Mark & Patti September 2022 Prayer Requests

* This month, Mark has a lot of Scripture to check for the two projects he consults for. Pray for careful attention to detail as he works through their drafts of 1/2 Thess, 1/2/3 John, and Jude as well as Hosea, Micah, and Joel.

* Continue to pray for God's word to be opened, read, and shared with others. May God's word do it's powerful work in the lives of Quechua speakers.

The Beans'Talk July/August 2022

Download The Beans'Talk July/August 2022 with pictures.

Encouragement from Peru

It’s so good to hear bits of news from Peru:

1.—Sihuas Quechua speakers now have access to the gospel of John in digital format. Mark has recently approved their gospel of Matthew and is gearing up to check a number of Paul’s letters for them.

2.—The Huallaga Quechua team adapted a number of Bible studies from us. They held a two-day seminar to train pastors using the first book.

3.—Mark is currently checking the books of Genesis and Micah for the Panao Quechua team. They recently organized a music event among a number of different churches to encourage more new praise music in Quechua.

4.—Our colleague Ade and team in Huaraz are making trips out to remote areas of North and South Conchucos with summer missions teams from the States. They are getting copies of those respective Quechua Bibles out and into the hands of the Quechua speakers there. We are so thankful for all the different individuals and teams who keep working and reaching out, encouraging Quechua speakers by making God’s Word available and accessible.

Encouragement on the home front

There has also been plenty of encouragement on the home front. Key points include:

Last chemo! Hurray!

Mark finished his last chemo cycle for lymphoma the end of June. At one point we faced the possibility of 18 months of treatment, but in the end it was only six. We are thankful that he faired as well as he did and that it is now behind him.
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Mark & Patti July 2022 Prayer Requests

* Praise - Late June there was another training for men and women to help others know how to use their Bibles. Together they plan who will go where to help make Bibles available for purchase since there are no bookstores or online ordering!
 

* Pray - Traditionally late July/early August is when regional church conferences take place. This will be the first time to meet after three years since the past two years large gatherings were not permitted. There are so many small isolated pockets of believers sprinkled in hamlets in the mountains. Pray for the main speaker(s) and for those leading music. Pray that those in charge will feed the flock of God well. Pray for the opportunity to get materials into the hands of believers, especially the Bible.

The Beans'talk May/June 2022

Download The Beans'talk May/June 2022 letter with photos here.

80 years of translation

Wycliffe Bible Translators began in 1942. That makes this year its 80th anniversary. For the occasion, they produced a less-than-a-minute long video celebrating the many groups of people who’ve had a part in Bible translation these past 80 years. That in-cludes each of you as you’ve prayed, sup-ported projects and/or supported mission-aries. You can see it by navigating to https://vimeo.com/686443790. If you pay close attention, you’ll see an old clip from when Mark worked with the translation committee.

Current work

Wycliffe continues to come alongside language communities all over the world to help provide them with God’s word in languages that they understand best. Mark’s current contribution is checking translation for two groups in Peru and mentoring a translation consultant-in-training in Guatemala.

Praying for Jeremiah – grandchild #1

After coming down with a simple stomach bug, our 13-year-old grandson’s health took a rapid turn for the worse. Paramedics had to be called to the house after Jeremiah lost consciousness and stopped breathing, arriving soon after his parents were able to revive him using CPR. Multiple compounding issues prompted the local hospital to arrange an emergency transfer to MUSC in Charleston, South Carolina. His first week was punctuated with several life saving interventions.

What a tremendous outpouring of prayer went up to the throne of our gracious God on Jeremiah’s behalf. It is with much thanksgiving that we report that Jeremiah is out of the danger zone. Portions of his large and small intestine eventually needed to be removed before things began to improve. Thank you for remembering him in prayer as he continues to heal. I’m thankful that I got to visit him and his family.

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Mark & Patti May 2022 Prayer Requests

* Praise God that the training of people to sell Quechua Bibles finally took place. Mark attended and took his turn teaching by computer. The training included teaching about features in the Bible that help us understand it better. At the end of the day, several participants come up to the computer to tell Mark what they most appreciated learning. One said that she was glad to finally learn what those tiny little letters and crosses in the Bible were. Those are the markers for footnotes and cross-references!

* Pray for steady progress as Mark reviews Scripture translations made by two different teams, checking for accuracy, clarity and naturalness.

* In May, Mark anticipates getting a PET scan that his oncologist will review to determine if he needs to continue on chemo a bit longer or if he can stop. We hope the word is stop!

The Beans'talk March/April 2022

Download The Beans'talk March/April 2022 with photos

God’s gracious answers to your prayers

In our last Beans’Talk we had a number of prayer requests. We’d like to briefly comment on them, for God graciously answered.

1. Peruvian Bible Society webinar

There were nearly 300 people signed on to the Peruvian Bible Society’s webinar that Mark taught. We couldn’t keep track of all the countries represented in the audience; at least a dozen. Plus, one friend mentioned there were yet more people watching via Facebook. The feedback has been positive. Mark spoke on how all translations make adjustments to fit the target language, illustrating with examples from a popular Spanish version of the Bible.

2. Training future consultants

February 21–25, was the week-long online training for Latino translation consultants-in-training. After Mark taught all Tuesday morning, a colleague mentioned that he had been skeptical wondering how Mark was going to safely talk about the breadth of evangelical positions on two doctrinal issues. We are thankful that instead of being divisive, it seemed to be helpful.

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Mark & Patti April 2022 Prayer Requests

* Praise for the wonderful opportunities Mark had to teach in different settings and the encouraging responses this past month. Pray for people to hear the call to be future translators and consultants.

* Praise for excellent medical care so close by. Mark has tolerated these first two months of chemo treatments fairly well. Pray that these treatments will keep Mark’s body working well for as long as God has something for him here.

* Praise for these years we've been close by to serve Mom Bean. Praise for the tender care shown to her by those in her facility and the hospice people who came alongside and cared for her. Praise that she was with family when she peacefully exited this world.

Mark & Patti March 2022 Prayer Requests

We're thankful for the opportunity to reach nearly 300 participants during the Sociedades Bíblicas webinar Mark taught last month. (at the time of this writing, we can't tell you how Feb 22nd went --Mark teaching translation-consultants-in-training.)

March 8 - We will be the missionaries in the "hot seat" at one of Wycliffe's regularly scheduled Explore Wycliffe Live webinars for people interested in or investigating work with Wycliffe. Pray that we will be focused and sensitive to how God would have us answer questions from the host as well as from the audience.
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The Beans'talk January/February 2022

Download The Beans'talk January/February 2022 with photos

An unexpected Christmas season

We’ve had an unusual holiday season! A friend from Peru arrived the week before Christmas, and unknowingly brought Covid with her. Then, Christmas Eve, the residence where Mom Bean lives called to say that she had tested positive. They asked us to collect her and bring her home for ten days. I felt like I was running a clinic, caring for three patients since Mark soon came down with Covid, too.

Hurray for the body of Christ! Friends in our community group were a huge help. We enjoyed the meals they dropped off, groceries, games and even a baby monitor to care for mom. Most encouraging was their checking in on us each day to see how we were doing. God graciously kept me healthy until it was time for mom to go back to her residence. Then I crashed for three days.

Lots of training coming up

In addition to his regular work, Mark is preparing for three different opportunities to teach.

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Mark & Patti January 2022 Prayer Requests

* For the process and progress of checking the book of Proverbs for the Panao Quechua team. The process includes having Mark’s “mentee” check the book and then comparing notes with Mark’s comments.

 * For a workshop to help train, encourage and further motivate a handful of Quechua men to travel from village to village selling Bibles and organizing Bible reading groups.

 * For God’s Word to work powerfully in the lives of individuals and whole communities as Quechua speakers open it up together.

Thanks,

Mark & Patti