Efrain Alphonse - Translator

Efrain Alphonse is a name we should hear more often, although he would be the last one to think so. In his own quiet way, Mr. Alphonse is one of the great missionary pioneers of this century.

Efrain S. Alphonse was an African American boy who lived in Panama while his father worked on the canal. He was an adventuresome lad, devoted to God. One day, when he was nineteen, Efrain escorted a Methodist missionary through the dangerous reefs and treacherous streams along the northeast coast of Panama. While piloting this small boat and chatting, the missionary was so impressed with Efrain that he asked, "How would you like to teach school in one of these Valiente Indian villages?" Efrain knew the Valiente Indians' reputation. He knew they earned the name 'Valiente' which means 'brave and warlike'. He knew they did not speak Spanish and he knew not a word of their language. But the missionary's question and his love for Jesus Christ stirred his heart. He wanted to do whatever he could to help these neglected people.

So Efrain Alphonse accepted a teaching post and went to live in one of the Indian villages. His teaching actually began with learning. Efrain knew to be an effective teacher he needed to be able to communicate well with the people so he began the laborious task of learning an unwritten language, one word at a time. He learned quickly and before long Efrain began offering five cents to anyone who could introduce him to a word he didn't already know. For twelve years Mr. Alphonse lived among the Valientes, learning not just their language, but also their rich heritage of folklore, legends and tribal history. He developed his own system of putting together consonants and vowels to form root words and slowly built up a written form of the local language. Efrain knew the only way the Valiente Indians would know God loved them personally is if they could hear it and read it in their own language. Spanish wouldn't work. So, prompted by his love for the Indians and his love for God and His Word, Efrain Alphonse tried his hand at translating two gospels from the New Testament into their language.

This whetted his appetite for translation work and evangelism. Mr. Alphonse left the tribe to seek out further training. He studied for several years, attended seminary and became well-versed in Greek. At last he was ready to tackle the translation of the entire New Testament so he eagerly returned to the Valiente people. He revised his early work and completed many more passages from the New Testament. Although he was not supported by his superiors, he pressed on. Eventually several books of the New Testament were completed and published by the Bible Society.

Despite a serious heart ailment which would have hospitalized other men, Alphonse carried on his work among the Valiente Indians, translating the rest of the New Testament, directing five schools and shepherding many new churches in the area and throughout the Caribbean. Eugene Nide says of Efrain Alphonse in his book, God's Word in Man's Language, "Of all the missionary translators in the Western Hemisphere probably no one has entered more fully into the rich realms of aboriginal speech than this humble African American servant of God who (worked) untiring among a needy people."

One African American man saw the need for Bible translation and gave himself to the task for the glory of God. We pray many others will see the need today and join in the task of Bible translation so, like the Valiente Indians, people groups all over the world will soon be able to read and know of God's love for them.

from God's Word in Man's Language by Eugene Nida