URIAYS LEARN TO READ
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| Lisa with literacy students reading God`s message from Genesis in the Urian language. |
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November 10, 2009
by David Bell
The village in Papua New Guinea was buzzing with excitement and anticipation.
Seven months of diligent teaching ended with 20 grinning students standing proudly to receive their literacy certificates -- the first in their line of descendants to read their own language.
"They kept asking to read the Bible portions I brought," missionary Lisa Kappeler wrote. "It gives me goose bumps to think about it!"
During the graduation ceremony students and those waiting for the next course gave speeches that were a good balance of encouragement, thanks and challenge.
The 20 new graduates will be able to read along when missionary Elias Struik begins teaching evangelistic Bible lessons.
Lisa and other skilled Bible translators recently checked all the Bible portions -- 517 verses -- needed to teach the Uriay people from Creation to Christ. Those verses are now ready to print.
Teaching people to read is a key step in establishing a mature church, a body of believers that can feed itself from the Word of God. But how do you teach people to read a language that's never been written down before? That's one of the things people learn in NTM's missionary training program.
If you're thinking you're not ready to be a missionary … you're probably right. But NTM's training can help equip you for the challenges ahead in cross-cultural church planting. Find out more >>
Students at New Tribes Bible Institute are about a month away from the end of the semester, but with holidays and the hectic times they can bring, that time can go very quickly. Pray that students will be able to focus and learn the lessons from the Word that are put before them.
The Missionary Training Center outside Camdenton, Missouri, is expecting 25 new missionary trainees in January. Pray that they are able to trust God to help them weather all the changes taking place in their lives right now.
The expansion of the training center -- so more tribes can hear -- continues. Pray that funding comes in so the slab for another student apartment building can be poured before winter weather hits. Work can continue through the winter if the slab is ready. Find out more about the expansion >>
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_img.jpg','Lisa with literacy students reading God`s message from Genesis in the Urian language.', 640, 714))
