word alive magazine - summer 2015

Summer 2015

Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada

Translation Update + A Compassionate Answer + Becoming Women of the Bible

Learning & LiberatedQuechua women and children encounter God’s life-changing Word in their own language, with help from Wycliffe’s partner agency in Peru.

2 Word Alive • Summer 2015 • wycliffe.ca

Foreword

The Word Alive team was on the final stretch of their grueling four-day trip high in the Peruvian Andes this past fall, and writer Nathan Frank was feeling lousy. He had suffered a six-hour bout of apparent food

poisoning the night before in the community of Jalcco, south of Cusco. The closest baño (Spanish for outhouse or bathroom) was 75 metres away from the house the team was staying in, along a pitch-black roadway.

“I have a hard time imagining a worse place to get sick," says Nathan. “There are few times in my life where I felt more helpless than I did that night. At least I had brought two-ply toilet paper!”

Making a final stop at a small-town church, colleagues Doug Lockhart and Alan Hood told Nathan to rest in the Toyota Land Cruiser while they covered the worship service. After an hour of lying in the warm sun in the reclined driver’s seat, wearing a hat that covered his eyes, Nathan heard a commotion outside the truck through his partially opened window. After trying to ignore a handful of staring boys in his “groggy haze,” Nathan felt convicted.

“I needed to give them some attention, so I began to lift up my hat to play a bit of peek-a-boo. After a bit, I pulled up my seat and greeted them with Hola.”

The boys giggled, but didn't respond. Nathan extended his hand for a high-five, but the giggling boys didn’t reply. The group was tentative but intrigued, so the Word Alive writer slipped into a staring contest.

“It felt like I was a zoo animal in a cage,” says Nathan. “It was really fun.”

Minutes later the Land Cruiser was surrounded by other kids. Most of the younger girls stood at a distance, while a group of teenage girls leaned over the hood. Little boys stood on their toes at Nathan's window, trying to get a look at the strange gringo. This lasted for hours as the church service continued well into the mid-afternoon.

“Kids like to play,” concludes Nathan, recalling the event. “Looking at me for hours on end was a game of sorts for these kids. I was something new and different and that’s why they were so fascinated with me.”

Kids everywhere are more than just interested in being entertained, though. Like adults, they too are looking for something more meaningful in their lives. Which is why it is sad that up until recently, most Peruvian evangelical churches had no ministry programming to introduce children to the meaning found in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Kids were not welcome in church services. They stayed at home to do chores while adults went to worship.

Thanks to ATEK (a Bible translation and engagement agency with which Wycliffe Canada is a partner), churches are being taught how to set up children’s ministries run in their Cusco Quechua tongue. It is part of a broadly based effort to encourage use of translated Scriptures, as you will see in this issue.

Equipped with the Bible translated into their mother tongue, kids are finally getting attention from the God who says, “Let the little children come to me” (Matthew 19:14).

Craving AttentionDwayne Janke

In Others’ Words“When you really do business with the Bible at the fullest historical and theological level, then it is passionately and dramatically relevant, life changing and community changing.”

—N.T. Wright (1948-), leading New Testament scholar and retired Anglican bishop (in a Christianity Today interview)

Summer 2015 • Volume 33 • Number 2Word Alive, which takes its name from Hebrews 4:12a, is the official publication of Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada. Its mission is to inform, inspire and involve the Christian public as partners in the worldwide Bible translation movement.Editor: Dwayne Janke Designer: Cindy Buckshon Senior Staff Writer: Doug Lockhart Staff Writers: Nathan Frank, Janet Seever Staff Photographers: Alan Hood, Natasha Schmale

Word Alive is published four times annually by Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada, 4316 10 St NE, Calgary AB T2E 6K3. Copyright 2015 by Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada. Permission to reprint articles and other magazine contents may be obtained by written request to the editor. A donation of $20 annually is suggested to cover the cost of printing and mailing the magazine. Donate online or use the reply form in this issue.Printed in Canada by McCallum Printing Group, Edmonton.Member: The Canadian Church Press, Evangelical Press Association. For additional copies: [email protected] To contact the editor: [email protected] For address updates: [email protected]

Wycliffe serves minority language groups worldwide by fostering an understanding of God’s Word through Bible translation, while nurturing literacy, education and stronger communities.

Canadian Head Office: 4316 10 St NE, Calgary AB T2E 6K3. Phone: (403) 250-5411 or toll free 1-800-463-1143, 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. mountain time. Fax: (403) 250-2623. Email: [email protected]. French speakers: Call toll free 1-877-747-2622 or email [email protected]

Cover: Inside a crowded Sunday school classroom in Pataqqueña, Peru, a young girl stands to read Scripture aloud in her Cusco Quechua language. Unlike previous generations, she and her classmates have access to the Bible in their mother tongue. They’re also learning God’s Word from teachers who have received quality training through ATEK, Wycliffe’s partner agency in southern Peru.Photograph by Alan Hood

“It felt like I was a zoo animal in

a cage. It was really fun.”

mailto:[email protected]





3Word Alive • Summer 2015 • wycliffe.ca

Contents

Features Stories by Doug Lockhart and Nathan Frank · Photos by Alan Hood

6 The Man From A.T.E.K. After embracing his Quechua language and culture, the leader of Wycliffe’s partner organization in South Peru found his true calling.

13 Building Up Believers in South Peru

14 Out of the Rubble Once suppressed, Cusco Quechua women are now becoming church leaders through the efforts of ATEK in Peru.

19 Changing Norms An ATEK ministry combats sexual abuse among the Cusco Quechua people of Peru—even within their churches.

20 On Beautiful Feet A young woman’s sacrificial service in the Peruvian Andes is helping remote rural churches introduce thousands of kids to Christ.

27 Translation Update: Announced with a Jewish Shofar San Blas Kuna was one of three Bible dedications this past year with a Canadian connection. By Janet Seever

Departments2 Foreword Craving Attention

By Dwayne Janke

4 Watchword Launching God’s Word into Cyberspace

29 Beyond Words A Compassionate Answer

30 A Thousand Words Shaken Awake

31 Last Word Becoming Women of the Bible By Roy Eyre

6

13

1420

Abuja

SPAINPORTUGAL

GREECE

NIGER

MAURITANIA

MALI

NIGERIA

LIBYA

CHAD

ALGERIA

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

TUNISIA

MOROCCO

TOGO

BENIN

GHANA

IVORY COAST

LIBERIA

SIERRA LEONE

GUINEA

BURKINA FASOGAMBIA

CAMEROON

SAO TOME & PRINCIPE

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

WESTERN SAHARA

SENEGAL

GUINEA BISSAU

Canary Islands

MALTA

ZAIRE

CONGO

Tyrrhenian Sea AegeanSea

Ionian Sea


Bible Translation Ministry Started in Nigeria

Wycliffe Staff Still Giving in Retirement

Oral Bible Stories Stem Lying

Launching God’s Word into Cyberspace

Wycliffe’s technical partner, JAARS, is conducting website creation workshops overseas to help local people launch

the Bible online in their heart languages.JAARS has teamed up with a media organization for several

years, working with local people to create websites that allow people to find, read, listen to and watch God’s Word—all in their own language. By this past summer, 172 sites were running online, serving one billion-plus people. More than 125 other sites are in active development or testing.

For example, Peter Nash of JAARS led a two-week workshop in Indonesia’s Maluku Province, attended by 28 students, working on 21 websites in 13 languages. Of the 21 sites, 11 were Scripture or hybrid (Scripture plus community materials) sites. The rest were community sites of various types.

“Some of the students are coming from an area with essentially no ‘traditional’ Internet access,” Nash wrote at the time. “What we do have is increasing access to smart phones, allowing them to interact with the rest of the world. Via those phones, they are using the Internet and don’t know it; they see it as just a feature of their phone.”

A Bangladeshi woman has been transformed by God’s grace that she discovered through hearing Bible stories in

her own language. Mary used to attend church but didn’t read the Bible or pray.

She was angry with God, until several months after joining a storying fellowship group in her city in Bangladesh. The group gathers to learn and discuss Bible stories, developed for those who learn and communicate in oral forms rather than written ones.

When Mary heard the Old Testament story of Joseph, she realized he truthfully told his dreams to his brothers even though they didn’t like him or the dreams. This example convicted Mary, who had told others she had a good long-distance relationship with her husband, working in a foreign country. The truth is that her husband lives in Bangladesh and they don’t see each other anymore.

“Even though it is hard to tell the truth, I need to change,” she said after hearing about Joseph. “Lying is a bad habit.

“I’ve gone far from God, but hearing the stories has helped me come closer to God and grow deeper in my understanding of Him,” added Mary, who retells the Bible stories she learns to neighbours. “I told lots of lies, but I won’t tell them anymore!”

Watchword

A new ministry for Nigeria’s C’lela people group has begun. Every Tuesday night, the translation team broadcasts the preaching

and teaching of God’s Word in the C’lela language.About 35 per cent of C’lela farmers in the western states of

Nigeria claim to be followers of Jesus, with many of them willing to help with the project because they want their language and culture preserved.

Many retired and semi-retired Wycliffe staff continue to support the ministry of Bible translation by praying and

giving. Retirement hasn’t stopped Wycliffe supporters from continuing to give significant amounts of their retirement funds to support language projects either.

An elderly couple in the United States, for example, chose to live a very simple lifestyle so they could send a large portion of their income to support Wycliffe workers. These ministry partners are important blessings to the worldwide Bible translation movement through their sacrificial giving.

JAA

RS

VENEZUELA

URUGUAY

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

SURINAME

PERU

PARAGUAY

PANAMA

NICARAGUA

GUYANA

FRENCHGUIANA

ECUADOR

COSTARICA

COLOMBIA

CHILE

BRAZIL

BOLIVIA

ARGENTINA

Brasília


In 2013, the Brazilian translation team finished a DVD of children’s Bible stories in Brazilian sign language. A deaf

interpreter shared how captivated a deaf boy was as he viewed the DVD.

“The boy watched all four stories, transfixed. His favourite was the story of Samson. His parents were amazed that he understood it and enjoyed the Bible stories in a way they had never seen before. They gained a new appreciation for the beauty of Brazilian sign language and a new respect for their son’s capacity to understand things in his own language.”

Just the Right Type

After years of work—creating an alphabet, doing several draft translations of Scripture, testing it with a language’s

speakers, getting it checked by a translation consultant—one more precise step is needed in the Bible translation process. God’s Word has to be carefully typeset for the printing press.

Scripture typesetters use a computer program to digitally lay out, page-by-page, translated text that has been put into a computer by a Bible translation team. Typesetters add illustrations, maps, footnotes, sometimes cross references, chapter and verse numbers, headings and any secondary material, such as a glossary, introduction, and table of contents.

“Typesetters also go through checks for consistency in punctuation, capitalization, headings, quotations—all that kind of stuff,” explains Steve Pillinger (pictured below). He has co-ordinated Scripture typesetting for the Africa area of SIL, Wycliffe’s key field partner organization.

It usually takes six to eight weeks to typeset a New Testament; three to four months for an entire Bible, says Pillinger, who has worked on more than a dozen Bibles and New Testaments.

In 2008, Pillinger helped typeset the New Testament for Moba speakers in Togo, Africa. After it was published and distributed, the translators told him about a woman who cried when she read her copy. “All these years I thought it was only the pastor who could understand what God was saying,” she said. “But now I’m reading it, and I can understand what God is saying to me.”

“This is what it’s all about—enabling people to hear directly from God,” says Pillinger.

Bible Translated into Brazilian Sign Language

Word Count839Number of Canadian church congregations that are financial partners with Wycliffe Canada.

25%Portion of these congregations that are in Baptist denominations.

15% Portion of these congregations that are in Reformed denominations.

9%Portion of these congregations that are in Pentecostal denominations.

8%Portion of these congregations that are in Mennonite denominations.

Source: 2014 Snapshot of Wycliffe Canada

Marc Ewell


After embracing his Quechua language and culture, the leader of Wycliffe’s partner organization in South Peru found his true calling.

By Doug Lockhart

(OPPOSITE PAGE) Outside a small rural church high in the Andes Mountains, Fredi Quintanilla (far right) and co-worker Joni Carbajal pray for a Sunday school teacher. Since 2007, Fredi has directed the diverse ministries of ATEK, a Wycliffe partner agency in southern Peru. Its small team of dedicated staff aim to strengthen individual believers, families and churches through Bible distribution, literacy programs and Scripture-based training workshops.

For more than a decade, God has been using a homegrown ministry in South Peru to strengthen rural churches and families. Based in the tourism mecca of Cusco, the small partner organization of Wycliffe Bible Translators has

distributed thousands of copies of mother tongue Scripture, established literacy programs throughout the region, and trained hundreds of Quechua [KETCH-wa] pastors and Sunday school teachers.

Through the ministries of ATEK—an acronym that means “the association that shines the gospel to the Quechua-speaking world”—poor and marginalized Quechua people are improving their lives through literacy, and growing in their understanding and application of God’s Word.

Ironically, the former pastor who now directs the dynamic ministry could barely speak or read his parents’ Cusco Quechua language when he first began serving with ATEK in 2003. But since then, Fredi Quintanilla has become a fluent speaker of the language, as well as a friend and mentor to hundreds of Quechua church leaders throughout the region.

Language rediscoveredFormer Wycliffe Canada staff members Larry and Carol Sagert, and current staff, Justin and Tammy Hettinga, helped form ATEK by bringing together pastors and church leaders from several denominations in the Cusco area. When ATEK’s first director stepped down in 2007, board members appointed Fredi to lead the organization.

Although the 44-year-old now lives in Cusco with his wife Judith and their three children, he grew up in a jungle area northwest of the ancient city. He was in his teens when his family

The Man From A.T.E.K.

“They tried to have us kids forget Quechua, and wanted us to only learn Spanish.”

South America

ARGENTINA

BOLIVIA

COLOMBIA

VENEZUELA

PERU BRAZIL

FRENCH GUIANASURINAME

GUYANA

CHILE

ECUADOR

PARAGUAY

URUGUAY

FALKLAND ISLANDS

SOUTH GEORGIA ISLAND

CuscoLima


Peru: At a GlanceName: Republic of Peru

Area: 1.28 million sq km (slightly larger than Ontario).

Location: Western South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Chile and Ecuador.

Geography: Western arid coastal plain; high and rugged Andes in the nation’s centre; eastern lowland jungle of the Amazon basin, with tropical lands bordering Colombia and Brazil.

Population: 29.5 million.

Capital: Lima (8.77 million).

People: Amerindian 45%; mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 37%; white 15%; other 3%.

Economy: Fishing, mining, agriculture (especially coffee) and tourism are economic mainstays. More than half of the population lives in poverty.

Religion: Roman Catholic 81.3%, Evangelical 12.5%, other 3.3%, unspecified or none 2.9% (2007 census). It is estimated that 25% of Peruvians are influenced by animism and witchcraft as much as Christianity.

Languages: 65; Spanish & Quechua (official), plus many other indigenous languages.

Bible Translation Status: 4 languages (including Spanish) have Bibles; 42 others have New Testaments; 16 others have Scripture portions; 8 have work in progress.

Literacy: 67%–79%Sources: World Factbook; Operation World, 7th Edition; Ethnologue, SIL

(OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP) A Sunday school teacher in Pataqqueña, Peru, distributes Spanish-language biblical materials to Quechua children. The bold, full-colour illustrations capture the kids' attention but their understanding of Spanish is limited. That’s why ATEK staff are working to produce mother tongue materials, like many of those on display at a recent literature event held in Cusco (OPPOSITE PAGE, BOTTOM).

moved to Cusco, but neither he nor his siblings had ever learned to speak their parents’ Quechua language.

“They tried to have us kids forget Quechua,” Fredi recalls through an interpreter, “and wanted us to only learn Spanish.

“They thought the only way for us to be successful in life would be to learn Spanish and live in the Spanish-speaking world.”

When he was 22, Fredi became a follower of Christ through the influence of his older sister. He began attending the youth group at her church and before long, he was joining the pastor on his Saturday visits to various Quechua communities surrounding the city.

Because the pastor didn’t have a car, Fredi offered to be his personal driver.

“From that point on, I began to accompany him on these trips. We would show gospel videos and he would preach.”

Eventually, the pastor moved to a different area. For Fredi, it was a defining moment.

“When he decided to go, I thought, What’s going to happen with these Quechua folks, now that we have become friends and built relationships?

“I ended up staying involved, because I was quite concerned for these people. . . . After I got married, my wife started coming out with me. I felt a call on my life to ministry and I began by planting a church in a community called Chincheros [cheen-CHAIR-ose].”

While pastoring in that community, Fredi experienced another defining moment in his life. It happened after he struck up a conversation with a Quechua woman as she sat outdoors, weaving a blanket on her loom.

“I began sharing the gospel with her in Spanish and we had a very good conversation,” recalls Fredi. “Then she said, ‘What you are explaining to me is wonderful, but now can you explain it to me in Quechua?’

“So I tried so hard to explain my ideas in Quechua, but I couldn’t. That was a huge frustration for me that day . . . so when I returned to Cusco, I began searching for a place to study the Quechua language.”

Comfortable in two culturesProvidentially, in 2001 Fredi also began searching for a Quechua Bible to give to the woman in Chincheros. His inquiries led him to a Bible school in Cusco where Hettinga, Sagert and other staff from SIL, Wycliffe’s main partner organization, were teaching a course on the Quechua language.

“That’s where my whole experience in speaking and reading Quechua started,” says Fredi.

As Fredi and other church leaders continued visiting remote towns and villages high in the Andes surrounding Cusco, he became convinced that the Cusco Quechua language held the key to his people’s spiritual growth.

“Observing the problems and difficulties they had,” says

(LEFT) For Fredi and other ATEK workers, there’s a high price to pay for their ministry to distant Quechua communities: frequent separations from their families. (BELOW) Few Quechua church leaders have received any formal training. ATEK helps equip such leaders through workshops like this one, held this past November in the town of Quechapampa. (OPPOSITE) ATEK is able to serve remote communities because of committed staff like Moises Cutipa, a literacy trainer who often uses an aging motorbike to carry out his work.

Fredi, “made me think a big part of it was because they didn’t understand the gospel.

“They were doing the same thing I used to do—ignoring their own language. Everything in the Church was being done in Spanish.”

“From that point on,” adds Fredi, “my passion to promote the use of the Quechua Bible began to grow.”

Personnel serving with SIL in Cusco soon noticed Fredi’s growing enthusiasm for the Quechua language and people. So in 2002 when SIL staff brought Quechua pastors together to discuss how they could help their churches begin to use the Cusco Quechua Bible, Fredi was included.

The meeting resulted in the pastors forming a committee—which led to the formation of ATEK more than a year later. By 2007, when ATEK’s board began looking for someone to replace the outgoing director, Fredi was a natural choice.

“Fredi had been part of the ATEK board from the beginning,” says Hettinga. “He had demonstrated a deep passion for the Quechua people—his people.


“One of the things Fredi had going for him was that he was not only a respected leader, but he was quite bi-cultural. He was very comfortable in national Peruvian culture as well as Quechua culture. This made him well positioned to be a bridge between the two cultures as well as to lead this growing non-government organization that needed to not only minister to Quechuas, but also raise money, communicate with government institutions, and relate to donors.”

Persevering faithThese days, Fredi is praying for more donors to partner with ATEK as well as its 10 staff and handful of volunteers. Although it receives some funding from donations through Wycliffe Canada, ATEK recently lost significant funding after a major funding partner made cutbacks. Fredi was forced to lay off two staff members—including one long-time staff member who now volunteers his time to assist a Quechua community devastated

by an earthquake this past September.

“These are the times I don’t like,” says Fredi, “but I know they are the best times to experience God in a deeper way.”

(BELOW) Fredi (at left) shares a laugh with Bonifacio Ccahua, a church leader in the town of Llawllipata. Through its ties to ATEK, the small evangelical church there has also received spiritual encouragement from Beach Corner Evangelical Free Church in Stony Plain, Alta.

Despite the lack of adequate funding, Fredi still believes that God will find ways to see His work accomplished—as He did

when He led Beach Corner Evangelical Free Church in Stony Plain, Alta., to partner with ATEK in serving one Quechua church high in the Andes Mountains. Beach Corner has trained Quechua pastors and church members,

and provided funds for a new church building. “God will continue to move people’s hearts because I know He

has a purpose for the Quechua people,” says Fredi. “We dream, we hope that one day the Quechua people will stand up and be a great people in God’s timing. It will be the greatest time in their history, a time that God will use them to advance the gospel in this region.

“We want to see the Quechua people of God stand up and take their place in furthering His kingdom.”

More on the Web: To donate to ATEK’s work in South Peru, visit our website at <atek.wycliffe.ca>

More on the Web: Explore how your church can partner with ATEK at <friendship.wycliffe.ca>

“We want to see the Quechua people of God stand up and take their place in furthering His kingdom.

http://atek.wycliffe.ca/

http://friendship.wycliffe.ca/


or more than a decade, ATEK—an acronym for “the association that shines the gospel to the Quechua-speaking world” —has worked among the estimated 1½ million Cusco Quechua speakers living in remote villages scattered across the rugged Andes Mountains of southern Peru.

Based in the city of Cusco, ATEK’s 10 staff and a few volunteers are currently focusing their Bible-based training efforts on churches in three of the Cusco region’s 13 provinces. If they can raise additional funds, they hope to expand their ministry to reach churches in several remaining provinces.

Led by pastor Fredi Quintanilla, ATEK’s ministries are centred around the Cusco Quechua Bible, published in 1988 by the Peruvian Bible Society. ATEK has distributed more than 15,000 copies so far, at subsidized prices so they are more affordable for the average Quechua family.

However, when ATEK workers first began distributing the Bible, it soon became evident that few Quechua adults could read the translated Scriptures. Women especially are often illiterate, because during childhood most girls quit school early to work in their family fields or care for animals.

In response, ATEK began working closely with SIL, Wycliffe’s main partner organization, to launch church-based literacy programs that so far have equipped more than 6,000 Quechua children and adults—most of them women—to read and write their language. Additionally, Sunday school programs taught by ATEK-trained teachers have introduced some 5,800 Quechua children to God’s Word in their mother tongue.

Other training initiatives include workshops for Quechua church leaders as well as courses that help believers apply God’s Word to issues they face in their marriages, families and communities.

Forming leadersATEK’s training programs—especially the literacy component and its impact on Quechua women—have received positive reviews from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The agency’s website says ATEK’s Reading Comprehension Literacy Program “has

transformed the lives of the Quechua communities” and among the several results listed is the “empowerment of women.”

Olga Sacatoomani is a prime example. Since learning how to read her language just a few years ago, the shy, hard-working mother of five has emerged as a dedicated Bible teacher and trainer of Quechua women (see

“Out of the Rubble,” pg. 14).ATEK’s director says in recent years he has noticed a growing

self-esteem among Quechua women. “They really want to learn the Word of God and read it for

themselves,” says Fredi.“In my opinion,” adds Fredi, “the gospel itself has caused the

women to value themselves in their society, because they want to learn the Word of God and teach their children. They are more concerned about communicating with the family and this has led them to take a lot more initiative.”

While Fredi is pleased by such developments, he knows there is much work yet to accomplish.

“At this point we are the only organization that focuses on developing Quechua leaders. We still have a huge work ahead with the denominations because many of them don’t understand the significance of using the people’s mother tongue in their ministries.

“I think that will continue to be the role of ATEK: to influence church authorities and others to use the Quechua language.”

BUILD- ING UP BELIEVERS IN SOUTH PERU

More on the Web: see “Building Stronger Marriages” at <exclusives.wycliffe.ca>.

More on the Web: Visit <www.unesco.org> and search for “ATEK.”

http://www.unesco.org

http://exclusives.wycliffe.ca/

Quechua women bow their heads as they pray during a women’s literacy workshop in Urinccoscco, Peru. Many of these women eagerly walked long distances, along winding roads and up steep inclines to attend this workshop, led by ATEK’s literacy co-ordinator, Luisa Cahuana (featured in this article).


Once suppressed, Cusco Quechua women are now becoming church leaders through the efforts of ATEK in Peru.

By Nathan Frank


Tears well up in Luisa Cahuana’s eyes (see below) as she struggles for words.

“God has told me I need to do this. I do it to help my sisters know the Word of God,” says Luisa, about why she

has committed her life to working among Quechua villages in the mountains surrounding Cusco, Peru. “When I hear about their problems and struggles, I feel that I have to be with them.”

Luisa, literacy co-ordinator for the Scripture-use and literacy organization, ATEK, is sitting beside one of her Quechua sisters. She explains how painful it is for her to spend time away from Cusco, where she lives with her husband, Ever Sanca Sapana, and their two children, Miguel and Carol.

“They say, ‘Mom, don’t leave. We want you to stay with us.’ So, I have this struggle. When I come here I am with the women and I want to be with them, and then when I’m at home, I want to be with my kids.”

This time Luisa is a two-hour drive southeast of Cusco, in the village of Urinccoscco, where she is leading a workshop for female literacy teachers. She stands out in the crowd of women, wearing a black fleece coat and blue jeans. Her attire is a sharp contrast to most of the 25 women attending the workshop, who are wearing colourful blouses and beaded hats.

Across the road from the evangelical church where the workshop is being held, sits a Catholic church that has been vacant and crumbling for decades, and dilapidated pre-Inca ruins that overlook a valley. The incredible difference between each side of the road couldn’t be more pronounced. Outside the church are radiant women, excited about their ability to read the Word of God and their new opportunities to minister in the church. On the other side of the road, however, it is quiet—almost eerie. The ancient architecture, most of it rubble, is a reminder of a dark time for women in this community when the gospel had yet to take root.

Muted StruggleWhen Luisa looks down at her shoes, memories of her childhood likely flood her mind. Visiting Quechua communities, like Urinccoscco, may also remind her of her childhood in the high-altitude town of Ayaviri, where her family struggled with poverty.

“It was extremely cold. I remember growing up with shoes with holes in them and toes sticking through the holes,” she says back in ATEK’s Cusco office. “Our dream as kids was always simple things like the day we would have a pair of socks or a new pair of shoes.”

Growing up as the second-born of pastors (Luisa’s father, Ricardo Cahuana Quispe, was a key contributor to the translation of the Cusco Quechua Bible), Luisa was taught that she could talk to God about her own and her family’s struggles, and that God could handle her questions.

“When will you give us a home where we can live comfortably like everyone else around us who seem to live so happily in their houses?” she would ask the Lord.

However, while Luisa was raised to freely ask God tough questions, this openness wasn’t the norm for most women when Luisa was growing up.

In fact, during Luisa’s childhood, women had few rights in

“OUR DREAM AS KIDS WAS ALWAYS SIMPLE THINGS LIKE THE DAY WE WOULD HAVE A PAIR OF SOCKS OR A NEW PAIR OF SHOES.”


(ABOVE) Literacy co-ordinator Luisa Cahuana leads a friend as they prepare for a skit in the women’s literacy workshop. Thanks to Luisa and others at ATEK, thousands of Quechua women are learning to read the translated Scriptures and gaining a deeper relationship with God. (OPPOSITE, TOP) A Quechua woman reads from a

Women of the Bible booklet, created by ATEK specifically for women. (OPPOSITE, BOTTOM) Luisa believes deep in her heart that God has called her to minister to her Quechua sisters. She also carries a heavy burden, spending a great deal of time away from her family as she trains and mentors women.

society and weren’t allowed to vote. Sadly, the environment was similar in the church, where women didn’t hold leadership positions and few learned to read.

“It wasn’t even an option to ask questions,” says Luisa. “We were taught to not question why they did this, where they did this, where they came from, why a person did it that way, or why they had taught it this way. We always believed we should never, ever ask those sorts of questions.”

Tides ChangeHowever, in the past 20 years, women’s rights have evolved into a global issue and rural Peru has experienced the shift as well. Since Luisa joined ATEK in 2007, the local church has seen the place of women in the church expand, alongside Quechua literacy. In the past five years, ATEK has trained 530 Quechua literacy teachers who have led literacy classes in 467 churches in the department of Cusco—most of those trained being women.

The reason the vast majority of those trained by ATEK are women is because so many Quechua girls are sexually assaulted as they walk to school on secluded mountain paths, causing most to drop out and never learn how to read Quechua as youngsters (see “Changing Norms,” pg. 19).

“It’s very dangerous for the young ladies to have to walk to these

far off communities for school,” says Fredi Quintanilla, ATEK’s director, as he sits outside of the Urinccoscco women’s literacy workshop. “Many of the women have experienced this type of sexual abuse. There is so much hurt and wounds in their spirit.”

Despite the many hurdles women have had to face, Fredi believes the gospel has caused women to value themselves in their society. They want desperately to learn the Word of God and teach their children. He says the shift in Quechua homes is clear.

“It’s even common to see men take up some of the responsibility in the home, so a woman can learn to read and participate in other things.”

Meet OlgaOne of the women Luisa has trained is Olga Sacatoomani. The mother of five is the women’s ministry leader in the 12 evangelical churches in the district of Livitaca. She is a strong woman. Living in an adobe house (made of mud and straw), she overlooks a remote valley, with sun-lit mountains in the distance. This is where she tends her cows while traversing the steep inclines of the mountainside.

Olga knows hard work. Like they are for other Quechua women, long days on her feet are normal. When she visits the 12 churches in her area she is often gone two days on horseback—

“MANY OF THEM WANT TO BE INVOLVED IN THIS BUT EITHER THEIR SPOUSES DON’T LET THEM OR THEY DON’T HAVE THE TIME FOR IT.”


(ABOVE) Olga Sacatoomani is a new hero of the faith. The mother of five is the women’s ministry leader of the 12 evangelical churches in the district of Livitaca. However, despite her busy schedule, she still finds time to tend to her fowl.

Patience NeededIf there is one virtue that Luisa needs in her role, it’s patience. Thankfully, ATEK’s soft-spoken literacy co-ordinator has learned perseverance since her childhood, when she and her siblings dreamt of new shoes, full bellies and a home of their own. God heard her cry. In recent years her parents bought a home that is only a short walk from the ATEK office in Cusco, a popular

city for tourists wanting to visit Machu Picchu.“My parents are sharing with us. So I am very thankful for the

blessing God has given us. I never, ever dreamed that I would have my own home here in Cusco. To live in Cusco has to be one of the most expensive places to live in the whole country of Peru.”

For Luisa, teaching Quechua leaders has required similar patience, because acquiring the ability to read and write is a long process.

“The biggest problem is with reading comprehension,” says Luisa, before explaining that Quechua women generally aren’t accustomed to reading. “This is a huge, lifelong process. We need consistent follow-up. Little-by-little we see change. In three years we can really see serious results of change.”

As each woman grows in her ability to read and write, they are able to understand Scripture better, and then are equipped to teach and lead the women in their church community.

“Our goal is that each church will use the Word of God and comprehend it,” says Luisa. “In that way their lives will be changed.”

With more than 500 literacy teachers trained, soon much of the work will be left in the hands of the leaders Luisa has trained. And as each Quechua teacher shares the gift of literacy with her sisters, the hope of the gospel will spread and the rubble of the past will soon become a distant memory.

or she will walk, sometimes for up to six hours.She is a trailblazer, just like Luisa and Joni Carbajal, who is

ATEK’s children’s co-ordinator (see story on pg. 20). However, blazing a new—once socially unacceptable path—can be lonely. Although Olga usually finds support for her ministry from her husband, he sometimes will be upset with her and will want her to stay home with the cows and the kids. And from her sisters in the church, Olga doesn’t receive support, but jealousy instead.

“Many of them want to be involved in this but either their spouses don’t let them or they don’t have the time for it, and they end up spreading rumours about me. They say that I dominate over my husband,” explains Olga, as she watches her pasture in the distance.

Fredi isn’t surprised by the criticism Olga faces.“It is completely unknown in this culture to be leading like

that,” he says. “People don’t know how to deal with it. It causes a certain level of jealousy and suspicion in people—including some of the men in the church. “

Despite the barriers that still exist, Luisa insists the culture has improved for leaders like Olga.

“Often the churches end up calling these ladies up to the front and saying, ‘Please share the Word of God with us and preach.’ ”


Changing NORMS An ATEK ministry combats sexual abuse among the Cusco Quechua people of Peru—even within their churches.

By Nathan Frank

As a pair of teenage girls ready themselves for a long walk to an ATEK Sunday school workshop in a far-off Quechua community, they bow their heads and pray that God will protect them on their journey. This isn’t

simply a routine prayer; it’s an act of trust in the face of danger. These girls used to attend high school, but on the five-hour

walk to the nearest school they were frequently attacked and sexually assaulted by men hiding in the bushes.

“I told my father I didn’t want this to keep happening to me. So my father replied, ‘I don’t want you going to school anymore,’ ” one of the girls told Joni Carbajall, ATEK’s children’s ministry director. The two never left their community again for a long time and only decided to risk the danger of the road again in order to attend ATEK’s Sunday school workshop.

“We keep hearing in church that we need to have faith in God—that God will protect us always,” says one of the girls. “It’s like I’m beginning to learn that part of my faith.”

The danger of sexual abuse is a major reason why most girls don’t attend school past Grade 6 and are almost all illiterate.

To combat sexual assault in a Quechua culture where it is considered normal, ATEK has developed a number of tools. The organization has created a series of Quechua books, videos and audio files, telling the story of a woman who experienced sexual abuse. The story has even been translated into Spanish and

sent to a group in Mexico. ATEK’s second tool is a sexual abuse-awareness workshop designed for both children and Sunday school teachers.

“Children have never been told that what is happening to them is actually bad,” says Joni. “We try to help them understand that it’s not acceptable. With Sunday school teachers, we explain how to teach children about sexual abuse, the dangers of it and how to avoid it.”

This issue is so serious that among the Quechua people, if you asked someone if there is sexual abuse within these communities, people will say there is never any type of abuse like that, says Fredi Quintanilla, director of ATEK.

“Within their worldview it doesn’t exist, because it’s such an integral part of their culture that it’s considered normal,” he says.

Parents are usually offended by ATEK’s workshops, because they are finally being confronted with something that has been so common throughout their lives. They have almost all been taken advantage of sexually.

“To come and say this isn’t good and is a sin and abuse, they say, ‘How can that be? How is that abuse?’ ” explains Joni.

This culture of abuse even exists within the Cusco Quechua evangelical church. At a meeting of denominational leaders, ATEK showed a sexual assault awareness video that they produced. Initially the group denied that there was a problem, until one man stood up and firmly said, “Let’s be sincere and honest about this: who hasn’t sexually assaulted someone?”

The room was quiet. Not one leader could say they were innocent. Then one brave man, sitting in the far corner stood up.

“I need help,” he admitted. Then he went to the front, where the group prayed for him and then for one another.

As a first step, the men in the group asked for forgiveness from Jesus, the one who was waiting to heal their brokenness and pain, no matter how great their sin.


A young woman’s sacrificial service in the Peruvian Andes is helping remote rural churches introduce thousands of kids to Christ.

By Doug Lockhart

On Beautiful Feet

A Sunday school teacher reads from the Cusco Quechua Bible during morning services in the town of Pataqqueña, Peru. This teacher and about 14 others in the region benefit from training workshops led by ATEK’s Joni Carbajal.

On Beautiful Feet


for work when an ATEK employee invited her to apply for a secretarial job with the small organization.

Still single, Joni brought her resumé with her when she visited ATEK’s office in Cusco, but director Fredi Quintanilla was away. In the months that followed, the two found it difficult to sync their schedules for Joni’s official job interview.

While waiting for an opportunity to meet with Fredi, Joni heard that an ATEK worker was preparing to visit some rural communities to treat children with intestinal parasites.

“He was responsible to go and train pastors how to properly dispense some pills,” Joni recalls. “Because of my nursing background, I asked if I could help.”

Joni ended up developing a simple training program for Quechua parents and others, on how to treat intestinal parasites. Then a few months later, she volunteered to help Amy Hauschildt, an American volunteer dentist, to run ATEK-sponsored dental clinics in a few Quechua villages.

“Meanwhile, I was still waiting for ATEK to respond to me about being their secretary,” says Joni. “I think four or five months had gone by, and I helped here and there with health-related projects and preparing educational booklets.

“Through all this time, I was looking for work elsewhere.”Joni kept busy at her church, too.

“I had always wanted to teach children but I didn’t know how to teach them well. So I contacted a pastor, and he put me in touch with a young man who was working with the kids.”

The young man’s name was Luis Alberto. The two soon “hit it off” and were married in August of 2010.

Clouds of dust swirl behind a sturdy white truck as it chugs up a narrow, winding road high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Inside, at the rear of the 30-year-old Toyota Land Cruiser, a quiet, young Quechua woman

takes a cramped, bone-rattling six-hour journey from Cusco to a small village in the mountains. Joni [YON-ee] Carbajal is likely thinking often about her husband Luis, and the numerous separations they must endure as she travels to remote towns and villages. It’s part of the price the 28-year-old pays to serve with ATEK, Wycliffe’s partner organization in South Peru that helps individual Quechua believers and churches engage with Scripture in their mother tongue.

This time around, the entire road trip will take four days—but Joni appreciates the “luxury” of travelling the entire distance in ATEK’s ancient truck. Often, to reach many of the small communities she visits regularly, she and other ATEK staff must travel part way by bus and then walk for hours through the dusty hills.

As she arrives in the village of Jalcca [HAL-ca], Joni’s thoughts naturally turn to an upcoming late-afternoon Bible class for kids organized by Wilfredo, one of the many Sunday school teachers she has trained and continues to mentor.

Waiting and serving Before Joni began working with ATEK in 2006, she studied nursing for a short time but then decided to transfer to a local university and focus on education. In between, she was looking

“I see a great

need right now

for us to be

working with

adolescents and

teens.”


(ABOVE) Outside a church in the town of Jalcco, Joni and a group of children attending Sunday school discuss a passage from the Cusco Quechua Bible. (LEFT) Joni and teacher Wilfredo Eda, whom she has mentored, examine a copy of illustrated Bible story booklets she brought with her to distribute to the class. (OPPOSITE) Volunteer dentist Amy Hauschildt cares for a patient at ATEK’s headquarters in Cusco, assisted by long-time ATEK worker Thomás Puma. Before Joni was hired by ATEK in 2007, she voluntarily assisted the dentist from Tucson, Arizona, as she treated patients in outlying communities.


Emerging leaderJoni finally met with Fredi, and began her work with ATEK by evaluating the effectiveness of the organization’s literacy program. Over time, her job evolved into her current role as a trainer of Sunday school teachers and other church leaders. Besides overseeing 15 teachers working in 13 rural churches, she has mentored three Quechua teachers to oversee all of the Sunday school programs and children’s camps.

To date, Joni and her teams have worked with upwards of 100 Quechua churches that provide Sunday school programs for more than 5,500 kids.

Because she has confidence in the teachers she has mentored, Joni now has some time to develop a training manual for reaching and discipling Quechua youth.

“I see a great need right now for us to be working with adolescents and teens,” she says. “Those that are 13 or 14 years old are embarrassed, especially the boys, to still associate with the children. Once they get to that age, they drift away from the church, but the girls tend to stick around more.”

In 2014, Joni began training youth leaders in various communities, but sadly, she recently had to drop that activity from her job description because of budget cutbacks. (See how you can help support this work on the back cover.)

“Funds just didn’t stretch far enough,” Joni says, “so we stopped doing that and now focus solely on the children.”

Pressed on all sidesJoni’s energy seems to know no bounds. Despite her many responsibilities at ATEK and elsewhere, she also manages to attend Bible college classes two days a week in Cusco.

“I’m teaching church leaders and pastors all the time,” Joni says, “and I realized I can learn more by doing these studies.”

Although Joni has a clear sense of direction now, that hasn’t always been the case.

“In the beginning, when I was working with leaders, I really didn’t feel good about it. I felt like I wasn’t in the right place. At that point I remember asking God, ‘Help me to find exactly what I need to do in ATEK—my place.’ It was at that point I began working with children, even though I didn’t really have experience. I learned, and people taught me along the way. It was hard and pretty tiring, but I knew there were so many children that needed to know the Lord.

“What encouraged me and gave me strength was just the dream of seeing Quechua men and women involved in teaching children.”

Joni says she still feels uncomfortable at times, especially the first time she visits a church.

“In some churches, it’s unacceptable for a woman to teach men,” she explains.

Although Joni can’t do much to change long-held attitudes held by some men in positions of authority, ATEK challenges Quechua pastors, elders and Sunday school teachers to mentor and encourage young leaders of both sexes.

While dealing with some male leaders is difficult, one of Joni’s hardest trials is being separated from Luis Alberto.

“I just got married four years ago, and it’s hard leaving my husband,” she says. “Sometimes I can be away two or three weeks out of the month.

“Another challenge,” she says softly, “is the times that I have to walk alone in the mountains for so long and so far.”


(OPPOSITE) Joni’s versatility makes her a valuable asset to ATEK. Here, she leads part of a training session for church leaders in Quechapampa. (ABOVE) Sunday school teacher Wilfredo Eda watches as boys from his class in Jalcco play tug-of-war. When the class is over, many of these children must return home to help care for animals, tend crops or perform other family chores.

"We want to see

many more

like myself . . .

enabled to train

other Sunday

school teachers."


These girls and their church classmates in Jalcco enjoy a unique privilege: they are among the first Quechua youngsters in history to have access to God’s Word in their mother tongue. They are also benefiting from ATEK’s holistic ministries that strengthen families, churches and entire communities.

Bearing fruitDespite such hardships, Joni perseveres. Her vision for ministry even extends beyond her people, to encompass other language groups in Peru. Somehow, she finds time to volunteer with a ministry that helps equip children’s workers and youth leaders throughout the country.

“People are participating from the jungle areas and from other parts of the mountains,” Joni says. “We want to see many more like myself, from many different organizations, enabled to train other Sunday school teachers . . . so that the Word of God will be taught to children throughout the country.”

As for her work with ATEK, Joni is encouraged to see more and more Quechua churches catching the vision for ministering to kids.

“In the places where we’ve gone,” she says, “the children’s ministry is a lot more organized. In many of these places, it no longer depends on me or on ATEK to function, because my vision has always been to train trainers. I’ve been able to leave people behind who are going to follow up and continue to teach the children in their communities.”

Furthermore, when training Sunday school teachers and camp leaders, Joni and her ATEK co-workers always include lessons on how to lead kids to Christ. In a recent children’s camp, 77 Quechua children indicated their desire to follow Jesus.

Centuries before Joni Carbajal was born, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news . . . .” Perhaps, before penning the well-known words recorded in Isaiah 52, he saw people like Joni in his mind’s eye.

Though she often grows weary of leaving her husband to traverse the steep, dusty trails of the Andes Mountains, Joni’s sacrifices have not gone unnoticed by her Saviour—and their impact will last for eternity.

“I’ve been able

to leave people

behind who are

going to follow up

and . . . teach the

children in their

communities.”


As one of the dedications on the Kuna island of Tigre, a man from the Kuna translation team leads a dedication prayer for the Kuna Bible, asking God to use it in a mighty way among the Kuna people.

San Blas Kuna was one of three Bible dedications this past year with a Canadian connection.

By Janet Seever

The sound of the Jewish shofar announced the arrival of the complete Bible translated into the San Blas Kuna language of Panama—which is spoken by 57,100 people on the

outlying islands, with nearly 100,000 more speakers throughout the rest of Panama. The event, celebrated at Hosanna Church in Panama City on September 20, was one of three observances in Panama in honour of this milestone. A 100-voice Kuna choir sang praise to God. Several Kuna pastors shared their gratefulness to God for His Word. The Bible translation team was gracious hosts to 80 guests from five countries, while 3,200 Kuna speakers attended the event at the Hosanna Church.

Keith and Wilma Forster, from South Africa and Canada respectively, began working on the translation in 1982, after they had already completed the translation of a New Testament for the Border Kuna dialect in the 1970s. They are thankful for valuable Kuna co-translators over the years who worked so diligently with them to complete this huge task.

“Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude to the Lord for the privilege of seeing Panama’s Kuna people holding God’s Word . . . in the language of their hearts,” wrote Wilma. “How grateful we are to the Lord for the wonderful way in which He blessed each dedication.”

Keith and Wilma struggled to put into words what those special days meant to them: “Gratitude! Amazement! Joy! Doxology! Praise! A humble feeling of gratitude to have been given the privilege of having a part in preparing God’s Word for the Kuna people. Even the hymn ‘To God be the Glory, Great Things He Has Done’ . . . which has been ringing in our hearts over and over again, can’t begin to capture the gratitude and praise we want to express to God.”

As one of the guests who went to Panama to celebrate this special event so aptly said, "We can describe the events. We can show pictures of the activities. There is, however, no way to capture the emotion of those days."

Another visitor said, “It was a life-changing experience for me. There is a picture forever imprinted in my mind and on my heart. I watched as a young lad—maybe eight or 10 years old—opened a Bible and began to read it out loud. For the first time in his life, he held God's Word in his hands and he could read it. He could understand it. It was in his own language. I’ll never forget the impact that had on me."

Now that the Kuna people have God’s Word in its entirety, the Forsters are asking people to pray earnestly that the initial enthusiasm for the coming of the Word will not diminish and that Kuna hearts will grow deep in their knowledge of the Word and of God’s claim on their lives.

God’s Word Comes to the Aringa Elsewhere, in Africa, another language group with a Canadian connection received their New Testament this past year.

What a day of celebration June 24, 2014, was for the Aringa people of Uganda! After many years of waiting, they finally received their New Testament.

Nearly 1,000 people gathered in Yumbe, the main town in their homeland in northwestern Uganda, to celebrate.

Announced with a Jewish Shofar

Translation Update


New Testaments

Location Number of Groups Combined Total Populations

Africa 7 765,150

Pacific 4 29,340

Americas 5 55,470

Total 16 849,960

Whole Bibles

Location Number of Groups Combined Total Populations

Americas 1 157,100

Africa 5 1,543,900

Total 6 1,701,000

Combined Totals 22 2,550,960

World Translation SummaryScriptures translated with Wycliffe involvement were published in 22 languages spoken by 2.6 million people in 2014. (This is a change from past years when Word Alive presented Scriptures that had been dedicated.) This table gives a regional breakdown of the affected language groups with their populations.

Six large tents provided shade around a grassy centre field for the celebration that officially launched the New Testament in Aringa, the mother tongue of 500,000 speakers who live in Uganda and some of the neighbouring countries.

About 500 New Testaments were pre-sold, with more sold on the day of the celebration. Some of the gathered guests were from among the 80 per cent of the language group’s population who are Muslim. Churches also bought copies to use for ministry within their communities. Aringa Scripture is already being used within more than two dozen Bible study groups and in many churches. More than half of the 130 schools in the area now use Aringa as the language of instruction in the first three grades.

Response to the New Testament was enthusiastic. One Aringa speaker said, “It goes to the heart; now I do not need to read and translate. It is powerful to me. It tells us clearly . . . what we are to do."

The New Testament translation began in 2000, and was taken on as a OneBook project in 2007. OneBook, a close partner of Wycliffe Canada, raises funds from Canadians for overseas translation and literacy projects.

Atikamekw Nation Territory, QuebecThe Atikamekw people received their New Testament on September 14 in a ceremony held near Manawan, Quebec. Atikamekw is a language in the Algonquian family of Canadian indigenous languages, with about 7,000 Atikamekw speakers living in south-central Quebec.

The project was filled with heartbreak, challenges and difficulties, but by God’s grace it was completed and the New Testament is now in the hands of the Atikamekw people. Beginning in 1976, various SIL members laboured on the project for varying amounts of time: Tim Stime; Bonnie Stime Geleynse (now deceased; who had continued work on translation after leaving SIL); and Julie and Andy Barlow. Finally Ruth (Spielmann) Heeg, with the Canadian Bible Society, worked with Atikamekw speakers to complete the project. (Ruth previously worked on translation with SIL in the closely-related Algonquin language.)

People involved were honoured with a plaque at the celebration. Andy Barlow, who was at the ceremony, was thankful to be able to finally hold the Atikamekw New Testament in his hands and “see Atikamekw speakers excited about God's Word in their language.”

Tim Stime, in his speech to the group, recognized the great work of more than 55 Atikamekw speakers who helped in the translation and checking process.

The Atikamekw people’s use of their first language remains vigorous, with about 98 per cent of the population speaking the language fluently, while using French as their second language.

“It goes to the heart . . . It is powerful to me. It tells us clearly what we are to do.”


Beyond Words

David, how long did it take you to learn Numanggang?” I have often been asked this question by our friends, family and partners back in the U.S. Questions like that require a story-based response.

We had been in the village of Tumun for about three years. I was gaining confidence and communicating quite a bit, although the grammar still baffled me. One afternoon , I took a break from studying Numanggang and pondering the meaning of the language’s strange words. A hike up the mountain, with breathtaking views from the ridge above the villages, always cleared my head. The people called it naŋgat kaika (“refreshing the blood”)—what a perfect phrase.

As I trekked along the lonely dirt road that serves as the only route in and out of Numanggang territory, I met a boisterous group of little boys.

My eyes rested on Ekite, who was proudly holding a dead bird in one hand and a slingshot in the other. The cadre of small wannabe hunters was trooping along after their hero in hopes of sharing the meal. Proudly, they exhibited their catch. It didn’t look like dinner to me. I stared at the bird’s forlorn chicks being handled roughly by the boys.

On the other hand, Gatiwin, a young man who had been helping me learn the language and translate the Gospel of Mark, was studying me. Apparently, my face was much more interesting than the distressed birds and he suddenly blurted out, “Yakei Bulaniŋgoŋ nadilak!” (Goodness! He’s feeling sorry!)

Two very significant things happened at that instant. First, I was publicly demoted to an outsider again. It didn’t matter that I had

remembered the words for the bird and the slingshot because I wasn’t thinking like a Numanggang man. Humility follows disgrace, so perhaps that was a good thing for me.

Secondly, this was an epiphany. I had discovered that bulaniŋgoŋ means more than to be sorry. It also means to feel compassion. Now I had a word to represent God’s compassion for us. He deeply cares when He sees us being mauled by

difficulties, tragedy, poor choices, sorrow, illness and the enemy of our souls. “When Jesus saw the very large gathering of the people, his heart was broken for them and he knew bulaniŋgoŋ for them and he healed the people who had sicknesses/diseases” (Matthew 14:14).

Learning a language is really a misnomer. One doesn’t learn a language. One learns a culture. A good deal of it is below the level of conscious thought—gestures, attitudes, mores—all the little nuances of what is considered normal and acceptable. In fact, it is a new way of thinking, maybe even of being. In other words, I am still becoming Numanggang.

Maybe, by the time we finish translating the Scriptures, I will have reached the status of a Numanggang warrior. But probably not—I’ll most likely still be learning.

Wycliffe’s David and Yohana Hynum have served as translators, literacy workers and friends among the Numanggang people of Papua New Guinea since since 1978.

Learning a language is really a misnomer. One doesn’t learn a language. One learns a culture.

A Compassionate AnswerBy David Hynum

Alan Hood


A Thousand Words

Shaken Awake

Until recently, many residents of Misca, Peru were suspicious when ATEK staff members offered to distribute Bibles in their Cusco Quechua language and share the gospel. Some even threw stones at the ATEK workers, forcing them to leave the village. Then a strong earthquake rocked Misca this past September, killing eight of the town’s 130 residents and leaving most homes and other buildings severely damaged. The grieving townspeople have since invited ATEK to return and teach them from God’s Word. Like the poles now propping up the town’s ancient, fractured church building, ATEK provides support to Quechua churches and communities through ministries that help them access God’s life-giving Word in their heart language.

Last Word

Becoming Women of the BibleBy Roy Eyre

The ladies’ meetings in the local church were boring. One young lady wondered why she should bother attending since there was nothing to learn.

One by one, the women stopped coming, until finally only two or three diehards were left. We could be talking about Canada, but this particular story is set in the mountains of Peru.

Enter ATEK, a national organization partnering with Wycliffe to promote the use of translated Scriptures in the Cusco Quechua language (featured in the stories of this issue).

As part of its Bible reading comprehension program in the local language, ATEK presented a training workshop called “Women of the Bible.” In an effort to revive the

women’s group, the local church sent two women to the workshop. When they returned, the women in the community started meeting once a month, thinking that any more frequently was still a waste of time. However, the teaching soon challenged attendees in their personal faith. They found that their lives as women didn’t line up with those they had learned about in the Word of God.

As the women applied the teachings to daily life, their relationships with their children, husbands and neighbours began to improve. Rather than look for excuses not to attend, now women were

walking long distances, bringing their babies and small children with them. Meetings were increased to twice a month to accommodate women eager to learn more from Scripture. The women had discovered that God’s Word, when understood and applied, is never boring.

A couple of years ago I had the privilege of visiting the offices of ATEK and AIDIA, a similar ministry among a neighbouring Quechua group (see Word Alive, Summer 2014). In both cases, I was impressed at the comprehensive and customized way they approached Scripture engagement. In their quest to see communities and lives transformed by God's Word, they addressed real community needs, including:

• finding ways to do children's ministry in a culture that expects children to care for the animals while adults go to church.

• addressing issues that impact the family, like physical abuse and alcoholism.

• giving strong attention to literacy and leadership development among women.

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell observed that if you select a certain subset of people early enough and give them consistent development opportunities, you'll change the composition of the group at the highest level. I believe his lessons apply to leadership, the traditional domain of men. In Canada and Peru alike, while women outnumber men in a variety of fields, they are conspicuously absent from leadership roles. But when leadership ability is identified and cultivated in women early enough, women prove to be excellent leaders.

For instance, Luisa Cahuana and Olga Sacatoomani (see story on page 14) are two of a handful of bold women who model hardy and courageous leadership in a country where 30 per cent cannot read, and 70 per cent of the illiterate are women. Such leadership brings transformation to lives and communities.

God has equipped His global Church with a wide array of gifts, strengths and personalities. He is raising up atypical leaders to meet needs that can’t be met by the majority.

Roy Eyre is the president of Wycliffe Bible Translators of Canada.

God has equipped His global Church

with a wide array of gifts, strengths and personalities. He is raising up atypical

leaders to meet needs that can’t be met by

the majority.

http://wordalive.wycliffe.ca

http://wordalive.wycliffe.ca/

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Wycliffe Canada Featured Partnership

Invest in the Cusco Quechua people through ATEK

You can help advance Bible distribution, literacy, Scripture-based training and more in south Peru, through your gift to ATEK (featured in this issue

of Word Alive). Here are the details of this important partnership with the Quechua people, which you can support through your gifts to Wycliffe Canada.

Name: ATEK

Location: South Peru, South America

Language Group: Cusco Quechua

Overview: The Cusco Quechua Bible was published in 1988—but until about 10 years ago, few Quechuas were able to read it. Today, thousands of Cusco Quechua-speakers can read God’s Word and apply it to their lives, thanks to a local Peruvian organization, the “Association that Shines the Gospel to the Quechua-speaking World” (whose Quechua name is shortened using the acronym ATEK). ATEK promotes the use of the Cusco Quechua Bible in Quechua-speaking churches and communities through literacy programs, workshops for church leaders and married couples, children’s programs and educational publications. ATEK has a long track record of strengthening Quechua churches and individual believers through its diverse and compassionate ministries.

Timeline: 2006 – present

Funding Need for 2015: $84,120

Donate today to help promote the use of God’s Word in Peru!

• Use this magazine’s reply form (fill in the box that mentions ATEK).

• Give online at projects.wycliffe.ca

• Call 1-800-463-1143 toll free and indicate your gift is for ATEK.

http://projects.wycliffe.ca

word alive magazine - summer 2015

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