Download the January-February 2023 Beans'talk with photos here.

Big questions

There never seems to be a lack of big questions when translating. The latest come from Leviticus. Leviticus 10:10 gives the job description for the role of priest in the Old Testament:

You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean…

So, the big questions are:

What does it mean to be holy or common?

What about clean and unclean? Do these have anything to do with soap?

Helps for Leviticus

Mark has been checking the book of Leviticus for a team in Peru. It is clear that these terms are anything but clear to them. And no wonder. These are not categories central to our culture, either. However, to understand much of the Bible, it’s something we must learn.

Mark has been working on simple presentations to help explain these categories and the processes that move us from one of these states to another. There is holy and everything else, which is common. The common stuff can be either ceremonially clean or unclean. His work helps me. We pray that it also helps the men he comes alongside of as he checks their translation work. Pictured below are some people for whom Leviticus and the rest of the Old Testament is being translated.

Trusting God’s ways

Romans 11:33 says: Oh how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways. (NLT)

Two of our children are facing physical afflictions, both mysterious and at times debilitating. We choose to trust God, our only hope in life and death. How heartwarming it is to hear our son Ernie pray using the words of Romans 12:1, offering his body as a living sacrifice to God. Pray for Emily and Ernie and their spouses to lean on God’s strength and TLC, trusting in him through this process called life.

We forgot about this

A couple of years ago a Wycliffe writer interviewed us, collected stories and photos, and published an article titled Here I Am, Send Me! That was December 2020, when we were busy hosting our daughter Emily, husband Blake, toddler and newborn for a couple of months. We promptly forgot all about the article. Preparing to give a talk to high schoolers recently, I re-discovered it on the web. It’s a bit long. Click here to read some of our history and old stories.

Praises and prayer requests

* Continue to pray for a good team to record the Old Testament for Margos Quechua. The partner organization in charge of the recording has set aside the month of February to do it in Lima. Few men or women want to be or can afford to be away from home for such long stretches of time.

* Praise for more opportunities to help others. Mark taught again at another United Bible Societies webinar. His regular consulting work also provides plenty of teaching opportunities.

* Praise that we got to see son Ernie for a few days last week as he came for appointments at the Cleveland Clinic. Pray for medical decisions he is facing.

* Praise for an upcoming trip to visit daughter Emily & family where they are serving in Australia. Pray that we would provide practical and emotional support to Emily, Blake and the boys while we’re there. The new school year is just getting ready to start there.

Choosing to trust God in all things,

Mark & Patti