THE LOST TRANSLATIONS

Isa sa mga bagong member ng church ang lumapit sa akin minsan na ibig niya raw maging full-pledge member ng church.  The sincerity of her request made me consider it as an urgency.   Kaya naman kahit na ginagawa ko ang membership class madalas sa summer at sa maraming participants,  I agreed for a one on one class.

Actually, lumaki naman siyang uma-attend sa ibang Methodist churches.  Nangyari lang na nawalan ng pagkakataon ng mag undergo siya ng membership class.

The problem is, I do not have enough materials anymore to teach her.    Marami sa mga books ko about Methodist history and doctrines ay nangawala ng lahat sa hindi ko alam na kadahilanan.  Now I heavily rely on the internet.  Napahiram ko lang siya ng isang libro.  

One time, a budding pastor told me about a booklet that he has which  according to him, I translated in Tagalog.  I could not remember anymore what he was talking about until he had shown the booklet the next time we met.

My surname was misspelled .  It should
be an "s" after the a.

Upon seeing the booklet above, I remember it right away.  If my memory serves me right, this booklet is 13 years ago.  We were asked by the author, Rev. Pete M. Torio Jr., who happened to be my batchmate in the seminary to translate his work since the two translators are from Manila. 

I remember that I submitted my translation on a yellow pad with my handwriting on it.  Perhaps neither computer nor typewriter I had that time.  It was a labor of love, so no compensation at all. This I surely remember.  Hahahahahaha!

 I didn't have my own copy or any knowledge when it was published.  Hahahahaha!

Yun pala, matagal na palang nabasa ng iba.  When I browsed at my translations, it is pretty good.  Bumilib na naman ako sa sarili ko. Hahahahaha!  And I suddenly remember the member that I am teaching about membership class.

I borrowed the copy from the pastor.  Nakakatuwa, ako ngayon ang nanghihiram ng dapat sana ay mayroon ako.  Inisip kong ipa-photocopy but I changed my mind, and decided to buy a copy from our publishing house.

But I was told over the phone that it is no longer on sale.  The copy that they have is now only for file.  Hahahahahahaha!  Natawa naman ako doon, pang archive na pala ang booklet.  

I thought of another thing, I will ask the member whom I am teaching to encode it on the computer so that we will have a soft copy of it.  Early this morning, she got it from me for re-encoding.

I did some translations in the recent past.  As always, either I lost my copy or I don't have any copy at all.  But just like what happened to the "rediscovered booklet," I will also find my other lost translations.