We hope you’ll be encouraged reading about God’s working in two tribal groups and a little personal update.
Unconditional love
The verbs for the Hdi language in Cameroon consistently end in one of three vowels. Almost every verb ends in i, a, and u. But the word for love was only found with i and a. Why no u? The missionary asked the Hdi translation team which included the most influential leaders in the community “Could you ‘dvi’ your wife?”. “Yes,” they said. “That would mean that the wife had been loved but the love was gone.” “Could you ‘dva’ your wife?” “Yes,” they said. “That kind of love depended on the wife’s actions. She would be loved as long as she remained faithful and cared for her husband well.” “Could you ‘dvu’ your wife?” Everyone laughed. “Of course not! If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water, never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would be compelled to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say ‘dvu.’ It just doesn’t exist.”The missionary sat quietly for a while, thinking about John 3:16, and then he asked, “Could God ‘dvu’ people?” There was complete silence for three or four minutes; then tears started to trickle down the weathered faces of these elderly men. Finally they responded. “Do you know what this would mean? This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected His great love. He is compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people.” One simple vowel and the meaning was changed from “I love you based on what you do and who you are,” to “I love you, based on who I am. I love you because of me and not because of you.”
God had encoded the story of His unconditional love right into their language. For centuries, the little word was there—unused but available, grammatically correct and quite understandable.
Adapted from a letter titled One Little Vowel, published to staff of Wycliffe USA on 30 July 2012
This is why we minister here at the MTC. This is why we teach grammar to the missionary candidates. So that:
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship
before thee. Psalm 22:27
About us
Lukas is back in public school after being homeschooled during our travels. It was difficult to let him go again. Niklas spends his days at home working on many building projects and playing with Anna. She is becoming a very active 9 month old. She is crawling and cruising and loves to laugh. Our desire is to teach our kids godly ways and attitudes and to help them learn to walk closely with him.
It’s a busy semester even though Dennis doesn’t have his usual class. He will be teaching a basic grammar course soon and is working on many aspects of the linguistics course. Monika doesn’t get bored with 3 kids and also helps out a little here at the Missionary Training Center, specifically in the Linguistics department.
Please don’t stop praying for us. Pray for us to grow in our awe of the Lord and in our walk with him. Please pray that we would follow the leading of the Holy Spirit so we can be fruitful for him in any way he desires. This is what we are praying for you as well.
The Biem people
“I am so free! I used to think all the good things I do would get me to heaven. But every night when I go to sleep, I knew I had not the slightest clue where I’d go if I die. So I’d get up the next morning, trying to do more ‘works’ so I can go to heaven. Now I know that Jesus paid for my sin debt and He said ‘It is ‘finished’. I am so free.”
This is a testimony from one of the new believers. The missionaries in the Biem tribe in Papua New Guinea, who were students here not that long ago, just finished the chronological Bible teaching and many got saved.
Because of his unconditional love for us,
Have a joyful day,
Dennis & Monika with Lukas, Niklas and Anna