Recently some of the Nukna people were reading through the Nukna translation of Colossians with Matt, checking for accuracy and naturalness. After one particular passage, Matt noticed one of the Nukna men smiling and chuckling to himself. When Matt asked what was going on, he replied, “It’s just that for a minute there I forgot it was a translation. It’s like Paul knows the Nukna language and is speaking directly to me!”
Moments like these greatly encourage us to persevere in the task God has given us, to partner with the Nukna to translate the good news of Jesus into their own heart language. It’s a long and complicated process, and there are no shortcuts to acheiving a high-quality translation that speaks to the hearts of the Nukna while also remaining faithful to the original text.
Since we last wrote in July, the books of 1 & 2 Thessalonians and 1 & 2 Timothy have been checked by an experienced translation consultant and given final approval for publication. Our translation team has also completed several stages in the translations of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Titus and Philemon. These books are now ready to be consultant checked as well, sometime next year. Our hope is to publish these 10 Pauline epistles later next year, in both printed and audio formats. Muransi has also completed the first draft of the book of Matthew, and our team will begin revising this draft next month. We now have 2/3 of the New Testament in at least draft form! Praise God with us for the good progress we are making!
Please pray with us for the Nukna men who will be hiking through the rugged mountains, travelling from village to village this Christmas season, spreading God’s Word to the remote corners of the Nukna homeland. They will be reading out loud from the newly completed books of Thessalonians and Timothy, portions of God’s Word that most Nukna people have never heard before in their own language. They will also be preaching from those books and selling printed and audio copies of the Nukna translations of Mark, Luke and Acts. We are praying that God’s Spirit would move in a powerful way through the ministry of these men.