Mouth to mouth

"I wish I could talk to you mouth to mouth."

What would that phrase mean in your cultural background?

This is just one example of the interesting challenges we faced while translating the letters of John into the Jita language. I'll return to that example later.

Here's another example. Right away in 1 John 1:1 it says,

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.

The first draft of the Jita sounded like we heard him with our eyes and saw him with our hands. Uh oh! Thankfully, that was an easy fix.

Then there's this beautiful verse about God's love and Jesus' sacrifice.

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The word "propitiation/atonement" was a difficult concept to translate. The main components of meaning are sacrifice, covering of sin, removal of guilt and turning away God's wrath. We discovered a word in Jita [okugwatanya] which refers to the process of reconciliation. When one person wrongs or offends another, their relationship is separated. The guilty party must bring a goat, both parties lay their hands on the goat and a respected elder will slaughter the goat. When the blood is spilled, the relationship is reconciled. So we decided to translate the one English word "propitiation" with the Jita phrase, "sacrifice which removes our sins and reconciles us to God."

1 John 4:10 Rinu niryo eryenda, jitari ati, eswe chaatangatire okwenda Nyamuwanga. Tari omwene niwe :aatangatire okucheenda eswe. Niyo isonga ^naatuma Omwana waaye, abhe echoogo echa okusoosya‑wo ebhibhiibhi bhyeswe na okuchigwatanya na Nyamuwanga.

And of course, let's not forget 2 John. John writes this letter to a church personified as a "lady." The best way to communicate that idea is with the word "sister." But then at the end of the letter, when John sends greetings from a "sister" church, the Jita used a different word for "sister." 

Huh? 

In Jita culture, all greetings are determined by gender and age. So when John himself (a man) greets his sister church (a woman) he uses [omusubhaati]. But when he sends greetings from one sister church (woman) to another sister church (woman) he uses [omuyara]. Whew! That's confusing! But now the letter of 2 John will be accepted because it is natural Jita language.

And finally, in 3 John, John closes his letter with these words, 

"I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face." 

That phrase "face to face" was fun. The Greek literally says, "mouth to mouth." Swahili has two different ways to say it. And the Jita expression is "eye to eye." 

And just for fun, here's a word cloud I made for 1 John with the size of the words relating to the frequency in the letter. Enjoy! (have I mentioned that I love this job?!?!)

Past the zebras to the dentist

The other day we took Kara to the dentist. The nearest dentist is in the town of Mwanza, which is three hours away. Ugh! But the good news is, we drove past the Serengeti and enjoyed seeing some zebras and wildebeests.

Welcome to Tanzania!

Thoughts on marriage...from a MONK!

Happy Reformation Day!
{for more background, click here: http://gerthfamilytanzania.blogspot.com/2011/10/happy-reformation-day.html}

Mr. and Mrs. Martin Luther - such a pleasant couple

On this Reformation Day, let's enjoy Martin Luther's insight on the marriage between Christ and his church. {This, of course, is the same Martin Luther, a former monk, who, 5 years later would marry a former nun!} 

The third incomparable grace of faith is this, that it unites the soul to Christ, as the wife to the husband; by which mystery, as the Apostle teaches, Christ and the soul are made one flesh. Now if they are one flesh, and if a true marriage-- nay, by far the most perfect of all marriages--is accomplished between them (for human marriages are but feeble types of this one great marriage), then it follows that all they have becomes theirs in common, as well good things as evil things; so that whatsoever Christ possesses, that the believing soul may take to itself and boast of as its own, and whatever belongs to the soul, that Christ claims as his.

If we compare these possessions, we shall see how inestimable is the gain. Christ is full of grace, life, and salvation; the soul is full of sin, death, and condemnation. Let faith step in, and then sin, death, and hell will belong to Christ, and grace, life, and salvation to the soul. For, if he is a husband, he must needs take to himself that which is his wife's, and, at the same time, impart to his wife that which is his. For, in giving her his own body and himself, how can he but give her all that is his? And, in taking to himself the body of his wife, how can he but take to himself all that is hers?

In this is displayed the delightful sight, not only of communion, but of a prosperous warfare, of victory, salvation, and redemption. For since Christ is God and man, and is such a person as neither has sinned, nor dies, nor is condemned,--nay, cannot sin, die, or be condemned; and since his righteousness, life, and salvation are invincible, eternal, and almighty; when, I say, such a person, by the wedding-ring of faith, takes a share in the sins, death, and hell of his wife, nay, makes them his own, and deals with them no otherwise than as if they were his, and as if he himself had sinned; and when he suffers, dies, and descends to hell, that he may overcome all things, since sin, death, and hell cannot swallow him up, they must needs be swallowed up by him in stupendous conflict. For his righteousness rises above the sins of all men; his life is more powerful than all death; his salvation is more unconquerable than all hell.

Thus the believing soul, by the pledge of its faith in Christ, becomes free from all sin, fearless of death, safe from hell, and endowed with the eternal righteousness, life, and salvation of its husband Christ.

Christ, that rich and pious husband, takes as a wife a needy and impious harlot, redeeming her from all her evils, and supplying her with all his good things. It is impossible now that her sins should destroy her, since they have been laid upon Christ and swallowed up in Him, and since she has in her husband Christ a righteousness which she may claim as her own, and which she can set up with confidence against all her sins, against death and hell, saying: "If I have sinned, my Christ, in whom I believe, has not sinned; all mine is His, and all His is mine."

Martin Luther, On the Freedom of a Christian, 1520.

From http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/luther-freedomchristian.asp

First John, first edition

Very exciting! The Jita people can now read the letters of 1 John, 2 John and 3 John in their own language!

Jita translators Magesa and Neema translating 1 John into the Jita language

I really love the letters of John. They're packed full of wonderful gospel truth. And now the Jita people can enjoy the letters of John as much as I do.

For example, Jita people can know that God will forgive their sins when they repent.

1 John 1:9 Tari, araabha chikata ebhibhiibhi bhyeswe, Nyamuwanga kaachifwira echigongo ebhibhiibhi bhyeswe na okucheesya obhujabhi bhwone, kwa okubha omwene ni omwiyikanyibhwa ka wone ni omurengeresi.

They can know that God loves them and that God sent Jesus to die as the atoning sacrifice for their sins.

1 John 4:10 Rinu niryo eryenda, jitari ati, eswe chaatangatire okwenda Nyamuwanga. Tari omwene niwe :aatangatire okucheenda eswe. Niyo isonga ^naatuma Omwana waaye, abhe echoogo echa okusoosya‑wo ebhibhiibhi bhyeswe na okuchigwatanya na Nyamuwanga.

Now the Jita people can know God's command to love one another because God is love.

1 John 4:7-8 Abheendwa bhaani mu‑riikirisya, cheendane, kwa okubha eryenda erisooka ku‑Nyamuwanga. Omuunu woonewoone unu keenda abheejaabho, ni omwana owa Nyamuwanga, ka wone niwe kaasombookerwa Nyamuwanga. Nawe omuunu woonewoone unu atakwenda abheejaabho, atakusombookerwa Nyamuwanga, kwa okubha Nyamuwanga ni eryenda.

And now the Jita people can rejoice in the assurance that they have eternal life if they believe in Jesus.

1 John 5:13 Enibhakaamira inyarubha inu, emwe bhanu omwikirisya risiina erya Omwana owa Nyamuwanga, korereki mumenye ati muri na obhuwanga obhwa akajaanende.

And of course, we can't forget 2 John and 3 John. You should read them sometime. They're very interesting and very relevant for the church today.

Please pray with us that the Jita people will trust Jesus as their Savior and love one another.

Jonah X-factor

God's Word is beautiful!

Last year as we were translating the book of Jonah I noticed a beautiful pattern in chapter 1. Technically, it's called a chiastic structure because it can be diagrammed like the letter "X." The first half of chapter 1 and the second half of chapter 1 contain symmetrical ideas. The climax is in the middle when Jonah declares, "I am a Hebrew and I fear Yahweh."

Check out this little video...


I love the Bible!

Jonah still travels far

Check out what book these Jita people are reading...

photo by SIL Literacy Department

Do you recognize it?

It's the book of Jonah in the Jita language! We translated it and published it last year. And now, our Literacy Department is using the book of Jonah in Jita to teach Jita people to read their own language.

photo by SIL Literacy Department

Here's how it works...Our Literacy workers invite Jita speakers who can read and write Swahili but not Jita. (I realize this might be confusing. Jita people speak Jita at home but they have never learned to read and write Jita. In school they only learn to read and write Swahili.) Then, using Swahili as a starting point, they teach the Jita people how to read and write their own language. And they use the book of Jonah in Jita as a basic reading textbook. How cool is that! Just another amazing ripple effect of translating Scripture into people's heart language.

Crazy 13

Still crazy in love...after 13 years.

Thanking God for my wise, wonderful, witty wife.