à ʼbɛɛ sa ʼpii Yesu tũrũ, yuwe yi ʼoo lɔɔlɔ yo,
ã ʼbɛɛ sa ʼpii yi tũrũ, yuwe yi ʼoo lɔɔlɔ.
Let’s follow Jesus, He’s the One who is the Savior, oh!
Let’s follow Jesus, He’s the One who is the Savior.
Imagine a group of My People, gathered under a big tree in one of their villages, singing this song as they dance, clap and rejoice. Though I am not there to see it, I hear that it’s happening! I hear that there is a small but growing church among My People, and when they meet they sing praises in My Language!
One of my projects since being back is to take a few of those songs in audio form and write them out, making what is essentially the first hymnal or Christian songbook in My Language! It only has 8 songs for now, but they have been talking about getting me some more audios so that it can keep growing. Every big thing needs to start small!
One exciting thing about having these songs written down is that it gives us a chance to discuss little details and to make minor changes that won’t just be forgotten. Some are changes that they wonder about, like, “Should we be saying ‘I praise Him’ or ‘We praise Him?'” And some are changes that I wonder about, like, “Should we use the borrowed word from Jula there, or instead change it to a key term we discussed in My Language?” “Is this spelled correctly?” “What are the connotations of using that word? We know what we’re trying to say, but is that the meaning that is coming across here?” There are definitely benefits to having things written down!
But we don’t just have plans for paper and ink here. Someone with another organization has said that once we’re sure the songs are good, and especially that there is no heresy in them, she wants to help the My People church record them in the recording studio of the local Christian radio station so that they can be on the radio and can be passed around from telephone to telephone as well!
After all of these years working on minute details of language and writing, it’s exciting to see them being used to create something tangible to point people to Jesus!
Are the people singing in our language ? Doing that seems backward ie. teaching the people to sing hymns (in English) I’m trying to think of how either language would sound. I don’t know!
I’m not a missionary and I’m sure you can do the translation. I’ve never thought about the concept, but it would be great for them to be able to praise the Lord.
We pray for your safety and your work every day.
I have been studying the book of Revelation lately. I took Revelation and Daniel in Bible College, but that was in the 1969s. I’m learning more now than when I was in B.C.
Love you Susie. Glad that we have the opportunity to help you.
If you need more financial help, let us know. We help another lady in Ethnos 360, and several from other Christian causes.