Chris and Janine Pluger are volunteers with Lutheran Bible Translators with WELS’  mission in Zambia.  They are helping to translate the Bible into the Nsenga language.

Beginning on Monday, May 28th, nearly twenty mother-tongue speakers of the Nsenga language will gather at Chimwemwe Lodge in Petauke, Eastern Province, Zambia, for the Nsenga Bible Translation Project (NBTP) Translator Selection Workshop.

The main purpose of the weeklong workshop is to select three people to be full-time Mother Tongue Translators (MTTs) for the Nsenga project. In addition, the workshop will offer attendees instruction in the basic philosophy and practice of Bible translation, a chance to meet members of the NBTP Committee and the Bible Society of Zambia, and an idea about the day-to-day running of a Bible translation project.

“I’m really excited that God has blessed us with so many participants,” says Chris Pluger, the Exegete and Translation Advisor assigned to the NBTP. “At first we were worried that we would not have much of a response. But so many qualified applicants have stepped forward that it will be difficult to narrow it down to just three.”

The selection process includes tests in English reading comprehension (in order to test the candidates’ ability to make use of the many Bible translation resources written in English), basic Bible knowledge, Nsenga culture, as well as face-to-face interviews and an oral storytelling activity designed to evaluate fluency and naturalness in the Nsenga language.

Candidates will also work together in small groups to translate a portion of Scripture into clear, modern Nsenga – a very practical way for the committee and the representatives from the Bible Society to evaluate the candidates’ ability to perform the basic task of Bible translation as part of a team.

Once the three MTTs are chosen, they will receive further training in translation principles and also in ParaText, the Bible translation software used in projects around the world. It is the goal of the NBTP Committee to begin translation of the Holy Bible into the Nsenga language by the 1st of July 2012. This workshop is a big step in that direction.

“We pray that Almighty God will bless the translation project, and especially the translators, so that the word of God may come quickly to the hearts of the Nsenga people,” said Canon Father Fasten Y. Tembo, Chairman of the NBTP Committee.

Please join us in praying for the work of the Nsenga Bible Translation Project, especially during the week of this workshop.  Learn more about the Pluger’s ministry here.

Kristy Goodman serves as ESL Director at Sure Foundation Lutheran Church in Woodside, New York.

One of my favorite parts of teaching has always been getting to know my students. This has been especially true of my new position as the ESL teacher at Sure Foundation Lutheran Church in New York City.

The students who come to our ESL classes are primarily from Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America. Some are recent immigrants to the United States while others have lived here for quite a few years. As a graduate student living in uptown Manhattan, I get to see a very different picture of New York through my students’ eyes. Every week they bring new stories to class to share with me and their friends.

Ernesto, an older man from Mexico, often tells us long stories about the people that he encounters while making deliveries from the deli where he works. His job, where he works 7 days a week for 8 hours or more a day, takes him all over a 20 block area of the East Village.

Jenny comes almost every week with her son Juan who is a bright, energetic first grade student. Jenny is good at helping me remember the names of foods and customs from Ecuador where I studied abroad in college and where she calls home. She claims there isn’t a single good Ecuadorian restaurant in all of Queens.

Elsa, who has been a housewife most of her life, excitedly reported to me that she has a new job during a recent class. She’s very happy to be spending her days watching a neighbor’s baby. When I asked her how she got the new position, she told me that she met the baby’s mother at a bus stop one day and commented on how hard it must be to take the bus with a stroller. This led to a conversation that led to them discovering that they are both from Paraguay which led to the mother and Elsa’s new babysitting arrangement.

One of my most enthusiastic students has been Javier, a man from Honduras. He is eager not only to learn and practice English (he is the only student to have ever asked me for homework!) but also to learn and study God’s Word. Javier frequently comes to both the English and Spanish church services on Sunday morning and the Sunday evening service. He is working to read through the Bible in a year in both Spanish and English. It was Javier’s desire to learn English that first led him to church. He, like many of the other students, heard the Gospel during our ESL devotions leading to the Holy Spirit working faith in his heart.

The ESL classes continue to be a strong way to reach out to the community and bring new people in to share God’s love with. Pray that the Holy Spirit continues to work in these students and that more new students come to learn English and, more importantly, about God’s love.

Dr. John Lawrenz serves as professor at Asia Lutheran Seminary in Hong Kong.  He writes here about training workers around the world in biblical  Hebrew.

Recently Missionary John Lawrenz and his wife Phoebe spent two weeks in Nepal, a south Asian country that lies in the shadow of Mt. Everest.  In fact they spent April 13—New Year’s Day in Nepal—flying between rural Dhangadhi in western Nepal and the country’s better-known capital of Kathmandu.

Phoebe took part in a two week intensive biblical Hebrew class together with the WELS contact in Pakistan and his wife and the WELS contact in Nepal and his adopted daughter. Phoebe’s husband, Professor John C. Lawrenz of Asia Lutheran Seminary in Hong Kong did the teaching.

What year was ushered in on April 13?  According to the Kathmandu Post the year was 2069!   Since Phoebe and John were married in 1969, the year 2069 marked one hundred years of wedded bliss—a feat probably not to be repeated by any WELS missionary for some time to come.

Nepal counts its years, as do others in nearby India from the time of the legendary king Vikrama.  This Indian warrior led the peoples of South Asia in a great victory over the Scythian tribes who threatened from the north where they held sway all the way from China to the Danube River in Europe.  The victory occurred about 70 years before the birth of Christ and a century before the first Good Friday and Easter.

The valor of Vikrama is believed to rival that of the sun itself.  On April 8, five days before the Nepali New Year, the Lutheran congregation in Dhangadhi celebrated the death and resurrection of God’s “sun of righteousness with healing in his wings” (Malachi  4:2).

Very few Nepalis or Pakistanis celebrate Good Friday or Easter.  Christians who study the Hebrew Old Testament are probably unique in either country.  Nepal is 80% Hindu, 10% Buddhist, 4% Muslim, and only a half percent Christian, making it one of the least Christian nations in Asia and the world.  Nepal’s 30 million people are dwarfed by the 177 million of Pakistan whose population is 97% Muslim and only a little more than 1% Christian.

Within the past decade contacts were made by Pastor Harold Essmann and Pastor Paul Hartman of WELS Multi Language Publications with believers in both countries.  Luther’s Small Catechism has now been printed in Nepali and will soon be published in Urdu, the language of Pakistan.  There is a popular Nepali and Urdu version of the half-hour WELS video “The Road to Emmaus.”  No WELS missionaries serve in either country, nor can they, because of political realities.

Teaching biblical languages to emerging churches in Asia is a goal of Asia Lutheran Seminary, the WELS mission seminary in Hong Kong.  ALS believes that every native church should have some leaders who have the ability to stand on the words of the prophets and apostles as they were inspired to write God’s Word in the original Hebrew and Greek.  All WELS pastors in America learn both languages as part of their training to serve WELS congregations.  Dr. Lawrenz has been teaching Hebrew in Hong Kong for the past seven years.

Eleanor Koester is a member at Peace Lutheran Church in Granger, Indiana.  Eleanor had an interest in Haitian missions and, together with the Peace Ladies Sewing Circle, put it into action.

I became interested in the Haiti mission work through WELS Connection and an article in Forward in Christ.    About the same time, I obtained a pattern for a simple dress for the orphans.  I have many scraps and useable pieces of fabric left from many projects. So I decided to experiment with making a dress.   I made three samples and showed them to the members of Peace Ladies Sewing Circle that I belong to.  They had been looking for something new to work on and became interested in the project.

I got into contact with Missionary to Haiti Terry Schultz. I asked if this was a project that would help the orphans.  He said it was a very worthwhile project.

Our sewing circle displayed several dresses to show our congregation and welcomed material or monetary donations.  Just before Easter I sent a box of 50 dresses to a WELS Kingdom Worker who was going to travel to Haiti and would take the dresses.

We recently received a letter of thanks from Missionary Schultz.  He wrote: “On Friday, April 13th, I arrived in Leogane, Haiti with all of the dresses you had made for the Haitian orphans.  After the Bible class with 11 orphanage headmasters (directors), the dresses were placed on the table, about a dozen at a time.  The headmasters took turns selecting dresses for their orphans.  I can hardly put into words how excited the headmasters were to receive the beautifully-made dresses!  They were simply thrilled!  The headmasters depend on donations to keep their children clothed.  The number of children in each orphanage ranges from 12 to 42.  Having enough clothes for the children is a never-ending  challenge.  The sizes of the dresses worked perfectly, as there are children of every age up through teenagers.

The children that I saw at four of the orphanages were completely excited to receive the unexpected gifts.  The dresses are assuredly the nicest article of clothing of each child that received one.  The children were excited yet shy and somewhat self-conscious to pose for photos.  They weren’t sure how to react to the unexpected, fabulous gifts!”

I was humbled by the letter from Missionary Schultz and the pictures.   I am thankful I can use the talent of sewing, that the Lord gave me, to bring joy and serve a useful purpose.

Pastor Dan Koelpin serves as administrator for WELS World Missions.  Koelpin reflects on a recent field visit to Africa.

Just before leaving for a central African visit on Easter Sunday, I received word from a missionary that the 78 year old President of Malawi, Binguwa Mutharika, was hospitalized and very ill.  Rumors were abounding that he had already died and, if this were true, it meant that his death was being kept a secret by his family and close associates so that they might have time to consolidate the powers of government for themselves, a development that occurs all too often in Africa.  Such a scenario would have caused great turmoil and probable rioting in Malawi since it would have taken leadership away from the duly elected Vice President of the country, Mrs. Joyce Banda, whose influence Murtharika had intentionally tried to lessen.

As it turned out, the election process was respected and Mrs. Banda was sworn in to rule the country so that an orderly transition of power prevailed.  All of this reminded me, however, that the winds of political change can happen in an instant and whenever it occurs it can have huge implications for the fragile presence of foreign missionaries in any land.   Our missionaries are often challenged with the thought that they could be forced to leave at a moments’ notice by a hostile government that no longer appreciates their presence.   Whenever that happens it becomes a moment of truth for the church planting work that had been done up to that point.  “Will the church be strong enough, doctrinally, administratively, and financially to stand on its own?” we ask.   The tentative nature of our missionary presence always stands as a reminder to work while it is day for “night is coming, when no man can work” Jn. 9:4;  always a reminder to build a solid foundation that will endure when the storms eventually come.

Returning after ten years I was amazed at the changes.  Malawi and Zambia are still poor countries by western standards, but there were far more paved roads, middle class houses, and autos than I had expected.  People often progress more than they think, but don’t always see it because it happens over time.  There was not a place in the country, even in the poorest villages, where cell phones were not apparent.  Already field coordinators are able to be in touch with national workers around the country through texting.   Technology is bound to impact the way we deliver the gospel.  Perhaps, most noticeable of all, was the migration to the cities.  This is happening around the world.  In 2008 for the first time in history, more people lived in cities than in rural areas.  According to National Geographic by the year 2050, 70% of the world’s population will reside in urban areas.  This has tremendous significance for the way mission outreach will be done in the 21st century.

While the growth of the church appears stagnant in Europe and the U.S., Christianity is vibrant and growing in Africa and Asia.  The impact of the Gospel on the lives of African Christians is apparent in everything from their joyful worship to their rapt attention at bible studies and willing service to one another.  Nothing ever fully prepares you for the power and joy of the African church choirs; their songs are always uplifting and inspirational!  Charitible efforts by mission workers and nationals are still saving lives and providing opportunities for the gospel.  I returned thankful to the Lord for the tireless work of our dedicated and talented mission workers and national church leaders.  May the lord continue to bless their efforts.