2023-09-22 01:36:44
Taking the Word and God to regions of the planet where knowledge about salvation through Jesus is still scarce, or even non-existent, is the work of missionary Li Shaoxiang, who shared an important recent achievement in his ministry.
After much dedication and reading, Shaoxiang managed to translate the Bible into the Ganyi language, a dialect used in southern China. This is a great achievement, since the use of this language is considered marginalized in the country, according to information from the Bible Society.
As it is a marginalized language, that is, it is not undervalued, this means that it can be difficult to find literary resources available for translation. But, fortunately, the missionary’s dedication made all the difference.
“The initial phase was especially difficult. I worked hard to understand the Chinese Bible, I had to read it several times, consulting reference books and discussing it with my fellow Bible translators. So I had to think about how to translate the Scriptures accurately into the Ganyi language,” said Shaoxiang.
Collaboration
The missionary’s dedication was not by chance. In addition to his commitment to God’s work, he knew “that everyone wanted to have the Bible in their own language” in that community.
This was also why Shaoxiang enlisted the help of a local gentleman. “We had an elderly believer in our church who was fluent in the language. He had a wealth of knowledge about this, which impressed me. So, he taught some of us the Ganyi script,” the missionary revealed.
With the collaboration of the elderly Christian’s precious knowledge, the missionary managed to translate the Bible, making its study easier for Ganyi-speaking Chinese. Happy with his work, Shaoxiang is grateful for the support he received from his family and ministry colleagues.
“The support of my family, the translation team, my church who prayed for us all these years, asking the Lord for wisdom and understanding. As well as the support from the Bible Society, which also helped me persevere”, these he.
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