Here is a letter I received from a missionary. This is about the dedication of the New Testament of the Chiru language. I hope you are touched as much as I am by this.
"There were over 1500 people at the Chiru dedication, some visiting friends from other language groups but most were Chiru. It was wonderful to be there, though the hike up the steps to the church could be enough to do you in. It is an amazing spot to have a church. The new church "building" (still more tent, than building, they are adding walls as they have funds) and dictionary were dedicated during the same service.
The boys declared it the "longest meeting EVER!" At 5 1/2 hours it was certainly the longest meeting they had ever attended. One of the men said,"They (Chiru) are just so excited to have their New Testament, they can not contain their joy." Which meant everyone needed to speak and share.
It was extremely encouraging because the translator has had a long, difficult and generally lonely journey. He started as the assistant translator but acouple years into the project the senior translator was killed in an accident. The assistant translator went back to school and trained so he could take over as translator. The last few years have been especially exhausting for him and we were concerned that we might lose him. His health broke down completely for several months last year resulting in further delays.
God was faithful through it all and the New Testament is living proof of that. We were surprised to hear the translator talk excitedly about starting the Old Testament! We thought after all he had gone through the project might stop at the completion of the New Testament. He is already working with his committee, however, to begin the Old Testament translation process."
1 comment:
Wow. That is dedication on the part of the translator. It's so sad how we take for granted the many copies of the Bible we all have in our houses.
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