The Khanty people of Siberia are small in number but big in heart. Tucked away in a remote mountainside where they brave some of the coldest and harshest weather on Earth, these “people of the forest” survive on hunting and fishing—and more recently, God’s Word.
Through the support of friends like you, we held a MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation) training workshop for a group of Khanty mother-tongue translators. MAST is a method in which national translators work side-by-side on different passages of the same book of the Bible. This strategy promotes accurate, accelerated Bible translation being completed in months rather than years. During the training the mother-tongue translators learned for the first time how to use computer tablets and translation recording equipment. We also set them up with mobile phones and Internet access so we can continue to communicate with them remotely. Since then we’ve been using the Internet and video to conduct virtual MAST training sessions online. As a result the Khanty have translated the Gospel of Luke, James, and 1 John.
Though the Khanty people are not emotional and considered reserved, when villagers saw the translations and heard audio recordings of God’s Word in Khanty, they couldn’t help but smile. Some even shed tears of joy and hope.
Thank you for caring enough to help bring God’s Word to the farthest reaches of the world!
