Steve and Gerdine Stanley are very excited by the news that they will soon be welcoming their co-workers the Hansen family back into Kovol, Papua New Guinea. They won’t be on their own anymore! Philip and Natalie will be returning as a family of six having recently had twins, and be working on finishing their language study.
Now that Steve has finished his full-time language study of the Kovol culture and language he’s started work on Bible translation. God’s Word, the Bible will be the foundation of the Kovol church and he is excited to be working on it.
Translation is a challenging task. Starting in Genesis 37. The Joseph story provides a straightforward narrative for Steve as a new generation translator to learn the process. It is still the densest, most complex meaning he has tried to communicate in the Kovol language!
Steve is working closely with Kovol speakers to produce, check and test the translation. There is absolutely no way he could do this on his own with just his own knowledge of the language. The tranlsation process is teaching him new words, sharpening his language skills and generally stretching him. Working with the language to produce something is a very satisfying experience after spending three and a half years learning it! Lots of work was put into grammar write ups, reports and culture summaries, but now all of that accumulated knowledge is being put to translating God’s Word.
When will teaching start?
They are looking forward to the evangelistic Bible teaching where the Kovol people will hear the truth presented systematically for the first time.
There are a few things they need before they can begin:
# Hundreds of Bible verses have to be translated, tested and checked
# Decisions on and testing of key vocabulary
# A number of confident Kovol readers
# A complete curriculum of Bible lessons written in the Kovol language
There is a lot of work to do and it will probably take at least two years before they are ready to teach. Thank you for your continued prayers.