The New Testament Bible Translation continues for the Jumjum people located in Sudan and South Sudan. Bible translators with Development and Literacy Partners International (DPLI), located at a mission station near the Sudan, South Sudan and Ethiopian borders have been working on the New Testament translation while discipling the Jumjum people. The translation work is time intensive, tough work, but God has enabled gifted men and women to take on this critical task. A 441-page Jumjum language and grammar book, produced by a committee of translators in 2020, shows the complexity of translating the oral language into written form.
Translating the Word of God into a people group’s mother tongue opens a whole new method of communicating the Word of God. Even if individuals within the group speak multiple languages, they feel the closest connection to their mother tongue or heart language. My Kenyan pastor describes it very well. Growing up as a boy, he read the Bible in his Kikuyu language. The Kikuyu tribe is the largest in Kenya and thus, the Bible was translated early on into this language. As he read the Bible in Kikuyu as a boy, he believed God must be Kikuyu, since God was talking to him in his own language. He felt an immediate affinity to God and His Word, instead of a distant connection when reading the Scripture written in a second language. This is why Bible translators are working all around the world to translate the remaining languages, so that all can hear God’s Word in their mother tongues without foreign barriers.
It has been a joy to fly for the DPLI Bible translators over the last 8 years that our family has been on the mission field. They depend on our logistical support for supplies and personnel movements. Sadly, they also depend on our ability to get them out of harm’s way as fighting frequently erupts in the area. On occasion, we have had to evacuate them out for short periods over the years.
The Jumjum are a mostly Islamic people group living amongst frequent fighting. The Good News of a loving Father who has sent his Son to bear their sins and restore their relationship to their Heavenly Father is greatly needed.
Thank you, Brothers and Sisters, for helping the Jumjum people receive and learn the Word of God in their own mother tongue. As Revelation 7:9 reminds us, God is calling people from every tribe, tongue and nation into His Kingdom. We will see Jumjum people worshiping Christ for all eternity. Praise God!!!
~Dan
The Halvorson Family in Africa 