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.

* These verses contain 407,740 words. More interesting maybe is the fact that in just one of our Quechua Bibles there can be up to 69,796 unique words to deal with. As a comparison, the English Standard Version of the Bible has only 14,165 unique words. This is a reflection of how Quechua languages work.

* There are 8,111 footnotes in all six Bibles. These vary from Bible to Bible since some footnotes deal with dialectical variation within an area.

* Each Bible also has 7,905 cross references. These cross references had to be individually checked to make sure that they were actually helpful to have listed at the bottom of the page. Thankfully, checking them once served for all six Bibles.

* We also checked 28,698 parallel passages over all six Bibles. A parallel passage is a verse or set of verses that also occur somewhere else in the Bible. When we check a parallel passage, we look at it carefully to ensure that the same words are used in both places. It can get complicated when only some of the words should be the same, but others should be slightly different!

* Furthermore, we checked 2,472 key terms (412 per Bible), to make sure we were consistent in how we translated them throughout the text. 

This doesn’t include spelling checks, punctuation checks, stylistic checks and checks to make sure one verse flows coherently to the next. 

Getting the Bible to people in the language they best understand is a big job, but what better thing to do?! Thanks team!

Updating Scripture materials

While Mark remains available to answer any questions that might come up during the final layout, he is busy updating the Quechua Bible studies he’s prepared over the years for people to use. He wants to be sure that they have the latest version of Scripture. Not all of the Bible studies had made it into all six languages. So, Mark is also making sure that they are all available to everyone. He’s on study #8 out of 67 Bible studies. That’s 67 x 6 as well as 3 courses for Bible schools x 6. This is “lighter” work. The emotional weight and pressure to finish the translation is lifted.

Slow and steady health progress

Mark continues to see doctors and follow their instructions. In the end, though, it is God who brings healing in his own time.

The fierce coughing has subsided to occasional outbursts. Mark is able to get in and out of the car, bed, and other positions more gracefully as the fracture in his back begins to heal. We are thankful for all the body parts that work just fine without squeaking back!

Praises and Prayer Requests

* Praise that all six teams finished checking the initial proofs of their respective Bibles and that Mark finished the final checks for each one. Praise that one Bible is already in the process of final layout! Pray for Kathy as she prepares the final layout of the Margos-Yarowilca- Lauricocha Quechua Bible and works on the Huamalies-Dos de Mayo Quechua Bible next. Pray for the last remaining group to be ready to turn their Bible over.

* Praise that as you read this we are getting away for three days to celebrate and breathe!

* Praise for the incremental improvement in Mark’s health.

Thank you for so faithfully accompanying us along the way with your prayers and encouragement.

Mark and Patti Bean