Hey!
Over the last year so much has happened!
First, the kids!
Daniel is now 8, Isaac is 6 and Amelia is now 2. Daniel and Isaac love school, and both of their teachers rave about how wonderful they are in class! They are both also enjoy soccer and play in the local league. Amelia is super adventurous and LOVES to dance, taking every opportunity to show off her moves. Including making me (Jeff) dance with her on the stage as I prepare for the next event. :)
The builder boys and their building toys
Amelia says, “Baking! Bake something?” almost every day… She also loves her fancy dresses.
Isaac and Amelia
School of Worship and OMT
Cheri has continued to staff with School of Worship, helping to train and disciple 40-60 new students each year, focusing on mentoring the staff and students alike. I (Jeff) have just joined the School of Worship staff this year, as well as managing Ohana Court under the Operations team here for the campus.
Cheri has also been leading several prayer and worship times each week in our prayer room, one with a focus on Oral Mother Tongue (OMT) Bible translation.
In the image above, ladies in India have come together to listen to the Bible spoken in their language for the first time, translated from all the way here in Kona!
So what is OMT?
Oral Mother Tongue (OMT) is the language that your heart speaks- the one that your mother grew up speaking to you from even before you were born. It connects with you in a different way than any future acquired trade languages ever could. Before Loren Cunningham passed, he wanted his final legacy word to YWAM to encourage the translation of the Bible into every oral mother tongue (oral is key - many of the remaining languages have many speakers who cannot read or write!)
In short, OMT is the Bible, translated into the language you grew up hearing and speaking, FAST!
Our responsibility is every NATION, every TRIBE, every TONGUE.
A few heartbreaking stats…
4482 languages have NO PORTION of scripture translated
7829 languages don’t have access to the whole Bible in their language
They have no way to understand the hope, the encouragement, the life we have in Jesus, that we have right at our fingertips, the Word of God!
Where would you be without even a single verse to rely on?!
…We believe that this number can be ZERO in our lifetime. We as YWAM are the “boots on the ground,” connected to many of these final frontiers for Bible-less languages.
Currently in YWAM we have active translations occurring in a few hot spots around the world. In Panama there are 11 ongoing translations, Nepal is working through at least 8 (it keeps growing!) and Nigeria has 45. Here in Kona we have 2 active translations and one planned to begin, along with 13 opportunities here on the island.
On campus, we have been seeing incredible progress in the OMT translation of Khuzhale, an Indian language from a region called Nagaland. Our translator here has been sending recordings immediately back to her community in India, and we have stories coming back to us already of how this work is changing lives as people are encountering Scripture in their own language for the very first time in HISTORY.
here, the translation work actually happening. The room they are using is one that I began turning into a recording studio over 4 years ago before covid.
Thank you for your prayers as we keep preparing the way for God to move all over the world.
Jeff, Cheri, Daniel, Isaac and Amelia Willecke
