“There can be no doubt that the phenomenal growth of Christianity in Africa
owes enormous debt to Bible translation.”
- Aloo Osotsi Mojola
owes enormous debt to Bible translation.”
- Aloo Osotsi Mojola
Just as the Apostle Paul says in his letters, “I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now .“ (Philippians 1: 3-5 NIV) We, likewise, pray with joy and thanks. We recently heard a story that inspires us to want to get to Cameroon sooner and we wanted to share it with all of you.
Lee and Tami Bramlett, translators in Cameroon, working with the Hdi people, were looking for God’s mark on the local culture. In a dream, Lee was prompted to look again at Love. They had already learned that verbs have one of three endings, -i, -a, and –u. Through their work up to this point, they had encountered dv-i and dv-a. They had not; however, come across dv-u.
Consulting with their mother-tongue translation committee, they discussed loving a wife. Dvi was found to mean that you had once loved your wife, but no longer. Dva was found to mean that you loved your wife as long as she did all of her wifely duties; love was dependant on her doing. When asked about Dvu, they were told that you could not dvu your wife, because you would have to keep loving her no matter what she did. After a few minutes, Lee asks, “Could God dvu people?” Total silence followed for several minutes, then finally one of the men responded, “Do you know what this would mean? This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected his great love. He is compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people.”
One letter changed their whole concept of God’s love for them. He loves them because of who He is. Likewise, our Lord loves you because of who He is and His love is not based on anything of or from you. We can’t wait to discover other ways God has entwined Himself in the cultures and languages of Cameroon. Just as the Hdi people have had Godly Love unused, before even hearing about Christ Jesus, other languages and cultures also have the mark of God.
God is working in many wonderful ways through Bible translation. Would you please consider partnering with us in this ministry? There are several ways to be involved and many more stories to be told. Are you able? Are you willing? You can be a part of the stories.
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