Update from Mark and Patti Bean Translating God’s Word for Quechua speakers in central Peru
Download the PDF version of the letter here.
Andy, our first Bean Sprout, now has his Air Force pilot wings. He’s moved on to fighter pilot training to eventually fly the plane parked behind us in the photo: an A10.
Emily, our second Sprout was able to join us in Texas for the ceremony.
more >At the end of the recent workshop there was just time to work through the short book of Zephaniah. In chapter 1 God lists a number of reasons why he is angry with his people. Most of those reasons have to do with trusting something else for prosperity and guidance rather than trusting in God (see verses 4–6). Mark was surprised at the vigorous response from all the guys at the workshop. This topic really hit a cultural nerve.
more >Translating God’s Word for Quechua speakers in central Peru
Last month we explained that the verb “to change” has some problems for translation. We thought we’d found the solution to how to translate Malachi 3:6, I the LORD do not change. Our solution was to say, I the LORD am always the same. Our next step was to check our translation with people who were not involved in the translation. When we did, we found another problem. People thought it was saying that God looks the same as he’s always looked!
more >Mark and Patti Bean are members of Wycliffe Bible Translators working among Quechua speakers in the Andes mountains of central Peru . The Beans work in translation, literacy and training local church leaders to read and teach from the translated Scriptures. They have finished translating the New Testament into two dialects both located in the department of Huanuco: the Margos-Yarowilca-Lauricocha area and the Huamalias-Dos de Mayo area. Together these areas include about 200,000 Quechua speakers. Quechua is a family of languages totally unrelated to Spanish, spoken in Peru long before the Spanish ever arrived. Quechuas typically are subsistence agriculturalists, living much the same way as they have for hundreds of years. They wear plenty of colorful wool against the high altitude cold of the Andes . Before Mark and Patti arrived, nothing had been published in their varieties of Quechua.
Today Mark works with five different central Quechua languages on Old Testament. They use a package of computer programs to adapt their translation into the neighboring varieties. These neighboring Quechua languages stretch across three different political departments of central Peru and include about a million speakers. They have just recently completed translating 50% of the Old Testament.
Patti does a lot of administrative work: reporting and organizing for the Old Testament project, handling finances for the center and projects in Huanuco. She also helps keep the computer programs updated with changes between languages.
The Beans are receiving partial support from Parkside.
