Stephanie Effken

    There are 4,486 languages that have yet to develop a written form of God's Word. So far, Lutheran Bible Translators (LBT) has reached more than 7 million people with God's Word through 25 completed New Testaments.
     According to LBT, of the 6,912 languages in the world, only 426 of them have a complete Bible and only 1,144 have one completed Testament. With 86 total LBT programs and a variety of other organizations committed to translating scripture, it is a hope of Christians around the world that every language will one day have a copy of the Bible
     The process of translating scripture is lengthy and is designed to transfer meaning from the original Greek-the target language- to the receptor language, or source language. After many years of training, translators learn the receptor language and help to revise the draft by questioning the meaning of each verse, continually checking, reviewing and revising. To do this, they read their work to nationals and have nationals read scripture together in small groups in order to ensure meanings coincide with the original. After the Testament is completed, a consultant will review the entire work to approve, or disapprove, the Testament.
     Many people from all over the world assist in this process, even some from Seward County.
    Serving in Liberia
     Concordia University's Information Services Librarian Tom Krenzke and his wife Bernita, who works in Concordia's counseling office as an administrative assistant, served in Liberia, West Africa, with LBT from January of 1982 untill April of 1990.
     After both graduating from college with teaching degrees, Bernita from Concordia, Seward and Tom from Valpariso, the two met teaching at a school in Texas.
     After becoming engaged, they both decided God was calling them to service in LBT, something Tom had been looking into prior to their engagement.
     "God placed it on both of our hearts," Tom said. "[We decided] through prayer and the Lord leading us."
     To prepare for such a trip, Bernita completed three semesters of graduate study in linguistics. Tom completed four and holds a masters in linguistics. They also completed a variety of other training workshops.
     During this time of training Tom and Bernita were working on partnership development for financial and prayer support. By the end of 1981, the two had enough support to begin their mission. With their new daughter just less than a year-old, they left for Liberia.
     Tom worked in advising the rough draft of the New Testament into Western Krahn. An alphabet had been previously developed by the work of other LBT missionaries John and Kathy Duitsman; so along with the Duitsmans and two local native speakers, they set out on a goal of 10 Bible verses a day. At that rate, they would have the whole New Testament translated in about five years.
     Tom's direct involvement with the translation, however, did not take place until after his first furlough, in his second term. Tom and Bernita spent their first couple years in Liberia developing relationships and learning the tonal language of Krahn.
     While Tom was working on revising the New Testament, Bernita helped with simple medical care of people in their town, including malaria sores, and raised and home-schooled their two daughters. Also, with the introduction of computers in 1985, she helped by entering the finished translations into the system.
     "I remember them saying, 'While it's processing you might want to have a book here,'" she said. "It was so slow."
     Tom and Bernita said the Liberian people were accepting of them and relationship oriented. The population as a whole was approximately 20 percent Christian and the majority practiced Animism, believing that spirits controlled their daily lives.
     "They spent most of their time trying to appease the evil spirits," said Bernita.
     In 1990 Tom and Bernita took their daughters back to the United States because of war in Liberia.
     "We left thinking we were going back," said Tom. "Things did not get better."
     Eventually, Tom and Bernita made the decision to stay in the United States and settle down with their daughters, but Tom made three trips back to Liberia to finish the translation.
     The Krahn Bible was dedicated March 19, 2000, in Jarwodee where Tom was able to read the newly translated Word of God to the people.
     At that time, Tom and his family were living in Wisconsin and in 2004, Tom took a position at Concordia University.
    The Bible in Samba
     Ed Mueller, also employed by Concordia University in the building and grounds department, served with LBT for more than 20 years.
     After being a school teacher in California for eight years, Mueller and his then wife, Marie, decided they could help fulfill a need for Bible translators.
     After taking language courses in Oklahoma and Texas, the couple and their two children set out in 1973 for Liberia for seven months of field experience. Upon completion of the field experience, Mueller became a field director in Sierra Leone for five years.
     During his time in Sierra Leone, Mueller installed seven new teams for seven different languages in Africa and administered surveys in the area to seek the needs of the local people.
     In late 1979, the Muellers decided that they wanted to be involved in the translation process and left for a remote village in Cameroon to begin the translation of God's Word into the Samba language.
     Upon arrival to the village, Mueller and his family quickly learned that the village's main purpose for calling missionaries was for a mode of transportation.
     "When we learned why they wanted us there we were discouraged," he said. "But we figured God wanted us there for other reasons so we decided to stay."
     They learned the language on location and within the first 10 years, Mueller and his team ranging from two to six people developed a grammatical tone application. Prior to their arrival, the Samba language had never been written down. Now they were presented with their own alphabet. The team visited local communities and with primers, taught the people how to read.
     The Muellers lived in the most remote mission location of LBT just four miles from the border of Nigeria. During the rainy season they could not leave the village of 200 without a canoe.
     Mueller said during his time there they would visit other remote villages to do work with the language.
     "We drove our car to villages where no children had ever seen a white man before," he said. "Children would run to their parents because they saw a ghost."
     Their home was made of cement and a tin roof provided them shelter. They had a flushing toilet but needed to get their water from a well. Five solar panels powered lights, computer, printer and water pump.
     Mueller said he had the first solar-powered computer in the country and when a rough draft of the New Testament was complete he printed it in two days.
     Most people in the village where they lived were Christians, but the chief was always Muslim. While Mueller was there, he watched the chief's son be baptized.
     "That was a great day," said Mueller.
     During their time in Samba, the Muellers were able to come back to the United States a few times for furloughs to again raise financial and prayer support. It cost approximately $40,000 a year for the project and Mueller's family was given a stipend each month to live on. How much money was given in their stipend depended on how much had been donated to their mission.
     On one furlough, Mueller became ill and the doctor found three liver abscess from amebas. Though the family had a water filter, they were not completely safe from all the bacteria in the water.
     In 2000 the Muellers left Africa because of retirement and the completion of the Samba New Testament. After its printing in Korea, the Bible was dedicated in 2002.
     "I wish I could have been there," Mueller said. "Bible translation is the main way for people to learn about God in the way they understand it. It becomes something in their heart instead of something in a second language."
     After 19 years of living in isolation in Camroon, Mueller moved back to Seward, where he graduated from Concordia in 1959.
    A family who serves
     A current student of Concordia has also seen the work of LBT in Africa as she has known nothing but the life of being a Bible translator.
     Rachel Boylan is a freshman at Concordia and her parents have been with LBT since 1988. After living in Sierra Leone and Guatemala, the Boylans now live in Namibia.
     Her father the Rev. Shawn Boylan and mother Jill Boylan just left the United States in January to return to Namibia after a furlough. Boylan said she has spent little time in the United States but was glad she was able to come for furloughs.
     "There's definitely things I didn't know," she said. "I didn't know what music was popular or what shows. [Furlough] was a good introduction into American culture."
     Her father currently works with the United Bible Society through LBT to administer translations by working with a team of locals and ex-patriots- those people who are not native.
     Though a large portion of the local people profess to be Lutheran-Christians, Boylan is unsure if many of them are practicing and many still practice animism.
     Her father is now working on the re-translation of the Bible for a "click" language in South Africa. A re-translation is necessary because a number of meanings are unreliable, but it is also helpful because scripture can now be entered into the computer.
     Boylan and her two brothers have been home-schooled for their entire education and now she is working toward a degree in elementary education at Concordia. She wants to teach English as a second language and hopes to teach at a mission school and live overseas.
     For more information regarding the Lutheran Bible Translators visit www.lbt.org. You can also visit the Boylans' webpage at http://lbt.gospelcom.net/web/sjboylan.php. For more information on Bible translation visit www.sil.org or www.biblesociety.org.