Modern Day Tower of Babel

00:13
Rich Rudowske
Welcome to the Essentially Translatable podcast brought to you by Lutheran Bible Translators. My name is Rich Rudowske. I’m the Chief Operating Officer here at LBT. 

00:21
Rich Rudowske
Today we are talking to the Reverend Linus Otronyi, pastor in the Lutheran Church of Nigeria and international associate with Lutheran Bible Translators, Linus has worked to bridge gaps in access to the scriptures in over two dozen languages. But with over 500 languages in the country of Nigeria alone, there is a lot of work to do. As you’ll hear, Reverend Linus has his master’s degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Calabar in Calabar, Nigeria, and an honorary doctorate in Applied Philanthropy, and is on course to begin doctoral work in Biblical Key Terms in the near future. I hope you’ll find this conversation as encouraging and informative as I did. 

01:00
Rich Rudowske
All right, thank you to Reverend Linus for being on the podcast today, coming to us online from Nigeria, and great to have you with us. We’d like to have our listeners get to know you a little bit if you could tell us a little bit about your background and how you came to be involved in Bible translation work. 

01:16
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Thank you for having me. I’m Reverend Linus Otronyi with the Lutheran Church of Nigeria. I was born in the small village of Iboko where Dr. Morris and Louis Watkin lived before they leavedd to U.S. to see to the existence of Lutheran Bible Translators. I was born about the time the New Testament in Yala was published, and that New Testament was worked on by late Reverend Dr. Eugene Bonkowski with the help of Dr. Bachmann and Merrit. They all work hard to have the New Testament published in Yala, so I was born about the time it was dedicated. I speak Yala as a first language, and I attended both primary and secondary school in the rural village of Okoma in Yalak, which is found in the Ogudja region in southeastern part of Nigeria. 

02:19
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Growing up, I was a lay leader and preacher in my local congregation at Iboko, and because of the interest I had, I went further to be enrolled in the Lutheran seminary. That was in 1999, and during my first term, as we used to call it at that time, I came home on a visitation. So I visited our translators, Mr. Fedin Anoji. I visited to greet him and to check how he’s doing and how the translation work is going on, and he decided to send a message to me to Chuck Tesaro, who was a consultant on the Yala Old Testament at the time. That was about April 2000. So as a messenger, I took the manuscript that he sent me to Chuck, and I thought that I have finished my assignment. And Chuck said, wait a minute. 

03:12
Rev. Linus Otronyi
“We have been struggling to see how we can get a manuscript of Yala typed into a computer. What do you think about helping to get that done?” And my answer was no, because growing up, I know a few people who are typists, and the story behind them was not something encouraging. So I told him no. Okay. But he won’t give up on me. He kept on insisting and asking me to give it a tried. So after much thinking and prayer, I went back to him to say, okay, I want to do what you want me to do. So that is how I got involved in Bible translation. 

03:54
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And then when I finished the two years program and I was certified as evangelist of the Lutheran Church of Nigeria, they sent me to Yala to nurture a small preaching station that was started around that time and also to help late Fedinan on the Yala translation project. So at that point, I was just helping Fedinan and typing the manuscript he was drafting and also helped to coordinate review with reviewers. So that is me. And I’m also family wise. I am married with a daughter. I am also a firstborn in the family of six, three boys, and three girls that are surviving. Okay, thank you. 

04:39
Rich Rudowske
Very good. Tell us a little bit about Nigeria in terms of how many languages there are in the country of Nigeria. 

04:48
Rev. Linus Otronyi
The country of Nigeria has 515 living languages. 

04:53
Rich Rudowske
Wow. 

04:53
Rev. Linus Otronyi
68 has new Testament and 62 has portions. And out of these 515 languages, there are about 30 languages in the area where I lived and worked. I mean, in Ogoda areas. 

05:08
Rich Rudowske
Wow. 

05:09
Rich Rudowske
That is a lot of languages. So a lot of folks grew up in, kind of, isolated from each other, and a lot of languages developed there. That’s great. So it sounds like. Well, the Lutheran Church of Nigeria has assigned you as an international associate with LBT with the goal to be sure that the Word of God is being used in these local languages. And that’s a lot of what you’ve described then, is just these really innovative and creative ways to have that mother tongue Scripture in the hands of people or on their ears or whatever it is, and to interact with that. Why is that work so important to the Lutheran Church of Nigeria for Bible translation and language development? 

05:53
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Imagine that Jesus came to teach and preach in a heavenly and strange and non-human language, and the Bible was written in the same language. Jesus’ work would have meant nothing and nobody would have been saved. We will still remain in our sin on them. But the Bible is the most important message we can think of in the world. And so the Bible was written in the language of the people. And when Jesus came, He preached and taught in the language of the people. At his time, I used to tell people that if Jesus is here in Yala, he will be teaching and preaching to us in Yala because that is the language we understand to us as a church. I think that no one can get saved from his sin apart from the Word of God in a language that they understand. 

06:52
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And that is why when Peter was preaching at Pentecost, people understood him. And because they understood him, they responded absolutely. So the church cannot fulfill the lost mandate for His church without taking the Word of God to the people in the language that they understand. That required that Bible translation is important and should be translated to the language of all people to whom the church goes to minister or witness to. Otherwise, it is like pouring water on the back of a dock, foul, or even on the rock. When real challenge or temptation come, people will run away from the faith because they don’t actually know what faith is all about. So the first requirement for all ministry is the word of God in the language that people understand. 

07:44
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And I think that is why we at the Lutheran Church of Nigeria here, we know that it is important for different people’s group to understand the message of salvation clearly in order for them to respond to faith, in order for them to experience God in their daily living. And of course, the Lutheran Church of Nigeria is found among different ethnic languages in Nigeria. And Bible translation is one of the core value of the church right from inception. So I think that is why it is important for the church. 

08:20
Rich Rudowske
So you also, in your master’s thesis, you talked some about the development of languages and why that’s important. And here’s a quote from your thesis. You wrote, “It’s a well known phenomenon globally that minority languages are facing the threat of extinction. This is especially so because most of these minority languages have not been researched linguistically, nor has there been any documentation done in them.” It’s also clear that very little has been done on the Ekpari language, which was the language you were doing in your thesis. This may be due to lack of interest by native speakers of the language and researchers. And this is the sentence here, unless speakers of Ekpari speak up, they stand to lose their language. So that’s a big statement. 

08:59
Rich Rudowske
I guess the question I have is, what would you say to those who might say, well, it’s okay if small languages go away, because then people can just speak another language that already has the Gospel. But what do you think would be lost if people lose their language? And why should that matter? 

09:13
Rev. Linus Otronyi
I think that should matter because in the first place, language is a gift from God. It is a symbol of identity, belonging and solidarity. So any group that lost its language has lost its identity as well. Like, for example, after being known as Linus, my second identity is as a child of God. My third identity is as a man. So when a language is lost, an identity is lost. That is why it matters. The other reason why it matters is the culture which is expressed by language is also lost. When a language is lost, a whole body of knowledge that is transmitted through language will also be lost. For example, today we can learn something about Latin, but some of these minority languages, they don’t even have anything documented in them or something written in them. 

10:20
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Today we can learn something about the people who lived and used Latin because that language was written down. Imagine a minority language that is not written. When he dies, everything about the body of knowledge that is supposed to be transmitted to another generation or to another language group would dies with it. So that is why it matters that people should work hard to preserve their own language. And a loss of language is also a loss of a link to the past, because without a link to the past, people in a culture lost a sense of a place. They lost a sense of purpose, a sense of path. One must know where he came from to know where he’s going. 

11:04
Rich Rudowske
Yes. 

11:05
Rev. Linus Otronyi
So there’s a whole lot that is lost when language is lost. 

11:11
Rich Rudowske
Absolutely. So the work of Bible translation is going on though, with several partners all working together, Bible and mission agencies and local partners. Tell us a little bit about the collaboration and maybe some of the other organizations that you interact with in this task. 

11:31
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Yeah, recently there are many Bible translation organizations in Nigeria. In the past, it used to be few, but in the last two years we have witnessed the growth of many indigenous Bible translation organization. There is a collaboration to a certain degree with these different organization. There is a forum that is called Language Program Coordination Forum that coordinates all the different Bible translation agency organization. In that forum, they share information about training, they share information about statistics and other relevant information on Bible translation need. There is also a forum that is called a forum of bio translation consultants in Nigeria, which comprise of translation consultants and coordinators of language projects from different organizations. They also meet from time to share ideas and discuss about the work of Bible translation in Nigeria. 

12:57
Rev. Linus Otronyi
But there are some specific collaboration effort that I have been part of, or LBT have been part of for example, when I mentioned the Ugodyalu partnership, an ECOM partnership and Ugudu cluster, all of these is an effort that is done with collaboration from different Bible translation organization. 

13:29
Rich Rudowske
Yes. 

13:29
Rev. Linus Otronyi
For example, Seed Company is part of that effort. Luke Initiative for Scripture Translation is part of that effort. And we are also part of that effort. When we get to the point of doing the Jesus Film Project and the Breat Commission Movement of Nigeria, they are also part of that effort. I also mentioned the scripture listening group training we have done in the past. It’s also an effort that is jointly undertaken by SIA Nigeria and LBT as well as Faith Comes By Hearing. So there are different collaboration. Another example is the reprint of Yala New Testament with some that is in process is handled by the Bible Society of Nigeria. So there is a whole lot of working together in Nigeria contest because we see that the need is much. 

14:37
Rich Rudowske
Yes. 

14:38
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And no one particular organization has the know how and the resources to do it all alone. So we work together. 

14:49
Rich Rudowske
That’s great. Yeah. That level of collaboration, recognizing the size of the task, especially in Nigeria, is encouraging. Do you think that missionaries still have a useful role to play in Africa or in Nigeria particularly? 

15:05
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Absolutely, yes. I think the church is a global church. And besides that, we still have needs in areas of Bible translation that will require help from our brothers, especially certain skills that we may not have here, like computer skills or scripture engagement skills or technical skill like translation advisor or translation consultant or literacy advisor and all of that. We still need that. And the other reason is once they are here with their expertise, it is always possible to share ideas and it is possible for them to help with the training of indigenous workforce. So I strongly still believe that there is still need for us to have others from the western world to come and help. 

16:04
Rev. Linus Otronyi
In fact, if I were to say it in the words of the Bible, I would say they should come over to Macedonia and help us now because they feel it’s ripe and we lack the laborers, so they are welcome. There are different things they could do. Like I mentioned, scripture engagement, Bible translation advisor, literacy, computer help management skill and all of that is needed. 

16:31
Rich Rudowske
Okay, that’s great. And you mentioned that the church is a global church. In some of my recent reading, I read this, it says that at the end of the 20th century, so at the end of the 1900s, the center of world Christianity had shifted. And center of world Christianity means the point on the globe from which there are equal numbers of Christians, north, south, east and west. And that used to be for a lot of the 1500s through the 1900s in Europe somewhere, and now it has shifted to Lagos, Nigeria. So that’s kind of the center of world Christianity, according to this study. 

17:06
Rich Rudowske
Whereas 100 years ago, the typical Christian was a 46 year old white man in London, today studies show that it’s a 26 year old black woman from Africa or from Nigeria, which means that there’s a huge amount of Christianity now outside of the west. And I’m just curious what you think that the church in the west, or the Lutheran Church in the United States particularly, could learn from churches in world Christianity, particularly from the Lutheran Church of Nigeria. 

17:34
Rev. Linus Otronyi
The idea of fellowship, I think, is something that you can learn here in Nigeria. We like the idea of fellowship. That is why you see a situation where if you are a man, you belong to men fellowship. If you are a woman, you belong to women fellowship. If you are youth, you belong to youth fellowship that helps in fellowshipping of the brethren together. And I think that is very encouraging. And besides fellowship in that sense, the idea of having regular devotion in group, either as a family or as a church, is also something that is very helpful. 

18:20
Rev. Linus Otronyi
We also like the idea of bringing people together in group, what we call convention or rallies, where people come together and spend three or four days studying the Bible, hearing the word of God, praising God in songs and worship God, and a whole lot of that just for spiritual refreshments and encouragement. Also in Nigeria, we place a lot of premium on dressing well to church. If you appear before God, you have to appear properly. So you see that here you always see people in church dressing modestly and dressing well before God because they think that is very important. And also for us, I know that in the west, people are always time conscious, so you could have 20 minutes, and a preacher is constrained to preach within that limit. 

19:16
Rev. Linus Otronyi
But here we allow people to use their liberty to preach as long as 1 hour, 30 minutes, and people don’t complain about that. So I think these are some of the things that you could learn from the churches in Nigeria, particularly the SCN. And the other thing is the church in Nigeria has faced a lot of difficulties, okay? Especially during this time of pandemic. But those difficulties notwithstanding, I think those difficulties is even helping the church to be stronger. And I want to say that the church in the west can also learn from that, to look for different means, to reach out with the Gospel to others and not be discouraged by the current situation. We find ourselves, because the church in history, we see that the church strive during hard times. And I know that God has a purpose for it. 

20:11
Rich Rudowske
Absolutely. How have the scriptures been meaningful in your life, particularly? So you spend a lot of time helping others to connect with the scriptures. But for you, how do you find the scriptures to be meaningful? 

20:24
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Well, the Scripture is like a map and it’s a guide for every Christian. For me, particularly, I find source of strength and courage and comfort from the scripture. When times are hard or times are dark, it’s always the scripture that I run to. And also sometimes I have questions about life, questions about my culture, and I go back to the scripture and always I’ll find answer that is very comforting. So the Scripture is part of my daily life and always the source of hope and comfort and peace for me, especially during hard times when you think that all is not well and you need to throw in the towel, it’s a scripture that is giving me the fueling to move on. 

21:27
Rich Rudowske
Yes. What brings you joy in your work? 

21:31
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Many things. For example, seeing young people desiring to read in my language or reading and reciting scriptures in their mother tongue. And also anytime somebody asks me, what do you do? It gives me an opportunity to talk about what I do and how they can pray for me. So that also gives me joy. Seeing church leaders promoting and speaking to encourage their members to use translated scriptures, sharing from their experience the impact that translated scriptures has had in their life or in someone’s lives, that also gave me joy. Also, seeing people’s life change as a result of their engagement or their encounter with the Word of God, that gives me joy. 

22:25
Rich Rudowske
Excellent. What are some things that are harder than you wish they were? What do you wish was easier about the work that you do? 

22:32
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Well, sometimes working with difficult team members can be very frustrating. I wish that is very easier. And especially when you consider that some of these team members are adults who should know what to do and behave well. But you see a situation where they quarrel among themselves and disagree and all sort of disagreements. So that is harder. And getting to fix that is not easy either. So that is harder. And I think the whole process of Bible translation is not easy because you are working so hard and sometimes you are not seeing the result immediately. Some people, they like, when they do something, they see the result immediately. But Bible translation is not like that. And that can be very discouraging to some people that you have labeled so much and the result is not coming. 

23:30
Rev. Linus Otronyi
So I wish those things are easier and possible to see the result of your hard work immediately because that will encourage you, but that is not the case anyway. 

23:41
Rich Rudowske
Yeah, that’s so true. So tell us about some of the work that you have done in the past and what you’re working on now. How many of those languages have you worked on or touched in some way in your work with the Lutheran church? 

23:54
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Okay, like I said, I started up with helping in the other translation to keyboard the New Testament, all of it, because we had it in the form that was not in electronic form. So I had to do that, and I had to do all the typing of the Old Testament draft the way we have it today. And at some point, I was part of the linguistics survey team in Nigeria. I was the first Nigerian to be trained as a surveyor. And our work is to determine the relationship between similar language form to see if language development is possible or not. And if it is possible. To which form can scripture be translated into that will serve the people’s groups. Part of that work, we also look at the vitality of the language. Is the language spoken? What about the identity? 

24:54
Rev. Linus Otronyi
What about the language use among the community? We also carry out social linguistics interview with the community and do church interview and school interview to also determine the literacy rates among the community. So I was part of that work for quite a number of years, and we did survey in the north, and we survey about four different clusters in the Gordja area and some around Ecom area. So I was also part of that. And I also facilitated, after we finished the survey, especially the survey in the Ugodia area, I felt that I need to do something that is more important and crucial. So I left survey and I began to focus on Scripture engagement because we had new testaments in this area that were never recorded. We had New Testaments and Scripture in this area that were not used well. 

26:05
Rev. Linus Otronyi
So because of that, I also focus on Scripture engagement, and I see to the recording of the New Testament in six languages, including Boki, Yala, Kukele, Beta, Ekajok, Bekwara. And we also facilitated the translation of the Jesus Film and the dobbing of the Jesus Film in those six languages. I have also been involved in the cluster. We started in Nogoya, which started as a result of the survey we did earlier. So that cluster has six other languages that had nothing written, no portion of the Scripture written, and that cluster started in 2012. And with the help of God, we’re able to. 

26:53
Rev. Linus Otronyi
I was part of the team that helped these languages to come up with a basic writing system for that language, the translation of the Gospel of Luke for those languages, and of course, the recording of the Luke and the dobbing of the Jesus Film script for those languages. I’ve also been involved in meetings with church leaders. So I have organized Pastor summit, three pastor summit in this area, to bring church leaders together to discuss and chart a cause for how they could be part of Scripture engagement and promoting the use of translated scriptures in their ministry. I have also been part of training people to use the recorded audio scripture that people has in their languages. 

27:52
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And that training we have done in several languages with partnership with other agency, we train people on how to use the audio Bible that they have in Bible study, a sort of oral Bible study. We call it Scripture listening and reading group. Okay. And I have also been involved in some kind of literacy teaching. In one parish, a parish priest invited me to help his lay readers to read in Yala, and I accepted that invitation. And for like five years, I’ve been going to his parish to teach the lay readers how to read the vernacular Scriptures in their modern tone during masses. And because of the relationship that is bad, the people want me to always be coming. So as I have time, I normally go to spend 1 hour a week with the lay readers, preparing them for the readings on Sundays. 

28:59
Rev. Linus Otronyi
I have also been part of the initiative in Yala because we see that the young people, they grow up, and most of them don’t show interest in reading the Scriptures or reading in the language. So I’ve been part of the initiative to come up with the idea that we call Yala Anwa competitions. 

29:20
Rich Rudowske
Okay? 

29:21
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And that competition, we do it in three phases. There’s a competition for reading, there’s a competition for Scripture songs, there’s a competition for Scripture recitation. And that has really motivated a lot of younger people to know how to read and to fall in love with the translated Scriptures in Yala. This year on would be about the fifth time we are having that event. And it has been very encouraging because we see that people get motivation to read in English because they think that they can get a job. But what is the motivation for young people to read in Yala? So we see that, okay, if we come up with something like a competition, maybe it would be enough motivation for them to be interested in learning to read and using the Scriptures. And I think that has really paid off very well. 

30:21
Rev. Linus Otronyi
So these are some of the things that I have been involved, and currently, we started a cluster, another cluster in Ecom, involving six languages. That cluster started in 2017, and we’re supposed to finish this year. But for this pandemic, we don’t know when we’ll finish. So maybe by the grace of God, we may finish next year and at the end of that they will get the same materials that the ones in Ogodia had, namely the Jesus Film, the Gospel of Luke both in audio and print, and the basic writing system in their language. And last year we also started another cluster called Ubudo cluster involving six seven languages. And in each of this cluster I facilitate as a consultant with a particular language apart from helping with the overall coordination and making things that things work well in terms of logistics. 

31:22
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And I have also been working on the Old Testament project as a halftime. We have been having some session with a consultant to check the draft we had and the last session we had was in March, but we couldn’t do more than that because of the pandemic. But as times allows we are finding time to meet at home to review the draft we have in preparation for a consultant check in future. So these are some of the things that I have been involved in and I also facilitate the reprint of Yala. A New Testament will sound with the Bible Society of Nigeria, which we hope will be ready by the grace of God next year. And I also try to encourage some kind of progress in the Ukele project and obey as well. 

32:27
Rev. Linus Otronyi
So these are some of the things I do besides once in a while having preaching engagement in church or teaching engagement in church and also having responsibility for my family too. Those are some of the things I do. 

32:44
Rich Rudowske
What are some of the challenges facing Bible translation work in Nigeria? 

32:52
Rev. Linus Otronyi
There are many challenges, but I’ll mention few. The first one is local funding. We know that some churches in Nigeria are very rich enough to support missions, but we are not there yet where they can support mission. We are at a point where people look more inward instead of looking outward. They look at how to build a nice church building, how to buy infrastructure for the church. Those are the things that people invest in Nigeria generally as a church, but less of our resources is being used for mission costs and that is why we are still struggling with local support for mission generally and for Bible translation in particular. The other challenge we have is the challenge of workforce or capacity. 

34:00
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Like I mentioned earlier, there are many languages in Nigeria and for all of them to have the Word of God in the language that they understand. We need many hands to be on deck to make sure that this is done, but we don’t have enough workforce to get that done as fast as it is possible. And a lot of young people don’t want to get involved in this kind of work because they don’t see immediate gratification, they don’t see that it’s going to give them access to prosperity. So a lot of them that are qualified in terms of their training or education, they will prefer to go town to look for a greener pasture. So these are some of the challenges that Bible translation work is facing currently in Nigeria. 

34:58
Rich Rudowske
I know that maybe this will embarrass you a little because you’re a humble man, but you received an honorary doctorate recently. Can you tell us some about that doctorate? 

35:09
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Yeah, I received a doctorate degree award from Freedom University. It’s in the United States, but I think they have a campus in Abuja, Nigeria. 

35:20
Rich Rudowske
Okay. 

35:21
Rev. Linus Otronyi
So with the help of late John Ude, former Minister of Federal Republic of we, when Dr. Eugene Bonkowski died, we organized a memorial service in his honor here in Yala. 

35:37
Rich Rudowske
Yes. 

35:38
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And he brought some dignitaries from Abuja to Greece, the occasion. So I had some interaction with some of them. So it’s one of them who recommended me to the provost of the school for the award. And I was invited for the award, although I was not able to attend in person, but they send the certificates and the gown for me. So the award is doctorate degree in Philanthropic Management. Okay, some are ambiguous, but that is what it reads, right? 

36:13
Rich Rudowske
Yeah. 

36:14
Rich Rudowske
Well, it sounds like well deserved. And congratulations to you on that for our listeners. Dr. Jean Bankowski, who Reverend Linus mentioned, is a founding father in Lutheran mission, especially in Nigeria, and even for Lutheran Bible Translators to labor tirelessly that people would know the Gospel and, sounds like he touched your life some, too. You do plan to do future doctoral studies. What area are you are interested in studying? 

36:43
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Yes. If God give me the grace and the good head, that is my desire, my interest will be on the study of some key translation of some key terms into different languages. Some key terms, for example, ‘holy’. The term holy has been translated in Yla. When you study that word holy, either from Greek or Hebrew, the closest equivalent we have in Yala is good. 

37:16
Rich Rudowske
Okay. 

37:16
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And depending on the context that holy is used, we use different word, either something that belongs to God or something that is set apart for God or something that is good or something that is clean. And I see that doesn’t capture the meaning of holy completely. So that is one of the things that motivated me to think about key terms. And also for the equivalent we have for the ‘temple’ in Yalan, some other languages is just the house of God, and the house of God could mean a church, or it could mean a temple or any other thing. So I feel that translating the house of God for temple is not comprehensive enough, especially taking into consideration that the temple has a building and a court around it. 

38:17
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And when we talk about the temple, we are only looking at the building, and it makes us to assume that sacrifices were done inside the buildings where the Holy of Holies is. We don’t talk about. Think about the outside, the court of the temple where sacrifices are made, court where different segments of people are supposed to be, and all of that. So to just say house of God to me, I think it doesn’t capture what temple is. So these are some of the motivation for me to think about something like that, maybe to be of help to other languages. Because there’s a language that I work with in cluster Abanyum. Their term for priests is white forehead or white monkey. That is what they have for priests. 

39:12
Rich Rudowske
Oh, my. 

39:12
Rev. Linus Otronyi
That was because the white missionaries who came as priests in those days, there were white people, and people were just describing the people, not their role. 

39:22
Rich Rudowske
Okay. 

39:23
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And when you make that kind of translation, it’s like you miss something. A meaning is miss out of it. So I was thinking that stock study will be able to help us look at some of these terms critically and see how we could better express them to convey the meaning that is intended, that is clear and accurate. 

39:47
Rich Rudowske
Excellent. And by God’s grace, you’ve also been able to do work even outside of Nigeria. You recently consulted with the Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone. Tell us a little bit about that work and what was accomplished and what you learned in that process. 

40:04
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Yeah. David was the one who asked if I could be of help to Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, to help them in the translation of the liturgy. And I feel somehow very humble and shy to accept the invitation, but I did anyway. And we had two meetings, and during that meetings, we’re able to accomplish much. We did the translation of Divine Service and Evening Prayer, responsive prayer, the Order of Baptism and Confirmation, the Order of Matrimony, the Order of Funeral Service, and, of course, Collects and Prayers. These were some of the things that were translated into four different languages. The languages are Mende, Creo, Kissi, and Kono. And this document that were translated has all been keyboarded. And we were able to do a team check, and I was able to check it word by word all through. 

41:15
Rev. Linus Otronyi
And we encouraged them to do community testing as well. In fact, George helped to do a preliminary recording for them so that they could use it for testing and review in the local congregations. So that was very helpful. I learned a lot during my two visits. The first thing that I learned that surprises me was the first visit I saw the President of the Christ Evangelical Church sitting in my classroom, in my class. Sorry. And was listening and participating. And when it was time for us to break into group and I was working with him, he was cooperating. And such humility was very uncommon among church leaders. The present President also, when he assumed the role of a president, I thought it was going to be different. But he also did the same thing. 

42:12
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Very humble people who have the Spirit of God, who are willing to save, who are willing to do the work of God in spite of their challenges, in spite of the little resources they have. So that was very encouraging to me. And one other thing that I find very funny. We’re working on the Nicene Creed and the article about Jesus that says he suffered and was buried. And some of them asked me, so he didn’t know, how can he just suffer and was buried? And I have never thought about it that way. 

42:47
Rich Rudowske
Right. 

42:47
Rev. Linus Otronyi
So it was a good time of learning for me, a good time of fellowship and friendship. And I was very encouraged to see what God is doing to them and the hearts they have for God’s work. 

43:00
Rich Rudowske
Yeah. What message of encouragement do you have for our listeners today? A Scripture you’d like to share or a message of encouragement to strengthen their faith or to be involved in the service of the Gospel? 

43:12
Rev. Linus Otronyi
I think I’ve been thinking about that for some time, but I think there are three Bible passages that have been very helpful to me, especially during this difficult time. One is Matthew 28, verse 20b, that talks about Jesus promising to be with His disciples always to the end of time. That is very encouraging to me. And also the words of the Psalms that say, God is an ever present help in times of need. And the word of Isaiah 43, verse one to three. But now this is what the Lord says. He who formed you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. And when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. 

44:07
Rev. Linus Otronyi
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned, the flame will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, according to NIV. That is very encouraging to me, especially as we face this pandemic and we don’t know when it’s going to end and what is going to happen next. I know that it is quite easy to trust God when things are good, when things are working according to plan. But during this time, we need to encourage ourselves from the word of God that God is aware of what is happening. He’s in charge and we will come through this period. I will not be hurt because he’s there with us to take us through it and to bring us to the other side of this time that we are. Amen. 

44:59
Rich Rudowske
Yes, that’s so encouraging. And our faith is anchored in the Lord and is strengthened through passages like that from Scripture. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us today. We’ve been talking with Reverend Linus Otronyi, LBT International associate working in Nigeria, and thanks for your time, Linus, it’s great talking to you today. 

45:18
Rev. Linus Otronyi
Thank you. 

45:23
Rich Rudowske
Thanks to the Reverend Linus Otronyi for being our guest on the podcast today. While our listeners from the Christian church in the west often perceive ourselves as the givers and doers of mission, we also have the great privilege to be a part of world Christianity and to learn and grow from the experiences from the global church and its leaders, like Reverend Linus. I’d like to ask that if you’re listening today and you enjoyed this content and found it edifying that you would highlight us on your social media and spread the word about the Essentially Translatable podcast. You can share a link directly from your podcast player, or copy and paste a link to lbt.org/podcast or forward the email you clicked on to listen to this episode. 

46:04
Rich Rudowske
Contact us with any questions or feedback about this episode at info@lbt.org. Thank you for listening to the Essentially Translatable podcast brought to you by Lutheran Bible Translators. Look for past episodes of the podcast lbt.org/podcast or on Apple, Google, iHeartRadio, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Lutheran Bible Translators on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or go to www.lbt.org to find out how you can get involved in the Bible translation movement and put God’s Word in their hands. The Essentially Translatable podcast is edited and produced by Andrew Olson. Executive producer is Amy Gertz. Music written and performed by Rob Veith. I’m Rich Rudowske. So long for now.