Using Scripture to teach literacy and learning to read Nooni.

this was a Scripture Use course, pastors and Christian leaders came and had training in various things but part of it was in literacy and learning to read Nooni.

Translating into Nooni language

Cindy Lux, Dave Lux, Alfred Kinyang, Protus, Jonah Ngwang, Alfred Njinyo

This photo was taken on the last day of actual translation in the book of Revelation. The final edits in all the books of the New Testament have taken 2+ years.

Dave and Cindy Lux…quick biography

Dave and Cindy Lux and their four children, Christina, Josh, Anna, and Caleb lived in Planada, CA where Dave pastored a small church in the late 70′s-mid 80′s.

 Several years into ministry, they had a Wycliffe missionary speak at their church and both walked away individually fe

eling called to missions.  They applied to and were accepted with Wycliffe Bible Translators and moved to Dallas, TX for linguistics training.

After praying through several locations to serve, they settled on Cameroon, a French and English speaking country in Central Africa that has 280 native languages.  They moved from Dallas to Quebec, Canada for French studies and their children attended full-immersion French school.

In 1989 they moved to Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon and started exploring remote areas that still needed a Bible translation.  During that time, Wycliffe handed them an old letter written 17 years prior in 1972, by a Cameroonian pastor asking Wycliffe to send translators to his village of Lassin where the Nooni language was spoken.  Dave and Cindy made an exploratory trip to Lassin and were led to settle there with their family and start developing the Nooni language into a written language.  The pastor who had written the letter, Pastor Kinyang, became their landlord and friend.

The 4 Lux children were home schooled and as they reached high school age, were sent to boarding school in the capital city.  Dave and Cindy prayed for and found 4 Christian men, Alfred Kinyang (Pastor Kinyang’s son), Alfred Njinyo, Protus and Jonah, who were trained in translation and became the Nooni Translation Team.

Dave’s efforts were focused on language development and translation.

Cindy, when not home schooling, focused on literacy development and efforts to encourage reading and writing in the Nooni language.  Her work included creating Nooni primary reading books so that Nooni could be taught in schools as a subject and in adult language classes in the community.

As Scripture was translated, it was tested in the community for linguistic and cultural validity.  If community members disagreed on terminology, the translators discussed the issue in light of Scripture and with input from a Scripture Consultant to assure the most accurate translation possible. 21 years later, the Nooni New Testament is complete and the Noni people are preparing to celebrate the culmination of this work on December 22, 2011 at the Nooni New Testament Dedication.

The Text Message Conversation that God used!

If you want to get a fuller picture of how this truly was orchestrated by the Living God…read THIS POST.

I barely slept that night because I was a giddy little kid who had just received a wonderful gift from His gracious and good Father.

I meant (in the last part of the text message)… ‘O How gracious the Lord is!!!’ I guess I was struggling to write in normal English at 11:36 at night.

 

Leaving in 4 weeks from today

4 weeks from today I (along with 11 other people) en route to Cameroon.

Humbled that I get to go on the Nooni New Testament Dedication

I find great comfort that the Lord is leading me in incredibly specific ways that He wants me on this trip. I don’t deserve this gift, and neither do I deserve the gift of His Son and the gift of rebirth and eternal life.

I am excited to take part in the written Word of God being given to a language for the 1st time in history!