This Is Our Descendent

As we did after our furlough in 2012, we would like to post the script from the short presentation we gave in churches while in the States earlier this year for Lumi's arrival. It serves as a means of archiving it for future reference as well as sharing it with those partners with whom we were not able to connect this time through. So imagine yourself, sitting in your church's pew, having just sung your favorite praise chorus and up walks a tall lanky guy in white khaki pants and a green sweater (I wore the same thing to every church). For a yet unknown reason, he is carrying a baby car seat…hmmm…nursery workers out on strike? We'll have to see…

 "Ziyaala, nakataama nalaDaawit duupok'w Etambidok'wa ká-aça. Ahamaakwe Kristos, Etagirba." Amen? Amen! 

It really is a privilege for us to be here to share what the Lord has been doing among the Gmz people in and through the translation of his Word. Andrea, Micah, Grace and I have the privilege of front row seats on the action, but we also have the privilege of sharing what we see from that vantage point with all the partners that make this work possible – including you, as your financial gifts, prayers support and general love for us sustains both us and the work we are involved in. And for that we say thank you.

 But not only us, on our last afternoon in Ethiopia, I left the office at about 3pm, but not without saying my goodbyes to the Gmz translators, Thomas, Janey and Worku. "Have a good flight, tell Micah and Grace that we will miss them, enjoy your families and your foods in America, come back fattened up for the slaughter" - as you can see I’m coming along nicely on that one (and I did too – I brought back 10 extra lbs!). The farewells and well wishes when on for several minutes before they changed the subject to something that was obviously on their hearts. Janey looked directly at me with a huge smile on his face, yet an expression complete seriousness…"Çakáaam obatsa-daaŋgeya, obatsa-maaŋgahiila hiii káb'aga kákooma kálaadagaf akwa nagaaha nala!" The other two translators joined in, "Ŋgishaam kámaahamaama, dilafarok'w s'ee-Misa kacanaka kámaañja-matab'atsa alamaama." Sending me off with this solemn charge – "Give a big greeting and a FAT thank you to all the people who support us in this work. Tell them, we raise up the name of God because of their help!"

And so, on behalf of the Gmz church, I bring you their sincere expressions of gratitude, "Naaç aMisa guuta ká-aça," May God give blessing to each of you!

One day in the translation office, checking chapter 8 of Acts, we encountered a rhetorical question, lamenting the Messiah's life cut short, the NIV says, "In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." I knew that I needed to test the meaning of this rhetorical question, “Who can speak of his descendants?”

So I sat back in my chair and looked at my co-workers; all of them are in their mid-twenties. Work'u married just two years ago, Janey married a few months prior, and Thomas was eagerly counting the final days until his own wedding. Knowing that none of them had any children yet, and wanting to make sure this story's statement of lament was communicating clearly, I asked a two-fold question, “First of all, what does this question mean when a Gmz person reads it?” Their response was clear, “Not having children means he had nothing to leave behind; he planted fields, harvested grain, ate it year after year until finally he died; his life had no meaning beyond that…” “So,” I continued, “if one of you dies before your wives give birth, could this same statement be said about you?” They nodded their heads in silence. But after a moment, Thomas sat straight up in his chair and, with astonishing insight, pointed at the computer screen in front of us. “No!” he said, “This is our descendent!”

 Oh how right he was! In translating God's Word into his mother tongue, he and Worku and Janey are leaving a legacy not only in this generation, but in the generations to come. By producing some of the first literature in Gmz, we are shaping and standardizing the language in spelling, grammar and vocabulary. In hashing out difficult concepts we are learning together what the Biblical text is saying and what that looks like within the Gmz worldview. In producing the final product of Scripture in ink on paper or in sound files on mobile phones, we are giving the Gmz people access to the very same message that has changed and continues to change the lives of each of us in this room. In translating God's Word, Thomas, Janey and Worku are giving birth to a legacy that will extend beyond themselves, doubtlessly into eternity.

Now in Gmz culture, women traditionally have given birth to their children alone, often working "life as normal" through the contractions until the final time comes, at which point they go off into the woods by themselves, do their thing and come back…with a baby. The new father's role is to wait impatiently at home for their arrival.

And so, probably stretching this birthing analogy way beyond the allowable limits, YOU have been that father in waiting. My family and I, as midwives in the project, have gone into the woods and given our helping hands in bringing into life God's Word in the Gmz language. I now, in returning home, count it my privilege to present to you on behalf of the Gmz translation team the fruit of our labor together with your faithful prayers and support, (reaching into the baby carrier and pulling out two booklets…) our children and yours: Luke and his twin brother Acts.

 And so for the first time this past Christmas, the Gmz believers heard the words with which I began this morning, "Ziyaala, nakataama nalaDaawit duupok'w Etambidok'wa ká-aça. Ahamaakwe Kristos, Etagirba." Today, in the city of David was born for you a Savior, He is Christ, the Lord. And again I ask, Amen? Amen!

The work of Bible translation is unique among most other forms of ministry in that the initial goal is easily defined and progress toward that goal is easily measured in verses translated. Luke and his brother Acts contain 2158 verses out of the nearly 8000 in the New Testament. Or in other words, more than 27% of the NT is now completely finished. 

But there's more, we're expecting again!  This time it looks like septuplets as James, 1&2 Thessalonians, 1&2 Timothy, Titus, and the runt of the litter Philemon are on the verge of completion. Praise God with us for He is accomplishing his work through our efforts and again we say thank you for your partnership in bringing the message of new life into the Gmz villages of Western Ethiopia. 

Please continue to pray for these little guys, that the Truth contained in them would not remain on the page, but rather wriggle its way into the hearts and lives of the Gmz people, leading us together in the celebration of new life!