Download the November 2018 Beans'talk with photos.

Fresh bread

There are not many things that smell as good as freshly baked bread. One of the treats of living in a Peruvian town is hot, fresh bread twice a day. The picture above is at the baker’s just a block from where we held translation workshops in Huaraz. We would stand right where this shot was taken and either get fresh bread from the table where it is placed after taking it from the oven or wait for the next batch to come out. Talk about fresh!

A treat in the village

In contrast to town, for those who live out in a village, fresh bread is a special treat. It is something that appears just for festive occasions—like for the anniversary of the village. Another occasion for bread is All Saints’ Day on November 1st when families prepare a special meal for the deceased. Often there is just one lone, large mud oven in a village that is heated with firewood to make bread for everyone. In Quechua, the bread in the village is called “thrown bread” because of the way a handful of dough is thrown onto a metal sheet that’s been hammered flat from a large, empty tin of oil. They place the metal sheets with the lumps of dough in the oven and out comes warm, chewy, wholesome bread. Mmm! We miss that bread!

More than bread

The Bible says, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Soon, every word of the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, will be available for many Quechua speakers in central Peru. What follows is a progress report on the Bibles.

What’s happening with the Bibles?

Praise God with us that the first three Bibles have been sent on to the next stage in this publication process. After Becky finished the post-layout editorial check for those three Bibles, they were sent to SIL’s Global Publishing Services (GPS). There, someone will look to see that all the checks have been done before eventually relaying everything on to the Korean Bible Society for printing. Meanwhile Becky is working on the post-layout editorial check for Bible #4. This past month she was busy checking single Scripture books for a number of other languages. Pray for Becky as tackles the North Conchucos Bible next.

The sixth Bible

As we translated over the years, we found so many language differences in one of the Quechua areas that we split it into two and prepared two Bibles for them instead of one. This decision meant that we ended up with six complete Bibles ready to go. However, we haven’t had much contact with church leadership in this sixth area to help them read and use Quechua. So, our administration decided that it would be best if we started by making the whole Bible available in electronic form and printed up just the Gospel of Luke. Then later we will see about printing hard copies of the whole Bible for them.

How much more funding is needed?

The first three Bibles are funded! Hooray! Over 110 thousand dollars have come in. Our best guess is that we still need about 66 thousand dollars to print the fourth and fifth Bibles.

Thank you again to all of you who have given. Thank you for praying for funds to come in. Thank you for passing on the word to others who will jump at the opportunity to help. God is at work through each of you!

Below is a link you can forward to friends. Or, they can send a check to Wycliffe's address below, with a note stating that it is for publishing Quechua Bibles, account #993029.

Click here to help get these Bibles printed!

Praises and prayer requests

Pray: for us as we are in a stretch of many public presentations and Sunday morning messages. In November we will be connecting with our partner churches in Wisconsin and Illinois.

Praise: Three of the six Bibles have been passed to GPS. The next step is the printers. Continue to pray for Becky as she works on the post-layout editorial check for the fourth Bible.

Continue to pray for God to be glorified as he brings together the funds needed to print the remaining Bibles.

Praise that Mark is ever-so-gradually coughing less and feeling better as this six-month steroid treatment does its job.

Thank you for so faithfully accompanying us along the way with your prayers and encouragement.

Mark & Patti