Transition Primer in Njyem Ready for Testers

If there is anyone out there with DropBox, they can get the transition primer we are done working on.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16109934/NjyManTrans-booklet.pdf
It is for mother-tongue speakers of Njyem who are literate in French. In 64 pages (A5), it teaches the fundamentals of the Njyem writing system. It assumes the knowledge of characters which are also found in French and used in both languages in the same way.

Adaptation of New Testament

Terese Noumabouk and I are done adapting Matthew from Badwe'e into Njyem. This means
that we are now 26.5% done with the preparation of a first draft of the Njyem New Testament.
One of the problems we run into is that the Njyem language seems more rich than the Badwe'e in some respects, which means that more distinctions in meaning have to be made as adaptation proceeds.
Three examples will help prove the point: 1.) In Badwe'e, all crowds are the same. One refers to a crowd as "emɛl e bʉr". In Njyem, it is necessary to know if a crowd has a collective purpose and
identity. If it has a collective identity, it is called "nyee bʉr". If it is simply a mass of people, it is "mwa bʉr".
2.) In Badwe'e, actions that are either promptly-initiated or quickly-executed are all described by the adverb "kpahbe". In Njyem, an earlier distinction continues to be maintained, with promptly-initiated events being characterized by the adverb "kula" and quickly-executed events being described by "kwɛh".
3.) In Badwe'e, all things that "surprise" you (twɨra) are the same, but in Njyem, if one is "scared and surprised", the verb is "letwɨra", while if you are caught off-guard and surprised, the verb is "lesɔga".

Njyem in a state of language change

The problem with the Njyem is that they have 3 neighboring languages causing their language to shift: Fang, Nzime and Bekwel. We think that we know there is a village that is out of the range of any of these: Djadom. I imagine that we’ll be staying in that village and that we’ll be processing all the vocabulary and verbal constructions we can, using FLEx, and maybe standardizing the language better.
It is a real problem to have such a language-in-change. The people sense that it is really endangered.
A lot of them are leaving the center of the language area and going to the peripheries, where they experience more language-change. Others leave the area entirely.
We will probably find that Djadom has only a small population.
We hope that what we are doing will speak to their hearts.

The Keyboard is Coming

As we prepare for our next visit to the Njyem area, we are thinking about the difficulty of maintaining our computers, some of which have great demands on electric power. There is one notebook computer that is a power-sipper, however, and we are getting it ready for daily service as a place to revise our Scripture portions.
It has two dead keys, though, so we have ordered a keyboard to be sent out by DHL. This will come with the first-class US mail that has been accumulating in our account with
MyUSA.Com, who gives us great assistance.

The Batteries for our Truck Camper

We just got 2 36-amp 12-volt batteries for our truck-camper, which means we can take it on its return voyage to the Njyem area.
It may become the camper's final voyage.
We recharge the batteries with solar panels and use the power for lighting in the evening and for powering our computers.

Matthew done In 1st Draft

Working with Teresa Noumabouk, Keith has completed the first draft of Matthew's Gospel in Njyem. This brings the pct of the NT drafted to 26.5 %.
The immediate goal is now finishing the catechism in Njyem.
After that, we resume work on Genesis.

Here is the rest of the story of the missing belt!

On Dec. 9, a long rainy season finally ended, and Mary and Keith left their apartment in Yaoundé, Cameroon, for a trip to Ngoyla, the home of the Njyem people.After an apparently uneventful arrival in Lomie, they woke up the next day to discover the battery was dead! The local car repairman declared the alternator dead—not true, as it turned out—and proceeded to tear it apart and rebuild it. The difficult part was when he started using a hammer and chisel on it. Finally he got it back together again only to discover the REAL source of the problem. The alternator was hammered back into near-original shape late on the 11th under the light of a flashlight.

Now the Beavons were 216 miles away from any alternator that had not yet felt the blows of hammer and chisel. Praying for God's care, they continued their trip farther to the southeast, where we crossed a ferry and went into the home area of the Njyem people.They shared their food and fellowship, helping them to reorganize themselves for a new launching of the Bible translation movement that has been faltering in some degree since 1996.On Dec. 22 they drove back to Lomie and on the following day they made it to Yaoundé. God took their minds off the alternator, in part by giving Keith a tropical virus that gave them something else to think about. No sooner had they gotten back to Yaoundé than the battery light went on! Parked at our training center, Keith lifted up the hood and was amazed at what was missing: any sign of a belt to the alternator! Upon closer examination, however, he found loops of steel that once held the belt together.God chose to let us limp back with a car whose diminished capacities he knew about all too well. He let the abused and damaged alternator spin around with a belt that was ended up looking like fishing leader. The timing of the breakdown of the belt after the repair was synchronized perfectly with the end of the trip 400 miles later. Only God can do this.Mary read Keith’s thoughts when she said, “One thing about doing these old-fashioned Bible translation projects is that you get to see old-fashioned miracles.” This miracle of the alternator belt is as old-fashioned as the one related in Deut. 29: 5: “During the forty years that I led you through the desert, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.” Truly, God is leading us back to the Njyem to bring them the joy of his Word!

What's missing from this picture?

A functioning fan belt!

We are praising the Lord who sees no problem here but who brings us home to Yaounde without allowing the idiot light to flash even once!

Adult Literacy in Ngoyla

Cyrus Nkouom is excited about the opportunity that he has to teach Njyem young adults to read and write in their language. He will be looking to us to furnish him with 200 copies of literacy materials that will facilitate his task. The literacy sessions will be August 8 and 9.