Hi! I’m recording this on the 13th of March. I just came back to Jakarta yesterday from Batam Island. That is a very small island only about 12 miles south of Singapore. I went there to work with Dwi, who has been taking our on-line Bible translation course. Dwi is the mother of three young children, and the wife of my friend, Beny. It happens that Beny was a student of mine in a translation course in 2008 in Jakarta. That seems like such a long time ago. At that point, we had already (since 2005) started making the translation that would become the Plain Indonesian New Testament (TSI).
I invite you to visit our web site to see the pictures in the episode notes there, which probably will not show up if you listen from a podcast app.
Dwi and Theo
The court is yellow, not all the food.
Because of caring for her two-year old, Dwi doesn’t have time to concentrate on the translation course during the days. So she gets up in the middle of the night and works for a couple of hours when her family is asleep. I was moved by Dwi’s dedication in working out the verses assigned for translation homework. She makes extensive notes of her research before drafting her translation.
Beny works as a teacher of Christian religion in an amazing Christian school in Batam, and as the pastor of a small church that meets in the same facility. When I arrived he increased my stress level several notches by inviting me to speak to three groups: 60 teachers, 150 high school and middle school students, and 600 grade school students. I don’t consider myself good at speaking to youth. 600 grade school students is way beyond my comfort level.
Misal (6th grade) received a special gift in return for her fluent reading of God’s Word. Beny is helping the teachers and students to make a large order of TSI New Testaments.
Balazi is a young seminary graduate who has been working in our office in Jakarta for a couple of weeks, using the Internet connection there to take our Bible translation course.
Today we worked together revising a few verses I have been working on. As we talked, it became clear to me how dedicated he is to everything we are trying to do, and how talented he is as a Bible translator. He was very happy when I affirmed that I want him to work for us full-time.
I want to praise the Lord that the 13th of March marks the one-year anniversary of the launching of the Plain Indonesian Translation (TSI) in Jogja, Indonesia. The first edition was 17,000 books, and the second edition will be printed next month. In addition, 100,000 people are using the TSI New Testament on various devices.
Our real goal is much larger. This country has 250 million people. Paul says in 2 Thes 3, “Dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honored wherever it goes, just as when it came to you.”
I close this recording with the voices of those 600 grade school students, who are singing in English and expressing what we want to happen in reaction to God’s Word.
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