Zoom meeting checking the last chapters of Luke in the Gurbet language We are praising God for bringing us to another milestone. As of this week, we have completed the consultant check for the entire Gospel of Luke in the Arli, Bayash, Chergash, and Gurbet languages! We still have work to do as we check over the translation of key terms in the book, write the glossary and do a number of spelling and formatting checks. Still, this marks a major milepost in this journey.
Now that we have completed 3 years of translating the Gospel of Luke and a book of 50 Bible stories, our translation consultants took a moment to ask our Roma translators what they had learned in this process.
One of the Roma translators said that three years of detailed checking in the Gospel of Luke in his own language was more valuable than the four years spent in Bible college. He has gained so many insights looking closely at the text of Luke and wrestling with its meaning, that other pastors have asked him to give them a back-translation into Serbian because they have heard of the good things in the Arli translation. He said it was a surprise to be called into Bible translation, but even more so to learn so much in the course of translating and checking. He counts it a great privilege to be involved in this work! One of the translators is a pastor and he said it has helped him preach better sermons because he has learned to observe the text closely and ask questions about what it means. One of the translators said she has learned to focus on the text of Scripture and its meaning, rather than just reading through it without giving it deep thought. Since we have been translating Luke, two of the translators have started Bible studies in their churches in Luke, using the understanding they have derived in the translation process.
One of the translators mentioned that there have been no church gatherings for months now because of COVID and how difficult that has been, but that working on this translation has given extra motivation to stay in God’s Word. Taking three years to work on Luke has led one translator to dig deep in the text and because of that, she is gaining deeper insights into God’s Word and then sharing those insights with others!
We are grateful not just for what will become a finished translation at the end, but for what God is doing in our hearts and in the hearts of the Roma translators on this journey of Bible translation. Glory be to God alone! Special time visiting Todd’s parents and sister in Oklahoma City “Boyash” is another term for “Bayash”. Todd wrote a chapter for this book about the influence of the Croatian language on the Bayash language and how that affects Bible translation. | 
