Ethnos 360 – Itinerant
Greg and Laura were involved in church planting and bible translation among a small language group in Papua New Guinea. Upon completion of the Waxe New Testament Greg has been involved in translation consulting in various parts of the world. Until recently travel has been unrestricted but countries have quickly closed their doors to foreign travelers, forcing a translation check in the South Pacific to be done over the internet. Working from 4-10pm locally, 8am-2pm the following day in the local village, they weathered some poor connections, sickness, and village life, and finished the 2800 verse check this past week.
Believe it or not it was over two months ago when I asked you to pray for the check of three W— gospels. Well, it took a bit longer than projected but we did finish Luke last night, which means all 2800 verses of the gospels are now available to the W— church!
We hit a few speed bumps along the way…the translator needed to attend a three-day church meeting early on in the check. Laura and I came down with Covid early in November, and shortly thereafter the translator’s daughters flew home for a two-week Thanksgiving break. But we all hung in there, by His grace, and as usual it was an emotional moment when we wrapped up the final verses last night.
Not only was it our first check over the internet, it was a longer-than-normal check, well over one-third of the entire New Testament in one bite. Once the translator and I clean up all the issues for the report, the team is free to publish the gospels, something they’ve been waiting to do for several years.
As all our translators, Tim did a great job, as did his faithful team of helpers, particularly Itinu and Liku. So…thank you again for your prayers and notes of encouragement throughout the time. Know they were answered, and that you’ll be blessed for taking part in the check in this way!