Family Story Bible dedication in Vanuatu

 

A woman taking a peek at the Family Story Bible pictures and text

Houghton returned to Vanuatu in October when I was in Boise in order to be present for a locally planned dedication to go along with the distribution of the Family Story Bible.  The Family Story Bible covers stories from Genesis to Acts in the local language of Rral, where we work.  This is not only the first little bits of God's Word EVER in their language, but also the first fully published book in their language as well.  Prior to this work, the language was only oral.

Saro'an Ne Yafukon Ge Rro' Me Ne Buluim Nyer means "The Story of God that is coming to all the families."  There are a total of 142 stories, along with a glossary in the back.

 

The community where our teammates live (Olal village) was responsible for the program, organizing the food for the following feast, and for also organizing the transport of people from around the language group.  Olal is about an hour's drive north of our village (Ranvetlam, the most SW in the language group), and about that far again from the village furthest SE in our language group so there are a lot of details involved in making an event like this come together! 

Culturally, in Vanuatu, big ceremonies to celebrate landmark events are common and expected so we put these things in the locals' hands as there is a specific way these events should run and we'd likely be too informal about it all.  They planned for speeches of those who were involved in the translation, speeches from community leaders about the anticipated impact of a story Bible in their language, about the history of Bible translation generally as well as for Vanuatu as a whole and our language group particularly, and a feast to follow the distribution of the books themselves.

 

Jones helped MC part of the event.  He was MC for all our past literacy workshops and was key in distributing literacy curriculum as well. 

Some men who came for the dedication look over their copies of the Family Story Bible.

 

Houghton was able to get some live video on Facebook during the dedication.  If you aren't friends with me or the Richards on Facebook, send us a friend request and you'll be able to get to these links.
Philip, one of our local teammates (pictured above, talking at the dedication), is introduced and talks about the upcoming dedication in these next 2 videos.
Hello from Philip part 1 (58sec)View from the Ellis house to the event venue, hello from Philip.
Hello from Philip part 2 (4min 46sec) Greetings from Ambrym, meaning of Family Story Bible from Philip and locals.

Reading and discussion of the Family Story Bible.

One of the meat cooks for the event is excited about his copy of the Family Story Bible.

A cow and several pigs were butchered for the feast following the Family Story Bible dedication.

 

 

Houghton had a speech in the ceremony as well. 

Thoughts on the ceremony. video (6 min 40sec) Casey and Houghton's thoughts on how the dedication went and impact of it.  Short interview of Scott who came just for the dedication from the US.

Women who came for the dedication hold up their Family Story Bibles.  The women pictured here closest to the camera are from the villages nearest to where we live.

 

Elder Harri is amplified while discussing the history of Bible translation in Ambrym. 

Live feed videos and discussion around the event. 
First live feed (2min 49sec)
Second live feed(4min 36 sec)
Third live feed (23min 01sec)

 

A young boy peruses his copy of the Family Story Bible outside of the Catholic church nearby on a Sunday following the dedication.

 

 Local school girls bring their copies to school in the days following the dedication.

 

In town, Houghton checked in with some friends from our village who are getting some Bible training this year.  Meri, Yanik, and Masing.

Yanik had a fundraiser for school so Houghton helped him drive produce and laplap (local favorite food) around for sale.  Scott and another friend helped in the food distribution.

Houghton did quite a bit of distribution of the Family Story Bible in the capital city, Vila, as well.  He set up at the local market in the center of town and handed copies out to North Ambrym people coming through the market.

Prior to the dedication, Houghton did a series of interviews with our teammates, Casey and Val Ellis.  Click on the link to view.
Casey Val interview #1  (7min 44sec) Intro to Casey and Val
Casey Val interview part 2 (3min 39sec)  A different life from the US.
Casey Val interview part 3 (7min 22sec) Why Bible Translation?
Casey Val interview part 4 (6min 44sec) Interview with Berrna, local teammate of the Ellises 

Around the time of the event, Houghton put together some other videos with interviews of our teammates on various topics as well as with others around for the event.
Ian with BuildAid is interviewed about his ministry.  video (2min 08sec) He and an American living in Vanuatu were our main builders and he is currently working on our teammates' home.
Casey and Val talk about why they chose to build/remodel a house rather than live in a thatch one.
Casey and Val talk about their part of our team and how we can work together to reach our people group.
Above 2 videos: (house video 3min 49sec), (teamming video 1min 16sec)

Thanks for praying with us for the distribution of the Family Story Bible!  We are so thankful for the locals who helped us make it possible to translate, edit, and distribute it.  Over 400 copies were distributed just at the one dedication event in Olal!  Our people are still beginning readers (with some needing further literacy workshops when we return) so please pray they are patient with the process and don't give up.  Pray also that God uses this book to further His kingdom and introduce Himself to our people in their own language.