Dear Saints,
A young brother in the Lord 17 years old went down to a unreached group of Rama people aprox 30,000 who have no bible in their own language. He by the grace of the Lord being with them for over 1 year (a village about 4-5 hours away from a large city up a river). Was able to tranlsate the book of Colossians into their language. I am personally excited to see this project done and There is a need for support to see the bible printed and brought down to them.
I personally was able to disciple this dear brother for over a year and be with him in Regina, SK, Canada. I am so blessed to see what the Lord is doing. If you feel a burden from the Lord do consider donating to this worthy work for the Kingdom of God to see a witness of the Gospel to all people groups of the world.
Greg Gordon.
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Greetings,
Many of you know that before this summer I have spent two years in Central America, mostly between a recognized indigenous group called the Rama Indians. There I tried best I could to live the life of an Indian in what I ate and in everyday work. While there I came along side an indigenous brother in the work of establishing a church that they now call in English, "The Church of the Holy Promise". A great majority of my time was spent travelling the traditional way by paddling a canoe for consecutive hours, working in the fields planting, cooking over a fire and sometimes washing my clothes by hand in the river. Besides trying to be an Indian myself in everyday things, Manduku and I also took turns preaching in the church and we often discussed different doctrines and scriptures in the houses in the small Indian community.
The Lord burdened several of us with the work to translate the scriptures into the spoken language of the Indians, which is referred to as Rama Kriol. Four of us began to work on a gospel but finding the time to meet and translate seemed to be tough with the other three translators getting married near that time. The project was put on hold. However, the last month I was there I felt burdened and directed to translate at least an epistle for the Indians, deeming it would be less work and would help us get feedback as to the profitability of the Indians reading their own language, opposed to reading the bible in a second language. Using our team's former base as a foundation and with the help of many patient Indians we managed our first translation of the book of Colossians.
While working in Canada this summer Josiah, a brother from our local church, has worked many hours on putting the text into a presentable booklet. The booklet contains three languages: Rama Kriol, Spanish, and English. This is because some Indians can read Spanish, while others have been learning to read English. Hopefully this will aid the reader to find the way through his or her own written language for the first time. I also plan to follow up with those given a bible, to help them read and to get feedback on the translation.
Josiah and I had the idea to publish the booklet with a standard of quality. To be durable enough to last a little while in the rugged travels of the jungle and the threats the environment poses on the books decomposition. We have a planned order of 1000 copies. I have also included a sample of the work attached as a pdf.
I would like to take this opportunity to allow anyone who would like to contribute to this work to do so. I have created a paypal account for any of those who would like to contribute online here: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=AYGQPRJ6HPNSW
All other donations can be sent to my home address; Checks being made out in my name.
Joshua Friedrick
215 Second Avenue South
Yorkton, SK
S3N 1J1
Lastly, and most importantly, I and those I am working with, need your prayers. Please keep Mileyda and I in prayer as we pursue marriage and go through the process of immigration so we can return to Canada. Pray for the many Indians that are following the Lord and seeking to do His will.
Your brother,
Joshua
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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
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