Consultant Checking Progress Slows

We began consultant checking (the last phase before publishing) last Monday.

Unfortunately we were very disappointed to find out that the “back translator” was unable to help this time, so the team ended up with a replacement who has been rather frustrating in the past. We were hoping that someone else could be found, but here we are at the end of week one, and we are still trudging through the process with the replacement. Knowing that we’re stuck with this situation, we keep praying that God would open the eyes of understanding for this man as he back translates the book of Galatians from Dadjo into French so the consultant can ensure the translation is done well.

We are thankful that they have been making some progress, although very slow, and Art has been working every day via computer and phone to keep up with the comments and suggestions that the consultant has been making. After five days, they have finished up to the beginning of Galatians 4.

We were expecting that the team would have started with the book of Acts because there are only five more chapters left to complete the book, but the new consultant decided instead to begin with Galatians. Because of the time Galatians is taking to complete, we have little hope of making it through Acts next week before our time of checking is over.

As a result, we will likely have to wait another year before Acts can be finished.
This is very disappointing for us, but we trust that God knows what is going on and has chosen to allow it for His own purposes. So we try not to be discouraged, and keep on with the work as God gives it to us!

What the Chad Travel Ban Means for the Dadjo Ministry


Just when we thought things were getting cool in Chad because of rainy season, they are starting to heat up.

We got a big surprise this Sunday when we found out that Chad is now on the travel ban list for the US. We were dumbfounded when we first heard this, there being no reason for Chad to be on the list. As many of you know, Art is planning on traveling to Chad in less than a month. Although this doesn’t directly affect us, it may if things are not fixed soon.

It seems that this ban is a result of  a lack of security measures on Chad’s side for screening who leaves the country to the US. Chad is not a hotbed for terrorism, but it is surrounded by questionable countries. And now there are rumors that if Chad continues to stay on this ban list, Chad may wish to reciprocate the ban to US citizens traveling there. This would directly affect us as well as many friends in ministry there. Please pray that things get resolved quickly.

On another note, there have been two different incidents of missionaries being held up at gunpoint in the capital in the last two weeks. One of the incidents was an attempted robbery, but the other was a successful robbery. Although this has happened in rare cases in the past, the general consensus is that this is becoming more of the norm.

 

 

 

Chadians Migrate to Europe

We came across an article about needing to address the huge influx of Africans to Europe. We were surprised to read that the president of Chad was among the seven leaders from Europe and Africa who met together to better relations between the two sides. Africans seeking to escape poverty and/or war are crossing borders of Chad and Niger into Libya to reach a better life in Europe. “Idriss Déby Itno, the president of Chad, said ‘poverty and a lack of education’ were the main drivers of migration to Europe.”

Life in Chad is not easy. Please pray that God would provide healing to those who are hurting in Chad. Political clashes and lack of sufficient food and water are causing people to reevaluate where their shelter is from. Our hope is that the people of Chad will find their shelter in God.

To find out more about the Migration Crisis, read this article from The Guardian!

 

 

 

There is Good News from Chad!


Thanks to everyone who prayed about the recent financial crisis in Chad!

Art was in contact with the translation team last week, and he got an update on the financial situation in Chad. In previous posts, I spoke of the sticky situation going on in Chad. The government was not paying many of its people, and so workers were going on strike everywhere, including in hospitals. There is good news! The good news is that everyone who has been waiting for their government salary has been paid – paid in full!! We are a bit floored how this is possible, considering the severity of the economy and how it trickled down to affect just about everybody, but we THANK GOD for this positive change of events!

God’s hand is at work in Chad, Africa. It is incredibly clear. We need to keep praying for Him to move in people’s hearts, especially those of the Dadjo people. The Dadjo are finally getting the true Good News in their language, the language that speaks for their hearts!

Pray for their hearts to be stirred, and for them to cry out to God – not the God who demands perfection, but the God who’s name is Love, who is pure, just, and forgiving.

A Time of Transition

The Africa we’ve grown to love.

Checking for the book of Acts starts this coming Monday. It goes for two weeks leading right up to Christmas. We were really hoping that Abdallah would be able to be the back-translator for this time, but once again, he said that he would not be able to go. This is a big disappointment to us because he has been the best back-translator we’ve had for checking. He is fluent in Dadjo, he knows French, and he caught on really fast as to what the consultant needed from him. The replacements that we’ve had to use the last few times have not worked that well, making the time for checking last a lot longer, along with increased frustrations of the team trying to help the back-translator through the meaning of the verses.

All this to say, another man was found that will hopefully/prayerfully work as the newest back-translator. We are leery about another man filling in because of the struggles we’ve had with past back-translators, but maybe this is all in God’s plan. There are some negatives in that he is from further North where they may understand some of the terminology differently than in the Mongo area. Also, because he has not done this before, will he be good at it or not???? On a positive note, he speaks his Dadjo like Izzo, he knows French, and he’s educated. Another note that may prove to be a big plus is that he apparently has some kind of background with the Catholic church. This is a big surprise to us as we’ve never heard of another Dadjo with anything but an Islamic background.

So we can pray not only that the next two weeks of checking go well, but also that this new back-translator will be touched to the core in hearing the Word of God in his own language.

 

 

 

What’s Happening in Chad Right Now?

During Art’s time in Chad, he was able to visit friends in the village. One of these men owns a little boutique in the market. Art was surprised how empty his shelves were compared to all of the other times that he visited him in the past. It all has to do with the gov’t employees not getting paid. It had a trickle down affect that has hit even the small business men who are trying to sell cookies, soda, water, soap etc. Now his shelves are almost bare.  Some of the hospital personnel have been paid a month’s wage, but they are still behind 3 months, so it has not made much difference. The schools will likely stay closed the rest of the year at this point. Up till today, there still has been no change.

On another note, Izzo’s older son who went into Libya to stay with extended family was kidnapped in July. Libya is controlled by many different militia groups that war against each other. There are two that kind of work together to run eastern  Libya with it’s capital there, but it’s control even there is tenuous. So it has become a very unstable country. They demanded a ransom for his release which the extended family helped to pay, so Izzo is greatly indebted to them and now needs to figure how to repay them.

He made it!

Art arrived in Mongo last Friday, no problems. He said several times that it was hot. Mongo tends to be a bit hotter than the capital, and then living right up against the “mountain” is worse as more heat reflects off of the mountain that his Mongo housing backs up against.

Then Art had a meeting for Scripture Use that several people were a part of including a few past and present Chadian missionaries to the Dadjo. The discussion went very well among all in attendance.  Art is now starting the week going over Galations before testing it in nearby villages.

On a different note, the strikes that I mentioned about last week continue. It’s been four months that teachers and health workers have not been paid, so the strikes continue. There is a skeleton crew of health workers who have been put back on duty, but many of the hospitals have closed, and those that are open are way under staffed.

Not only is the lack of pay affecting teachers and healthcare workers, it is having a trickle down affect on much of the population. Because these people are not getting paid, they don’t have the money to buy in the markets, so the marketplace is fairly empty. And because there are not many buying in the market, the shop owners don’t have the money to feed their families AND keep their shelves full. It seems like some of them are on the brink of closing their doors. A friend that Art got to know pretty well used to have his shelves packed, but now the shelves are nearly empty.

Also, as far as the harvest of millet goes, apparently rainy season did not end very well. Several areas dried up too early in the Mongo region leaving much of the grain not ripe enough for harvesting. This is true for Izzo’s field and many around his. So it doesn’t sound like 2016 is ending up that well for many people in Chad. We can pray that they would find our heavenly Father to be the provider of all their needs.