“God Doesn’t Need that Little Game”
After living for many years among the Suruwaha, one of the most isolated tribes of the Amazon, it was finally time to teach them how to read and write.
As dedicated YWAMers, trained linguists and Bible translators, my husband Suzuki and I had already learned and analyzed the language and had it reduced to writing. We had compiled a huge dictionary, created a pedagogical grammar, and completed the discourse analysis. In addition, we had also created the first primer book in their language. With that little primer in our hands, we selected some interested young people and set out on our literacy adventure.
We were fascinated with our students’ ability to crack the alphabetic code so easily, even though the primer was one of the first books they had ever touched. It was like a game to them. Some would spend hours sitting near our hammock, reading the words out loud, laughing delighted at the ingenuity of the system. They loved it, and we were absolutely thrilled, of course! We imagined it wouldn’t take long before the entire tribe would be literate and would be able to read the Bible in their own language. What a milestone it will be!
During those years, we had been witnessing a spiritual awakening among the Suruwaha. The shaman had a powerful encounter with Jaxuwa (Jesus), and many were asking questions, very hungry to learn more about Him and His power to change their hearts. Because they were so ready, we told them that it was time for us to start translating the Bible into their language so they could read and understand the words of God for themselves.
What a shock! We were not prepared at all for their reaction. “We are disgusted that you would even consider using your mundane little game to convey God’s sacred words! God certainly doesn’t need that! That game of yours is fun and all, but it is not appropriate to carry such a powerful message. That’s not how spiritual truth is communicated. Are you kidding?!”
The Suruwaha, in their unapologetic wisdom and common sense, forced us to think outside the box. The Suruwaha did not see any value in learning how to read and write, so they rejected literacy altogether. Their reaction to literacy led us into a long quest to understand the interaction between spirituality, orality, and literacy in different cultures. It took us another couple of years to understand the implications of that and to come up with an alternative that would honor both the Bible and their culture.
So, in the year 2000, we started translating Genesis using a completely oral process. It included internalization of the passages and cycles of rendering, recording, testing, and refining. It was beautiful to see how the Suruwaha would totally internalize a passage and then recount it with so much beauty and accuracy.
The first man to listen to a passage from Genesis was Ikiji, a friend who had not yet met Jesus. He listened carefully to the recording then walked away silently into the thick jungle. Several hours later, he came back glowing. In a spontaneous and inspired response to the power of God’s word, he sang for us a collection of eleven beautiful chants he had just composed in worship of his newly found Savior.
That’s how our journey with OBT started—way before it had a name.
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