Seminars, Sóstenes, and me
In 1995 I studied in Portugal for almost a year. While at the University in Lisbon I met a Mozambican who was there studying Linguistics. We met weekly and discussed the languages of his part of Mozambique: Tete Province. We studied the map for language areas and the dialect chains in the region south of the Zambezi River. We sent questions to our SIL contact in Maputo at the time.
In 1996 I arrived in Mozambique and met that contact person... Mikael was working on the survey of Mozambican languages. He was planning a trip to Tete Province... and my Lisbon linguist, Sostenes, was coming to Mozambique to do research for his thesis. I put the two together for the survey trip... Mikael worked on logistics and questionaires and wordlists; Sostenes gathered data and interpreted for the trip.
Thirteen years later I'm living in Tete with Mikael and planning seminars for the next month on those same languages. In my contacts with the department of education, I speak to Teresa, the Nyungwe Bilingual Ed. person. "Sostenes is in town." She tells me... I know that she is his cousin and we've spoken of him over the years. He arrived last Friday. He is here for another two weeks.
Today Mikael and I met Sostenes in town. Sostenes met our kids and we drove up and showed him our little mountain. He was impressed with the hill and the views and the rocks and the trees. "The real Tete," he says, "Marvelous." He will be at our seminar... a Nyungwe linguist is a rare thing. Sostenes in Tete is a rare thing. Our first linguistic seminar coincides with his first visit to Tete in 13 years!
I have prayed for Sostenes to know Jesus and to contribute to God's work among the Nyungwe people for many years. I believe that God is working on both of those things. I will have to wait to see how.
A man makes his plans, but the Lord orders his steps.
Please pray for us to show the light of Jesus during our seminars. There will be church people involved, but this isn't a religious seminar. We have invited writers, pastors, and teachers to participate. We will look at three Tete languages: Nyungwe, Nyanja, and Tawara. We are studying the structure/grammar of these languages and printing up a guide for teachers and writers to use. The ultimate goal is that people begin to value their languages and accept that they should be developed in written form. Only then will the Nyungwe Bible be seen as a serious contribution to the church.
In 1996 I arrived in Mozambique and met that contact person... Mikael was working on the survey of Mozambican languages. He was planning a trip to Tete Province... and my Lisbon linguist, Sostenes, was coming to Mozambique to do research for his thesis. I put the two together for the survey trip... Mikael worked on logistics and questionaires and wordlists; Sostenes gathered data and interpreted for the trip.
Thirteen years later I'm living in Tete with Mikael and planning seminars for the next month on those same languages. In my contacts with the department of education, I speak to Teresa, the Nyungwe Bilingual Ed. person. "Sostenes is in town." She tells me... I know that she is his cousin and we've spoken of him over the years. He arrived last Friday. He is here for another two weeks.
Today Mikael and I met Sostenes in town. Sostenes met our kids and we drove up and showed him our little mountain. He was impressed with the hill and the views and the rocks and the trees. "The real Tete," he says, "Marvelous." He will be at our seminar... a Nyungwe linguist is a rare thing. Sostenes in Tete is a rare thing. Our first linguistic seminar coincides with his first visit to Tete in 13 years!
I have prayed for Sostenes to know Jesus and to contribute to God's work among the Nyungwe people for many years. I believe that God is working on both of those things. I will have to wait to see how.
A man makes his plans, but the Lord orders his steps.
Please pray for us to show the light of Jesus during our seminars. There will be church people involved, but this isn't a religious seminar. We have invited writers, pastors, and teachers to participate. We will look at three Tete languages: Nyungwe, Nyanja, and Tawara. We are studying the structure/grammar of these languages and printing up a guide for teachers and writers to use. The ultimate goal is that people begin to value their languages and accept that they should be developed in written form. Only then will the Nyungwe Bible be seen as a serious contribution to the church.
Wow, that is great! I didn't know that you still had contacts from way back in Portugal days.
ReplyDeleteWe pray that Sostenes comes to know Jesus and sees Him in your work and your family.
Love you,
Pam