Graves and caves

If you had walked into our translation office this morning, you would have found yourself in the middle of an intense discussion about graves. I know, I know, not your usual Tuesday morning conversation but when it comes to translation, everything's fair game.

It all began with a lesson on how to translate unknown ideas. Currently the translators are working on translating Luke 22-24 and one of the unknown ideas in those chapters is the tomb where Jesus was laid. Out here when someone dies, a grave is dug and that person is buried in the ground. However Luke specifically says that no one had been buried in the tomb where they put Jesus (Luke 23:53). From the perspective of the people out here this doesn't make any sense. Who reuses graves?

Thus began the discussion on how to explain what Luke meant. What kind of phrase could describe a tomb? The idea of using the word for 'cave' instead of 'grave' was suggested to help portray this idea. Most translators agreed with this but then the question came up, was Jesus buried in the cave? Did they dig a grave in there or did they carve the stone? What word should be used to describe this process? What words are available in their languages?

Although they didn't all agree on exactly how it should be translated, this discussion was a good learning process for dealing with unknown ideas.

Because He Lives

A couple weeks before Easter I was listening to some worship songs when the hymn 'Because He Lives' started playing. The line 'because He lives, I can face tomorrow' really hit home with me. It was a busy week and some mornings I just wasn't sure I could get out of bed and face the day. But listening to those words I realized that I could face each day because of Christ. He is alive and with me so nothing is impossible.

Again this last weekend over Easter the words of that hymn came back to me and reminded me about the power of the resurrection. Although we celebrate Easter specifically at this time of year it's because of what Christ did on the cross, his death and resurrection that I do what I do each day, all year. It's because He lives that I can live each day in that power of the resurrection. It's because He lives that I walk each day with Jesus, who is alive. It's because of his incredible sacrifice that I am here in Tanzania, part of a project to translate the Bible.

Another meaningful part of Easter for me this year was being able to participate in communion Easter morning as part of a small English service we held. I rarely have the opportunity to take communion and so it was really special to be able to participate in it Easter morning. I was encouraged and refreshed and renewed in my purpose for being here.

So this week, although it's not exactly exciting being back at work after a nice long weekend, I can face each day because I have a living Saviour who is with me every minute. Together there is nothing that can stop us.

The Language of the Home

While I was out in the village of Bwitenge with the Ikoma translators doing a community check, I saw how important the mother tongue is to these people. I was eating lunch at the home of one of the participants (from the community testing) with the translators I work with. Now keep in mind that these translators speak Swahili fluently. We use it at work all the time, they spoke it in school growing up and use it in town all the time. However now, we were in the area that the translators called home, a place where everyone speaks Ikoma. So back to this lunch. . . While we were sitting and talking, the one translator, Muya, kept speaking Ikoma. The other translator would tell him to speak Swahili, because I couldn’t understand Ikoma. So Muya would switch to Swahili and then two minutes later, he would be back in Ikoma. This went on for a bit until he just gave up and spoke Ikoma.

At first I couldn’t understand why it was so hard for him to speak Swahili. I thought that once he switched to Swahili he would continue speaking it but he repeatedly returned to Ikoma. After a while I realized that this place was home, this is where he always spoke Ikoma and it probably felt awkward to speak Swahili, especially when everyone else spoke Ikoma. It didn’t matter how fluent he was in Swahili, there was a very strong pull to speak Ikoma in his home village.

That was when I realized how true it must be for the Scriptures too. The Swahili Bible definitely has its place but how can it enter into those homes where only Ikoma is spoken? How can it penetrate that world where only Ikoma is the lanaguage used? How can it reach people’s hearts in the privacy of their own homes? The answer is that it can’t and that’s why we are doing what we are doing. That’s why the Ikoma people we met were so thrilled to hear even two chapters of Luke in their own language. That’s why they patiently answered all our questions all day long, because the verses they heard touched a place that Swahili has never touched.

I have never fully understood what it's like to speak a language only at home, but that day I caught a glimpse. And I realized that people are most fully themselves at home. Home is where they feel relaxed, where they are open, where their passion lies and home is where the Word of God needs to enter in the language spoken there.