Featured Photo from the Field: Many Hands

 

Photo by Zeke du Plessis
Words by Elyse Patten

Many hands present the finished book to those gathered at the celebration for the Naro New Testament in Botswana. This image celebrates that the work of Bible translation is done by a community of people, often representing different villages and churches. Each person brings his or her own faith, understanding, and language skills to the group. Far from being the biased opinion of one translator, a finished New Testament like this one is the result of whole communities discussing and agreeing together on the various theological meanings, names, key words, and idioms. This is no quick process. And when the Scriptures are published, that is not the end. A new generation who will grow up in God’s Word will one day want to revise the translation and update the language used. Reading, studying, discussing, understanding, preaching and translating God’s Word afresh is the job of each new generation of believers.

Video: First Words to Final Printing

This summer you can take advantage of a special matching gift opportunity. When you give to our First Words to Final Printing campaign, your gifts up to $175,000 will be matched dollar for dollar, thanks to committed Wycliffe partners who want to help bring God’s Word to the Bibleless!

Listen to Russ Hersman, Wycliffe USA’s COO, tell about the opportunity in this video:

Go to www.wycliffefirstwords.com to learn more!

Finding Her Place in Bible Translation

By Richard Gretsky

Ninau Ephraim had been content as a secretary. Employed with SIL in her home country of Papua New Guinea, she had joyfully worked for many years.

But, as time went on, Ninau became restless, feeling stuck inside the construction office in which she was working—longing to engage in a different way in the Bible translation effort. She wanted to help teach her people the importance of having God’s Word in their own language.

“I was serving,” Ninau recalled, “but I wanted to be really involved.”

And then an opportunity came for her to become a missionary.

“God opened up a door for me to take a step of faith and work with the national Bible translation organization.”

Elated, Ninau accepted the job with Papua New Guinea Bible Translation Association. She moved to Madang, her home area, to serve as Office Manager—overseeing translation and literacy terms.

Free from the constraints of her previous job, she was able to directly work on the projects, and minister to people whenever she desired.

“I felt I owned the world.”

Impassioned by the New Testament translated into her native Karo language in 2002, Ninau loves helping her people experience that same reality, and regularly rejoicing with them at Bible Dedications.

“People said, ‘Before we got the New Testament, it’s like Jesus was a stranger—not one of us, not a family member. He was outside the house. But now…it’s like Jesus is one of us. He’s a family member. He’s inside the house, inside our hearts. He’s the God of Karo people and speaks right to the heart.’”

It’s that motivation that stays with Ninau, to fervently pursue Bible translation for the 800+ languages in her home country—150 of which are in her home province, and of those, she oversees 8 ongoing translation programs. In total, there are three hundred languages waiting for translations to begin, and many Papua New Guineans like Ninau are serving as secretaries, translators, literacy specialists, and more—leveraging all they have to help the people of Papua New Guinea get God’s Word in their own languages.

Meet Uiko: A Japanese Sign Language Translator

By Anders Kofoed Pedersen*

In a suburb of Tokyo, hidden away in a tiny office full of computer and video screens, Uiko Yano sits with four co-workers watching, editing and re-watching videos of Scripture signed in Japanese Sign Language (JSL). This is the Video Bible (ViBi) team, and they are working on the first ever visual Japanese Sign Language Bible. Uiko has become a critical member of this team. Her journey to get here is something only God could have orchestrated.

Deaf but not different

Uiko grew up in a traditional Buddhist environment on a small island off the western coast of Japan. She was born Deaf just like her parents, her grandparents, her uncles and aunts (except one) and her four siblings. Of the 300 people on the island, 30 were Deaf, and about half of the island’s population knew how to communicate in JSL.

Her first language is Japanese Sign Language. Since so many of the people on the island knew how to communicate in JSL, she didn’t think much about what hearing people thought of her. On the island there were plenty of people just like her, so she never saw herself as different.

Spending so much time with Deaf people in all age groups, Uiko learned the different signs used by older and younger people. This turned out to be a great help when she started working with ViBi many years later.

Coercion did not bring change

At the age of six Uiko entered a Deaf boarding school with her siblings. She was there for 13 years, returning home only during holidays. At school Uiko heard about Christianity for the first time. A group of older girls made the younger girls participate in nightly prayer meetings during their only hour of free time.

“If we didn’t attend they would be mad at us, and there was especially one girl who was quite bossy. I felt liberated when she graduated four years before me! At least I had a few years where I didn’t have to go to the meetings. Surprisingly enough, all this didn’t make me a Christian,” Uiko says with a grin.

Uiko struggled to understand the messages at Christian meetings. The speakers used signs for Christian terminology that she didn’t understand, and no one seemed to be interested in explaining them to her.

The journey to Christ

Uiko didn’t think much more about Christianity until, in her early twenties, she met people engaged in the Video Bible project, including Mark Penner, an American translation consultant who grew up in Japan and has been involved with the Deaf community since his early twenties.

Mark asked Uiko if she would be interested in temporary translation work with ViBi. She needed work and liked translating, so she said yes.

“I worked on the first draft of the Book of Esther, and started to like what I read,” Uiko remembers. “I thought it was nice. I wanted to go to church and tried to visit a few, but didn’t find one that appealed to me.”

ViBi had limited funding and couldn’t yet keep Uiko employed. For six years, Uiko’s connection with ViBi was sporadic, but in 2009 she was asked to become full-time staff.

“We wanted her because she is an absolutely phenomenal translator!” Mark says. “The amount of information and detail she can keep in her head while signing is stunning, and this is so important when you want the flow captured on video.”

Uiko’s first job was to complete a full draft of Matthew’s Gospel. It was time for her to unpack the ‘Christian terminology’ she’d encountered long ago in boarding school. God had plans for her in this in-depth encounter with His Word. While working on the translation and talking with ViBi colleagues, Uiko met Jesus.

Spreading the word…

“It wasn’t one particular passage, but through translating the whole of Matthew I heard God was calling me,” Uiko says.

Mark Penner witnessed this part of her journey toward faith in Jesus.

“I have known her for quite some time now,” shares Mark. ”It’s been an amazing journey to see how she’s opened up to Christ.”

According to Mark, the newness of Uiko’s faith in Jesus has helped her to engage Deaf people in Japan in meaningful conversations about God.

“She [can see] what Deaf people are interested in…” says Mark. “When she talks about Christianity, people get interested—and if they are not, she doesn’t try to force it. People are interested in her new life as a Christian, and she just tells them what she knows…I’m sure she would be a great theologian. She’s not only interested in the Word, she cares about other people.”

Besides what she does for ViBi Uiko desires to meet with people in the Deaf community in smaller groups to help them understand what the Bible says, especially older people.

“A lot of [older people] can’t read or write,” she explains. “I grew up with my Deaf grandparents on the Island and know their signs. A lot of young people don’t know how to speak their signs, but I do. It’s a gift, and I want to use it!”

To every Deaf community

No complete Bible exists yet in any of the hundreds of sign languages used across the globe.

“It is so important for Deaf people to have the Bible in their own language,” explains Uiko. “A lot of Deaf people can read, but it is very difficult for them because it’s not their first language and they would only understand a portion. With the Video Bible in Japanese Sign we can help them to understand so much more.”

So far, Uiko and the team at ViBi have translated 13 books of the Bible into JSL. The ViBi team shares its experience and expertise with other translators across Asia and across the world. They hope that every Deaf community and every Deaf individual will, like Uiko, have the chance to see Jesus speak their own language.

From before the world began

Most recently, Uiko has been translating the book of John. She says it’s been her favorite work so far.

“I’ve just translated the first four verses, where John speaks about how the Word became flesh. It’s beyond imagination to understand that the Word was, even before the world existed. Before working on the translation I couldn’t grasp these verses. Now I see the poetry in them and it gives great meaning,” Uiko says.

For Uiko, every day at the office is about treasuring and translating the Word that was in the beginning. From before the world began, God planned to call her and use her to call Deaf men, women and children to Himself—in their own sign language.

Photos by Marc Ewell. 

This story was written for the Wycliffe News Network.

*Anders Kofoed Pedersen is a freelance journalist and motivational speaker in Denmark.

 

These Bibles Don’t Have Legs

Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea—By Kate King with Tim Scott*

When his motorcycle hit a large rut in the road, Bruce Hansen knew his day was not going to go according to plan. With 20 kg of Bibles in his backpack he hit the ground hard, and pain shot through his shoulder. The Bibles were not going anywhere today.

As a boy in Canada, Bruce honed his riding skills, not knowing that forty years later he would deliver supplies to Bible translators Alex and Lois Vincent in a remote Papua New Guinean (PNG) village—by motorcycle. The Vincents had worked with the Tairora people in the Eastern Highlands of PNG since 1958, and although Bruce was a pilot by day, his weekend motorcycle rides often took him to their village, 19 miles away over dirt tracks. After the Vincents retired, Bruce and his friends continued to visit the villages, and when the revised Tairora Bibles needed distributing, they were the obvious choice of transportation. On Easter Monday, Bruce and two friends loaded up and set off.

But now, propped up by the pack of Bibles and in pain, Bruce wondered how he would get home. A passing driver just happened to be heading towards the town of Ukarumpa, with a half empty truck. Within minutes Bruce was on board. But the Bibles were going in the wrong direction.

Bruce knew he needed a new plan to get the Bibles out. A week later he discovered that pastors from the area were meeting at a nearby village, including many from Tairora. Despite his broken collarbone, Bruce joined them. After sharing about the Bibles, he witnessed God’s plan unfold.

The head pastor challenged his colleagues to take on the task: “These Bibles don’t have arms or legs, they’re not going to get out there on their own!” Bruce then gave boxes of Bibles to seven Tairora pastors and after a short service of dedication, they left. The Bibles were on their way at last!

The day of the accident, Bruce’s plan had been to take Bibles to one Tairora village. Now they were travelling with the pastors to villages he hadn’t even known existed. God had a better plan all along!

*Kate King is the Pacific area communications liaison, and Tim Scott is the chief communications officer for SIL in Papua New Guinea, Wycliffe’s primary strategic partner.

 

 

From Axes to Bibles

By Richard Gretsky

In early 2013, Matt* went to Immi—a village in Papua New Guinea—to get a jump-start on a Bible translation project for the Enga language. While there, he met Joseph, one of the local men who helped him learn the Enga language and culture. Matt was quickly won over by Joseph’s humble, gentle spirit, which is why he was shocked to learn of his new friend’s past.

Joseph had been one of Immi’s most feared warriors—fighting countless battles with neighboring people groups. He was so powerful that he was even hired out as a mercenary who fought for other villages. In the end, when the fighting was done, Joseph was one of the few Immi men left standing.

In 2010 a pastor felt called to start a church in Immi to reach out to those who had experienced heavy fighting. He taught messages on forgiveness, saying, “When Christ died on the cross, He died for all of our sins, even the most heinous.”

When he heard these words, Joseph humbled himself and eventually decided to trust Jesus.

Matt could clearly see how the trajectory of Joseph’s life had changed dramatically. He had become one of his people’s leaders, a man who leverages his life for the well-being of others. When Matt’s time in the village finally came to a close, he took the opportunity to thank Joseph and the other two men who had helped him learn the language and take care of his family. In a ceremony at a local church, Matt presented each man with an axe or machete, and then gave each man a Bible—one in English, one in the trade language of Tok Pisin, and one in a language spoken nearby.

“Before, your lives were based on weapons like these, and you used them to destroy,” Matt announced. “Now your lives are based on the Word of God. And these axes and machetes that you used to use to destroy will now be used to build new houses and build a new life based on the Word of God.”

Joseph locked his arms around the Bible, while tears poured down his cheeks. He tried to speak, but just stood in front of the crowd, eyes focused on that book—his first Bible. He could read the words, but only very slowly, since it wasn’t in his own language and most Engans cannot read well. Even so, Joseph cherished those words.

Today, the translation team is focused on producing an audio Bible—and a physical Bible— for the 300,000 people in the Enga Province. And Engans like Joseph are prepared to fight again, but this time it’s to do whatever it takes to get a Bible in their own language.

*Names have been changed to protect identities.

An Eye for Photography

One Intern’s Experience in Guatemala
By Stephanie Willis

I applied to Wycliffe USA’s internship program thinking I would just be spending the summer in Orlando doing studio photography. But when I was given the option of spending two of my ten weeks in Guatemala as a photojournalist with one of Wycliffe’s GET Global trips, I jumped on the opportunity.

When my team first arrived in Guatemala City, we spent a few days getting acclimated, learning about the translation process, and meeting current translators. Then we traveled to two other cities before getting to our three-day stop in the village of Chim Ban.

We were split into groups of three or four and charged with learning as much of the language and culture as we could. The first day, my group set out to meet new people and learn new words in Acateco, the Mayan language that was spoken there. I got to practice my favorite phrase from this trip many times, “Cheeskay cheweel hapfoto?” or “Can I take your picture?”

A highlight was getting to meet the Gaspar family. They helped us get connected with the children in the village, allowing us to host an impromptu coloring night with silly games. The morning we left, three sweet boys who we’d gotten to know were waiting at our door to help us fold our blankets in exchange for some crackers and M&M’s.

After we left Chim Ban we went to San Miguel for a few days. On Sunday—market day—I had free time to wander around. So I walked up to all sorts of interesting people and asked if I could take their picture. Responses ranged from fear (there is still a stigma that having your picture taken means your soul will be stolen) to amusement. My favorite response was from several older people who looked somewhat surly, but broke out into these cute smiles when I asked to take their picture. One of my favorite portraits was of an older man with a lollipop who was so excited to have his picture taken that he tried to take off his hat and fix his hair, but I encouraged him to stay just as he was.

My time in Guatemala had a pretty big impact on the way I view relationships. Going into the trip I was tempted to not try very hard to build relationships with the other girls on my team because I didn’t think it would be worth the effort for such a short period of time. However as I got to know them and the many people I met in Guatemala, I learned that no matter how much or how little time you have with someone, it is worth it to get to know them as much as possible.

When I got back from my trip, I had the chance to re-design any company I wanted for a graphic design class last fall, I chose to do GET Global.* I want the work I do, even if it’s just for school, to have an impact.

*Click here to view Stephanie’s school project and Guatemala photos.