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Thankful
There is so much to be thankful for and praise God about.
• We just celebrated 33 years of marriage last week. We have good health and energy and enjoy our work. All gifts of God.
• We now have a second grandson. Matthew Scott Bean was born August 
4th to Andy and Rachel, joining his 2yr old brother Jeremiah.
• We were privileged to attend the New Testament dedication for the Panao Quechua. Our colleagues, Terry and Karla Smith, worked on this translation for many years. Thousands of people were eager to purchase copies of the New Testament in their language. The top and bottom photos are from the dedication.
Compliment or Insult?
Translating through chapter 4 of Song of Songs the three translators, all husbands, re-marked, “This chapter is full of insults! We could never say anything like that to our wives!” For them translating into Quechua, it sounded like telling a woman she has wooly looking teeth, a stiff neck, furry breasts or a face 
like a split open pomegranate! We’ve been working hard to make these sound like compliments!
Double meaning
“Only the rye knows,” may not communicate much to you. But, in the Quechua where we work, people immediately recognize that the subject of conversation is a secret tryst. Simi-larly, much of the book of Song of Songs is written with double meanings. On one level, it talks about exotic gardens, fruits and moun-tains of spices. But on another level, it just as clearly speaks of physical love.
This does not come across to Quechua speak-ers. We’re putting in footnotes so they can tell what’s really going on. Talking about the love between a man and a woman has traditionally not been acceptable among believers. The ea-gerness and excitement for physical love that the book displays mirrors the eagerness and excitement that God feels for his people, his bride. That’s a message worth communicating!
Translation progress
There are no new colors on the translation chart this month. Job, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs are all waiting for their first compre-hension checks before they earn the color purple to show that they are ready for a work-shop. Just this week Mark started on the book of Jeremiah. Meanwhile, the books of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are being checked out in the dif-ferent areas.
Praises & Prayer Requests
• Praise God for those things mentioned that we are thankful for—our marriage, a new grandson, a New Testament for the Panao Quechua area, our health.
• Pray for the translation challenges found in Song of Songs and for new ones as they come up in Jeremiah.
• Pray for the men checking Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi out in their respective villages.
• Praise that both our younger boys, Eric and Ernie, are back on their respective college campuses. Ernie ended up camping out in the wilds the last couple weeks of the summer waiting for the dorm to open up again. Both boys have big years ahead. Thank you for remembering them in prayer, too.
Trusting God to walk us through each day. Thank you for praying along the way.
Mark & Patti Bean
