Beans'Talk April 2015

Download the April 2015 Beans'Talk with photos here.

A building for the church

The Quechua speaking believers that meet in Pichipampa, just 30 minutes or so outside of Huanuco, dedicated their new church. Mark cut the ribbon and spoke for the occasion, teaching Saturday evening, and again Sunday morning. The rain on the tin roof made it hard to hear him sometimes, but it wasn’t much of a deterrent to the 11-piece band. Imagine the celebration accompanied by the exuberant sounds of four trumpets, three baritones, a saxophone and three drummers (a snare drum, bass drum and a drum set) all within a small building!

The Beans'Talk March 2015

Download the March 2015 Beans'Talk with photos here.

Silly reporters

Mark & I were asked to give a report at our annual retreat last month. We compared our work to a multi-ringed circus and dressed accordingly as clowns. Who wants to hear a boring report! The whole week was a nice break from work.

* * * * * Now, we are three weeks into a four-week translation workshop. Each day we take time to sing, pray together and learn something new. This workshop the team started reading The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.

Wait until she’s dead

The Beans' Talk February 2015

Download the 2015 February Beans'Talk here.

It’s not Valentine’s Day yet, but, by the time our February Beans’talk comes out it will have already passed. So, here’s something to help get you thinking about it.

Valentine lungs

We’ve mentioned before that the Quechua word used as the emotional equivalent of heart is actually the word for a different part of the body. If someone is translating between Spanish and Quechua, shonqu is always used for the Spanish word for heart because that is where the emotions reside. But when you butcher an animal, the shonqu turns out to be the lungs. (The anatomical heart in Quechua is puywan.)

Expressions using “heart” (lungs)

The Beans'Talk January 2015

Download the January 2015 Beans'Talk with photos here.

A weird reindeer?

At the recent translation workshop we introduced marshmallows and toothpick construction for a fun break one afternoon. Some of the guys had never heard of marshmallows before. It was interesting that three teams built animals. This donkey was carrying the box of toothpicks for awhile.

A Gluten?Free Andean Pizza

During workshops we take turns making breakfast. Usually every morning it’s the same thing: a large bowl of porridge, hard boiled eggs and fresh bakery bread. On rare occasions, if Sumer is feeling ambitious, he makes what he calls “pizza” for breakfast. The crust is made of French fries! Besides cheese he adds green fava beans. A US cookbook would probably call it a strata since it is really baked eggs. It’s also interesting that he always serves it with cooked veggies, including more fries!

The Beans'Talk December 2014

Download the December 2014 Bean'sTalk with photos here.

Surprise news

The very first day of this translation workshop, Sumer got an unexpected phone call from home. His wife told him she had given birth to a baby girl. Obviously, they knew they were expecting a baby, but they weren’t expecting anything to happen until December. Sumer turned right around and traveled the 8 hours or so back home on the second day of the workshop. I wish we had a photo of his new baby daughter. She was born on her big sister’s third birthday. This photo is of another baby girl wearing a traditional frilly hat. After a couple weeks, Sumer hopes to come back and join us for the last two weeks of the workshop.

Words—and their emotional impact

Beans'talk November 2014

Download Beans'talk November 2014 with photos here.

One of our co-workers, Leoncio, was away from translation for 6 months teaching high school language arts in various villages. In the evenings, he taught in the local church. Working through the book of 1 Peter, the believers in one village were surprised to learn two truths.

I never knew the Bible said THAT!

Beans'talk October 2014

We're in Huaraz with the translation team. Yesterday we finished the revision of I Corinthians and started 2 Corinthians.  We also finished recording Genesis, making changes for naturalness.

Pray for the backlog of OT books that Mark still needs to check.

Inside: photos, a challenge we face, and an update on Shatu's broken arm.

Thank you for your continued prayers,

Mark & Patti Bean

Beans'talk September 2014

Frosty mornings, frigid baptisms, friendly faces. We're back from our latest trip with lots of photos. Plus, news of an imminent little Bean.

Download the September 2014 Beans'talk here.

Mark & Patti Bean

August 2014 Beans'Talk

Download the August 2014 Beans'Talk with photos here.

A different kind of check

We just finished another workshop. This time, half of the men worked on reading the book of Genesis aloud. We wanted them to not only check for errors, but to especially check that the text flows naturally. In order to help them stay focused and do a careful job, we had them begin recording chapter by chapter for part of each day. One man followed along on the computer to see if the other man read what the text actually says. Any tweaks, edits and alterations then went to Mark and the rest of the group (which was meanwhile working on revising Acts and 1 Corinthians) for approval. Sumer recording, Enrique checking Now, besides another check on Scripture, we have a chunk of Genesis recorded for four of the languages. We plan to make these recordings available in the different areas.

A different kind of meal

July 2014 Beans'talk

Download the July 2014 Beans'talk with photos here.

Utcubamba

The little congregation at Utcubamba has no pastor. So, Felipe and his wife took public transportation as far as they could and then walked uphill two and a half hours to spend the weekend with the church there. It was the church’s anniversary. The villagers were so thankful to have someone show up to help them celebrate.

What follows are a couple stories that Felipe told us from that weekend. It makes a difference when God’s word is in your own language.

Repentant tears

One evening Felipe taught the first ten verses of Galatians chapter six. The passage talks about our relationships and behavior, particularly with other believers.