Romans Project: A Week's Update

Last week was a whirlwind of activity for the Romans Project in East Africa. Dr. Rick Calenberg flew in to Nairobi Saturday March 14 and flew out on Saturday March 21. Sunday he was preaching at Ken's church in Kibera and then by Sunday evening we were welcoming all the East African Romans Project directors. We had our first ever East African directors conference with representatives from Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Pictured below are those directors, two regional coordinators from Kenya, and the translators you have met in previous posts.

From left to right: Rick, Eremias, Allan, Gwalikughu, Ken, Apollo, Wakshuma, Albert (behind), Bonheur (in front), Dan, Marshall, Charles.

Monday and Tuesday we met morning and afternoon and then had time for fellowship in the evenings. It was wonderful hearing from each of the directors and coordinators how they came to faith in Christ and what ministries they are involved in. They also recounted their first meeting with Rick and challenge to join the Romans Project. Tuesday we heard again from each of the men, this time they gave us reports on the progress of the Romans Project this past year and what plans they have for this year. I asked each of them a few questions that helped me better understand their situations. One common thread was the necessity for having not only the teaching from Romans but also as many sermons on the mp3 player as possible in their own languages. Story after story underlined this reality. It was fitting that this conference was conducted at the very time and place we were hard at work to translate the teachings on Romans into five languages.

Wednesday I was back to editing the Oromo and Hausa translations while Rick took off to open up yet another country to the Romans Project, the country of Burundi. Bonheur, who finished translating into French and Kinyarwanda ahead of schedule, was able to accompany Rick in Burundi (it neighbors Rwanda) and be his personal translator. They conducted a Romans Project day conference in Bujumbura, the capital, with approximately 100 attendees, several who were from the Congo. Those of you who know Rick probably were just now thinking: "So, I guess Rick is going to travel to the Congo next and open it up for the Romans Project." You guessed correctly. Actually, his next trip is to open up Botswana and then he desires to go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo which shares a boarder with both Rwanda and Burundi, as well as other countries.

Friday Rick flew back to Nairobi and joined us at Subiaco center here in Karen. He had stories to share, and I was able to update him on talks I had had with Eremias (Ethiopia) and Ken (Kenya) concerning the need to give pastors further training. The three of us (Eremias, Ken, and I) are prayerfully considering avenues to meet this crucial need of providing pastors and church planters with more tools to effectively carry out ministry in their respective countries.

Saturday Rick and Ken conducted a Romans Project day conference in Nairobi that Ken and one of his coordinators had organized the past weeks. A couple of the country directors (Tanzania and Ethiopia) were able to observe first hand how these conferences work and see the teaching modeled so as to duplicate it in their own settings.

Rick flew back to the States Saturday night and the others left very early on Sunday morning. Ken drove everyone to the airport and back home to pick up his family, before  picking me up for church. I had the privilege of preaching yesterday and enjoyed seeing familiar faces. Both Ken and I were extremely exhausted from all the activities and returned to our respective "homes" to relax the rest of Sunday sleeping long into this morning.

Praise God with us for all that He accomplished through this past week. It was a whirlwind of a time filled with many blessings. May all glory, honor, and praise be to God!

Saturday: Translations Completed

Saturday afternoon Bonheur showed up at my door with a huge smile on his face and his external hard drive in hand: "I finished", he said. Wow, what an accomplishment. In just 12 days of translation he not only translated 18 sessions of Kinyarwanda (Rwanda language), but also completed the remaining 6 sessions from the French translation he had started in December. That was truly amazing. God allowed the work to go so smoothly this time. He was able to stay in one of the two rooms in the little stone building set apart from the main building of the center and it afforded him ideal conditions for translating.

Here's a picture of Bonheur in his Sunday best with the small stone building he stayed in and worked at for the past two weeks.

Here's a picture of Bonheur handing in the last of his translation work.

Dan, from Nigeria, came to my room about an hour after Bonheur. He too had just finished with his translation work of Hausa. He was very animated and excited over his accomplishment. A job well done. Now we have the third language completed here at Subiaco and the fourth overall when we include Amharic (Ethiopia) that was used at the conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopian in May 2014 when Scott Gilchrist taught through the book of Romans.

Just before dinner, Wakshuma showed up with his external hard drive and his completed Oromo translation. Now Ethiopia will have two languages to load on the mp3 players for pastors in their country. I have learned from Wakshuma that very few pastors are able to understand English, let alone listen to teachings on Romans and other books of the Bible. Wakshuma told us at dinner that he had loaned his mp3 player to two different pastors to listen to some of the sermons and they returned it the following day saying that they were unable to benefit from them because of only being in English. Now we will be able to put into the hands of these pastors not only Amharic translations of teachings from Romans but also Oromo translations. This will serve to catapult the effectiveness of the Romans Project throughout the country. Now, more and more pastors will want to accept the Romans Project challenge of reading Romans 20 times and writing it out once because they will receive an mp3 player with 18 sessions from the book of Romans in their own languages.

Here's one picture of all of us together one last time before Bonheur and Wakshuma depart. They are leaving early since their translation work is complete and Dan will be staying until Sunday which was the original time we had set.

Sunday: Dan's Turn to Preach

When Dan appeared out by the gathering spot before breakfast all decked out in his Sunday best, we were all dazzled. Wow, that puts a suit and tie to shame.

After breakfast Ken came to pick us up in his Toyota Prado. It seats 8 including the driver. Today there were 10 of us who packed into it. Ken's uncle who is staying with him for awhile and three of Ken's four children - the baby was home with his wife - piled into the way back. They had stopped on the way to pick up the keyboard player. He joined the other four in the way back. Being the oldest in the group meant that I was appointed the front seat. That will change once Rick Calenberg arrives on Saturday. Dan, Wakshuma, and Bonheur were in the middle section.

The drive to Kibera slums is becoming familiar to me. I've been there four times thus far in my travels and will, Lord willing, go there another three times this trip. Ken asked Dan to preach this weekend. Next Sunday will be "Dr. Rick's" turn to preach as he is here only one Sunday. Then I will preach the third Sunday and Joel Simbitti, our Swahili translator coming later in the month, will likely preach the last Sunday.

We park Ken's Prado on the edge of the slums at a police station and then walk about 10 or 15 minutes through the slums to the church. Ken's kids, particularly David, enjoy being with Bonheur and often gather around him to walk to church.

Here's Dan at the front gate to Ken's church. The fenced in area also has a school meeting here during the week.

The service lasts about 2 - 2.5 hours and is filled with praying, signing, and preaching. Dan preached from Nehemiah 1:1-4. Here are two video clips to give a flavor of the service.

PLEASE PRAY for Ken as he pastors this church. Pray particularly that they would be engaged in evangelism to reach the many needy people in the Kibera slums. Also pray that Ken and his elders would be diligent to preach and teach God's Word to those the Lord has entrusted them with.

At Work and Play

Last trip I posted a short clip of both Joel and Bonheur translating. For those of you who aren't sure what I do with the editing, here's a video clip explaining it. Wakshuma and I figured out this evening that I will have 67 sessions to edit this trip: Kinyarwanda (18), Oromo (18), Hausa (18), Swahili (7), and French (6). It is best to edit while I have the men here to make necessary corrections.

As I've mentioned in other posts, we have great times of fellowship before, during, and after meal times giving ourselves a good hour together each meal. Before and after meals we gather in the chairs just outside the reception area where there are comfortable chairs and good internet access to facilitate our fun. Dan brings a lot of life to the gathering. Here they are exchanging phone numbers because Dan (middle) wants to visit Wakshuma (right) and try out the good Ethiopian food that Wakshuma has told us about which includes eating raw beef with special friends. A delicacy reserved for adults and eaten with a lot of hot pepper. Dan is a little apprehensive about the raw beef, but would still like to visit.

Tomorrow Ken will come to pick us up at 9am and take us to his church in the slums of Kibera. Dan has been asked to preach and he is excited about the opportunity. At lunch today he gave us a preview of what he was planning on covering. He was very animated at the table. I'm wondering if he will be that animated tomorrow during church or not. We shall see.

PLEASE PRAY for a good day of worshipping God with Ken's congregation and then a relaxing afternoon to give our minds a rest from the very rewarding and yet taxing work of translating and editing.

Great Progress, Great Fellowship, and a Great Message - The Gospel of God!

Dan, Wakshuma, and Bonheur are making great progress in their translation efforts. Thus far they are further along than in December. It's helpful that it has been a very quiet setting and no need to transfer rooms. By this time last trip Bonheur remembers having moved to three different locations within Subiaco center.

The men's average over the past four days has been 1.5 to 2 sessions per day. Dan and Bonheur are dreaming about what they will do if they finish early. Dan is hoping to spend a few days touring Nairobi. Bonheur is thinking he will head home early. And Wakshuma, the seasoned veteran of recording, is wise enough to not get ahead of the game knowing that we could face challenges of poor health or technical difficulties such as power outages, computer problems, etc. I am grateful for their enthusiasm and yet pray fervently that God keeps us constantly dependent upon Him.

In addition to assisting the men with translation  needs, I spend my days editing the sessions they daily pass off to me before breakfast. Obviously that means I am at least a day behind them. In actuality, I'm more than a day behind as it is rough keeping up with three translators - especially given their great progress. For the last two days I've been able to edit three sessions per day.

My room is centrally located and with a desk in front of the window it allows me to keep track of what's going on and help out where needed.

Here's the view from my desk of the spot near the office where the guys gather before meals to give me their external hard drives for transferring files, use the internet to communicate with their wives and kids, and joke around after working hard.

I can see the cafeteria out of the right hand window of my room. Meals are fantastic times of fellowship. There is great food - breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The cook's name is Richard, and he has the most infectious smile. All the other workers are also very kind. Mostly the four of us sit around the table, but on occasion a Swedish man has joined us. He will be leaving us on Saturday. As you can see by Wakshuma's plate of food, he enjoys his powdered red pepper.

The men have expressed several times their enthusiasm for translating these sessions from the book of Romans. The clear message of the gospel of God is powerful and relevant for every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. As I am learning, Africans have a strong tradition for oral learning. Thus, having these sermons from Romans translated into various African languages and loaded onto mp3 players is truly a valuable tool both for reaching people with the gospel of Christ and for building up local congregations of believers in the gospel of Christ.

PLEASE PRAY for Bonheur, Dan, and Wakshuma that they will remain physically healthy and in a good frame of mind to continue translating. PRAY that they would be constantly filled and led by the Holy Spirit to correctly understand the content of the messages and to accurately convey that in their own languages. PRAY ALSO that we would maintain good relationships so as to encourage one another in the work and to be a blessing to others around us.

An Incredible First Day of Translation!

After breakfast we had a time of orientation. We took a walking tour of the property so that Dan and Wakshuma could see what all is here. We first took Wakshuma's things to "Bethany house", the wooden house Joel used last time for translation, and then Bonheur and I showed them where all the food we eat here at Subiaco center is raised and grown.

We then gathered in the seminar room and covered how to use the recording program and shared some of the lessons learned from last time. Bonheur didn't really need the orientation, but was helpful in explaining what worked well for him last time. Wakshuma also comes with a lot of experience as he translates and records as part of his ministry in Ethiopia. So Dan was mostly on the receiving end of pointers, but proved to be a quick learner. After issuing the men their computers, external hard drives, microphones and ear buds, I sent Wakshuma and Bonheur to get started and spent a little more time getting Dan accustomed to using the program.

Midway through the day I made my rounds to check up on the others and found that they were progressing well. Dan was being very deliberate to translate everything out on paper first and then record it. After several hours of this and only getting through several minutes of recording, I began to pray fervently for Dan. I checked up on the others again and then returned to Dan and was thrilled to see that he had doubled the amount of recording completed in only a fraction of the previous time. Something clicked and by God's grace he was off and going. God is good!

We all met for dinner around 7:30pm and around the table I asked each of them how they had done thus far. I was stunned to hear Dan report that he had just finished the first session. Wow, that was incredible. Wakshuma had completed the first session also and was half way through the second. A job well done. And Bonheur amazingly finished two entire sessions in the first day of translation work.

I showered them all with words of praise and encouragement on a job well done. Together we reveled in God's abundant blessings for our efforts to honor Him today.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS! Please continue to pray for each of us. To help you pray for Bonheur, Wakshuma, and Dan, I am putting a picture of each of them below.

Bonheur is from Rwanda and is translating into the language of Kinyarwanda.

Wakshuma is from Ethiopia and is translating into the language of Oromo.

Dan is from Nigeria and is translating into the language of Hausa.

Another Nairobi RP Translation Trip

Yesterday, Bonheur (Rwanda), Wakshuma (Ethiopia), Dan (Nigeria) and I (Czech) converged in Karen, a suburb of Nairobi, Kenya, at the Subiaco center to once again work on translating Scott Gilchrist's teaching through the New Testament book of Romans.

Bonheur, Joel, and I were here in December 2014 translating these 18 sessions into French and Swahili. Bonheur and Joel will finish those translations at the end of this month, but for the first three weeks of March Bonheur, Wakshuma, and Dan will be working on three different languages - Kinyarwanda, Oromo, and Hausa, respectively.

Thank you for your prayers. God blessed us all with safe travels - seasoned with a bit of "African spice". Dr. Rick Calenberg, International Director of the Romans Project, often reminds me that travel in Africa - or life and ministry in general here - is filled with wonderful opportunities to trust God. When something bizarre happens in Africa, Rick often responds by saying something like, "That's the beauty about Africa - there's always something exciting happening to trust God with." So what was it this time?

Bonheur traveled from Rwanda and evidently spent an extra hour upon arrival with health authorities measuring and remeasuring his temperature before finally allowing him to enter their country. Upon arrival all passengers get into a long line and wait their turn to step on the yellow painted footprints and have some instrument put crosshairs on their forehead and measure their temperature to see if they are infected with some dreaded disease.

Wakshuma's flight from Addis Ababa was a little complicated because a fellow Ethiopian was taking red hot chili powder with him to Nairobi. Evidently, he heard that Kenyan's don't have hot enough pepper, so he thought he better not leave home without his own. I witnessed at dinner last night around 11pm that Ethiopians do like hot spices as Wakshuma took the hottest pepper on the table, that about did Joel in last time, and proceeded to eat heaping piles of it on his food - and he didn't even flinch or break out in a sweat. I was impressed.

My little bit of "African spice" was finally having my checked bag arrive on the conveyor belt and finding that though the main zipper tabs had been torn completely off, the zipper had not opened up and spewed the contents of my bag everywhere. God is good! I'll have to find another bag to travel home with, but by God's grace I was able to arrive with everything I left home with - including about 30 bars of Czech dark chocolate and other treats to keep the men motivated and alert in their translation work.

And to top off the airport arrivals, Ken (our Romans Project Kenya Director) once again had an encounter with the police as he stopped momentarily at a curb to let us load into his vehicle. (I sometimes wonder if I catch the eye of certain people because of my - well - "whiteness".) They evidently were looking for a little "sweetener", but Ken said that he refuses to play that game. I had been praying while he was talking with them and after a few minutes God, in His kindness, allowed us to pass through yet another obstacle.

PRAISE God together with us that we all arrived in good order.

PLEASE PRAY that we would work hard unto the Lord these next weeks and present to Him a Roman's 12-type offering. "I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect."