EDMOND—A small army of 45 Philadelphia Church of God foreign language translation sub-department employees and volunteers produced just over 1.5 million words in nine languages in 2013—the equivalent of two King James Version Bibles. A sub-department of Editorial, the foreign language translation department sent out 11,074 pieces of literature last year, approximately the same amount distributed in 2012. However, downloads and unique visits to theTrumpet.com increased dramatically as the year came to a close.

Sub-department director Wik Heerma commended the volunteer translators. “For them to be producing that much content is remarkable. We aren’t producing to break records, but it’s amazing. To have two kjvs of content translated, that’s quite an accomplishment. It shows their dedication to getting the job done.”

“The team includes ministers, ministers’ wives and members from almost all the different regions around the world,” flt coordinator Edwin Trebels said. “Working with this diverse team and putting together all the different strengths of the different nationalities seems to give a glimpse into the many facets of God’s perfectly balanced personality.”

In the fourth quarter of 2013, translators completed the translation of 26 booklets, Bible correspondence course lessons, Trumpet magazines and co-worker letters in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Dutch, German, Afrikaans, Finnish and Norwegian. There was a 33 percent increase in both literature downloads (1,167) and unique visits to theTrumpet.com (21,371). French downloads led the way with 506, a 114 percent increase over the third quarter, while the highest number of unique website visits came from German web browsers, with 3,633.

“I think the foreign language translation department has made amazing progress,” Latin America Regional Director Alex Harrison said. “We have become a lot more efficient. Our translators are growing in ability and have become much more competent.”

The department translates the Philadelphia Trumpet magazine into four of the nine available languages: Spanish, French, German and Italian. The Spanish edition, the Trompeta, currently has a circulation of 14,200. The other three combined have an estimated readership of 4,500. Each increased its circulation by at least 5 percent over 2012’s amount, except for the German edition, which remained the same. Trebels estimates combined foreign readership to be approximately 60,000 people.

Trebels estimated the department doubles the potential audience of the pcg message. “To be part of the process to help bring God’s truth to even one person who doesn’t speak English is a wonderful honor and blessing to be part of,” he said.

“It adds a new dimension to the word ‘serving,’” Local Elder Carlos Heyer, a Spanish-language editor and translator, said. “You feel a great deal of satisfaction having a part. I get e-mails from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Chile, Honduras and more places. People are constantly writing, ‘Thank you, thank you.’”