Newsletter
March-April 2010
The
Khakas have received their first New Testament
 “The
New Testament might restore people's self-esteem. So many
Khakas are living without hope, unemployed, drinking all
the time and neglecting their children.” Those were the
words of a Khakas teacher when the forthcoming publication
of the Khakas New Testament was announced two years ago.
At the beginning of February 2010 the books were delivered
from the printing house and they have just reached Khakasia.
The Khakas have received their first NT!
The Khakas people (76,000) in southern
Siberia truly need the Good News of the Gospel. Many are
living in deep poverty, alcoholism is widely spread and
children are suffering.
“Some time ago several children, one after
the other, committed suicide in one small Khakas village,”
the Khakas minister of regional politics told us. “We were
many who went there in order to help – psychologists, government
officials and teachers. We were talking to people and trying
to find out why this had happened. When we were heading
home we saw that in front of one door there was still a
long queue of both adults and children. It turned out that
it was the priest who was receiving people there. To our
surprise we understood that in this Khakas village the priest
was the one who was most needed. It was only to him and
not to us teachers and officials that people went with their
sorrows.”
The Khakas are nominally Orthodox Christian,
but shamanism is still strong among them. In the centre
of the open air museum in the capital of Abakan a stone
woman is standing. This has become a place of pilgrimage
as the figure is said to possess miraculous healing powers.
A well used path leads up to it and many people go there
for healing.
In order to prepare the Khakas readers
for the New Testament separate Gospel portions have been
published, as well as the Four Gospels in 2007 and the Children's
Bible in 2008. The Four Gospels have also been audio-recorded,
as Khakas is mainly a spoken language and people are more
used to reading in Russian. However, young parents want
their children to learn Khakas, and the language is taught
at school. “When the Khakas get the New Testament they will
understand that this message is also for them, and not only
for Russians,” said one of the members in the translation
team.
Our hope and prayer is that the light of
the Gospel will penetrate Khakasia and give new life and
hope to many.
Thank
you for supporting Bible translation in Russia and the CIS
also
in 2010!
for donations from USA
Tax
deductible gifts for IBT Russia/CIS can be made payable to:
God’s
Word for the Nations
On behalf of IBT-Russia/CIS
PO Box 1259
Rolla, MO
65402
U.S.A.
You
may state a project preference
using the form below or make a donation for the project with the
greatest need.
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