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Kahayeregue Abdoulaye Katelynn Moise Linnea Tenidihe Kifory
Dear companions of the Road, January 30, 2018
Maybe you've heard one of my favorite Nyarafolo proverbs: "It takes more than one finger to eat gumbo sauce." Gumbo sauce is one of the slimiest, gluey sauces ever, and the only way to get it to your mouth, using your hand (which is the traditional way), is to use all four fingers. It's another way of saying that teamwork is what makes things happen. Our Nyarafolo translation team experiences that truth daily. We perform our specific tasks, whether exegesis, translation drafting and testing, editing, computer gymnastics and printing, or teaching people to read. And then Katelynn Boardwell gave us her Christmas vacation to enter data (almost 5,000 words and their info) from a Nyarafolo-French lexicon into dictionary format software. This was her second time serving with us, and we were all amazed at the way she finished her work so quickly. She is preparing to do Bible Translation herself someday, wherever the Lord leads her. She was our first WorldVenture "Pathfinder" -- and it's obvious she is on the right path!
The rest of us are still here, and need your prayers as we press forward to meet our goal for this year: to have all the New Testament translated and verified, as well as the Pentateuch and Psalms, ready to take the final steps toward printing them together.
Since Glenn and I plan to leave the field in December to begin transitioning to retirement, the calendar is becoming packed with plans to finish well in this project. (The team does want to continue after I leave, to do the rest of the Old Testament, too.) We'll keep you updated on progress! We were able to get Hebrews 1-9.14 verified by a consultant this month. What is coming up soon is the verification of Psalms 120-150 in February (the last O.T. portion!), and of Hebrews 9.15-13.25 and Titus in March. So Moise and I are going to be very occupied at the verification table, using the days in between to translate Titus and 1st and 2nd Peter. Meanwhile Abdoulaye is working on Revelation.
We continue to be funded for the translation side of our project by The Seed Company, and we are SO grateful for the donors they have found. But the literacy side of our work, and building/grounds/maintenance costs, and the needs of our team for crucial equipment such as glasses, are not covered. We depend on the generosity of four couples, in particular, who are contributing to the project for these other needs. But due to some special challenges we've faced there are currently no funds for my co-translator Moise, for example, to get new glasses, and the ones he has are so deficient that we have to make computer text extremely large so that he can read it. If anyone would like to contribute to the project so that such needs could be met, we would be deeply grateful . You can use this link:.https://www.worldventure.com/give/select.php?id=a5RF00000008OXPMA2&type=p
What encourages us more than anything is the growing hunger of the Nyarafolo believers for copies of what has already been translated. Once when I printed out two chapters of Romans (not yet printed in book form) for Glenn to use in a sermon, afterwards two members of the congregation begged to keep those papers. And see the report below on the Christmas Eve service!
Getting out the Word in Nyarafolo,
Linn, for Glenn too
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Hearing the Word
"Pàngɛ gè, Suɔfɔli nyɛ́nì sii yeli mɛ́ Dawuda kàʔa nī gè, wire wī Kulocɛliɛ Siɛnnyiɛnɛgɔnwɔ wè, we Kàfɔli wè."
These kids (and the adults circling the pulpit) had never before heard the story of Christ's birth read from Scripture in their own language -- the youngest ones literally drank in every word, crowding close to the pulpit. This was the most moving moment, for us, of the all-night Christmas Eve celebration at Tiepogovogo. Later, Sunday School kids repeated memory verses in Nyarafolo: Genesis 2:7 and John 3.16. The Lord is giving these kids a hunger for knowing him through his Word!
Then the pastor asked believers to make new songs based on what they've been learning, and bring them to church the first Sunday of January. There were 11 new songs shared that day, along with testimonies, and four new songs the following Sunday. What a powerful way to hide God's Word in your heart, and share it with others!
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Investing in Kids' Futures
Tchewaa, our widowed friend Saly's daughter, is studying accounting at the University in Bouake. By December 2019 she should have received her "Master 2, professional" degree (as they say here). She is a devoted follower of Jesus, a leader in her church youth group. We have been providing for her needs and schooling for years; while at the university, the cost has been $325 per year for school costs and $110 per month for rent, food and other needs.
We are now facing constraints that make it impossible to continue doing this without help. If you would like to contribute to this wonderful young woman's future, and could participate in supporting her to the finish line, please use the compassion fund link in the information at the bottom of the page, and tell us via email that you are partnering with us to help Tchewaa. May the Lord provide!
WE ARE CELEBRATING WITH HABY (below), who has been supported throughout her college years by one of our close friends in the U.S. She just defended her thesis and now has her master's in Spanish -- she received one of the highest marks possible. She is an orphan who was taken in by Saly, who led her to the Lord and provided for her as she could while she was with her. Now Haby is signing up for a supplementary course in education so that she can get a teaching job. Many thanks to her "mother" in the States who makes her success possible!
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Lives saved, two ways!
A couple of weeks ago Pastor Fouhoton showed up at night at our house, asking for funds to go buy anit-venom for one of the Tiepogovogo elders. Penyuole had been bitten by a snake while in his fields, and blood was already streaming from his eyes etc. The government hospital had shrugged and told him to go to the city an hour away. The Baptist Hospital had no anti-venom either, but gave them the name so that they could buy it at the one pharmacy open in town that night. He was treated at the Baptist Hospital, and Penyuole's life was saved.
Then our night guard came asking for prayer for the sister of a friend. Wejuo had used an "enchanted" shovel offered her by a sorcerer, and now he was demanding payment in the form of a child. She tried to get protection from another occult worker, but that one also ended up demanding a child. So Wejuo had taken poison, trying to commit suicide rather than give up a child for their ends (they use body parts to obtain special powers -- the occult is very alive here!). Her brother and our friend took her to the Baptist Hospital, where she received treatment in time. Her life was saved. But her spiritual battles were not over. A hospital employee told her about Jesus, and she put her faith in him. Whenever she suffered recurring visions of sorcerers coming to ask for blood payment, her believing friends prayed with her, and they would disappear. She is finally free of all of this assault -- free in body and soul!
As we've mentioned before, the hospital is in financial distress after the past decades of crises here. Please pray for wisdom as personnel (including Glenn) meet to find solutions. And if you know of medical personnel, doctors or nurses, who could come to help give quality care and share the compassionate love of Christ, please share the need with them. Specific opportunities can be researched here: https://www.worldventure.com/explore/result.php?q=medical
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Congratulations are in order!
Pejuuyaha is another one of our "sons" who has been supported by a friend in the U.S. during high school and then at the University of Bouake. He just received his associate's degree in agriculture, and has been spending the past two months applying for an internship (the next requirement, before he can get a job). Last week he started an internship with ANADER, the agriculture development company, right here in Ferke! His second day at work he accompanied two agents to a village a few miles north of Ferke to give lessons on cultivation in wetlands, and since he was the only Nyarafolo on the team, he spent the whole day translating for them. This could bode well for future employment with them.
And another reason we are excited is that this allows him to stay active in the Tiepogovogo church. Tiepogo is his home village, but he hasn't been able to live there for years because his Muslim/animist father has disowned him because he chose to follow Jesus. (We have heard that his mother would like to follow Jesus too, but is petrified of her husband.) Pejuuyaha often leads the service, and is one of the most enthusiastic leaders in worship dance. May his testimony help break through the barriers!
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