This correspondence from Rev Arlindo Marcal probably doesn’t need any explanation with it – but I can’t help wondering what it would be like in Australia if gospel literature was so easily distributed and so readily accepted.
I was travelling from Dili to Maliana yesterday. On the way we passed through some Mambae subdistricts such as Hatolia. I had three boxes of ‘Miguel’ book in my car. We met many kids along the road and decided to distribute the books. We were able to distribute all three boxes. Kids liked it - when they saw us, they immediately ran to the car for the book. What they liked most was, as we explained to them, that the book has Mambae and English.
May God bless our project.
Every child, I so strongly believe, deserves to read books is his own mother tongue – even more so the greatest book of all – the Bible! Please continue to pray for the translation of the Bible into the Tetun language and to also pray for opportunities in the future that the Bible can also be translated into Mambae. Pray for the Mambae-speaking people of Timor-Leste, that they may have a real thirst for the knowledge of God.
(PS - I've included some Wikipedia links for those of you who want to improve your knowledge of Timorese geography)
Mother tongue! You must be dreaming!...
ReplyDeleteIt is very hard quite impossible to find a good and accurate translator from any language to Tetun. All the those have been trying to translate from any language to Tetun has so far fail to render a proper translation for many reasons.
ReplyDeleteI agree it certainly is a challenge - but Pastor Arlindo and Pastor Carlos have, I think, done a very good job here. Admittingly, it has been made easier by having the original text written with Tetun translation in mind. But come back to this blog, because the next book will be written in Tetun and translated into English. Let's see how it goes the other way around.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you live? Would you like me to send you a copy of this book?