We're thankful for...1 Corinthians!

 During this Thanksgiving season, we're thankful that we finished the final checks on the book of 1 Corinthians in Jita! Now the Jita people can know that:

Abhaanu bhanu abhabhura abharora ati emisango ja Kirisito okufwa ku‑musarabha ni ja echimuumu, nawe kw‑iswe bhanu echichunguka, emisango ejo nigo amanaga ga Nyamuwanga.

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. (1 Corinthians 1:18)

We're also thankful that we have now finished 25 books of the New Testament!!

This amazing progress is only possible because of faithful prayer and financial partners like you. Thank you for your kindness and generosity! We love you all.

Those Troublesome Time Zones

This is complicated. The Jita translators in Tanzania are 8 hours ahead of me in Michigan. But we've been able to adjust our schedules so that we can maximize our time together by Zoom or Skype. We spend a few hours together in the morning (my morning, their afternoon), and then in my afternoon I work ahead in the translation, preparing questions for the following day. I'm thankful that we've found a good rhythm.

But now we're trying to publish the book of Matthew in the Jita language. We finished the Jita translation of the book, but it's stuck in our translation software. We need a typesetter to format the text into a nice PDF and insert page numbers and illustrations and maps, etc. Our typesetter is currently in her home country of New Zealand because of the pandemic. She is 17 hours ahead of me in Michigan. So the best time for me to communicate with her is in the evening. We discuss formatting issues in the evening, and then in the following morning I discuss them with the translators, so that I can then give the answers to the typesetter that evening. 

It's very complicated, but we praise God that we have now finished typesetting the book of Matthew!! It's ready to be sent to the print shop in Tanzania. 

Thank you for your prayers!

Seeing Double

comparing versions of Jita Matthew

It feels like I'm seeing double! 

We're in the final stages of printing the book of Matthew in the Jita language. I'm going back and forth a lot with the typesetter. (the typesetter takes our raw translation data and formats it for the printer) When the typesetter sends me a revised version, I have to compare it line by line with the previous version to make sure that all of our requested changes have been made and also to make sure that no new errors creep in. It's extremely slow work, but it's worth it! We want to make sure that the Jita people have a clear and accurate translation.

Please keep praying for us.

John 3:16 for the Jita people

Finally! After years of anticipation, we have a rough draft of John 3:16 in the Jita language. Here it is:

Nyamuwanga eendere muno abhaanu bhoone bha ku‑chaaro kunu. Nikwo okukora ꞉aatumire Omwana waaye wenyere aaje ku‑chaaro kunu, korereki bhuri muunu unu keekirisya Omwana oyo aasiga okusimagira, tari abhe na obhuwanga bhwa akajaanende koone.

Praise the Lord! The book of John is still being checked and double-checked to make sure that everything is clear, accurate, and natural, but we're so excited. Our passion is to see Jita people trusting Jesus for salvation and enjoying the hope of eternal life. Thank you for partnering with us to bring God's Word to the Jita people. Please keep praying for us.

24 books of the New Testament done!

 

This is so exciting! We have finished the final checks on 24 books of the New Testament. That means there are only 3 books left, and those are all in various stages of drafting, checking, and double-checking. We have also translated Ruth and Jonah from the Old Testament. We make audio recordings of the translated Scriptures and put them on solar-powered players. We have a phone app that contains the written text and the audio recordings. We translated the Jesus film and a gospel comic book for kids. And we have translated various literacy materials to help people learn how to read and write in Jita.

Please pray for us as we continue to translate God's Word for the Jita people.

"So what's it like to work from far away?"

Here's a little video of Magesa, Neema, and I checking the book of 1 Corinthians in the Jita language. We thank God for a very productive check. We had our share of challenges, of course: power outages, unreliable internet, neighbors coming over to say hi, roosters (you'd be surprised how loud roosters are on Zoom!) Sadly, Magesa missed one day of checking because his relative was very sick in the hospital. But by the grace of God we checked 9 chapters. Please keep praying for us as we translate God's Word into the Jita language.

Stumbling blocks and Old Testament quotations

Today we started the second round of checks on the book of 1 Corinthians in the Jita language. It is such a joy to work with Magesa and Neema to make God's Word accurate, clear, and natural for the Jita people. We spent some time discussing 1 Corinthians 1:19 where Paul quotes Isaiah 29:14 about the foolishness of thinking we are smarter than God. Then we looked at 1 Corinthians 1:23 about how the message of Christ crucified is a stumbling block to Jews. We discussed the meaning of the phrase, we looked at other passages where the same idea is communicated, and we found the best phrase in Jita to capture the meaning. Then we discussed lots of others issues like spelling, grammar, key terms, consistency, footnotes, etc.

Please pray for us as we continue checking 1 Corinthians!