The more insight Erwin and Rita Penner with Hanna, Ben and Lia get into the world of the people group among whom they serve and their existing churches, the more patience and grace they need. Erwin and Rita would like to have a perfect command of the language now; they would like to pass on God’s Word in the heart language now in order to see changes through the Holy Spirit, Erwin and Rita want this and that … patience is necessary and that is not easy.
They are deeply grateful to God for the open doors in Paraguay to work among the native people. Even if the coronavirus is a topic in the media and especially in the capital, they have for the most part been spared when it comes to many diseases and restrictive regulations. The schools in their area are also still open, which is a huge help to them and enables Rita to invest a lot of time in the ministry in the morning.
The focus is a maturing church. Specifically, an understandable Bible is the goal, because without God’s Word there is no basis for a church that is faithful to the Bible in the personal life of every believer.
Erwin and Rita’s co-workers, who already speak the language, dedicate themselves to this work full-time, dependent on the grace of God for patience! Martin Luther was able to translate very quickly because he had a perfect command of the biblical languages (Hebrew and Greek) and also translated into his mother tongue. The team translate with native speakers in their language, but do not have the same advantage. Much more communication and preparatory work has to take place so that a translation is accurate in terms of content and is understandable!
Erwin and Rita are very grateful to God for enabling them to be part of this work. He uses people, with all their weaknesses and mistakes, to work in His kingdom.
Over the next few weeks, a Bible translation advisor will check several books that have already been translated (Esther, Galatians, and Philippians). These are intense days for everyone involved. Thank you for special prayer on this matter! The next books to be checked will possibly be Joshua, Matthew, 1 Timothy.
Thank you for your prayers.