Pray for Cameroon

You prayed: Translation work in the Mbembe language of Cameroon was slow because all the drafts were being done by hand.

God used the prayer in Call to Prayer to provide a new printer for the team. Pray that it will speed along translation and that the technology will stay in good condition.

After a new pastor included readings from Luke done in French and the Tunen language in a service, someone from the congregation stopped him: ‘The text read in Tunen was not right – there was a letter b that we never use.’ The problem is differences in dialects and needs the team’s sensitivity.

‘More people are committed to Christ and entrust their children to God rather than marabouts [Muslim religious leaders] and fetishes,’ say the Banen translation team. One local woman says that marabouts will become less popular now people can understand God’s word, and is thankful that most of her children have now come to God.

In the Banen region, enthusiasm in the Tunen language classes is growing, with a surprising cause: the national anthem. It was translated into Tunen in 2006, but only used occasionally. The new principal at one school decided that it would be sung once a month in assemblies and the trend is catching on.

School administrators in the Aghem region have decided not to include marks from Aghem language classes in reports, and pupils have shown less enthusiasm in the classes, knowing it won’t affect their marks. Pray that the schools and officials would encourage a passion for the language among young people.

The Aghem team are seeing positive responses from churches as they share the Scriptures. There has been a U-turn at one church in the Aghem community. In the past, the church paid little attention to the translation; the pastor refused to help and information never reached the congregation. The new pastor was concerned about the translation, particularly how ‘baptism’ is translated. After grilling the project coordinator, he promised to join the consulting committee, saying, ‘This is not a project to be taken lightly, because it has an impact on the salvation of people.’

The Aghem team are seeing positive responses from churches as they share the Scriptures. Recently they have been focusing on translating portions specifically for Sunday readings. Pray that these readings would foster enthusiasm and excitement, and that they would reveal truth to people who, before now, have only heard it in a language that’s not their own.

The Weh language team are struggling with the dictionary they are producing. Some of the contributors are monolingual, so it’s not as simple as asking, ‘What’s the Weh word for this English word?’ Pray that team members would be filled with patience, and would not be discouraged from asking people to be involved.

Some churches in the Weh community are waning in enthusiasm. Please pray that God would give them eyes to see the transformation that translation could bring. The inter-church committee was set up to support the translation but for the past few months, it has not been meeting. The project leader, Aseh Derick, has had to visit people individually to get their input, which has slowed down the work.

Men at one of the Catholic churches in the Weh community had a low opinion of Scripture, but a man on the translation team has been telling them what he’s learning about God’s word as he translates. Gradually they are seeing the importance of Scripture and of the translation work. Pray for growth in enthusiasm in this church.