Makinti was able to complete chapters 2-4 of Joshua over the school holidays. She handed them to Paul today for keyboarding. Paul will check it through with her on Saturday & then they will make several copies for her team to check through & make suggestions.
Paul is currently in the APY Lands (see new map posted on the “Places” page) meeting with and encouraging the Pitjantjatjara translators. Check out the new team pages for updates.
Paul is meeting with Makinti this afternoon to look through her work on Joshua.
I visited Nyunmiti in hospital not long after she came out of the operation yesterday afternoon. She was in good spirits and pleased to no longer have the pain. She was pleased to hear of your prayers. I left her with some more Daniel to translate and she seemed pleased to have something worthwhile to do while laying there recovering.
This morning Nyunmiti rang me from Queen Elizabeth hospital here in Adelaide to ask for prayer as she undergoes an operation to remove her appendix. So I thought I’d post this news so that people can pray for her. Thank you.
Paul is back in the office after three weeks away doing one of his “other jobs” – teaching the Pitjantjatjara Summer School for the University of South Australia. With nearly 40 students for the first week it was a very intense time with the teaching day starting at 9am and not finishing till 5pm Paul was pretty exhausted by the end. But he says that he loves the teaching & especially enjoys mentoring the 3 Pitjantjatjara tutors who assist with the course. They do a fantastic job & the students so enjoy them.
Paul’s first job back in the office has been going through Yanyi’s translation of Psalm 95 comparing it with Kanytjupai’s earlier translation & bringing the two together. A wonderful Psalm reminding not to forget our creator & protector. He is now going over Yanyi’s edit of Daniel 1 in order to pass a revised draft back to Nyunmiti who is also here in Adelaide on holidays.
And Joshua 1 is next on the list to check through for Makinti.
And then planning translation workshops for 2012.
Makinti handed her translation of Joshua Chpt 1 to Paul today. She’s been working on it over the Christmas break while staying in Woodville Gardens in Adelaide (she ended up staying in Adelaide for Christmas). Paul looked over her work with her and was very pleased with the quality. He left her with Chpts 2-4 to continue with. Yanyi Bandicha also gave Paul her translation of Psalm 95 & also her excellent edit of Nyunmiti & Nyurpaya’s translation of Daniel Chpt 1. This will be forwarded to Nyunmiti for her to make adjustments to their first draft.
Makinti Minutjukur of Ernabella has been down in Adelaide for a few weeks with her duties in the Department for Education and Child Development. Today she returned to Ernabella taking with her the first chapter of Joshua to translate into Pitjantjatjara. During school term she has more than enough on her plate but she is hoping, together with her team, to do some translation over the Christmas period. Makinti has a strong heritage of Bible translation as her father was the chairman of the Pitjantjatjara Bible Translation Project for several years before his death in 2001. As a translator of the New Testament he only got to see it’s dedication in 2002 from his heavenly vantage point. Makinti is keen to continue the work of her father.
Makinti at work during the Translation Workshop at Ernabella in October 2011Makinti holding the new Pitj Shorter Bible on the day of the dedication in 2002
The team is safely home after NTE. Thank you to all who dropped by while translation was being done.
Please keep Nyunmiti and Nyurpaya in your prayers as they continue to work with Paul to finish the book of Daniel.
Come back again soon for updates or subscribe to have them sent to you. We won’t send too many 😉
Yesterday afternoon Nyunmiti & Nyurpaya were able to keyboard the last verse of Daniel chpt 1 as students began to come by and interact with the team.
This morning Nyunmiti will be doing a Pitjantjatjara reading from the stage before the 1500 participants. She is a little nervous – it will be like speaking before half of all her own people.
This afternoon there was non-stop interest in the translation project. A whole string of wonderful students dropped by to enquire about the process and observe Nyunmiti & Nyurpaya at work. It was great to hear the students stories too & see how God is raising up a new generation of harvest workers.
Tjukurpa Palya 