Download the April 2014 Bean's Talk here.

A new school year begins

March marks the beginning of a new school year here in Peru. The seasons come and go while we continue to check chapter after chapter in the process of finishing up these five Quechua Bibles.

Mark dedicated part of the month to working on a series of spelling and grammar books for Quechua speakers in all five language areas to learn how to write. It turns out that this is not a task for the timid! This is due not only to the variety in the Quechua, but also to two different schools of thought.

On one hand, universities and the Ministry of Education clamor for a linguistically elegant system of writing which would help bring some uniformity to the way Quechua is written regardless of how areas actually pronounce words. The other camp is all for writing Quechua the way it is pronounced, making it easier for first time readers and writers to engage with their language. Pray with us for how to best proceed. We’d like to come up with a useful tool that acknowledges both sides.

Leoncio’s in the classroom

Thank you for praying for a job for Leoncio now that he no longer works daily with Mark. This is his first week in the classroom as a high school language arts teacher. He’s in the large Quechua speaking town of Obas, about three plus hours away. What’s exciting is that he has also been given the opportunity to teach two sections of the required religion class. Plus, the faculty has said that he’ll have opportunities to promote Quechua. Like many teachers, he’s leaving his wife and daughter in the city of Huánuco for now. There’s a question whether the opening is for the year or for just a semester.

Totally puzzled by Mark 10:44

Because we have lots of exposure to the written word, we often automatically adjust a sentence in our heads. The same words however, may totally stump someone else.

For Felipe the problem phrase is found in Mark 10:44, where it says, "Whoever wants to be first among you must be slave to all." He took that to mean literally being everyone’s slave. “Wait!” he said. “How could I possibly serve all the people in my village, much less everyone in the world?” He was puzzled what Jesus could have meant because he was trying to imagine how to do the bidding of multiple masters all at once.

It’s exciting to think that Leoncio will have a captive audience to teach about hyperbole and other figures of speech. Who knows? Maybe he’ll use the Bible for examples!

Praises and Prayer Requests

• Praise: for a good time earlier this month telling the Wycliffe USA board about our work when they traveled to Lima on a “vision trip.” We had a refreshing weekend.
• Praise: for the teaching job for Leoncio in his chosen subject. Walter will be taking his place during the next translation workshop.
• Pray: The next translation workshop starts Monday, March 24th here in Huánuco. Pray for safe travels. And, pray for a good start. The group revising the New Testament will be finishing up the last chapters of Mark and starting the book of Acts. The workshop will end April 11th.
• Pray: Sunday April 6th Mark will be giving the message in Spanish at our local church.

Thank you! We count on your prayers.

Mark & Patti