God’s voice in the mine

In the Hakka community in West Kalimantan, a translation team started to work on the book of Luke and the Jesus Film. ​One translator shared his experience.

When my wife became involved in the Hakka translation, it was the hardest time for our family. I lost my job and my emotions began to run out of control. Every day my wife and I would fight. I became angry with my children. I blamed everyone else. But what infuriated me most was my wife’s time spent working on the Hakka translation which brought home no money. One day, I was forced to be involved in the Jesus film recording. My part was to be the voice of Jesus, dubbed into the film. I did it with a heavy heart until we got to the episode where Jesus ate at the house of Zacchaeus. My hard heart began to soften. I held back tears while playing Jesus in that recording. When I got home, I gathered my wife and children and cried before them: ‘I am arrogant. I am selfish, I am temperamental.’ At that moment I asked forgiveness from my wife and children for my attitude. We all cried and immediately God restored our family, bringing peace to my heart and to our home.

​Today Mr. Amin is one of the primary translators and motivators of the Hakka translation.

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​God did not stop there. He wanted to unite His church. On 11 February 2019, the Hakka language launched the Jesus film. More than 50 church leaders from various Hakka denominations gathered to watch Jesus speak their language on film. The facilitator of the Hakka team testified, “Last year we were desperately worried—‘Can we continue this work with only one translator left on our team?’ But God was not desperate. He brought together five Hakka church denomination leaders who had never worked together before but committed to do so for the Hakka translation project. They appointed more translators, supported the team financially, provided a facility for the team to work in, and stood behind us in prayer and encouragement. One of the great things we saw God do was to unify the Hakka church in order to complete His mission.”