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The things they read made them laugh, which piqued Emanuel’s curiosity. “For me it was just nonsense lines and designs, but for them, they were getting meaning out of it.” He hurried home to share this" /> <meta name="generator" content="Drupal 7 (https://www.drupal.org)" /> <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.sil.org/blog/emanuel%E2%80%99s-story" /> <link rel="shortlink" href="https://www.sil.org/node/338321" /> <meta property="og:site_name" content="SIL Global" /> <meta property="og:type" content="article" /> <meta property="og:url" content="https://www.sil.org/blog/emanuel%E2%80%99s-story" /> <meta property="og:title" content="Emanuel’s Story" /> <meta property="og:description" content="One day, as young Emanuel carried lunch to his dad at his workplace, he noticed a group of children in school uniforms reading signs and posters as they walked along. The things they read made them laugh, which piqued Emanuel’s curiosity. “For me it was just nonsense lines and designs, but for them, they were getting meaning out of it.” He hurried home to share this interesting experience. Born near Tehuacán in the Mexican state of Puebla, Emanuel had never attended school." /> <meta property="og:updated_time" content="2024-04-25T10:38:51-05:00" /> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/321.png" /> <meta property="og:image:url" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/321.png" /> <meta property="og:image:secure_url" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/321.png" /> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" /> <meta name="twitter:creator" content="@SILintl" /> <meta name="twitter:url" content="https://www.sil.org/blog/emanuel%E2%80%99s-story" /> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Emanuel’s Story" /> <meta name="twitter:description" content="One day, as young Emanuel carried lunch to his dad at his workplace, he noticed a group of children in school uniforms reading signs and posters as they walked along. The things they read made them" /> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/images/story/321.png" /> <meta property="article:published_time" content="2024-04-24T12:07:09-05:00" /> <meta property="article:modified_time" content="2024-04-25T10:38:51-05:00" /> <title>Emanuel’s Story | SIL Global</title> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_lQaZfjVpwP_oGNqdtWCSpJT1EMqXdMiU84ekLLxQnc4.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_EM9PzeHZt2AxxQ3R05nXINg9akBOG66G3hxOgWtlp2E.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/css/css_y-6OGvqwgwpR259lzJYNwvxpJm3Q1qOD_DWt90goRpM.css" media="all" /> <style>.panels-flexible-new .panels-flexible-region { padding: 0; } .panels-flexible-new .panels-flexible-region-inside { padding-right: 0.5em; padding-left: 0.5em; } .panels-flexible-new 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<section id="block-system-main" class="block block-system clearfix"> <article id="node-338321" class="node node-blog node-promoted clearfix"> <div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img class="img-responsive" src="https://www.sil.org/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_1140/public/images/story/321.png?itok=sJYxILlA" width="950" height="502" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="view view-blog-post-masthead-information view-id-blog_post_masthead_information view-display-id-entity_view_1 text-center view-dom-id-89a72bb1cadcf9af6980fef610a024b0"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-row views-row-1 views-row-odd views-row-first views-row-last"> <div class="views-field views-field-title"> <h3 class="field-content">Emanuel’s Story</h3> </div> <div class="views-field views-field-name"> <h6 class="field-content">by <span class="blog-post-author">Kelly Martin</span></h6> </div> <div class="views-field views-field-created"> <span class="field-content blog-post-post-date">24 April 2024</span> </div> <div class="views-field views-field-nothing"> <span class="field-content"><hr/></span> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>One day, as young Emanuel carried lunch to his dad at his workplace, he noticed a group of children in school uniforms reading signs and posters as they walked along. The things they read made them laugh, which piqued Emanuel’s curiosity. “For me it was just nonsense lines and designs, but for them, they were getting meaning out of it.” He hurried home to share this interesting experience.</p> <p>Born near Tehuacán in the Mexican state of Puebla, Emanuel had never attended school. For much of his early life, his father’s struggles with alcohol and the subsequent choices he made meant no resources remained for him and his siblings to attend classes. But after Emanuel rushed home with a story about the children he saw on the street, his mother asked local teachers if he could start attending school. Like most people in his community, Emanuel spoke Ngiva, but the government schools taught classes in Spanish. Despite this obvious challenge, Emanuel still felt eager to begin learning. The teachers agreed to let him attend, but because he lacked any previous schooling, they insisted he start with kindergarteners. At eleven years old, Emanuel attended his first day of class with children half his age.</p> <p class="text-center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/no.3.png" style="width: 700px;" /></p> <p>Emanuel felt that this opportunity to learn answered a prayer he made after watching his father return to the church. Though previously a member, Emanuel’s father had grown discouraged after a conflict with another member, and he left. He then fell into drinking. Sometime later, however, watching the <a href="https://www.jesusfilm.org/">Jesus Film</a> helped him acknowledge the control alcohol held over him. He began praying to be freed from alcohol and asked the Lord to change his desire so that the first thing he wanted each morning was the Lord himself. He gained victory over his addiction and credited it to the Lord’s power in his life. In 1997, he returned to the church and brought his family with him. </p> <p>Delighted to see his father restored to health, Emanuel prayed for God to grant him the opportunity to read and write, not just Spanish but Ngiva also. It was this hope burning bright in his heart that sparked such interest in seeing the group of students reading on the day he delivered lunch to his father. He wanted to use these skills to serve in the church like the leaders he saw with hymn books and Bibles. After speaking with his mother, the director of the local school accepted his attendance the very next day. The director made him promise he would stay and study all the way through primary school. Emanuel quickly replied, “No problem, I’ll be here.”</p> <p class="text-center"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/no._7.png" style="width: 700px;" /></p> <p>Many of his schoolmates made fun of him, but Emanuel endured it. After waiting most of his childhood for the chance to learn, he devoted himself to his studies. His ability to read and write in Spanish grew, and he began really working at writing his language of Ngiva as well. He even translated a story he found at school. One day he visited Jeanne Austin, the SIL consultant working in his language, to ask about writing on a typewriter. Austin was working with a local team of Ngiva speakers, including Emanuel’s father, to translate the Bible into their language. She only had an old computer to give him and assumed he’d soon lose interest and return it. She never got the computer back. </p> <p>In sixth grade he started regularly producing stories in Ngiva. He collected his stories into a booklet, and the teacher presented it to the other parents and students as an encouragement to do similar projects. In 2003, he finished primary school at 18 years old.</p> <p>Emanuel’s father died in 2009, with the Ngiva Bible still unfinished. In 2010, Emanuel joined the translation team himself to carry on the work.* More than 90% of the community speaks Ngiva, but very few know how to read it and even fewer know how to write it. Emanuel and his team want to help teach people how to read and write. Together, they hope that the people of their town will one day have access to all of God’s Word in Ngiva so they can understand what He wants for them and what He offers them. </p> <hr /> <p><small><cite>*First published in 1982, a revised version of the Ngiva New Testament was republished in 2016. Emanuel and his team are currently working to translate the Old Testament into Ngiva; the Pentateuch was published in May 2023. All audio and digital versions of the Ngiva New Testament are currently available for free at ScriptureEarth.org.</cite></small></p> </div></div></div> </article> </section> <section id="block-block-261" class="block block-block blog-footer-links blog-footer-links clearfix"> <p> </p> <hr /> <p><a class="btn btn-default text-center" href="/blog" role="button">Back to Blog</a></p> </section> </div> </section> </div> </div> <footer class="footer"> <div class="footer-top"> <div class="container"> <div class="region region-footer"> <section id="block-panels-mini-sil-bootstrap-footer-menu" class="block block-panels-mini clearfix"> <div class="panel-flexible panels-flexible-new clearfix" id="mini-panel-sil_bootstrap_footer_menu"> <div class="panel-flexible-inside panels-flexible-new-inside"> <div class="panels-flexible-row panels-flexible-row-new-main-row panels-flexible-row-first clearfix footer-links"> <div class="inside panels-flexible-row-inside panels-flexible-row-new-main-row-inside panels-flexible-row-inside-first clearfix"> <div class="panels-flexible-region panels-flexible-region-new-column_1 panels-flexible-region-first "> <div class="inside panels-flexible-region-inside panels-flexible-region-new-column_1-inside panels-flexible-region-inside-first"> <div class="panel-pane pane-block pane-block-276 pane-block footer-logo" > <div class="pane-content"> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/sil_logo_white.png" style="width: 100px; 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