Each financial quarter, our dear friends at The Seed Company send out a brief report on the progress of our Roma Bible translations, so prayer partners can see the progress and pray for the needs. In this e-mail I am sharing portions of that so you can know and pray as well. This is a synopsis of Q1 for 2019 which covers October-December 2018.
Construction worker Zoki has begun translating Open Bible Stories into Ludari. Sharing a house with his parents, his wife and two small children, and five of his siblings, he is building a house for himself by his parents’ house, in the Roma neighborhood in the town where the Prices live.
He and Todd meet weekly to translate a Bible story, though Zoki has rarely written his Roma dialect before. They work out the orthography and spelling. Zoki never complains and won't accept money, so Todd brings coffee and appropriate treats.
Todd says, “We must put ourselves in the shoes of those who will one day listen to or read this translation. It helps us to put a name to this representative person, most likely an unbeliever with little Bible background. We ask ourselves, ‘How would he or she understand this passage when he or she hears it for the first time?’"
PRAISE GOD FOR THE PROGRESS
In the Arli language:
- We finished the back translation into Serbian of Luke 8:1-11:13, Philemon, Hebrews and James
- We finished an English back translation and exegetical check of Luke 8:1-11:13
- We finished the second edit of Luke 1-3; 8:34-12:52
- We did the first rough draft of Genesis 14-24
In the Bayash language:
- We finished the back translation into Croatian of Luke 1-3; 8:1-11:13; 13-19
- We finished the back translation into English and exegetical check for Luke 8:1-11:13
- We did the second edit of Luke 1-3
- We did the first rough draft of Genesis 32-36 and Joshua 13-19
In the Chergash language:
- We finished the back translation into Serbian of Luke 8:1-11:13, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 1, 2 and 3 John
- We finished an English back translation and exegetical check of Luke 8:1-11:13
- We finished the second edit of Luke 1-3, 8:31-13:2
- We made a first rough draft of Genesis 49-Exodus 21
In the Gurbet language:
- We finished the back translation into Serbian of Luke 8:1-11:13, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James and 1 Peter
- We finished the English back translation and exegetical check of Luke 8:1-11:13
- We made a first rough draft of Leviticus 14-27, Numbers 1-14
In the Ludari language:
- We made a first rough draft of Open Bible Stories 2-13
- We began a Ludari dictionary and grammar
HERE IS A SAMPLE TRANSLATION IN CHERGASH, FOLLOWED BY ENGLISH“Aver palem napokon pelo pe lačhi phuv, niknosarda thaj bijanda šeldrom majbut." Phendas godova thaj čhuta muj: "Putaren tumare kan te svatisaren so ašundine!" (Chergash)
“Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop that was a hundred times as much as had been planted!” When he had said this, he called out, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand” Luke 8:7-8 (NLT).
PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR TEAM
Project coordinator Todd
Translators Biljana, Đena, Goran, Kada, Nataša, Nedeljko, Renata, Naki, Zoki and Saša
PRAYERS
- Father, please minister to each translator, to the adviser and to their families. Grant health and spiritual well-being to adults and kids. Please supply, physically, financially and emotionally, for those each and all of them.
- Lord, please grant wisdom to the translators. May they convey the meaning of Scripture accurately in these languages. May the translations be clear, understandable and useful for these communities. May the Scriptures spark revival. Amen.
