Tim & Jane Letcher

God’s word is ‘a lamp to my feet and light to my path’ (Ps 119). But how can people walk without stumbling if they can’t access the Bible in a way they understand? In 2015 we moved to the Alyawarr lands with the aim of helping people there to understand God’s word. Portions of the Bible have been translated into Alyawarr but only a few people regularly use this Bible.

For many people reading is a laborious activity, so alongside helping people to overcome this, we are also keen to help them engage with the Bible through various other means, including Scripture memorisation, listening to the Bible in audio formats, creating Christian paintings and through song. There are about fifteen Alyawarr communities with a total of about 1800 speakers of the language. There is also a growing number of young people who speak a Kriol/Aboriginal English/Alyawarr mix. Epenarra, where we live, is 540 km north-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

As we live there, our prayer is that we can continue to learn the Alyawarr language so that we can help people engage with the Bible and ultimately, know and worship God.