RALEIGH, N.C. -- It’s a culture unlike many of us have ever seen, a language unlike anything we’ve ever heard and a way of life unlike anything we’ve ever experienced.

 

 

How do missionaries share the word of their god with people who seem so different?

 

“We had to learn the language first, their customs, culture. And then we began to translate the Scriptures for them,” Gene Scott, a Bible translator.

 

Scott spent more than two decades translating the Bible from English to the language of the Shatanawa, a tribe in the Amazon jungle of Peru.

 

“They have a wonderful language, but it had never been reduced to writing," said Scott, "so our task was to learn their language, learn their culture, and to develop an alphabet for them.”

 

The organization "JAARS," or Jungle Aviation and Radio Service, helps missionaries across North Carolina, and across the world, translate the Bible into the languages of many nations.   That’s where Tom Bogle and his software development team come in. They design programs to help translators edit their scriptures in the field.

 

 “There’s people working in jungles, there’s people working in cities, on different sides of the ocean.” Bogle said.

 

The question is, how do those people get there?

 

“These people often live in very isolated areas, so we have to use these aircraft to get back in these areas,” said Chuck Daily, JAARS director of aviation.

 

The pilots fly through all types of conditions, through all types of places, from the mountains to the jungles. JAARS trains them to fly through areas that could be dangerous.

 

 “Often we’re dealing with tropical weather patterns, and the combination of mountains and weather make flying very challenging,” Daily said.

 

Arthur Lightbody, JAARS spokesman, said it’s worth the challenges they face.

 

 “JAARS believes everybody should have God’s Word in their own language.”

 

He says there are still more than 2,300 languages across the world that still have not been translated, and 300 million people, who haven’t been reached. 

 

 “We like to see human potential developed.” Lightbody said.

 

“When we first went to the Shatanawas, they had no concept of God. They believed very much in the spirits, but they thought all spirits were bad. So to hear, 'God’s Spirit is good,' was a wonderful revelation to them,” Scott said.