In the remote village of Maaku in the west of South Sudan, many villagers had never known Jesus and no church had been established in the area. The people there worshiped African gods.

A few members of that village who had heard of Jesus had forgotten over the years because there was nothing in the village to remind them about Christ. There were no Bibles to read from, no pastor to take care of the few flocks and no church to go to. It was a huge void.

Witch doctors and the priests of the traditional religion loomed large over the people. But all that changed when the missionaries arrived in the village two years ago with the Portable Bible School (PBS).

Through the PBS, indigenous converts were trained to be missionaries and a year later, they established the first church in the area in a structure made of grass roof and wooden poles. That simple church building is a symbol of the new covenant in the area and of God’s presence among the people of Maaku.

This story of the Maaku village is not unlike that of many other villages we've been privileged to witness to, and it all begins with receiving the Word of God for themselves.

Favor has recently started two new Bible translation projects in Juba, South Sudan with the help of MAST (Mobilized Assistance Supporting Translation) training - an accelerated approach to get the heart of God's Word to unreached peoples faster. This approach involves finding native speakers and using a "gateway language" (a language the native speakers know that has a current translation of the Bible) to translate the Gospel into their native tongue.

As with probably all translation projects, there is already a natural ebb and flow to the process, but the native speakers who have stepped up for these projects are off to a good start learning basic technology skills to speed up the work.

We are excited to see many more hearts of other peoples transformed through the Testimony of God's Son and we are in these projects for the long haul!