Pentecost
Cluster
VA NUAT U
PROJECT UPDATE
MARCH 2017
theseedcompany.org
Update From the Pentecost Cluster*
Progress
Goals
Quick Facts
Team
Genesis 1:1-12:9 recorded. Jonah and
portions of Isaiah and Jeremiah drafted.
Provide training in basic
Biblical Hebrew and translation
principles; translate Old
Testament selections
Location: Vanuatu
Number of Speakers:
21,800 in four people groups
Expected Completion: 2017
Translators
from Ambae East, Apma,
Hano, and Sa languages
Highlights
01 Recordings of Genesis 1:1-12:9
(Creation through Abraham) are
being distributed on memory
cards and that portion is also
available for listening online.
02 Translators completed
training in Hebrew at the last
workshop. They drafted the
Book of Jonah from the
Hebrew text.
03 Translation committees
formed for Hano and Sa will
promote translation awareness,
distribute Scripture, raise funds
and oversee the projects.
He Kept Reading It Again
In January, adviser Matt traveled to Ambae Island with a local
partner to talk to people about forming translation committees.
They also distributed copies of Genesis 1:1-12:9. A man named
Manasses received a copy. After the meeting, while everyone sat
under a mango tree eating and telling stories, Manasses sat apart
and read his copy of Genesis. Each time he finished, he turned
back to the front and started again. When the truck arrived to
take Matt and others to another part of the island, Manasses
caught a ride to his village. As they dropped him off, he told Matt’s
companion how he was going to read it again that evening and
how he planned to use it to teach some of the younger men to
read. His excitement was overflowing and contagious.
Meet Morrie
Morrie, the Apma team’s most experienced translator, has several
grown children. When one of his daughters had a baby in 2015, he
left his island and traveled by ship to Vanuatu’s capital, just to see
the baby. Before joining the Pentecost Cluster, he was one of the
main translators on the Bislama Bible translation. He also helped
translate the constitution of Vanuatu from English into Bislama.
This previous experience is a major asset to the Apma translation
project. Morrie likes eating chili and corn bread with rice when he
visits his adviser. He says, “This American stew is very good!”
Breaking Bonds
While checking Deuteronomy 18:9-22, the consultant asked about
terms depicting acts of sorcery. One of the checkers said these
were all practices of animist peoples, not Christians. But then one
of the translators pointed out that even in Christian villages, these
things still happen. Rituals for transforming beings into animals,
manipulating the weather and consulting the dead terrify many
people. The translator said that when the team tested these verses
for comprehension, people were relieved to hear what God’s Word
says about such practices. Translators believe this passage will
help Pentecost peoples break away from bonds of animism and
sorcery and be more completely transformed by Christ.
Go online for more updates and to join the
community conversation!
theseedcompany.org/projects/pentecost-cluster
Pray For Your People
01
02
03
Father, we ask that enough laptops
for the translators will arrive and
pass through customs in time for the
workshop in June.
God, continue to bless Scripture
portions as they are tested and
distributed. Use them to transform
the lives of the people of Pentecost
Cluster and free them from animistic
beliefs and practices.
Lord, thank You that the translator
who missed a previous workshop
has resolved his problems and
returned to the team. We also thank
You translator Judith is training to
become an accuracy checker.
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*Cluster projects are a strategy to see mother tongue translators of related languages work as a team to accelerate translation.
A Wycliffe Bible Translators Affiliate