Csaba & Lisa

Noai, Hans, Jeremiah, Andreas

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A Visit to Another Missionary to the Bakwe

The Leidenfrost family, Lisa's mom, and Eryn Ackley from Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, visiting an African missionary from the Yakouba, who also works amongst the Bakwe.

Hans Playing with Friends in Our Front Yard

Soccer is the national sport of the Ivory Coast (and the rest of Africa, for that matter). Every afternoon the village boys gather on the lush grass of our front yard for a soccer match. We like having village childen over so they can observe Christian family life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Noai and Her Girlfriends on Our Front Porch

We live in an area that doesn't have water, power or phone service, so daily living is a lot more work. Most Bakwe girls spend most of their time helping their mothers fetch water, gather firewood, and prepare food, so Noai doesn't get as much time with friends as she'd like.

Jacob & Perez Collating a Publication

We printed several hundred copies of "The Life of the Jews," translated into Bakwe and French. This is a primer on Biblical Manners and Customs, which prepares readers to understand the social context of Scripture. For example, "The Parable of the Sower" would cause significant confusion for a Bakwe reader simply because they have an entirely different method of sowing grain. When sowing rice, the Bakwe make a hole and pour the seeds in using the shell of a giant forest snail, and then cover the seed with earth, thus no seed is lost.

Checking the Translation of Mark 1-9

After completing the initial translation, the translation team meets with a consultant to check every verse. The translation team consists of myself (Csaba), Sese (the main Bakwe translator), Perez (functioning as our "naive back-translator"), and Renee Vick (a translation consultant). Translation is a long, intense process. And checking the translation is hard work too. Checking these nine chapters took about 65 hours.

A Harris Church Procession

Dressed in obligatory white robes, the Harris followers begin their weekly procession to worship from the pastor's house. When the worship service is over, they retrace their steps back to the pastor's house, singing all the way.

The Harris Church was begun by William Wade Harris, a self-proclaimed prophet from Liberia in the early 1900's, and was brought to the Bakwe in the mid-1960's. The Bakwe branch of this church preaches the Ten Commandments. However, because of pervading illiteracy, and thus ignorance of the Scriptures, the Harris message in Bakwe does not really comprise the Gospel. To meet these challenges, we are working on a Bakwe translation of the Scriptures, while simultaneously endeavoring to raise the literacy level of this people group.

Hans, Andreas and Noai Building Sandcastles with a Friend

This picture was taken in Bouake, towards the center of the country, where we have frequent gatherings with other missionaries. We meet for advanced training in linguistics, translation, and anthropology. The kids also look forward to interacting with other missionary children at these events.