The Bean Family

Download this letter as a PDF including the Bible translation chart here.

Last month we asked you to pray for Mark’s message in Quechua at the dedication of a neighboring Quechua Bible. Note: Mark did not work on that translation. He just gave the message at the dedication.

God’s Word is…

1). Powerful, 2). For everyone, and 3). Meant to be shared with others. Those were the three main points. As you can see in the photo, God’s Word is compared to light, a sword, a fire, and a hammer. Many people commented on it afterwards. The local Quechua organization that promotes the use of Scripture in Quechua would like to distribute the message over radio stations and even by DVD. Mark included the following parable in his message:

The parable of the bad shepherd

A rich man had a bunch of sheep. He left them in care of a hired man while he took off for a distant country. Before he left, he and the hired shepherd carefully counted how many ewes there were, how many lambs, how many rams, and how many sheep were of a special breed.

Well, those few special breed sheep were very special. The hired shepherd treated them like pets and did everything for them: gave them the best food, doctored them, fed them salt, and pampered them in general.

Download the PDF of this letter with photos here.

Back in Peru!

We left Ohio July 14th and landed back in Peru the next morning.

The week before we left, Mark was able to bring his hand all the way up to his mouth and curl most of his fingers down to touch his palm. That may not sound like much, but they are big milestones on the long road to recovery.

The therapist was delighted with Mark’s progress. She has been such a cheerleader. She is willing to coach Mark long distance as he continues exercises on his own. So, we booked our return flight as soon as we could.

Split up…& special colleagues

Hours after landing in Peru, I (Patti) saw the dentist for a broken tooth. Alas, I didn’t think about how he’d need more than one day to fix it. Since the dentist doesn’t have Saturday office hours, I was stuck not just one extra day in Lima, but a whole weekend in Lima. I was able to spend a lot of that extra time being “mama” to a young woman we’ve watched grow up who’s now in Lima.

Thanks to some colleagues, I had a place to stay while Mark traveled on up to Huanuco on the Friday night bus. At the bus station a Peruvian colleague was waiting to help him with his bags. What a nice surprise!