Kandawo New Testament Dedication
Bible Dedications are a celebration on the same scale as large weddings. The joy, the preparation, the logistics, the significance, the culmination of a lot of time and effort, the understanding that this is a forever thing.
A lot of people have been praying for this for a long time.
Our family (Kendal, myself and the kids) began praying for this nearly 2 years ago.
This dedication is a great example of a modern day miracle. I've written about the upcoming event, and now, it has happened! God is so incredibly awesome. The brief version of this story is that Mac and Doris (the translators) worked hard for a decades to produce a New Testament. Near the end of it, the Kandawo speaking people were not enthusiastic about the completion. Life became difficult and disappointing for Mac and Doris. That's when the heavy prayer began. God did a miracle and instead of ending the translation with a whimper and an apathetic reception.... the people did a complete 180 and became excited about it! (I wrote in earlier blogs about how an AudioBible assisted in this.) The people who were once saying 'we don't want you here' are now saying 'thank you for this wonderful gift of God's Word.' Only God can change the hearts of man, and only God can do it on a massive scale in such a rapid amount of time!
Above are pictures of the party, and the people, receiving God's New Testament in their heart language for the first time. Above is the fulfillment of decades of work, by hundreds of people. Above is the proof of changed lives, where God's Word is at work!
This is proof that our God is an awesome God. He is sovereign. He knows His plans. What looked like it would be failure and ridicule turned into revival! God is powerful, and mighty and faithful!
Since we could not attend, we will borrow the writings of someone who was able to:
Praise God that many groups wanted to participate in this even through special items, drama, songs and dance!
Praise God that He made it a sunny morning so that the celebration could go ahead outside on the...school playfields. Praise God for participation from [more than 6] churches.
Praise God for the 5 flights safely in with International visitors, and 5 flights safely out of Ambuluwa airstrip today.
Praise God for all the logisitic details cared for by coordinators here in Ukarumpa (Pettygroves) and at Ambuluwa Station (Grace, Francis, and many others)
Praise God for more than 150 New Testaments sold on the two days of the Dedication (according to Kaspar and other organizers observations).
Please continue in prayer for the Kandawo people:
That they would use what many learned during the SALT [training] course, and read, then apply God's Truth to their lives. That the churches would read God's Word in Kandawo in their services, and grow.
