“State of the Aruamu Translation!”

Dear family and friends,
For all of us, January is a good time of year to take stock of where we are, and set prayerful goals about where we want to go, and formulate prayerful strategies for getting there.  In January, we hear State of the Union addresses, and end-of-previous-year reports.  So!  Here is our “State of the Aruamu Translation” report, so that you know how to pray.
 
In the last 12 months our Aruamu Translation Team has worked diligently on Old Testament books. As you know, the translation of God’s Word requires very careful checking at every stage of work, so that the translation in the target language is accurate, clear, and natural, and that the impact on today’s readers is as close as possible (in their cultural situation) to the impact which would have been on original recipients. By God’s grace, the following has been accomplished:
 
Stage 1 – Drafts completed:  2 Samuel, Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Lamentations, Joel, Nahum, Habbakuk, Zephaniah. 
 
Stage 2 – Exegetical checks completed: Joshua, Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
 
Stage 3 – Comprehension checks completed: Joshua, Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
 
Stage 4 – Consultant checks completed:  Ecclesiastes, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
 
Here is our current Progress Tracking chart. Each OT Book is listed across the bottom. The 4 stages of progress appear vertically. The solid bars show where we were 1 year ago; the broken-lined bars show progress over the last year.

 
We ask for your prayers for the Aruamu team as we move ahead this next year.  I am traveling to Papua New Guinea on January 28, and returning to  Dallas on February 14.  I will bring 2 Aruamu team members, Pais Asefi and Robin Namai.  Over the next 6 months we plan to work on exegetically checking:  Judges, 1 Samuel, Jeremiah, Nahum, Micah, Zephaniah, and Habbakuk.

In the meantime, our other team members in Papua New Guinea will continue progressing on other books, which are at various stages of work:

Stage 1 – Drafting in progress on Leviticus, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles.  (The completed rough drafts of Deuteronomy and Hosea are being keyboarded by our colleague Sue Ellen Wrenn.)

Stage 3 – Comprehension check (and preparation for consultant check) on Nehemiah and Isaiah, and in the last half of the year on Judges, 1 Samuel, Jeremiah, Nahum, Micah, Zephaniah, and Habbakuk.

Stage 4 – Consultant checks.  In February Steve Hayward and an Aruamu team will consultant check Ezra, Nehemiah, and Joshua.  In April Martha Wade and Gregory Ohrenberg and an Aruamu team will consultant check the first half of Isaiah. 

Thank you so much for praying for us and encouraging us while we have our “shoulders to the grindstone!”

Blessings,
Marsha Relyea Miles
(for Nathan and the Aruamu Translation Team)
 

Prayer Prompts

 Praise God that Nathan Miles is back at United Bible Societies software development work, and is continuing to regain strength after his heart surgery.
 
Praise God the, during Nathan’s time off for recovery, he was able to complete the software package to typeset Scripture Lectionaries. 
 
Pray for the entire Aruamu Translation Team as they begin another year of work.
 
Pray for Pais Asefi, Robin Namai as they travel to the US, adjust to a very different culture, and begin working with Marsha on exegetically checking OT books over the next 6 months.
 
Pray for Steve Hayward, Martha Wade, and Gregory Ohrenberg as they prepare to consultant check OT books with Aruamu teams.