Days 10-13: Recap & highlights of distribution of Gospel of Luke & 50 Bible stories in 4 Roma languages

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Subject: Days 10-13: Recap & highlights of distribution of Gospel of Luke & 50 Bible stories in 4 Roma languages

After spending the night in the town where Djena and Biljana live, the next day we drove an hour and a half to Slavonski Brod, the city where Pam and I and our children used to live. It was great to meet up with our old teammates and the translators there in our old city.

We showed the Roma village to Pierre and then had a meeting with our former teammates to talk about the new steps forward on the Bible translation project with Pierre.

After that, we met at the Baptist Church where we used to attend, to do what is called “field testing” or “community checking”. This is where we have speakers of the language who have never heard our translation before, gather together and spend several hours with us listening to and reading our draft translation and hearing their feedback and suggestions.

One of the field testers was very nervous since she thought we were “testing” her knowledge. But we explained that actually we, the translators, are being “tested” to see how well we have translated. The goal, we assured them, is that they understand the translation and we highly value their input and suggestions.

She had never read in her Roma language before (Ludari), so was hesitant, but within 20 minutes she was reading the text and telling us in Croatia what it meant.

We don’t have anything finished in her language yet so we could not play any audio clips, but we played the story of the prodigal son in the Bayash language, which is a related language. As they listened, the other tester, her fifteen-year-old son began to tear up and cry when he heard the story of the father’s response when the prodigal son returned.

After the testing, we had a late supper at Zoki and Stanoje’s house in the Roma village and talked about the needs and possibilities for the translation in the Ludari language to proceed farther with more books of the Bible after Luke is finished.

We spent the night at the church and the next morning had a very constructive meeting with the pastor of a Roma church in town. Our goal is to involve local churches and pastors as much as we can in the Bible translation process.

We then walked through the village so Pierre could see it, then had lunch with Sergej, Željka, Andy and Lim, and talked more about possible plans for the future of the Bible translation work in the Ludari language, which they are excited about and involved in.

Then we met with two more speakers of the Ludari language for field testing, to go over a chapter in Luke in draft form in their language, Ludari, and get their feedback. It was very encouraging to see how much they understood and to get good feedback from them and make corrections and improvements to our draft of Luke.

Sergej showing the field testers how footnotes work in a Bible

Field testing Luke 20 in the Ludari language

Todd with Andy and Lim at their home and ministry center in the Roma village

Sergej doing field testing of Luke 21 in the Ludari language

It was great to see our Croatian teammates, Željka and Sergej

After our two-day stay in Slavonski Brod, Croatia, where we used to live, we drove three hours northeast to the Roma village of our Bayash translators. It was wonderful to see them again, and we enjoyed coffee and a huge lunch together!

They shared some of their background and testimony with Pierre so he could get to know them better, and afterwards we met to discuss the new structure that we will be putting in place for the next phase of the Bible translation projects. It was good to talk through several issues and have a very special prayer time together.

After that, Nedeljko’s uncle came over to the house. We played the audio from YouTube for five or six of the Bible stories and gave him a copy of Luke and the Bible stories in the Bayash language. He said he understood it all, encouraged us in the work of Bible translation and prayed for us. I was especially encouraged to hear this Roma brother in the Lord pray that this Word would take root in the hearts of many Roma.

After that, we walked down several streets of the Roma village and gave books to those who were interested, as well as the business cards that give the web site address where they can find the translation online and where they can listen to the translation in audio. We ended up attracting a lot of kids and sort of felt like the Pied Piper walking down the street and playing six or seven Bible stories over the portable loud speaker! See the picture below.

We enjoyed supper with our translators, Nataša, Renata, and Nedeljko at their house then headed to a local motel. The next day, after breakfast and coffee, we drove half an hour to the largest Roma village in Croatia, where about 2,000 Bayash live. Nedeljko’s sister lives there so we met at her house and had a special time of prayer with her. There used to be a church of about 50 that met in her house, but it no longer exists and unfortunately, the village is plagued with immorality, alcoholism, drugs, and crime. We had a special time of prayer that the Lord would do a great work among the Roma of that village and in her life and family as well.

I was encouraged that we could play two or three chapters of Luke in the Bayash language, while Nedeljko's sister and her daughter-in-law followed along in the printed versions. Another young mother came by with her three little children. We played a couple of Bible stories in audio and then left 25 printed copies of Luke, and 10 printed copies of the Bible stories with pictures for them to give out in the future to those who are interested.

Loading up Nedeljko’s car with Luke and the Bible stories in the Bayash language when we picked them up from the printer

On the left, 50 Bible stories without pictures, the Gospel of Luke and a glossary explaining biblical terms. On the right, 50 Bible stories with pictures.