya-bible-printing
- There is a GoFundMe page on Facebook that thankfully has been shared numerous times! www.gofundme.com/first-kalanguya-bible-in-print. You can give directly or if you want a tax-deductible receipt for your gift, clicking on the words KALANGUYA BIBLE that you see at the bottom of the GoFundMe page will take you to the link you see above in #1.
- You can send a check to the Mission, 312 W First Street, Sanford, FL 32771-1231. Write the check to New Tribes Mission or Ethnos360. Include a slip of paper that says “Kalanguya Translation: Philippine Field Fund”. Your gift will go through the mission’s home office, then sent directly to our mission office in the Philippines.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR GIFTS AND PRAYERS, YOUR LOVE AND CONCERN FOR US AND OUR MINISTRY!
WE LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU!