In a recent emailed newsletter Hanna Schulz shared her thankfulness. ‘I am thankful for each of you. Thank you for continuing to encourage me through your emails, letters, prayers and financial support. I could not be here doing what I do without you. I am thankful for the Kope community and their enthusiasm for having […]

In a recent emailed newsletter Hanna Schulz shared her thankfulness.

‘I am thankful for each of you. Thank you for continuing to encourage me through your emails, letters, prayers and financial support. I could not be here doing what I do without you.

I am thankful for the Kope community and their enthusiasm for having God’s word in their language. We started drafting the gospel of Luke in January this year and already have 26% in draft form. For a beginning team, and considering I was away for several months in Australia, this is a fine effort. Not only are they committed to working in Kope, but they have also been encouraging and supporting the Anigibi (tribe upstream from us) in adapting the Kope drafts into Anigibi so that they too can have the Bible in their language.

I am thankful for the slow but consistent progress I am making in learning Kope. It is a complex language, and in 2017 I hope to work on an MA dissertation so that I can spend time looking carefully at what is happening with the very complex Kope verbs.

I am thankful for the relationships that I have with my Kope family. When I returned to the village after furlough, their welcome was warm and genuine. I am also thankful for the other friends I have around me in Gulf Province, in Papua New Guinea and scattered across the world. I am surrounded by people who are a blessing in my life, be they near or far.

I am thankful that on my most recent two months in the village, Hollie (intern) and I were able to live and work well together. Thank you to each of you who was praying for us as we got to know each other in this intense situation. We intend to keep working together for the remainder of Hollie’s two-year internship.

I am thankful for good health and safe travel.’

Hanna Schulz is working as a Bible translator with the Kope people in the Gulf Province in Papua New Guinea. Together with Margaret Mickan, a long time Bible translator and linguist in the Northern Territory, they have served as dual members of Lutheran Bible Translators Australia (LBTA) and Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia (WBTA).

The Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA) is undergoing significant restructuring as a follow on from the Governance and Administration Review and the subsequent Synod resolution of 2015. Both the LCA Board for Mission (now the Committee for International Mission) and Lutheran Bible Translators Australia (LBTA) have also undergone reviews in this past 12 months as a normal part of their Terms of Reference and in order to determine how to operate under the new structure.

The LCA General Church Council has taken the decision to proceed with steps to wind up LBTA in its current form. This will mean that our Bible translators, Hanna Schulz and Margaret Mickan will transition from the dual membership of LBTA and Wycliffe Bible Translators Australia (WBTA) to the single membership of WBTA.

This transition will take place with the deepest respect for Hanna and Margaret and in order that they can continue their work to the fullest capacity.

Hanna and Margaret will continue to be Lutheran Bible translators serving God in his mission through Bible translation and literacy work.

The process for continuing to provide financial support will be modified slightly (for now nothing changes), and supporters will be notified of these changes in due course once the next stage of this transition is in place.

You are invited to continue to pray for Hanna, Margaret and those involved in the transition, so that the work continues to the glory of God.

This story was also published in the March 2017 edition of Border Crossings, the magazine of LCA International Mission.

If you would like to consider the opportunity to donate to Hanna Schulz, who is serving as a linguist and translation advisor in Papua New Guinea, you are invited to go to https://wycliffe.org.au/member/hanna/

Read more stories about Bible Translation at https://www.lcamission.org.au/category/stories/bible-translation/