April 2018 Beans'Talk

Download the April 2018 Beans'Talk with photo here.

Strike up the band!

Ta-daa! The proofs have been checked and the first of the six Bibles has been turned over for final layout. Four others are waiting in the wings for their turn. Just one group wants a bit more time before they turn theirs over. This is a major milestone! Celebrate with us and all the team! And you know, the team includes all of you who pray, give, and encourage us along the way. Through many people, God has graciously helped us get to this point.

Totaling it up

We always knew that translating the Bible into six related Quechua languages was a big job. Recently, however, we counted up some statistics to get a better idea.

* In the process of translating for six Bibles, we worked intensely and multiple times on 186,174 verses (31,029 verses per Bible). There was the initial translation followed by an edit, reading to people in communities to make sure that everything was understandable, re-editing, reading through on the computer, re-editing, reading aloud, re-editing, etc. And then, finally, reading through the proofs.

Beans'Talk March 2018

Download Beans'Talk March 2018 with photos here.

Extra help

As the Quechua teams read through the proofs, Mark asked Oscar, a native Quechua speaker and fellow missionary, if he would like to read some as well. After Oscar read a couple books and had tasted how sweet the translation is in his own language, he offered to read through the entire Bible.

It’s so encouraging to read Oscar’s comments when he sends back a file. Oscar is not new to the Bible. So, it means a lot to have him say:

What a beautiful translation, brother! I’m not just reading to check the translation, I’m reading to worship the One who confused all the languages in the first place.

I’m reliving the life of Paul [as I read this].

And, God is really glorified in what you are doing, Mark.

Beans'talk February 2018

Download the February Beans'talk with photos here.

A Quechua-speaking Good Shepherd

Sumer represents the Huacaybamba area on the translation team. His church sent him to a large neighboring community to read Scrip-ture as part of a big community festival. He chose to read John 10 about Jesus being the Good Shepherd.

Quechua people shepherd their sheep daily. They can really relate to John 10. Sumer’s au-dience raved about how clear and special it was to hear this in their own language. They lamented that it was too bad that Sumer hadn’t been there the previous day to read Scripture, too.

Because it was a community festival, many family members had returned to the area from the capital city to be there for the occa-sion. Even though they are usually immersed in Spanish while in the city, they too, ex-claimed how special it was to hear the mes-sage in the language of their heart.

How to eat an elephant