Day one: Oral Bible recording

Yesterday afternoon, a small team arrived in Gesses in order to record a Gumuz Oral Bible. Rolf and I have been working with 7 men and 1 woman in preparation for this week. We knew it would take a miracle to happen. Last week, Demalash and Askale were sick with malaria and were bedridden along with one of their children. Without them, the Oral Bible recording would not take place as they are needed for checking the stories for accuracy. They are able to follow the stories in Amharic and hear the Gumuz translation being told.

Normally the Oral Bible is done with story tellers who already read a trade language. In this case, the trade language is Amharic. This would allow the story tellers to read the story, memorize it and then orally translate it into their mother tongue. Of the 8 story tellers selected, only 3 of them are able to read beyond a grade 2 level. Because of this, Rolf and I were feeling really nervous about the upcoming project. Had we just agreed to something that was actually impossible?

So for the past 2 weeks, Rolf and I have spend several hours each day working with the Gumuz story tellers by orally telling them the stories in Amharic and then having them tell them back in Gumuz. By the end of the second week, we could only praise God at the potential we saw in those that had come to practice. They were telling the stories with fairly good accuracy and enthusiasm. It will still take a mighty work of the Holy Spirit because most of the stories are basically unfamiliar. 

We are praying for God's hand of protection on each one involved in this project. The number of events that could prevent this recording from happening are many - illness, community death or tragedy, technical issues, fieldwork, family issues, etc. Demalash and Askale are still recovering from their illness, another member is involved in reconciliation talks in his free time. All of them have fieldwork to do.

This week, I am taking a hostess role and I have to say that I much prefer being on the frontlines. I think it is much harder to pray (especially without fretting) yet I know it is a valuable role. So the kids and I are praying this week and looking forward to seeing how the Spirit moves.

By 5:30pm, the story tellers had received an hour long training, had prepped with Rolf, John, Askale or Demalash and had told 2 of their 10 stories. Thank you Jesus. Tomorrow, they will attempt 3 more stories each. 4 men in the morning so they can do their other work in the afternoon and the other 3 will come in the afternoon. Meanwhile, Demalash and one of the visiting team members will be editing the stories already completed.