{"id":671,"date":"2015-05-26T17:30:52","date_gmt":"2015-05-26T22:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/?p=671"},"modified":"2015-05-26T17:30:52","modified_gmt":"2015-05-26T22:30:52","slug":"zina-jlamtes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/2015\/05\/26\/zina-jlamtes\/","title":{"rendered":"Zina’ Jlamtes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"116_0925\"<\/a>
Waiting for the celebration to start.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Can you remember the first time that you held a Bible in your own heart language?<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span> My guess is that you probably don’t remember all that clearly. Or if you do remember, it’s not all that important a memory to you. Let’s face it, it’s been hundreds of years now that we’ve had the Bible in our language. While it should amaze us practially every single morning, there is potential for apathy to set in. I recently was renewed in my love of God’s Word as I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be part of a Bible celebration. A celebration 40 years in the making. A celebration of which the enemy himself, I’m sure, had sought out to thwart on numerous occasions. A celebration for the Manj\u00fai people of Paraguay. The day in which they recieved their very own copy of God’s Word, “Zina’ Jlamtes” as they call it, in their own heart language, the very first,\u00a0and the only one of its kind….<\/p>\n

Let me set the stage for you…<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

A mixture of smoke and dust hung in the air that afternoon. Three huge fires were being prepared for the celebration feast. Americans, Germans, Paraguayans, and Manj\u00fai were scattered about sitting on the muddy ground. The mud was fresh from a rare chaco rain storm that blew in the day before. Dog fights broke out among us as the aroma of the raw meat hit the noses of the half starved Manj\u00fai dogs.\u00a0Amid the chaos, the singing began…<\/p>\n

\"All<\/a>
All of the men who had a part in translation ready to receive their Bibles with a marker.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We sang songs in Spanish, and then the Manj\u00fai sang songs in their own. I watched my wife’s face. As if out of nowhere, the words to those songs long forgotten seeped back into her memory, a language she’d not spoken since she was a child. I knew she was thinking of her dad, and the ministry he had for years among the Manj\u00fai. As I sat there and watched her, I couldn’t help but be reminded that her dad was one of the first white people who spoke Manj\u00fai to slip into eternity and be reunited with other believing Manj\u00fai. She was enjoying every moment of this. The songs ended, and then, it was time…<\/p>\n

The missionary behind the translation stood up and asked everyone who had a part of the translation process to stand up. As I sat there and watched these men stand up, I noticed that they couldn’t help but leaf through the pages. They didn’t care that the missionary was talking and explaining, they wanted to see those words in writing. I tried to fathom how significant this truly was not only for these men who had a part in translation, but the Manj\u00fai as an entire people group. Wow! The emotion inside my chest was practically exploding. To have God’s Word in your own language for the very first time, and a good translation at that, there’s just nothing like it. This was, indeed, a great celebration.<\/p>\n

\"Manj\u00fai<\/a>
Manj\u00fai pastor (who Leah’s dad discipled) passing out Bibles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few moments later, the missionary and Manj\u00fai pastors began to bring in the white bundles of Bibles and lay them on the ground. The Manj\u00fai pastors and leaders ripped through the plastic and grabbed stacks and passed them out. This went on, for what I’m guessing was twenty minutes or so! Bible after Bible was passed out and the looks on peoples faces were priceless. The Manj\u00fai people now have Zina’ Jlamtes\u00a0in their own language.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

But just having God’s word doesn’t mean anything, does it? Why does it matter if you have God’s word but you don’t care to read it? My fellow co-worker, Jeff, who grew up with, and now works with the Manj\u00fai, shared this request from the Manjui church just weeks before the celebration:\u00a0<\/em>“We will soon have the printed Bible in our hands!\u00a0 We have not yet seen the book of Revelations in our language.\u00a0 It would be good if you came back to live in the village for a time to help teach Revelations and to help us as a church to understand the Bible as one story.\u201d<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Can you believe that?! The Manj\u00fai people have the entire New Testament (and portions of the Old Testament) in their language, and they want to understand it. If you ask me, that’s what it’s all about people. Seeing people come to place their faith in Jesus Christ, grow in their maturity as a believer, recieve God’s Word in their language, and desire to understand it.<\/p>\n

\"Zina'<\/a>
Zina’ Jlamtes (God’s Words)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As the people lined up to eat, I had a chance to reflect on what I had just witnessed. I realized that I may never see an event like this again. Come on! 40 years of work went into this! The odds of having a chance to see this again are very slim, but as a young, new missionary, this gave me an awesome chance to see what God can do through the lives of His children when we trust Him and walk with Him throughout ministry. I’m so thankful for the lives of all those who came before us here on our field, and the chance we had to see God’s word go out among the formerly unreached.\u00a0The day in which the Manj\u00fai recieved Zina’ Jlamtes-God’s Words… What will you do with your copy of Zina’ Jlamtes?<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Can you remember the first time that you held a Bible in your own heart language? My guess is that you probably don’t remember all that clearly. Or if you do remember, it’s not all that important a memory to you. Let’s face it, it’s been hundreds of years now that we’ve had the Bible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jared-haynes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}