Translating the Word, transforming the world

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That is our theme for GETI2018.

I had an interesting night sleep but felt more energized today. I forgot to include this yesterday but we learned about the Talanoa method from the Pacific. The basic idea is that you create space to create a connection with another, taking time to understand their story of who they are and where they come from.

We had three presentations today - each with three presenters. We covered African theologies, world Christianity, and interreligious dialogue. The highlights were hearing from John Mbiti - "the grandfather of Africa theology"; and a presentation on trauma and healing from Indonesia.

It starting pouring on our walk to lunch, and myself, my books, and my phone are all soaked! I am highly impressed by everyone attending, and presenting at this conference, whom are non-native English speakers! Each morning and afternoon, we have prayer. It is really powerful to hear everyone praying the Lord's prayer in their own languages.

We ended this afternoon by having a "living library" where we had the opportunity to hear "books" (stories) of fellow GETI participants. I went to one about a young female leaving her village in Myanmar to pursue education and another about a Finnish missionary immersed in Japanese culture and language.  It was interesting to hear that her denomination in Myanmar just celebrated 50 years of having the bible translated in their language.

Tomorrow we have service learning and a visit to Arusha. And we move to the lodge (with flush toilets!) and begin the conference of world mission and evangelism.

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