Bai Laurent holding the computer printout of the whole Kouya New testament
During our time in Côte d’Ivoire (1989 to 1997) I got know Bai Laurent as a friend and as a Christian whom I admired. Bai Laurent became a Christian in the mid 1950s. Throughout the 50s, the 60s and the 70s, he prayed that God would send someone to translate the Scripture into Kouya, his heart language. In the 1980s Laurent’s prayers were at last answered as first Philip and Heather Saunders came to Bahoulifla and then Eddie and Sue Arthur came to live in Laurent’s village of Gouabafla. Laurent’s faithfulness in prayer and Christian witness was rewarded and he lived to see the New Testament in his heart language and the Kouya church grow. On the evening of 27 April 2010 Laurent died after a long illness.
Bai Laurent’s funeral took place in Gouabafla last Saturday 5 June 2010. Five of us who live in N. Ireland and who knew him during our time in Côte d’Ivoire, gathered last Saturday evening to remember him, share our photos and memories of him and to thank God for his life and faithfulness in prayer.
Bai Laurent with new glasses sent by our home church
One of my memories was from early 1997. Bai Laurent had been complaining of failing eye sight and we asked our church back in Belfast to send some second hand glasses. Eventually a substantial box of glasses arrived. We took them to Gouabafla and Laurent proceeded to try them on…
Non!
Non!
Peut-etre…
Non!
Peut-etre…
At the end of the trying on session, Laurent had chosen three pairs of glasses that suited him and the photo above shows him wearing his favourites.
In my job with Wycliffe Bible Translators UK, I often wonder how many more Bai Laurents there are out there among the 2,200+ languages without Scripture who are also praying that someone will come alongside and help translate God’s Word into their heart language..?
You can read more about the Kouya translation and literacy project in Philip Saunders’ book No Ordinary Book…
and on Eddie and Sue’s blog
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