Consultant check is finished!

Well, at least for Morris. We knew when they started that they wouldn't be able to finish all of it because Pastor Peter leaves today to attend the Vanuatu Bible Translators' conference. They usually plan on 10 days, 100 verses each day, to complete Luke but Morris had only 8 days. It went well and there's only 179 verses left to check! Even though this is an adaptation from a closely related language, there were still important changes that needed to be made. The men did say that they really enjoyed discussing the text and that they learned new truths in the process. Pastor Peter said that he's learned some important things about translation that will be helpful to him as he continues on in translation. Since this is the first book that Pastor Peter has translated, it most likely will be changed some after he has translated all the New Testament and has learned things along the way. Once the New Testament is finished, it's all read over again to catch anything that might need changing and often the first translated books need adjustments. This has been a good first step for the Whitesands translation and it's been a privilege to be a part of it.

I asked Pastor Peter how he decided to be involved in translation. He first said it took many years to come to the decision. In 1986, he went to school to become a Pastor, he learned about the importance of knowing the Word and teaching others about God. Years later, when he taught in a Bible school, he realized that while most could read English or Bislama, the trade language, they really didn't understand much of what they read. Then he said that he lived near Greg and Beth Ann and could see the impact that the translation had on the people. He realized that his people needed to have the Bible in their language so he's committed to completing it in the next 4 years.

I asked Pastor Peter if he had anything to say to those who are interested in missions. He said, "I could write something formal but the important thing to tell them is to come! Just come."