Extra: “I think the little guy is going to win”

The YOU word is still not fully translated, in order to help see this task finished we are all encouraged to do testing.  Testing involves taking the newly translated portions of scripture and reading them over with a local friend.  The point is not always to teach and preach the word, but simple to let them read it and check for meaning.  We ask a lot of who, what, and Where questions to make sure the text is clear.  We have people read it aloud to us and listen for where they stumble through a sentence of need to read it twice to gain understanding.  We will often have them finish reading and retell the story in their own words to make sure that the details are present and memorable.  All of this is part of the process of testing to make sure we have a good and accurate final copy of the of word. 

I have been fortunate enough to test with some wonderful women over the years.  I remember one tester who use to get so into the story and trying to explain it to me, her inner drama diva would come out and she would start elaborately acting out the story.  In one passage we were checking there was a lot of mention of armor for battle and I was lost.  Not only did I no yet know the YOU words for helmet, shield and sword, I also didn’t know the names for the metal that they were being described as being made out of.   My tester was not deterred by my ignorance… instead she started grabbing for the traditional YOU teapot that sat in the middle of the table and placing it atop her head.  “He wore a special war style hat to keep him protected made out of the same metal as this tea pot.  And he carried a big thing in front of him so that people couldn’t shoot at him”.  She picked up the serving try and help it protectively in front of her like it was a shield.  I wish I had had my camera on me.  There sitting across from me was a sixty-something YOU lady.  Her head scarf was being pushed awkwardly askew by a copper teapot, making her graying whitish hair stick up in multiple directions.  She held the serving tray close to her breast, and kept peeking out over the edge as if we really were engaging in battle.  All of this just to help me understand the detail and clarity of the translated word.

A few weeks later we were once again testing and we came to the story of David and Goliath, a very common and well known story in the west, but this was the first time this woman had ever read or even heard the story.  Somewhere in the initial read through I could tell she had gotten so caught up in the adventure that she had forgotten all about me presence in the room and was just devouring the word.  I shifted ever so slightly in my seat.   She glanced up at me and with a twinkle of delight in her eye she said “I think the little guy is going to win.”  Within seconds he head was back buried deep in the papers and she was reading frantically to get to the end and see if her unlikely prediction of the story came true

How wonderful to get to read the word with people for the first time ever.  To see them get so caught up in the story heir lose any and all cultural inhibitions and just read.  It is a privilege to see how powerful the word can be in the lives of those around us.