Have you ever been asked to participate in something you knew nothing about?
That’s how it was for many of the people God has raised up to join Him in reaching local language groups in Indonesia through translated Scriptures. They received an invitation to something unknown, but they felt His leading and obeyed.
Each of them made a choice to step out in faith. As a result, God has helped them find community with each other while deepening their relationship with Him. He’s woven their individual stories together to become part of His greater story of Bible translation.
God invites us into something bigger than ourselves — often before we feel ready. But He equips us and we never walk alone.
Discover six unique stories of people who were united by the same calling: to bring Scripture to their communities in Indonesia. Following God’s lead, they’re making an eternal difference in people’s lives through Bible translation.
Ayu Suwandi: A Reluctant Leader
First, meet Ayu. She never imagined herself leading a Bible translation program, but years ago, God invited her into something more. When Ayu Suwandi came to the translation center in Manado in 2001, she didn’t know much about Bible translation.
Ron Whisler, a translation advisor with Wycliffe USA, called her up to see if she’d be interested in working at the office. At the time Ayu didn’t even know about Wycliffe, or that Ron and his wife, Jacqui, had uprooted their family from the United States to move to Indonesia and do translation work with Wycliffe. (Ron actually spoke Manado Malay so well over the phone, Ayu initially thought he was Indonesian.)
“I thought of myself as a finance person and an office manager,” she recalled. “I didn’t really think of myself as getting involved in Bible translation.
“I had just graduated from college, and I had a lot of options and offers to get other work that was maybe even better paying work at the time. I took this job because … even though I didn’t understand Bible translation completely, I knew it was some kind of important work, and people had been praying for this.”
When she joined the translation program, she met other members of the team like Pastor Yanti Karundeng, Yuli Sapulette, Jemmy Rompis and Linda Golioth. They became like a family, working together, spending time together and occasionally arguing over some aspect of the translation work but always coming back together with respect for one another.
By 2006 Ayu had a great handle on her responsibilities, just as Ron and his family were heading back to the States on furlough. Ron was looking for someone to help pick up the slack while he was gone and told Ayu she’d be a good fit. Ayu said:
“I began to have an expanded vision of why we would do Bible translation and the need, the necessity of it. I began to grow in that area.”
She continued: “It was a special time for me to see what God was doing in Indonesia through Bible translation. When Ron and Jacqui had to go home, I began to see that we needed to carry more of the responsibility of the work of Bible translation.”
By 2010 Ron told Ayu she was ready to be the leader of the translation program in Manado.
“I didn’t really understand how Ron was choosing me out of all the people. At first I said, ‘No, I can’t do that. That’s too much for me,’” Ayu remembered. “Our first child was five years old, and we were planning to have a second child. I just didn’t think it was the right time.”
But her husband, Franky, said yes, that he believed in her. Franky and Ron agreed that if Ayu wanted the job, they’d all find a way to make it work. “I felt that was the answer from the Lord,” Ayu said quietly, through tears. “So I would no longer reject this responsibility.”
Over the next decade, Ayu served as the translation center director for the Manado Malay Bible translation project.
Yuli Sapulette: An Unexpected Purpose
Yuli joined the translation team not fully knowing Jesus, but she soon discovered her true purpose through the very Scriptures she was helping to translate. “When I first started working … I was called a Christian. But I didn’t really know who Jesus is,” said Yuli Sapulette, a translator on the Manado Malay team.
“When my parents divorced, I felt that I had no meaning in life,” she recalled. “But when the Lord called me to come and work at the translation center, He helped me understand that I have meaning. I began to understand Jesus loved me when I began translating and putting it into my language.”
One of the aspects of translation Yuli enjoys most is researching terms and figuring out how to make them flow naturally in the Manado language.
“I feel the Manado Malay translation is very important, first of all for me, because it has had a big impact on my life,” she stressed.
“When I first read the translation in the Manado language, I felt like the Lord was speaking directly to my heart. I came to realize that what I have experienced — knowing God in a closer way and having meaning in my life — now I want others to experience.”
Through coming alongside Bible translation work, Yuli learned how important it was to have God’s Word in your own language.
Yanti Karundeng: A Change of Heart
Yuli’s colleague, Yanti Karundeng, thought she’d found her life’s work when she became a pastor.
She met Ron when she showed up to preach at his daughter’s birthday party, a common practice when believers have parties in Indonesia. When Ron offered for her to join the team, she initially turned him down before reconsidering.
Yanti said:
“I didn’t realize how the Lord was going to work in my heart and change my way of thinking about this.”
“The very first time I had a computer in front me … and I could see on the screen all these Bible versions and helps, God was speaking to me at that time in a special way. Now I realize how important it is, and I can’t be separated from this work.”
Yanti also recalled that, although they didn’t know each other before joining the team together, the teammates now consider themselves family. “We’re brothers and sisters. We always support each other, we always pray for each other,” Yanti said.
As a pastor, Yanti thought she’d already found her ministry — until God redirected her steps through a surprising invitation. Bible translation became a part of Yanti’s life and calling, and she’s committed to helping others know God more deeply through His Word.
Ocha Hitalessy and Ampi Huae: Following God’s Leading
When God began stirring people’s hearts on the Ambonese Malay translation team, both Ocha Hitalessy and Ampi Huwae responded with obedience. Though their journeys were different, their commitment was aligned: to follow God’s call and help bring His Word to their community.
A common issue among the team members is pressure they receive from well-intended family members who want them to have prestigious, well-paying jobs with pensions and a sense of security. Bible translation isn’t especially lucrative in that way, so some of the translators work a second job to help cover the gap.
Ocha Hitalessy, a translator on the Ambonese Malay team, had felt pressure from her family to leave the translation work so that she could get married and settle down. But God Himself revealed her life’s plan: “Before I joined the Ambonese translation team, the Lord had already spoken to me in a dream,” she remembered. “The Lord told me to wake up and get my Bible. He said, ‘Ocha, you are to translate this Bible into your own language.’
“The motivation that I feel for this work, at first, it came from the dream God had given me. But later, it was because I felt that God had chosen me to be involved in this work.”
Like Ocha, translator Ampi Huwae has also had to deal with concerns voiced by others. But he has resolved to follow God’s leading: “I want to be obedient to God and what He wants for me. What is most important is that I know how God wants to use my life, and I allow Him to use it in accordance with His will,” he said. “Whatever God wants, I’m ready to do it. That’s what’s most important.”
Ocha and Ampi served on the Ambonese Malay translation team, united in their calling from God and deeply rooted in their faith.
Stephanie Richards: Living in Obedience
In 2006 when Stephanie Richards and her husband, Jon, packed up their lives and moved to Indonesia with their 3-month-old son, they weren’t chasing comfort: They were answering God’s call to be part of something eternal and worthwhile.
“Sometimes living in Ambon is challenging — creating meals, coming up with the things we need for day-to-day living,” Stephanie said. “My greatest challenge is probably the same as many other working moms: managing my time.”
Over a decade later, Stephanie split her time between homeschooling her son and leading the Ambonese Malay translation team. Though it can be difficult to balance home life, ministry life and their personal wellness, Stephanie says she wouldn’t change a thing:
“I learn so much from [the team] and I care deeply for them. I really can’t imagine doing anything else,” she said. “It’s really a dream job. If anyone likes to do Bible study, I get to spend my whole day considering what God’s Word means and talking about it with others. I really love that!”
The translators on her team share Stephanie’s passion for the work. “Oftentimes translators come to us because they’re looking for a job,” she said. “But they end up staying because it has become a passion; it’s become a calling. Translation is really taxing work. It’s hard to sit at the computer for long hours; it can be exhausting.
“It’s been incredible to see their commitment to the translation. Each member of the team really wants to see the New Testament completed and dedicated. They’re committed to seeing that happen.”
The Ambonese translators’ commitment to the work reminded Stephanie that this is the calling of all believers — to seek God’s will no matter the cost: “I know there are people in America who … praise missionaries. They put us up on a pedestal. They think we’re some kind of superheroes, but the truth is, we’re just followers of Christ,” she said. “We’re feeling our way through this, living in obedience to Christ and trusting Him.
“I wonder, ‘Why me? Am I really the right person for the job?’ Sometimes I really feel I’m not. But I trust that He has me here for a purpose, and there’s something that I bring. We’re all members of the body of Christ, and He does give us different gifts and abilities, and puts us in different places at different times according to his will. We depend on that.”
Stephanie and her family trusted God, moving to Indonesia to support Bible translation efforts, and they are making an eternal impact for the Kingdom of God.
We all have a responsibility to be part of the mission to share the Good News with the world.
You can join this mission by inviting your church to get involved locally and globally. →
You Also Have a Role to Play
Across Indonesia, men and women said “yes” to God’s call. Today they’re helping bring His Word to language communities still waiting to experience Scripture in a language and format they can clearly understand.
You may not live in Indonesia or speak Manado Malay or Ambonese Malay, but you’re still part of God’s global mission. And just like these six people, when you say yes, your obedience can make an eternal impact.
You can pray for translation teams as they face challenges and celebrate breakthroughs. You can give financially to support the work so more people can access the Bible in their language. You can advocate by sharing these stories and helping others catch the vision for Bible translation.
However God leads you, you have a role to play. Together we can help people around the world encounter the truth of God’s Word.
