Tag Archives: Swampy Cree

Northern Translation Brief: Western Cree Bible

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Our Dear Partners,

More than six years ago now, we posted a Northern Translation Brief about the legacy of “The Bible in Plain Cree”, or the Mason Cree Bible, originally translated in the mid-1800s. Copies of this book have been difficult to obtain and out of print for some time since the last printing in 1976.

At the First Nations Bible Translation Capacity Building Gathering in Prince Albert in 2014, one of the priorities that the indigenous participants entrusted to the Bible agencies was to comple the work on this Bible and bring it to publication.

Over the past several years, we have been working on this translation with the Canadian Bible Society, to assist them in preparing the text for an important long-awaited reprint. You can read more about that story by clicking this link below:

“The Bible in Plain Cree”

Good News! In December of 2020, The Canadian Bible Society informed us that their new edition of this book is now available for purchase and distribution to the indigenous communities that have been waiting so long. Praise God with us for this important milestone!

The indigenous readers of this Bible were consulted about the physical size, shape, weight and appearance of this new printing. In many respects the book is a lot like the old Bible that they were familiar with. But access has improved a great deal since the last printing. The new edition can be purchased (by anyone!) over the internet at the Canadian Bible Society’s online store:

https://www.biblescanada.com/cree-west-plains-traditional-bible

Cree Bible available online

The composition, type size and layout has been improved for easier reading.

Newly designed and formatted page layout (bottom)

The new edition also features cross references at the bottom of the page.

New edition (top) with cross-references

Legacy Scriptures for the digital age

The text of this Bible is also available on your phone, tablet or computer using the “YouVersion” Bible app: https://www.bible.com/In the digital version, the Cree Bible is available in either Cree syllabic script as it was originally printed, or in Standard Roman Orthography (SRO). Same words, different writing systems.

Cree Syllabics:

https://www2.bible.com/bible/2083/LUK.2.KKMs

Standard Roman Orthography:

https://www2.bible.com/bible/2084/LUK.2.KKMr

Cree Bible in syllabics on YouVersion

And that’s not all. You may remember that we worked with the late Rev. Fred Evans from 2017 to 2019 to record the entire New Testament from this book in audio form, so that even Cree speakers who are unable to read the text themselves can hear it being read. You can read all about the CreeTalker project when you click this link below:

https://billjancewicz.com/2019/02/03/northern-translation-brief-creetalker-bible/

Fred Evans passed away in March 2020, and will be missed by all of us who knew him. But he leaves a lasting legacy, and continues to speak through these recorded words of the Cree Scriptures.

Rev. Fred Evans reads the Scriptures in Cree

To hear Fred yourself, just go to one of the YouVersion links above for the digital version of this Bible, in either Cree Syllabics or Standard Roman Orthography, and then click the speaker icon.

It’s a reason to celebrate–so are we finished now?

This Bible has had, and continues to have, an influence on the lives of many speakers of Cree in communities all across Canada.

There are at least five different indigenous languages spoken in the area where this Cree Bible is used. Many people who use this Bible speak a different, though related language as their mother tongue at home. Also, the language of this Bible is an older version of Cree that is not as well understood by younger speakers.

Bill has written a paper about the story of the translation of this Bible in the 1800s as well as an analysis of the language of the translation. This was presented at the 50th Algonquian Conference Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 2018.

This 20-minute presentation tells about the translators and the language of this 1862 translation of the Bible in Cree, and when you have the time, I invite you to watch a video of this presentation prepare for YouTube:

The paper was peer-reviewed and published in the Papers of the Fiftieth Algonquian Conference, edited by Monica Macaulay and Margaret Noodin, published by Michigan State University Press.

234 Pages
6.00″ x 9.00″
ISBN: 9781611863833
Published in February 2021

https://msupress.org/9781611863833/papers-of-the-fiftieth-algonquian-conference/

Even though Bishop Lydia Mamakwa speaks Oji-Cree as her mother tongue, this old Cree Bible is the one she grew up with and still uses for some of her devotional reading. At a recent Zoom gathering of First Nations Bible Translators, she shared the following encouraging words of thanks about the recent release of this new edition:

Bishop Lydia Mamakwa

“I want to say thank you to everyone that worked on getting the Cree Bible, the Mason Bible to us, that it was printed. Our people are really enjoying it and happy that it’s now available. We thank you, Jeff *, for your help in that. … It’s so good to have the big lettering **. It’s really good to have that. I use it some mornings when I have my readings, I really appreciate it.”

* Jeff Green, Canadian Bible Society

** Large 14pt font size

 

Even though Bishop Lydia celebrate the new access to this new edition of the Cree Bible, she and the Oji-Cree translation team still continue work on their vision of a contemporary Bible translation in her own Oji-Cree language, for the next generation of Oji-Cree speakers.

Praise God with us for this important and significant milestone, this new edition of the old Cree Bible, and continue to pray with us for the other people in Cree territory that are still waiting for access to the Scriptures in their own languages too.

Serving with you,

Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief 11Sep2020

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Doing what we can,
Where we are,
With what we have.

Our Dear Partners,
So often we have featured a map on the top of our Northern Translation Briefs, as maps are easy to use to describe the many places we would travel to or travel from to do the work that God has called us to.

However, like so many of you, we have been home for the past several months, washing our hands, staying physically distanced, and wearing masks when must be with people from ourside our bubble.

Bill has worked remotely, by computer, for months with the Naskapi team on this and several other Naskapi language projects. But during those months, for various reasons, the capacity of the Naskapi translation team has been gradually reduced:

The Naskapi translation team in 2019

Last summer, Amanda took a leave of absence to explore other employment opportunities, and took training to be a conservation officer. Since then, she has also gone on maternity leave, and at this time does not expect to return to the translation desk. In January Tshiueten also took a leave of absence to explore a career in communications, but he has left that position and is not planning to return to translation at this time. During the Covid-19 lockdown in the spring, both Silas and Ruby were on leave from their duties, but Silas chose to take early retirement at the end of June, and then last month on August 20, Ruby informed us that she is taking a one-year leave of absence to work on education.

The Naskapi translation team today

Pray with us that God will send willing and capable Naskapi persons to fill these spaces, so that their dream of completing the Bible in Naskapi can still be realized.

But all is not as bleak as it appears: Silas, in his retirement, has reached out to Bill, asking him to work with him, helping Silas to obtain and to set up a computer of his very own, so that he can continue to work on Naskapi translation and language projects on an informal basis.
This month Bill has begun to meet with Silas over Zoom calls to begin to check the book of Exodus and to record the audio for the book of Psalms! Praise God for laying this on Silas’ heart.

Three little girls from the local Foster Care agency

God gave us a large home to share. He made it clear to us that He wants us to use it to care for “the least of these“. Since early summer, we have had Charlotte and Bella with us, and last week we responded to an emergency call from the Agency to care for another child whose family is in crisis, Marison. Each child is from a different family and they each have their own special needs: we are doing what we can with what we have. They could be with us for another week, or for several months. God only knows. We will leave it in His hands.

New baby chicks at breakfast time this week.
(The girls’ faces are intentionally blurred to protect their privacy)

Like everyone else during the pandemic, we use social media, Zoom and Skype a lot more regularly now to stay in touch with and support the other translation teams we are responsible for. Isolated Indigenous communities remain quite vulnerable and locked down. Continue to remember and pray for our teams working creatively in these areas: Matt & Caitlin Windsor with the Oji-Cree in Kingfisher Lake, Ontario, and Martin & Alice Reed with the Swampy Cree from their home in Thompson, Manitoba.
Continue to pray with us for the way forward with the Naskapi translators at Kawawachikamach in northern Quebec.

And we pray for you, that through this pandemic you too will find joy in doing what you can, where you are, with what you have.

Serving with you, Bill & Norma Jean

PS: You can follow the Bible translation and other work we continue to have the privilege to serve in at these links:
Northern Translation Brief
https://billjancewicz.com/
The Windsors Up North
https://www.thewindsorsupnorth.com/
Kaleidoscope–Reed’s Ministry
https://www.facebook.com/ReedsKaleidoscope

Northern Translation Brief 10Jul2020

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Our Dear Partners,

Thank you for your prayers and your interest in First Nations Bible Translation. Our indigenous partners in isolated northern communities have been under unusual stress and hardship since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of the living conditions in these communities, the limited access and medical facilities, First Nations people are at particularly high risk from infection from this coronavirus disease.

Most communities across northern Canada have restricted all travel in and out.

Algonquian languages in the “Cree subgroup”

Naskapi translation

We had a half dozen Naskapi participants: translators, educators and church lay-readers signed up for our translator workshop this spring, but as we told you last time, it had to be cancelled, just like everything else in 2020.

The Naskapi translation office and school and church also closed for most of April and May, and opened in just a limited way in June.

We have just begun to work again with members of the team who have returned, connecting over video calls on the computer, but we are afraid that it will be a slow restart.

However, through the springtime and into the summer, Bill has been steadily working on formatting, compositing and proofreading some new Naskapi publications that we will be able to share about in the next Translation Brief. He is also coordinating the production of an exciting new Naskapi language education tool, an “online Naskapi language course”. We hope to have that ready by the end of the summer, and we will tell you all about it then.

New children in our care

Last time we wrote to you we had to say good bye to Emma and Joseph, a sibling group that was in our care until Bill returned across the border from the US. Because of Covid-19 quarantine regulations, they had to be placed in another foster home.

But in late May we were asked to look after Charlotte (age 5). She is part of a sibling group too, but her brother and sisters are in care in other foster homes.

Charlotte celebrating on Canada Day in the morning
(The children’s faces have been intentionally blurred to protect their privacy)

A week later the Children’s Aid Society called with an emergency request to take Bella (age 3) into our home. Both children have some special needs, and Bella has global developmental delays. But both girls have been gradually settling into a routine in our home and getting the care that they need. We can’t say how long either will be with us, but we are prepared to look after them as long as they need us.

Bella at breakfast

God has blessed us with the capacity to help these two children, and we feel privileged to be called to serve Him in this way.

Charlotte and Bella in their “happy place”, busy outside

Thank you again for your prayers with us for:

  1. Naskapi Bible Translation: restarting the team in Covid-19, good working relationships, and the delivery and distribution of the new Scripture products we have prepared. Remember team members Ruby and Silas.
  2. Bella and Charlotte: as we provide them with the special care that they need during this time of separation from their families.
  3. The other language teams we supervise: Matthew & Caitlin Windsor in the Oji-Cree project at Kingfisher Lake, Ontario; and Alice & Martin Reed in the Swampy Cree project near Thompson, Manitoba. Click on their names above to see their recent newsletters.

Gratefully serving with you,
Bill & Norma Jean

PS: We may be able to give you more details on any of these requests if you ask us off-line (by email). You may email us in two places:
For Bill: bill_jancewicz@sil.org
For Norma Jean: normajean_jancewicz@sil.org

Christmas 2018

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Our dear friends and family,

We have been looking forward with gratefulness to celebrating the birth of Jesus this year. It has been an especially challenging year, as we continue to recover strength, wellness and stamina after Bill’s accident with the tree, ladder and chainsaw on November 7th 2017. Even though the time required can be discouraging, we rejoice in your prayers for us with a dependence in God’s blessing and His sovereignty, and assurance of His love.

We wanted to remind you all of how God continues to lead us in our work in Canada: As you know, it’s been more than 30 years now since we first moved to Canada to work with the Naskapi community at Kawawachikamach in Northern Quebec. We raised our family there and we both served the community as a linguist and as a teacher. We worked alongside community members in language development, literacy, and Bible translation. It was 11 years ago this year that we helped their team to complete the Naskapi New Testament. God continues to speak through His Word to the Naskapi community, and their hunger for more scripture in their language continues to grow, along with their own capacity to accomplish the ongoing work on the Old Testament themselves.

‘He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.

–Isaiah 40:29.

Moreover, the Naskapi have inspired and motivated other First Nations communities that do not yet have scriptures in their own languages. For the past 5 years, after much reflection and prayer, our vision that God would multiply His work by raising up a team of younger Bible Translation facilitators is being realized. Two teams now serve as we have in several other communities, while increasing the number and capacity of First Nations translators themselves through mentoring and training workshops. The Naskapi project has grown to become an important training location and inspiration for the new teams whom they have invited to serve internships there in Kawawachikamach.

Meanwhile, God is also at work in other communities that speak closely related languages–in Oji-Cree in northern Ontario, Innu in Labrador, Plains Cree in Saskatchewan, and Swampy Cree in Manitoba–and our vision of seeing of several new Bible Translation and language development projects get started is becoming a reality. Matthew & Caitlin Windsor are now working full-time as language project facilitators with the Kingfisher Lake Oji-Cree community. Alice & Martin Reed are now living and working among the Western Swampy Cree communities in Northern Manitoba. Tom & Bethany Scott have just completed their internship with the Oji-Cree translation team this fall, and David & Avery Standley have just joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in November, and are preparing for service in one of the communities still waiting for access to the Scriptures in their own language.

Our continuing role is to mentor and support these new teams and projects. Bill’s accident and recovery period has shown us that these translation projects are in God’s hands, under His control, and not ours. We actively support and guide the new teams using current communication technology, while the new teams begin to carry more of the on-site tasks, working in the local language communities.

The Naskapi work also continues in Northern Quebec, which we still support at a significant level. We are helping them with the final stages of typesetting and layout for the books of Exodus and Psalms in Naskapi. In addition, we are planning with our team members the next First Nations Translator training workshops in April 2019.

We are grateful to God for our home here in southern Ontario. It is a place for the new teams to come for rest and renewal and also gives us time with them to discuss project goals and challenges. It also provides us a place from which we can travel to assist in the communities in the north.

Thank you again for your continued care and prayers for us, for your interest in Bible Translation and reconciliation with our First Nations brothers and sisters. Thank you for your many gifts and reminders of your love and care for us in these days of restoration, recovery, and dependence upon God.

Serving with you,
Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief: 2018 Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) Workshop

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Our Dear Partners

We are so grateful for your prayers for a successful First Nations Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) Workshop that was held in Guelph, Ontario in April. God has answered your prayers in wonderful and encouraging ways! This was our fourth such workshop in as many years.

Speakers from three language communities came to this year’s workshop

What is a Mother Tongue Translator?

Even though we serve with a “Bible Translation” organization, we ourselves do not really translate the Bible ourselves: it is the fluent, “mother tongue” speakers of these languages who actually perform the Bible translation day-by-day, verse-by-verse.

Oji-Cree mother tongue translators Zipporah and Jessie at work

These precious individuals speak their mother tongue, their heart language, and with some help from us translate the Word of God into the indigenous language of their community and family. Linguists, consultants, Bible Translation facilitators and others (like us) work along side mother tongue translators–we learn their language, we help them understand what the Bible means, and we equip them to make the best translation they can into their own language.

What is a Mother Tongue Translator Workshop?

While most of the work of Bible translation happens in the mother tongue translators’ home community, we conduct workshops to bring together many mother tongue translators from several communities. That’s what we did in Guelph this April.

SIL International Translation consultant Steve Kempf teaching about Old Testament sacrifice

At workshops like this, the mother tongue translators can benefit by learning from a wide range of facilitators who serve on staff and come to bring their experience and expertise, helping each translation team with their own unique challenges.

Bible Society translation consultant Ruth Heeg teaching translation basics

They can also learn about new tools, materials and media that can help them bring the message of God’s love in their own language to a wider range of people in their own communities.

Colin Suggett demonstrates a talking “Scripture App” with audio

Martin Reed helps participants plan the future of their language

We usually think of the Bible in a “book” when we talk about Bible translation, but the Word of God is living and active, and is a vast story of God’s love for and redemption of every people, language and nation. At this workshop, participants were also trained to craft the story of the Bible in their own language and tell these stories orally.

Meg Billingsley helps the participants learn the story of Adam & Eve

Matt Windsor helps the Oji-Cree team craft and record their oral Bible story

Even more importantly, mother tongue translators interact with other mother tongue translators from other languages, learning how their shared experiences can be an encouragement to each other, and realizing that they are not alone doing their task of Bible Translation for their home community.

Speakers of Naskapi, Oji-Cree and Swampy Cree learning together

Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, the National Indigenous Bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada, addresses, encourages and prays for the participants

Why translate the Bible into minority First Nations languages?

God is doing a work in the hearts of speakers of indigenous languages across Canada. Their grandparents and great-grandparents were taught God’s message of love and grace during the past century and a half. Many of these learned the Word of God from books that were translated into languages that were not in their own their “mother tongue”, but sometimes some other language, such as a neighbouring dialect of Cree.

1863 translation of the Bible in Western Cree

Many of the First Nations mother tongue translators that we work with love Jesus. They also love their communities and they love their traditional languages that they learned from their parents and grandparents. Now, God has given them the desire to pass on their faith to their own children and grandchildren, along with their precious language which is such a vital part of their culture.

The history of relations between the First Peoples of this land and non-indigenous people have been sometimes strained and difficult. Practices of the newcomers and policies of our governments often resulted in the tragic loss of their traditional languages. Besides providing access to God’s message of love in their own language, the First Nations Bible translation movement also gives speakers of these languages the resources they need to make their languages sustainable and even to flourish.

God has been using these MTT workshops to train, equip and encourage mother tongue translators with the skills and capacity they desire to see their vision and realized.

Thank you for your prayers for this one. They were answered in wonderful ways.

Serving with you, Bill & Norma Jean

Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald

“Mother tongue Bible translation is the most important thing you can be involved in for your community. It is really saving lives. It is hope that we give to our children and our grandchildren and great-grand children. The Holy Spirit assists you in your work of translation because it results in praise to God.

 

“The Word of God must become living and real in the languages of our communities. It is a part of our preparation of the coming of Christ: Bible translation in your local languages has a role in God’s plan for the universe. So, it is vital on a physical level but also on an spiritual and eternal level as well.”

–from the address by the Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, National Indigenous Bishop, to the participants at the 2018 First Nations Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) workshop, Tuesday, 17 April 2018, Guelph, Ontario.

More pictures from this year’s workshop:

 

 

Northern Translation Brief 09Apr2018

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Our Dear Partners,

Next week, the Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) workshop for First Nations Bible translators will be held in Guelph, Ontario (April 15-20).
What are these workshops for? They are a response to the request from First Nations church leaders and community members themselves, to bring together people from different related language communities, creating a safe environment for mutual encouragement, and equipping their own community members and speakers of their languages to more adequately handle the complex task of Bible translation.

Participants are guided to work together at the 2017 MTT Workshop

The program this year is multi-tracked to accommodate both beginner and more experienced translators.

We are also planning a program that includes:

Oral Bible Storytelling:
This year, besides the usual modules covering translation principles, we are also pleased to announce that there will be an extended focus on Oral Storying. First Nations culture places a high value on storytelling, and this approach ties together the Stories of our Creator and His love for His People with the traditional First Nations practice of passing stories to the next generation orally in their heart language. These story modules will be facilitated by Rod & Liesel Bartlett.

Old Testament Sacrificial System:
This year, guest instructor Steve Kempf is introducing the topic of sacrifice in the Old Testament, in particular, the key terms for each of the five main sacrifices as well as how the sacrificial system worked. He is also presenting about the Day of Atonement and its significance as perhaps the most holy day in the Israelite sacrificial system. There are a lot of key terms here that extend throughout the Old Testament which help us to understand the significance of the death of Jesus Christ.

Participatory Methods and the Future of Our Language:
Another guest instructor, Carletta Lahn will continue applying the theme of participatory methods to grassroots local indigenous language program planning to help with the maintenance and sustainability of these threatened mother tongues.

Pray that all these who come will experience God’s anointing, protection and provision as they travel from near and far and serve First Nations language communities.

Participants in 2017 discover how and where their own language is used.

Thank you for your prayers for the staff, participants and the program of the upcoming 2018 workshop.
Also remember those traveling from long distances, as they pack and plan their trips this week. Our next message with prayer requests will be from the workshop site next week.

Serving with you,
Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief 02Apr2018

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Our Dear Partners,

Thank you for praying for the upcoming Mother Tongue Translator Workshop participants last week. Please keep them in your prayers through the next few weeks. We’ll send you another reminder.
This week we are also asking you to remember the staff for the upcoming workshop:

The next Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) workshop for First Nations Bible translators will be held this April 15-20 in Guelph, Ontario.
First Nations church leaders are seeing their vision for workshops that bring together people from different related language communities realized: creating a safe environment for mutual encouragement, and equipping speakers of their languages to more adequately handle the complex task of Bible translation.

Staff (Jeff Green) works with the participants at the 2017 MTT Workshop

We are blessed, especially this year, to have a large staff to share the teaching and facilitation tasks for the workshop sessions. We hope that you will find the time to pray for each of these staff members by name:

Cree Initiative “Next Generation” teams:
Alice & Martin Reed
Matthew & Caitlin Windsor
Meg Billingsley
Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz
Senior Translation Consultants and Bible Translation Facilitators with SIL/Wycliffe BIble Translators and the Canadian Bible Society (both active and ‘retired’)
Steve Kempf
Ruth Heeg
Jeff Green
Rod & Liesel Bartlett
Colin & Dot Suggett
Scripture Access team leader for SIL Americas “North Region”
Carletta Lahn
Other participating SIL & Wycliffe Staff
Beat Kunz
Colleen Boyd
Tom Woodward
Brandie Green
Special guests
Bishop Mark MacDonald
Dr. Cindy Westfall
Tom & Bethany Scott

There is still the possibility of a few more staff and/or guests. We will keep you posted.

Pray that all these who come will experience God’s anointing, protection and provision as they travel from near and far and serve First Nations Bible Translators.

Translation consultant staff (Steve Kempf) presenting to participants in 2017

Thank you for your prayers for the staff and participants at the upcoming 2018 workshop.

Serving with you,
Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief 26Mar2018

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Our Dear Partners,

We are so grateful for your prayers for Bill as he continues to recover from his accident with the tree, chainsaw and ladder last November. The ongoing challenges include a dull headache and back pain. We appreciate your continued prayers, but with God’s help we have been turning our attention to something else.

Over the past few months we have been anticipating, planning and coordinating the next Mother Tongue Translator (MTT) workshop that will be held this April 15-20 in Guelph, Ontario.

Our next few Translation Briefs will be inviting you to pray for this event, by focusing on the participants, the staff, and the guests; and also on the vision, the program and the effects.

The First Nations church leaders and speakers of these related Algonquian languages identified capacity-building and training for their own translators as one of their priorities at the First Nations Bible Translation Capacity-Building Gathering in Prince Albert back in June of 2014. They were inspired by how God’s Word translated by and used by the Naskapi community was having a growing positive influence on their lives and creating a hunger to know God in their own language.

They had a vision for workshops that bring together people from different related language communities, creating a safe environment for mutual encouragement, and equipping them to more adequately handle the complex task of Bible translation.

Participants work with the staff at the 2017 MTT Workshop

Again this year, the Naskapi community is sending both experienced and newer language workers involved in Bible translation and language development work. You are invited to pray for each of these participants by name:

Naskapi Bible translation project, Naskapi Development Corporation:
Silas Nabinicaboo
Ruby Sandy-Robinson
Amanda Swappie
Kissandra Sandy-Dominique
Naskapi translation services, Naskapi Nation Quebec:
George Guanish, translator
St. John’s Church (Naskapi) Kawawachikamach, Quebec:
Susan Nabinicaboo, Naskapi lay reader
Cheyenne Vachon (possibly)
Oji-Cree Bible translation project, Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh, Ontario:
Jessie Atlookan
Ruth Kitchekesik
Saloma Sainnawap
St. John’s Church (Swampy Cree) Tataskweyak Cree Nation Manitoba:
Larry Beardy
Elizabeth Beardy

There is still the possibility of a few more participants. We will keep you posted.

Pray that these who come will experience God’s peace, protection and provision as they travel so far from their home communities.

Workshop Participants in 2017 working on domains of language use

Thank you for your prayers for the participants for the 2018 workshop.

Serving with you,
Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief: 08Jan2018

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Our Dear Partners,

 

 

Greetings to you all for the New Year. We would like to share some exciting news from the New Oji-Cree translation project that has been going on in Kingfisher Lake.

You will recall that the a new Oji-Cree Bible translation project was started by the Indigenous Spiritual Ministry of Mishamikoweesh a couple of years ago. Since then, they have been working on a project to prepare Sunday readings from the the “Prayer Book Lectionary” for their church in Oji-Cree.

On a week-by-week basis, the translation team has been translating, team-checking and community-checking the Epistle and Gospel readings in Oji-Cree for their Sunday morning vernacular language services.

A Lectionary is a collection of Bible readings to be read to the faithful during the worship of God. Lectionaries have been used since the fourth century, where major churches arranged the Scripture readings according to a schedule which follows the calendar of the year. This practice of assigning particular readings to each Sunday and Holy day has continued through the history of the Christian Church.

Even though each Sunday these readings are printed and distributed in leaflet form for the congregation, they are still considered a “work in progress”, until they would be properly checked and approved by a translation consultant.

In November (just after Bill’s accident with the tree, ladder & chainsaw), translation consultant Meg Billingsley went to Kingfisher Lake again to work with the translation team in order to help them carefully check their translation and approve it for publication.

Connecting with the translation team by Skype in November

WIth Meg’s help, the team was able to complete the consultant checking for all the Epistle and Gospel readings for the season of Advent up through Christmas.

At the same time, they also reviewed and approved the layout for a published “book version” of the Lectionary readings. The checked and approved text was formatted and typeset in diglot (by Bill) in Oji-Cree and English and is their first publication of the New Oji-Cree translated Scripture in book form.

The team is making plans to continue the translation steps and consultant checking that need to be accomplished for each section so that soon an entire year of Sunday Lectionary Readings will be available and accessible to the community in book format.
As more of the new Oji-Cree translation is completed and approved, further editions of this book will be produced that contain more and more of God’s Word in the heart language of the Oji-Cree people.

Praise God with us and celebrate that these very first Scriptures to be published by the new Oji-Cree translation project have been completed, delivered and used in the church at Kingfisher Lake.

Pray with us for the Oji-Cree team as they continue to make progress toward their translation goals, for their plans for another checking session with a translation consultant, and as they await having Matthew & Caitlin Windsor come to their community to work with them full-time once the Windsor’s internship with Naskapi is completed. Lord willing, this will happen in the late spring of this year.

Matthew Windsor & Bill meeting with the translation team and the local committee members at Kingfisher Lake, July 2018

Thank you for your interest in First Nations Bible Translation, and for your prayers.

Serving with you,
Bill & Norma Jean Jancewicz

Northern Translation Brief: 05Nov2017

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Our Dear Partners,

Last week, Alice & Martin Reed finished their 8 month internship with the Naskapi language project in Kawawachikamach. This weekend they were with us in our home and we just brought them to the airport for their first visit to Tataskwekak (Split Lake) in Northern Manitoba, where they will be serving in the new Mistah Wasaha Inenowuk translation project. The speakers of this language, which is referred to as “Western Swampy Cree” by linguists, will be sharing their vision with the Reeds, and what God has laid on their hearts for a Bible translation and language development project into their own mother tongue.

Please pray with us for the community and their leaders this week, and for Martin & Alice as they listen and learn how God can use them in this work. They plan to be there from Nov 6-14. We know you share our excitement and anticipation of seeing what God has planned for bringing His Word to this language community.
Thank you so much for your encouragement and your faithful prayers!

Serving with you,
Bill and Norma Jean