VISTA Module 8 is Complete!

Thanks for praying together with us throughout this last module! It was an incredibly busy time for our family and for our translators; praise God with us that it is complete! Although a few were late arriving due to transportation problems and family obligations, in the end they all arrived and completed the basic computer training and the translation software (Paratext) training. We are so thankful for their dedication, their hard work, and their excitement about how the computers will speed their translation progress. We are also praising God for Lindy Pate, from Pioneer Bible Translators Papua New Guinea team who came to do the Paratext training. She connected well with our translators and quickly earned their respect, as well as Josiah’s affection! (see the picture below)

Also during the module, Craig spent after-classtime hours working one-on-one with the Apma and Hano groups to do advisor checking. Craig and the Apma translators were able to complete the advisor checking for the passages they translated from Psalms and Proverbs during the last module and the Hano team was able to complete checking on the Psalms and Proverbs passages as well as the book of Jonah! Now only one more check (consultant checking) is required before these scripture portions can be published and distributed! Praise God with us for the work being done to bring his word into the heart languages of the people of Pentecost and Ambae.

Translation Bloopers

Well, this technically isn’t a translation “blooper” but I think you’ll find this story to be quite amusing. This past week, Craig has been working with the Hano team to do the advisor checking of passages from Psalms and Proverbs and the book of Jonah. As they checked Proverbs chapter 5 and came to the passages regarding the immoral woman, they had an interesting misunderstanding. The NLT reads: “For the lips of an immoral woman are as sweet as honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil, but in the end she is as bitter as poison, as sharp as a double edged sword.”

The way the advisor checking works is that the translators look at the words they have translated into Hano, then translate them back into Bislama and tell them to Craig. Now in Bislama there is only one first-person singular pronoun, hem, unlike English where we have he, she, and it. So when the translators told the passage to Craig they said, “The lips of the adulterous woman are sweetly attractive, the mouth of hem has a strong sweetness, but the end of hem is hot like a chile pepper.” Hearing this through our American culture, Craig thought they had misunderstood and were giving a physical description, “her mouth is sweet, but her behind is hot like a chile pepper!” As he asked a few more questions, the truth came out, and so did Craig’s misunderstanding! They all had a good laugh at him before explaining that their translation (which was more clear in the Hano language) read that “the end of the matter” was as hot as a spicy pepper, not the “end” of the adulterous woman! 

Off to Pentecost

On Monday, July 10 we will be boarding a plane for Pentecost to spend time with our village family and assist our partner Jordan in conducting a literacy workshop. The workshop will teach people who are literate in English or Bislama to read in Apma. Please pray for our family and for our village family during this time. Ask God to provide us with rest after this busy season of VISTA and consultant checking. Please pray for safe travel both by plane and by truck. Pray that the supplies we sent ahead by ship will arrive and be awaiting our arrival, free of damage from rats or bugs.

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