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Meet Teófilo & his family
The past two Beans’talks we’ve talked about Teófilo, the newest member of our translation team. This past month Mark was able to go up to Pacayhua and meet Teófilo’s family. We had asked you to pray for him and all the “hoops” he had to go through in order to sign up for Bible classes with his local denomination.
When his extended family heard that one of those hoops was that Teófilo needed to be married in the church, they didn’t want a rushed ceremony. That means the answer to your prayers is WAIT. Teófilo will just wait until another Bible school semester begins before taking classes. Meanwhile, he’ll be going through basic Bible studies at work.
Preaching by candlelight
While in Pacayhua Mark gave the Sunday morning message. The new church building however had no windows, no skylights and no electricity. The candlelight didn’t shine very far at all. Pray for faithful teaching of God’s word to bring lasting light to shine in hearts and souls.
Splitting heads
The small “home” team of Quechua translators prepares material ahead of time for all the teams that gather for a workshop. They got stuck on Job 27:19, which says the wicked go to bed rich but wake up to discover they have nothing. When Mark came in to check on them they said, “We just about split our heads open on this passage! We can’t figure it out. Why would sleeping make their riches disappear?” Translation is often a “head-splitting” job! Keep praying for the teams as they continue to plug away so that the God’s word is understandable for the different people groups they represent.
Translation progress
This past week we finished another Old Testament workshop. The five language teams made a lot of progress even though we took some time off to watch key World Cup soccer games. There are three new green books on the translation chart at the bottom of the page: Nehemiah, Daniel and Zephaniah. The books of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are now yellow. The book of Job is still blank. In another week or so it will be ready to be colored purple, meaning the whole book will be ready for the next workshop. As it was, during the workshop the first 15 chapters were adapted, checked and edited.
Praises & Prayer Requests
• Praise God for a good workshop. Pray for the five Old Testament teams as they head home. They have comprehension checking to do and some of them will be adapting new chapters of the book of Job that Mark sent them home with in preparation for the next workshop.
• The end of July and beginning of August is the time the really big annual Quechua church conventions take place in most districts. Many happen simultaneously, meaning we have to choose one. Pray for those who will be teaching in each location to prepare using God’s word and not their own ideas. Pray for the church to be built up and for believers to be encouraged in their faith.
Isn’t God good! Thank you SO much for joining us in prayer!
Mark & Patti
