Praying for the right words

SGA LITERATURE MINISTRY

Back in 2005 we featured the testimony of Maya Tolebshoyeva from Tajikistan when she was a student at the Bible Institute for All Nations in Kazakstan. Today Maya is working with the Independent Bible Correspondence School, with a particular emphasis on her homeland of Tajikistan.

“Recently I have spent a lot of time translating the courses. Praise the Lord that He makes it possible for my people to receive spiritual food in their own mother tongue,” Maya explains. “It’s very important for us to have Christian literature in the Tajik language. It’s quite a tedious work, demanding a lot of patience, concentration and time. The translation work teaches me much. Sometimes you have to look up a word in several dictionaries to find the right translation. Often you have to change a whole paragraph several times. In the Tajik language there are no adequate words concerning spiritual terminology. Russian words often don’t fit the meaning and description of the feelings we imply in these words. I thank the Lord that He often just gives the right words.”

“The ‘Missionaries in Training’ is another part of my work. I regularly check about two hundred exam papers and try to provide them with a response in good time. I think that if I were late with responses it would affect the study of our students therefore I do my best to supply them with feedback on time,” said Maya.

Recently Maya has tried to spend more time with her family because she feels like a foreigner to them because she is away from home. “Actually it’s maybe normal because I am a believer and my family is not. But on the other hand it’s still my family. I felt ashamed when I heard my relatives saying that I am often absent and that they are alien to me. I have had to reconsider my priorities and to spend more time with my family and relatives. I pray that God will help me to be gentle and loving with them and that He will help me to decide how to correctly spend my time. I believe that this is an important ministry because they look at my behaviour and at my deeds. This influences their opinion about Christians. I believe that God gives me strength in this ministry. “

Maya’s desire is to try to get to know non-believing students doing the correspondence courses personally. They often make mistakes in their exams and Maya would like to meet them and speak with them about the courses in order to clarify their mistakes. In this way she can have a great influence for God in their lives.

Maya Tolebshoyeva, translating Bible Correspondence Courses for Tajikistan.

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