Kenya (MNN) — In politics, words are wind. Take, for example, Raila Odinga.
The illegitimacy of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election has been Odinga’s status quo since August. His adamant opposition triggered several months of tension, resulting in the death of Kenya’s economy and more than 100 people.
But, the political winds shifted recently, and Odinga quickly followed. In a joint press release, the men called for an end to national divisions.
This comes as good news for DOOR International. Their Scripture Celebration – originally planned for September but postponed due to unrest – can now proceed as planned.
“For the first time, Scripture is becoming available and impacting communities in incredible ways,” says DOOR President/CEO, Rob Myers.
DOOR’s Scripture Celebration
DOOR staff in Africa celebrate the translation of evangelism, discipleship and fellowship materials. (Photo courtesy of DOOR)
Thanks to these recent developments, says Myers, holding DOOR’s Scripture Celebration in June shouldn’t be a problem.
For one Deaf translator from South Sudan, the postponement wasn’t a problem in the first place.
That’s really not a big deal at all. That’s just one day. We have portions of the Bible in our sign language! Do you understand the significance of that??? We had nothing! Not one word of the Bible.
Imagine: an entire country of Deaf people with absolutely no access to God’s Word. We could pick up a printed Bible and look at it, but it had no meaning to us. We can’t read that. Some of us have Christian parents, but they can’t sign, so they couldn’t possibly explain anything about God to us. We didn’t know anything about God or His Word. At all. Nothing. We had no access at all, until now!
Read the translator’s full statement here.
“It’s amazing to see the transformation that happens in Deaf teams,” comments Myers.
“Typically, when they first come to our campus, they’ve never had any background in translation. They know very little about the Bible because they just haven’t had access in their heart language.”
But, in the span of one to two years, “we see them growing and thriving and having confidence to share what it is God’s taught them.
“They sense God personally talking to them through the Scripture they’ve been working on translating.”
Learn more about DOOR’s work in sign language Bible translation here.
On June 9, DOOR, its partners, and local Deaf leaders will celebrate the completion of Scripture portions in four sign languages: Kenyan Sign Language, Mozambican Sign Language, Nigerian Sign Language, and South Sudanese Sign Language. We’ll share more about the celebration tomorrow.
(Header photo from Wikimedia Commons)
