INTENSE BUT FULFILLING
March 14, 2007
by David Bell
The first two books of the Bible in the Mengen language will soon be in the hands of the people.
After many long months of hard work, missionaries Keri Pacheco and Becky Preheim were able to complete their first major translation projects. The books of Mark and Exodus were recently reviewed by two translation consultants and Mengen co-workers. A few areas will need tweaking before the material is printed and ready for delivery.
A missionary pilot with NTM Aviation flew the three Mengen men out to help with the project. For Stephen and Perry, their first trip on an airplane was a huge adventure. Robert was the veteran of the group. He had flown once before. The novice air travelers soon realized their "old familiar places" didn't look quite the same from 6,000 feet in the air.
Doing a translation check isn't familiar ground for the Mengen men either. But the team worked their way through each verse, line by line, checking to see how well the translation communicated to the men. Anything not clearly understood will be carefully reassessed and polished.
"It was an extremely intense week for all of us, and in the end, we were able to get a fairly accurate evaluation of our work," wrote Becky.
The week after the translation check, Becky and Keri plunged into preparing literacy materials. They completed four books of short sentences and stories, teaching each letter and sound in the Mengen language.
"It was kind of like doing a jigsaw puzzle, with each page adding new letters," Becky wrote. "Each mini story could only include letters already introduced, so it was a bit tricky, coming up with meaningful and interesting stories using a very limited number of words.
"We are thankful to have had this time [out of the tribe], to be able to prepare all the necessary materials needed for literacy school."
The missionary team will return to the village when Tim and Darlene Erieau complete their home assignment. When the missionaries return to the village, they plan to begin teaching the people to read and write their own language.
"It will be such a joy for the believers to be able to "feed" themselves on God's Word after many long months without consistent Bible teaching," Becky wrote.
Please pray that the Mengen believers will be encouraged and strengthened in their faith as God's Word is made available to them.
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