BIBLES FOR TANZANIA!  

How would you like to read the Bible in old fashioned Shakespearean English?  That’s the situation for the 100,000 Nyakyusa people and other tribal groups on the borders of Tanzania and Malawi.  Their only Bible is an out-of-date version written many years ago.
 
 A new translation was started in 2010 but progress was slow. Andrew, the senior translator remembers early days. “I started full-time but other helpers couldn’t join us at first. It was hard for them to leave their families. I did not fear. I wanted only a good scripture for the Nyakyusa”.
 
Mission Partners, Dan and Rachel King, came to Tanzania in 2013, speeding up the work.  Dan, a trained linguist, could advise about difficult Greek words and concepts.  They worked through Acts and the remaining epistles.  The last book was completed early 2018, type-set and sent off to the publishers in South Korea!   
 
May 2019 was a very special month with the safe return of 20,000 newly-translated Nyakyusa New Testaments.  Crowds gathered from waiting churches all over the region to welcome their arrival and praise the Lord.    
 
Celebration Day began with traditional tea, then a procession as a Nyak lady came in bearing a box of Nyak New Testaments on her head, welcomed by vibrant singing and dance. Worship alternated with speeches and prayer, ending up with food and happy feasting! 
 
Now the Nyak believers can read the whole New Testament in their mother tongue. The translation team have started working on the Old Testament, beginning with the Psalms.
 
Eight other tribal groups still need New Testaments in their heart language, and Dan continues advising the translators.   Rachel works in the local Mission Hospital upgrading outpatient care. Their future is uncertain with concerns for the children’s education. Pray for them.
 
Pray too for all the ongoing Bible translations – that many more believers will enjoy the blessing of reading God’s Word in their mother tongue.    
 
Mary Robinson