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Dear Companions of the Road, April 14, 2020
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When we last wrote to you in mid-March, COVID-19 prevention measures had just been put in place in Côte d’Ivoire. As of today there have been 626 confirmed cases, 89 patients recovered, and 6 deaths. At least those are the known cases. So far it has not reached the north that we have heard. But the restrictions that have been imposed have a dramatic effect on life. Schools are closed. Churches can no longer meet. We heard that in the town of Ferkessédougou believers were gathering in groups of three families at a time to worship together on Easter.
And of course this has changed the game plan for the Nyarafolo Scripture-in-Use team, who were focusing on teaching people to read Nyarafolo. Large groups are now banned, but there are some who do not want to miss this chance to learn to read their mother tongue. In the church in the Lanviara district, for instance, where eight people had signed up for the Saturday class, about half of them still come to be taught by Moïse each weekend. (You can see the totals for the classes that were already meeting in the left-hand column.)
But there is always work to do and the team is switching gears. With most literacy classes on hold, they are working on preparing more reading materials for those who finish the primer. These new readers need access to literature that will be easier than the more advanced texts that will be in their Bible. Some booklets have been printed over the years, but many others were put on the back burner while the team pressed to the finish line of the biblical texts. So they are reviewing, for instance, a huge pile of folk tales that need editing -- checking tones and spelling especially. They have also discovered a Sunday School curriculum used in the town of Ferké that they would like to begin translating. There is nothing like that currently available in Nyarafolo!
And since the orthography has been refined over the years, they are working on bringing certain words up-to-date in the primer, and the literacy book for those who can already read French. Their energy is actually amazing!
Another project that is awaiting the right moment is the audio recording of the Nyarafolo New Testament. Theovision in Accra, Ghana, works with U.S.-based Faith Comes by Hearing to set up the recording process on site. They will send one of their staff to Ferké when they have the news that the text has been approved by the Dallas SIL staff -- but of course, that will also depend on when the travel restrictions are lifted in that part of West Africa.
And showings of the Jesus film that had been planned by the Nyarafolo Outreach Group started out with a bang in one village to the north of Ferke, where the people came in huge numbers and were thrilled to see a film in Nyarafolo. But then the restrictions were put in place, and the other villages have to wait.
What we can do, wherever we are, is to pray for all of those working to get out the Word in Nyarafolo and to prepare the Nyarafolo people to be able to read it or hear it when it arrives -- especially praying for the Nyarafolo team and the village pastors.
And we know that the Lord has his purposes in all of this. He is the one calling Nyarafolos into his Family, and he will continue to do it in his timing.
Working with you to get out the Word
to the Nyarafolo,
Linn, for Glenn too
If any of you would like to pitch in and give a donation to the Scripture-in-Use project, please use the link below
for online giving.
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