August, 2007 --- Vol. 23.2

Huaylas Quechua New Testament Dedicated in the Peruvian Andes

"Be silent and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.”
Psalm 46:10

Huaylas Quechua New Testament Dedicated in the Peruvian Andes

Mike Miller arrived in Huaraz with his family in 1982 to take up the task of translating the New Testament into Huaylas Quechua. Twenty-five years later we got to celebrate the dedication event. During that time there were many changes in Peru and among the 300,000 Huaylas Quechua speakers. Many churches have been started and the gospel is spreading into the tiniest villages in the remotest regions of the Andes. Mike’s main translation team con-sisted of Pushpi, Timoteo and Yepo. They worked diligently crafting the Bible narratives into stories that came alive in Huaylas Quechua. Pushpi and Yepo started developing radio programs and when letters arrived from listeners stating how wonderful it was to hear the gospel in their own language, they knew the translation work they were doing was of great value.

A thousand Quechuas paraded down the main street of Huaraz on August 4 in order to celebrate the birth of the New Testament. We were jostled among the throngs of people in their brightly colored dresses and distinctive hats. Many local church bands brought their instruments and led us in stirring refrains of praise to God as we marched along. Once inside the pavilion it became obvious that not even half the crowd would find a seat. Most of us stood for the ceremony and words of encouragement from the translation team, the director of the Bible League, the mayor and several others.

Many Christian Quechua brothers came several miles with sacks of potatoes to contribute to the fiesta. The women spent hours peeling 15,000 potatoes and preparing cuy (guinea pig) and other delicious food in huge cauldrons. I took a turn hauling trays of meat and potatoes serving the crowds of hungry participants.

The next day as we celebrated together in the Sunday service Yepo took the microphone. You could see the emotion in his eyes. He said, “In my village we eat bread—a lot of bread. I like bread but when I come to the big city of Huaraz the bread is not the same. My family likes our own bread best. It satisfies and tastes so much better. In Huaraz they have the Bible in Spanish. But today we have our own New Testament in our language. That is the lan-guage we understand and like the best. Now we can read about God and worship him with our hearts.”

The next day we went to visit a Quechua village and I mentioned to the pastor that all the posters on the wall were in Spanish. “Yes,” he said, “But now we can make our posters in Quechua.” You could tell by their exuberance how they loved to worship God. And you could tell by the effort God took to give them their own translation that he loves them and enjoys a relationship with them.

Thanks for being a part of what God is
doing in Peru.

On the home front

Grand-baby plans
Sally and Jonathan have tickets in hand to go to the US, timing it with Loris’ delivery. Sally is very excited and already shopping for baby things. I guess that’s what grandmothers do. Jonathan will use the opportunity to go to Lee University for a guitar recital as he makes plans and choices about what college to go to after graduating next year. In the mean time it’s back to school for his final year.

Naturalization
Just about when I was beginning to wonder what might have happened to my naturalization application, a letter arrived informing me of an appointment for an interview at the immigra-tion office in South Carolina on August 24. I quickly got a ticket and am now sitting on pins and needles again as I try to get all my paperwork in order. The last interview process ended up in a denied application. I pray this will end differently.

Laura is back in Peru
We are delighted to have Laura back in Peru with us. She is planning to take an intensive Spanish course this fall until she goes back to college (Moody Bible Institute) in January. It was fun to have her with us on our trip to the New Testament dedication in Huaraz.

Jonathan’s first guitar performance
Due to the recital piano being sold Jonathan did not have his recital. But instead he played in church for the first time a few weeks ago. He is now using his guitar each Sunday leading worship with the praise team. He also leads worship for the senior high youth group. Adding to his guitar and piano lessons he is now taking voice lessons. Somewhere in there he also wants to learn the violin.

 

Wycliffe Translation Statistics
New Testaments/Bible translated:
710
Programs in progress:
1,379
New Testaments remaining:
2,286
People without Scripture:
272,000,000
Personnel needed:
3,060
Christian population:
2,410,000,000

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Dyck's Digest Previous Edition: June 2007- Vol 23.1