The Brazilian Amazon region
In 2019, we traveled with a team to the tribe to support them for a month. When we were about to leave, the chief invited us to stay and work among his people. He shared with us about the difficulties they faced, including the absence of a local pastor, which had led to an empty church and a people without biblical teaching.
Since then, we’ve been serving this indigenous community in the Brazilian Amazon. Our focus is on discipleship for young and old, primarily through home visits. We enjoy the children’s ministry: twice a week, we have a time for the children where they learn songs, discover Bible stories, and understand what these stories mean for them today. We learn about the Bible and God together through play and creativity, always finishing with some juice and treats.
In addition, we’re involved in church planting and Bible translation. By living among this community, we’ve observed how the devil uses his web of lies, such as: “Your God doesn’t speak my language,” or “He doesn’t love our people; He doesn’t want to be our God.”
It’s difficult to understand the Bible in a second spoken language, so we’re grateful to be able to contribute to translating the Bible into their mother tongue. This way, they too can experience how much God loves them. May they share this with their children and grandchildren!
Global translation mission with artificial intelligence
We believe every people has the fundamental right to hear and read God’s Word in their own language; faithfully, understandably, and with respect for their culture. Many of the communities we work with are indigenous and have a strong oral tradition. They are still waiting for the opportunity to receive the Bible in their own language.
The Challenge: Bridging Language Barriers with Innovation
Bible translation into unwritten languages is an intensive but extraordinarily valuable task. It requires cultural immersion, linguistic precision, and technological creativity. We feel that God has laid it on our hearts to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate this process. We’re incredibly joyful and grateful for how AI can help with Bible translation and significantly speed up the processes: from an average of forty years to just two to six years!
The Next Step: A Strategic Partnership in the USA
We’ve been invited to actively collaborate with other translation teams for three months at the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base in the United States. Here, we’ll work together with teams consisting of missionaries and native speakers from, among other places: China, East Timor, Papua New Guinea, and also Brazil.
We translate because He first translated Himself to us!
