Today Mrs. Dorothea Maringka said goodbye to her friends at LAI, especially in the Translation Department. Farewell after working together for 34 years is certainly not an easy thing. As an alumna of the "campus" of Bible translation from Jalan Ahmad Yani 90 Bogor to Salemba Raya 12 Jakarta, there is so much to remember and be grateful for during such a long period of service. Emotions were expressed in his parting words.

 

What made her feel at home with LAI? First of all, Ms. Thea, as she is affectionately known, loves the behind-the-scenes work she has been doing. Just like all her colleagues in the Bible Manuscripts field, Mrs. Thea has been trained to type, read, check, and proofread translated texts in languages she doesn't understand at all.

 

This past year Ms. Thea checked and proofread, among others, the Yali Ninia language Bible, the Banggai language Bible, the Asmat language New Testament, and the Citak language New Testament. Letter by letter, punctuation mark by punctuation mark, one by one, she scrutinizes them so that nothing is missed or misspelled.

 

When Mr. A. Moenir Rony, General Treasurer of LAI, asked if Ms. Thea had ever switched to another department, she innocently replied: Never! During that long period, Ms. Thea never switched to another role, even in the same institution. It is this kind of diligence that ensures the accuracy of the Bible publications that are distributed throughout Indonesia.

 

Secondly, Ms. Thea recognized the importance of togetherness and brotherhood that sustains each other in the work done behind the scenes, away from the public eye. Days full of scheduled work are passed with gratitude, by sharing the ups and downs with friends. It is not uncommon for the Script team to have to work extra hard to catch up with print schedules and even work outside office hours.

 

What is Ms. Thea's message and hope for her fellow servants at LAI? Mrs. Thea spontaneously said, whatever we do, the important thing is that we love one another.   I, who have known her for a quarter of a century as a coworker, was amazed to hear such a simple, down-to-earth, but clear statement flowing like water. Extraordinary. Haven't so many people forgotten these basic, deeply biblical values in the maelstrom of competition that drags the sons of men after illusions?"

 

How grateful I am that He has allowed me to join with these strong colleagues in preparing the texts that will be read and delivered as Divine Word.

 

Goodbye, Ms. Thea! God bless our lives and devotion to Him.

The Rev. Anwar Tjen, Ph.D., Head of LAI Translation Department