CHRISTIANS ON REMOTE ISLAND GROUPS EAGERLY AWAIT FIRST COMPLETE BIBLE.
“We Marquesas Islanders have been Christians for over 150 years but we do not yet have the full Bible in our language,” says Jacques Mendiola, 74.
The Marquesas Islands, a group of 12 volcanic islands in French Polynesia, is one of the most remote island groups in the world. Located around 1500km northeast of Tahiti, the islands are famed for their soaring mountain peaks, dramatic cliffs and beautiful bays.
Unlike the rest of French Polynesia, where the Tahitian language is widely spoken, the nearly 10,000 inhabitants of the Marquesas Islands speak their own language, Marquesan (many also speak French). Marquesan-speakers are proud of their language and unique culture, which includes tattoo art and distinctive wood carvings.
Christianity is a big part of their identity and they warmly welcomed the New Testament with Psalms in their language in 1995, followed by a revision in 2015. Work on the Old Testament with Deuterocanon began in 1996 and Jacques Mendiola, a retired school teacher who lives on the island of Hiva Oa, was delighted to join the project in 2018. Eternity.
