Who will follow?
Several years ago we took a group of about 30 young adults to Papua New Guinea to discover for themselves what Bible translation is all about and why people like us give our lives in service for those still waiting to hear the Good News in a language they truly understand.
Two of the participants, Tom and Cassie, had the privilege of spending 4 weeks in a village in the Madang Province with a local translator – Martin Barang and his wife Miriam and their 3 children. Martin and 3 other men from the Gwahatike language worked on the translation of the Bible into their own language. And now, each of them has chosen to move out to neighboring language groups and translate the Bible for others.
One rainy day, Cassie was sitting in a woven bamboo walled house with numerous children seeking shelter from the rain when one by one several village ladies entered, the last one effectively shooing out all the children and telling them to find some other dry place in which to hang out. For a while, the ladies all sat in silence. Their eyes darted back and forth as they wondered who was going to tell her first. Finally one spoke up and said in the trade language, “we don’t know how to read”. In shame, their eyes all dropped to their laps.
Then another spoke up and said “we would support our husbands work more if we could read the Bible for ourselves. We only know what our husbands tell us, but we don’t know the Bible for ourselves” (There is a Tok Pisin trade language Bible available to them - it’s not in their heart language, but it is better than nothing.) Once again there was silence, punctuated by the rain. And then ‘mama’ (Miriam) spoke to her and asked “will you teach us how to read?”
This question floored Cassie, for she herself had only about 3 weeks of training in this trade language …but how could she refuse such a request?
Classes began the following Monday. The ladies came with small chalkboards in hand and began to learn the shapes and sounds of each letter of the alphabet. By Thursday, they were reading, though haltingly, from the Christmas story. They were SO excited! Every spare moment they had, Cassie could see them reading their Bibles.
When it came time for Tom and Cassie to leave, it was a sad day for all. The needs of the translators and their wives were weighing heavily on their hearts. They wondered how they could be of further assistance to these brothers and sisters in Christ who were experiencing numerous hardships and difficulties.
As Cassie sat with Miriam, waiting for the plane to come and take Tom and Cassie away, Miriam told Cassie, “I read the Bible the first time on my own Friday night. My sister helped when I came to big words. I understood most of it, but please pray that I understand each word I read. God’s words are good.”