The Chronicles of Meng

Unfortunately I am home today with a cold, but the team is continuing on in my absence. This morning Pastor Kori will be finishing his portion of the narrating. It's exciting to think that we are down to three narrators now and hopefully by next week that will be reduced to just two remaining!  Please be praying for the team that they would be able to get much done and wouldn't be hindered by distractions this week. 

Hard to believe we have been recording now for a month and a half already. Based on our current pace we still have about 18 weeks to go or to be more specific we should be finishing up right around the first or second week of December. That of course is dependent on being able to maintain our current pace while minimizing interruptions. This seems to be more and more of a challenge and something that we really could use prayer for. While our narrators have done an excellent job, we simply keep running into one delay after another. Everything from interruptions from classes next door to random hardware issues to illnesses hindering team members, etc. Yesterday, for example, Pastor Kori was looking to finish his reading portion but came up a few chapters short simply because the team had continual interruptions from loud students in the classes going on next door. Several times the team was forced to stop for periods as long as 10-15 minutes waiting for things to quiet down. Also this ...

The scripture in the title is Matthew 6:1 and it is where we started this afternoon with the recordings. Its a rather humbling encouragement to us as we work on this project. When you consider the hundreds of man hours that are going into this project and the fact that at the end of the day there is little to no recognition for those involved it is easy lose heart and give up. Yet if you finish verse one you see there is a veiled promise that being reward from the Lord if you are willing to "practice righteousness" in secret. What excites me is that literally 15-20 years down the road there will be Tswana's out in some village listening to these recordings for the first time, hearing the Word for the first time! Who knows how many people will come to know their Heavenly Father, or how many people will transformed, set free, etc! Pray that we will not grow weary in doing good and that we will press on until the finish line.

Over the weekend we hit 25% of the Bible completed! This morning Pastor Kori is working his way through Hebrew and later today Pastor Samuel will be working to knock out 2 Corinthians. That will put us at 35% of the NT. Please pray for grace that we would continue strong to the finish!

As we near the end of our 5th week of recording we are closing in on 300 chapters completed. So far we have done roughly 23% of the OT and 25% of the NT. Hopefully within the next two weeks we will have at least one and possibly two of the four narrators finished with their assigned portions of scripture. That includes the minor prophets, all the epistles in the NT and Revelation! Something else that is exciting to think about is how God is working to redeem the Tswana people through this project. I found out just this week that the mountain behind where we are doing the recordings is the same mountain where for centuries the Tswana's practice animal sacrifice in honor of their ancestors. Isn't it amazing to think that in the very place where they practiced false worship, God has chosen to proclaim His truth! Oh that His light(The Word) would shine brightly in this place! Please be lifting up the team in prayer that we would be able to persevere and wouldn't be h...

Today we are working through the Gospel("Good News") of Matthew. Pastor Joseph, who is also narrating the Torah(first 5 books of the Bible), has been given the task of narrating the Gospels and Acts. It has been such a privilege working with these men and women over the past several weeks, seeing their dedication and commitment to excellence in these recordings. Already the four narrators and their proof listening teams have put in nearly 150 hrs in the recording studio and the techs have put at least that much time in editing and cleaning up the tracks afterwards. So roughly 300 man hrs so far in this project has gotten us to just shy of one quarter of the Bible completed. Please pray that they would be able to persevere to the end and would not be bogged down in the process. Also be praying that our interruptions and distractions from the school would be kept to a minimum.

So this week marks the beginning of the new school term in South Africa. For our Tswana Bible Project that means we have a more limited recording schedule during the week, 3 days instead of 5. It also means that we now have added challenges of background noise from students and activities going on around the music department where we are recording. Please be praying that we would have grace and that the interruptions would be limited so we can stay on track!

So yesterday marked one month of recording on the Tswana Audio Bible Project. Despite the ups and downs of the month we managed to complete nearly 250 chapters or roughly 21% of the Bible! It is a great start and I am hopeful that this is a sign we will be able to complete the project on schedule and finish by December. For those who have been praying for the project and following along, thanks and please keep it up we really need your prayers!

Today we crossed the 200 chapter mark! So far the team has completed roughly 18% of the OT and 12% of the NT for a combined 16% of the entire Bible. I am expecting us to have passed the 20% mark for the entire Bible by the end of the week! All this despite the many challenges and attacks from the enemy. Praise the Lord for His grace that is sufficient for the task! Please keep up the prayer for the team as well as the ministries overseeing the project(Davar Partners International, YWAM, and the SA Bible Society) just the day before yesterday the project director for Davar(the person I am directly submitted to for the Tswana Bible Project) was carjacked and had his phone, laptop, car, and all his project data stolen from him. Also one of the techs working on the project has also been struggling with an issue with he ear that has caused him a great deal of pain and discomfort and has made his work very difficult. He has been to several different doctors both here in Rustenburg as w...

For those who have been following along with the Tswana Audio Bible Project you know that we have been experiencing our fair share of resistance and spiritual warfare in undertaking this task of recording the Tswana Bible.  In my role as field coordinator for the project I largely am a behind the scenes observer. The narrators, proof-listeners, and technicians are the ones who are directly responsible for carrying out the work. My job is to make sure it all runs smoothly and stays on schedule. Mostly this has involved sitting in on all the sessions observing, offering advice where necessary, praying and interceding throughout the day, and managing the schedules of the various narrating teams. Also due to the fact that many of the narrators and listeners don't have cars of their own I have also undertaken to transport many of them daily to and from the recording sessions as there are no taxis that run to the school.  During the recording sessions though I have had a l...

And so we have begun another week of recording. Each week seems to come with its own challenges. This week the challenge is to find three new proof listeners by weeks end as three people have had to step aside due to work. Please continue to pray for the narrators and listeners that they would be able to work well and get much done. Pray also for grace for the technicians as they work hard to ensure good quality recordings and as they are going through the editing process which is very intensive.

For those who were praying yesterday I want to say thank you so much! Please continue! Despite all the struggles with computers crashing, speakers not working, people getting sick, we still managed to get 17 chapters done yesterday. My hope is that today without all those distractions that we will get even more done. We have started well this morning and after our time of intercession you can tangibly feel a lighter spirit in the room. Please continue to pray for grace for the team and protection from all the schemes of the enemy! Also for those who are checking out the blog, please feel free to leave comments and encouragements for the team and I will pass them along. Lastly if you want to specifically be a part of the intercession team for the project please email me at matt@ywamrustenburg.org and I will send you direct email updates and prayer requests throughout the project.

Please be praying hard for the team and the project! The enemy is fighting hard to keep us from progressing today. This morning started with one of our listeners not showing up. When I called her to find out what was going on I discovered she had fallen ill in the night and had to go to the doctor this morning. We were able to get another listener sorted for the morning session and were doing quite well actually getting quite a bit done and then suddenly the hardware issues started. First the computer started hanging, then it crashed altogether! Initially we thought we had lost 3 chapters of recording, but we eventually figured out that the audio files were still there. Unfortunately the project file(the file that organizes all the audio clips and contained all the edits we had made during proof listening) was lost which means that Christiaan(one of the techs) will have to spend the rest of the day rebuilding that before we can continue on in the morning. And now as we start the second...

Please be praying for the ABP and the whole team involved. As we are entering our third week of recording, we have been really struggling to find a rhythm. We currently are off pace to finish by our original goal of November and now it is looking more like December or even January. To all those of you who are intercessors, please be praying daily for the project. Pray for the narrators that they would have grace and the anointing of the Holy Spirit as they read. That they would be able to read well with few mistakes. Pray for the proof listeners that they would have ears to hear. Pray for the techs and really all of us that we will not grow weary in doing the good work laid out before us. Please pray for me that I would have wisdom in the scheduling and that I would be able to help bring the best out of everyone involved. Last please pray protection over all involved including our families. There seems to be a lot of sickness and other health issues going around within the team and w...