It was Friday afternoon and things were winding down for the week when the biggest thing to happen in PBT-PNG this year occured. There was a knock at the front door and in walked a couple from Summer Institute of Linguistics with boxes containing the finished translation of the book of Acts in the Ap Ma language.
The finished translation of Acts in Ap Ma
The Ap Ma people number about 7000. They live in an area of thick forests and swampy grasslands in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. John and Bonita Pryor, one of Pioneer Bible Translators first missionary teams, had begun working among the Ap Ma people back in the late 1970′s. Several years ago John and Bonita had to return to the US and Maso, an Ap Ma speaker who had been trained in translation principles, continued on with the translation work. Late last year the final check was completed on the book of Acts and last month Lori Witham, our desktop publishing specialist, put the final touches on the book.
Lori supplied the color cover and the print shop run by the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Ukarumpa did the printing and binding of the book. Three hundred copies were printed and will be sent out soon to Samban, the Ap Ma village where Maso lives and works. Maso and the church at Samban will see to the distribution of the new books.
This is a real milestone on the road to having the complete New Testament done in Ap Ma. Later this year a new PBT missionary, Jill Riepe, will begin working with Maso and the Ap Ma people to help move the translation program along. Our dream is that in a few years the Ap Ma people will be able to own, not just a single book, but instead will have the priviledge of reading the complete New Testament in their own language.