"You, brothers, have suffered at the hands of the people of your land..."
Dear <<First Name>>,
The Nzanyi workshop is over now and I am working with the other language team whose name I am not free to publish. We're checking 1 Thessalonians. It is an amazing and sobering thing to do an epistle written to a persecuted church for a people group whose church is undergoing persecution. Check out the back-translation of 1 Thessalonians 2:14 in their language:
"My brothers, you have suffered at the hands of the people of your land. Through that, you have become like the people of the Church of God in Judea. For they also suffered at the hands of the people of their land because they believed in Christ Jesus."
I can't talk about how profound this is because I get too choked up. The guys on the team are tracking right with it. We'll be starting with 2:17 tomorrow.
The team shared prayer requests this morning, then we prayed for them. I'll leave their names and some details out:
- One translator asked that we pray for his extended family. His brother and wife just had a baby girl, but the baby has passed away before it was a day old.
- The back-translator asked prayer for his sister. She has been hassled by a spirit. Leaders from the church and other have dealt with it Biblically and things have improved, but she is still hassled from time to time.
- The other translator asks for help with his eyes. He is going to an eye-doctor tomorrow and will either get new lenses or an eye operation (for cataracts). Besides needing his eyes for everything, this man is key to the project, so your prayers are appreciated.
Thank you on behalf of this heroic group of men,
John
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