Him We Proclaim

{Maggie} It is crazy to think that our time in Salasaca is now over and that we are leaving Ecuador on Thursday. So much has happened during these past 6 weeks, and Jonathan and I have grown so much as a result of the challenges and blessings the experience has brought. So here is our last week in Salasaca and some concluding thoughts... Monday and Tuesday I was sick most of the week before, so I was glad to be finally out of bed in time for conulant checking. The translation team had finished the comprehension check of the book of James --where they have a Salasacan read a passage and answers content questions-- so they were ready for the next step. We met with the consultant over Skype, and they went verse by verse through the book. It was a very neat experience. The consultant spoke a great deal of English the first day, so I was able to understand a lot. The next day he spoke mainly in Spanish, but Larry let me know what was going on. James was an internsting book to observe becaus...

More Youth Ministry [Jonathan] On Friday night we had some thirty students come for our second youth meeting at the translation center, probably half of them aren't believers, and maybe 7-10 of them I've never seen before. It was exciting to see so many people come. We played games as best we could, crammed into the room we had at our disposal. We barely fit everyone in, but fit we did! Afterwards we had a time of singing and a devotional. I talked about either being slaves to sin, or slaves to Christ. About 10 people left when we took out the Bible, unfortunately, and they came back after we had finished. I was a little discouraged by that, not for myself as much as for their own sake--I really wanted them to hear the truth and the good news. I keep praying for them. Please pray with me in this. On Saturday night, late, it all of a sudden dawned on me that I hadn't planned the lesson for Sunday! I was falling asleep and felt rather ashamed for having overlooked one of th...

[Jonathan] Many things have happened in the last two weeks that make us feel like we're finally beginning our ministry here in Salasaca. It makes it hard to think that we are leaving Salasaca in only 10 days. We've had more cultural experiences, deepened relationships, learned more of the language, and have grown even more, and it feels like we've only just begun. Linguists Hard at Work The back translation for the book of James has been sent in to the consultant. A back translation is the Quichua translated back word for word (pretty much) into Spanish. This is then checked for accuracy by the consultant before going to a committee which will then further check it for accuracy. Maggie got to sit in on the comprehension check of James: The book was read in the Quichua and a young man answered comprehension questions based on what was read. Maggie is currently hard at work on a tri-linear story using IPA, Quichua, and English. This short story about a bird and an ant serves...