Pray for Scripture need

Thank the Lord for work that is progressing in Morobe Province which is estimated to have over 100 languages. More than 30 of these still do not have any Scriptures in them. Ask the Lord to raise workers to take on the challenge of giving the Word of God to the people of these languages that are still waiting. Pray for the Church in Morobe Province as they partner with Bible translation organizations like the Bible Translation Association to see this challenge met.

Praise God for the Bible bookshop of AuSIL* in Alice Springs. They are now able to offer customers audio Scriptures in some languages, either in USB or CD format, and have a continuing ready supply of stock for the shop. Pray that customers will be inspired to follow along in their books using these audio Scriptures. Pray for the manager, Coralie Grant. She will be working with a Warumungu woman, Lizzie Johnson, to begin drafting the first verses of Scriptures in her language. They will use OurWord, a simple comupter program for native speakers.

*AuSIL is the Australia Society for Indigenous Languages

Pray for the approximately 800 speakers of Yoidik on the coast of Madang Province. Their language use is strong, but there is no Scripture in Yoidik yet. Ask God to call someone to work with the Yoidik in translating God's Word.

Karore is spoken by about 550 people on the south coast of West New Britain Province. It is regarded as an endangered language, but no Scripture has been translated into it. Pray that the Karore speakers will hear God's Word.

In June, the Sepik Partnership Engagement Strategy team will travel to meet with the Wom language group in the northeast Sepik Province to equip them with skills necessary to begin translation work. The Wom group has 4000+ speakers, but has no Scripture in their heart language yet.

You can find good information about every known language of the world on its page in www.wycliffe.net. For example, look at the United Republic of Tanzania. There are articles, prayer items, statistics and a country summary. The box on the right lists every language of Tanzania. They are listed using four colors: red, black, green and purple. When you put your cursor over the words "Scripture status" below the box, it shows the meaning of the color. For example, the color red means "no scripture". Click on the language name to access more about it. 

One leader in India says, "Last March, I completed 20 years of serving in Bible translation ministry. I can testify without any hesitation (in the context of Bible translation ministry) that Mission belongs to God. He will make the crooked path straight so that all people on earth will have the opportunity to read or listen to the Word of God in their own heart language. In 1993 over 250 languages needed translation of the Bible in India, Today, after twenty years, just over 100 languages need a translation of the Bible. This is God's doing and it is marvelous in His eyes!"

Pray for wisdom and guidance for the leaders of six Sepik Province language communities, yet without Scripture in their heart languages, as they choose trainees from their areas as possible candidates to form teams of translators to begin training later in 2013. And pray for patience for the more than 90 other language groups that are still waiting and wondering about the possibility of hearing and reading God's Word in their mother tongue. Praise the Lord for the enthusiasm of Sepik pastors and church leaders who have joined together in the Bible translation effort. They are critical partners for translation to succeed.

Pray for translation activities in three language projects Mango, Niellim and Tunia. Mango has some portions of Scripture. So far, there is not any scripture translated into Niellim and Tunia. Pray also for the assessment of literacy classes that is taking place at this time (mid-April to mid-May) in the Ngambai project. Thank you and God bless you!

Pray for the Solos translation team (currently 11 members) as they prepare for their first Translators Training Course. This will be held from May 29 to July 4. Also, pray for Larry Doyle as he acts as mentor to this large team. Pray that God will give wisdom to each member as they learn to work together in the translation process.