Two murders foretold: 1 despairing, 1 hopeful

The video proved it, right?

Days after Guatemalan attorney Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano was murdered in June 2009, the video surfaced in which he had pre-recorded this message: “Good afternoon. My name is Rodrigo Rosenberg Marzano and, alas, if you are hearing or seeing this message it means that I’ve been murdered by President Álvaro Colom, with the help of Gustavo Alejos.”

Well, that sounds like this murder case will be quite straightforward. But as David Grann tells us in his beautifully written article in the April 4 New Yorker, “A Murder Foretold” truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Guatemala is a land of enchantment, beauty & grace. But as the story recounts, it remains sadly burdened by dark forces that tear at its soul, leaving many people without hope and some driven by vengeance.

“Guatemala is a good place to commit a murder, because you will almost certainly get away with it,” a U.N. official has said.

Rosenberg’s murder happened just days before my friend Darren & I visited Guatemala in June 2009 for a little more than a month. At the time, I wondered whether the president would survive in office or be forced out by the uproar prompted by Rosenberg’s accusations.

Since then, I hadn’t paid too much attention to headlines because I suspected that Colom must be guilty, and surely I would eventually see a headline announcing this news.

Why else would a man record a video like Rosenberg did, unless his accusations were true?

The story, however, turns on one conspiracy after another — a virtual labyrinth of conspiracies —, leaving the reader wondering whether truth will ever appear around the corner. (Grann wisely never delves too deeply in what he calls the “parallel state” of Guatemala’s nefarious criminal networks that actually run things there — a decision that probably saved his neck, allowing him to live to tell the story.)

In the end, we see deeply flawed individuals fighting sometimes valiantly, sometimes schizophrenically for a sense of justice, honor and love.

I couldn’t help see some irony, though, in how Rosenberg, hailed as a “national hero,” ultimately falls sadly short of deserving the title.

Another murder — foretold hundreds of years before it happened — witnesses to the depth of depravity in man, and the foreknowledge, wisdom and grace of divine providence. The Prophet Isaiah does the foretelling in the 53rd chapter of his prophecy:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
 yet he opened not his mouth;
 like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
 and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
 so he opened not his mouth.
8By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
 and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
 stricken for the transgression of my people? 
9And they made his grave with the wicked
 and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
 and there was no deceit in his mouth.
 10Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
 he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
 he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
 make many to be accounted righteous,
 and he shall bear their iniquities. — Isaiah 53:7-10.

In a strange way, I think Rosenberg may have been trying to save his country, but like all of us except for the Messiah, he was plagued by sin, which in his case, apparently included mixed motives, dark vengeance, broken vows and deep despair.

Jesus Christ, on the other hand, suffered innocently for the sins of others and died and rose again so that we might have life.

"He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls." — 1 Peter 2:22-25.

Read Grann's "A Murder Foretold" here.

Read Isaiah's Suffering Servant Messiah Prophecy (aka, the murder of the Son of God foretold) here.

Spiritual transformation through God's Word

This is a good video, filmed in 2009, on the power of God's Word, working in Guatemala, giving hope, restoring families, saving lives. Some familiar places & faces. May God transform Guatemala and deliver it from the many scourges that plague it.

Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
O LORD, God of hosts.
— Jeremiah 15:16 (ESV)

Musing on lynch mobs, crucifixion & Easter

Violence grabs headlines because it shocks us, shattering and scarring lives, leaving a void at the dinner table or in bed.

Sadly, Guatemala remains one of the 10 most violent countries on the planet — a dubious distinction considering the group includes countries at war. Since 1996, Guatemala has supposedly been at peace, its 30-year civil war ended, but old-timers have told me they felt safer when the civil war raged.

In such a context, a lynch mob’s eye-for-eye response to violence is understandable and often welcomed by many. The locals see it as a “limpieza” or cleansing.

As we approach Easter (April 4, 2010), it occurs to me that this time of year celebrates what happened after a mob had its way with the Son of God, the only sinless one to walk this earth. To be more accurate, the mob condemned Jesus Christ and handed him over to professional killers for his crucifixion.

Lynch mobs aren’t known for cool, rational thought.

Some 16 years ago, a friend hurried to town in the Guatemalan mountains searching for his children amidst a lynch mob. He told me he met a friend there shouting among the mob whose mind seemed off a bit, as if he were in a fog, stirred up by frenzied rumors and fears. Only after my friend asked a series of questions, did the man come out of the “fog” and decide to go home, away from the danger.

In the weeks leading up to his crucifixion, Jesus Christ willingly walked toward Jerusalem as a lamb to the slaughter, knowing he faced a friendly, welcoming crowd whose allegiance would pivot within days and begin to thirst for his blood. He knew the Jewish religious rulers, jealous of his fame, had effectively issued a death sentence for him, seeking any means possible to take his life and restore their perverted sense of order — illegitimate, hypocritical power before peons.

Yet the prophet Isaiah tells us this wasn’t the whole story.

According to Isaiah, God graciously had a hand in the unjust murder — the murder of the just for the unjust. God loved us and sent his son to his death for us ... and for his glory, promising the Christ would “prolong his days” and rise again to life.

“Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days,
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”
— Isaiah 53:10.

Yes, Roman soldiers hammered the nails through Jesus’ hands, but the Apostle Paul sheds further light:

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him,” — Colossians 2:13-15.

What was “set aside”? Our failures, debt records and “trespasses.”
Who nailed this record of our trespasses to the cross? God did.
Whose hands were nailed to the cross? Christ’s were.
Whose sins were nailed to the cross? Yours, mine and ours.

Who was killed? Christ was.
Who was dead in “trespasses” and sin? I was.
Who should have died for their sins? You and me.

Whose hands could not move? Christ’s hands.
Whose outstretched immobile arms “disarmed the rulers”? Christ’s arms.

Who was murdered? Christ was.
Who triumphed? Christ did.
Who loved? Christ did.
Who lives? Christ does and so do I by faith.
And so can you.

Happy Easter.

For more, see Acts 2:37-40.

1 lynched in Panajachel; 3 rescued by chopper

One man was lynched Saturday in Panajachel and three women in danger of being lynched were rescued by police helicopter from the normally tranquil tourist town of Panajachel beside beautiful Lake Atitlán.

The accused thief, Wálter González García, 30, allegedly stole about $850 from a vendor of traditional woven fabrics (such as this woman here), and was beaten to death in front of the municipal building by angry townspeople, according to the Prensa Libre, Guatemala’s most respected national newspaper.

They allegedly seized him after he robbed one vendor and later attempted to steal from another, according to Sololatecos.com, an online news source from Sololá.

The lynching echoed the prior week’s vigilantism in Sololá, which left three accused killers dead in the town market hours after a bus driver and a passenger were murdered.

The Panajachel crowd forced González to his hotel room, where he had stashed the stolen cash, Sololatecos.com reported. Upon seeing this evidence, the crowd proceeded to administer its own form of one-strike-you’re-out justice.

Police arrested three women, aged 32, 38 and 42, who were his alleged accomplices and placed them in jail.

Townspeople demanded the police turn over the women, but after about an hour-long confrontation, the police spirited them out the back, driving up a steep, winding road to Sololá, where the jail presumably must be safer (except for last week). But townspeople of San Jorge, just below Sololá, had blocked the road.

The crowd took possession of the women and marched them back down the hill to Panajachel, a descent of perhaps 1,000 feet elevation. They doused the women with gasoline and prepared to burn them.

Police managed to disperse the crowd and rescue the women, flying them to safety in a helicopter. Townspeople, however, managed to torch four police vehicles.

At least three men were lynched in Huehuetenango the past weekend, and a man in another rural town. The uptick in vigilantism — more than 40 this year — left some government officials preoccupied.

This (Spanish-language) Noticiero Departmental video report from (Sololatecos.com) shows the day's events in Pana.

Three lynched after Sololá bus driver killed

Reacting swiftly to two violent murders Friday, Sololá residents hours later lynched three people allegedly responsible, destroying government offices, the police station, three police vehicles and a taxi in the process.

In recent years, criminal gangs have targeted Guatemalan bus drivers for extortion, often exacting a lethal price when drivers refuse to pay.

On Friday, this bloody poison touched Sololá for the first time, leaving a local bus driver and a passenger dead less than a mile from where I lived last year. The bus, traveling down a steep hill, might have plunged off a cliff and left more dead (including a friend’s brother) had it not struck a telephone pole.

In 2008, about 147 Guatemalan bus drivers were killed. According to one published account, there have been 199 bus drivers and assistants murdered this year, mostly near the capital.

As in recent years, Sololá’s strongly traditional Mayan townspeople took matters into their own hands, showing no confidence — with good reason, unfortunately — in the national authorities to administer justice.

The suspects’ ill-conceived getaway plan proved to be their downfall. After they shot and killed the bus driver, Helmer Augusto de León García, 32, and passenger Marvin Gonzáles (the son of a former Sololá pastor), the alleged killers attempted to flee in a taxi. Townspeople somehow learned of this and managed to capture them before police intervened.

Police placed the three — two men and a woman — under arrest, transferring them to the town jail, but that turned out not to be a safe place. As the town’s informal justice system swung quickly into action, locals blockaded all roads in and out of Sololá. A mob somewhere between 300 and 3,000 demanded police turn over the trio, showing they meant business by overturning and torching three police pick-up trucks and the getaway taxi.

A palpable fear hung over the town. It was market day, when farmers and vendors crowd into town from the surrounding hillsides to sell their goods, but by the afternoon they had fled, leaving the market square strangely empty. My friend Jose was trying to give a seminar at Viña Studios on audio-video production to visitors from Peru, Ecuador and the States, and had to take measures to protect his guests and property. He lives just blocks from downtown and expressed relief that his children were with him at work that day.

Police tried to control the crowd, lobbing tear gas canisters. Police positioned themselves in front of the police station and atop nearby two-story buildings. Their efforts proved futile.

The mob set fire to the police station and the local government office, gutting both buildings. By some miracle, none of the 38 or more prisoners inside the town jail were killed or asphyxiated by the blaze.

Authorities may have been frightened at seeing their offices ablaze because not long after that, the alleged killers appeared in front of the green and yellow Wal-Mart-owned grocery store, La Dispensa Familiar, which, along with other businesses had closed down because of the tumult.

The mob took over, beating the suspects unconscious, dousing them with gasoline and setting them on fire by the central park, where buses park to wait for passengers.

They were identified by the Prensa Libre as Edwin Rivas Viña, 29, Lilian Mabel Ovalle Gonzales, 21, and Geyson Omar López García, 16, all apparently from Zone 6 or 7 of Guatemala City.

Friends here often ask me, why bus drivers? They’re not the only ones killed or targeted for extortion. I think there are around 10 to 15 murders a day in Guatemala.

But bus drivers are relatively easy, defenseless targets, and the killings always result in high-profile news, striking fear into hearts across the country. Some gangs also apparently use the killings as an initiation into the ranks.

If you think of it, please pray for the country. Average Guatemalans are plagued by all-too-common violence, and no matter who is elected the politicians have proven powerless to provide security.

***********

(This report and its images were compiled from reports in the Prensa Libre, Sololatecos.com, Noti5 TV of Sololá and from friends' accounts.)

Here are a couple of links to Spanish-language video reports of the day’s events. (WARNING: they show some very disturbing images.)

• Sololá cable TV Noti5 report:
  
  
  
  
• Noticiero Departmental report:

Print reports:

• Latin America Herald — "Three Suspected Criminals Lynched in Guatemala"
• BBC News — “Pay up or die: Guatemala City bus drivers targeted”
• Prensa Libre — “Linchan a dos adultos…”
• Prensa Libre — “Sololá empieza el fin de semana con las secuelas de linchamiento”

Media highlight Maya discoveries at 'El Mirador'

I stumbled across a two-week old CNN video special "Mirador: The Forgotten City" online today. "El Mirador" was a pre-classic Mayan city, boasting dozens of pyramids, up to 100,000 people and a huge urban center, abandoned around 150 A.D.

One thing led to another. I found some interesting videos, and decided to post them here. CNN's Brooke Baldwin does a nice job with her four-part series "Uncovering a masterpiece the Mayans left behind."

Here's a taste, the first of Baldwin's four-part series:



Go to CNN's blog "In the Field," to see all four videos.

Apparently, archaeologists unearthed some huge stucco panels at El Mirador earlier this year that depict the Popol Vuh Mayan creation myth. The Global Heritage Fund's blog explains this "Maya Myth Revealed." The find, possibly dating to 300 B.C., is significant, experts say, because it shows the Popol Vuh story was not influenced by Spanish invaders in the 16th century.

Reuters and National Geographic also produced excellent, short videos of the site within the past couple of months.

The National Geographic video "The Tombs of El Mirador" excels with its camera work and 3D-computer recreations, noting El Mirador predates classic Maya cities of Tikal, Copán, Palenque and the rest, and documenting archaeologist Richard Hansen's work to find records of the personalities, specifically in the tombs of its rulers.



Reuters contributed "DNA to prove attack on ancient Maya city," examining research into DNA blood-typing from spear and arrow tips found atop "El Tigre," one of the pyramids at El Mirador. Archaeologists are hoping to determine whether a battle took place between the Maya and Aztecs from Mexico's Teotihuacán area, possibly leading to El Mirador's demise.



(* It turns out Hansen's claim is incorrect — that El Mirador's "La Danta" pyramid is the largest pyramid in volume in the world. Guinness has apparently given that honor to the Aztec pyramid "Cholula," (not the hot sauce) just outside of Puebla, Mexico.)

Other links on El Mirador:

Searching The Jungle For Buried Mayan Treasure In Guatemala from the Waterbury (Conn.) Observer

The First Great Maya City from Crystal Lotus, a New Age spiritist website.

A Peace Corps volunteer visits Mirador, blogs about it on Undersong Adventure, and posts many photos.

Mirador Archaeological and Wildlife Area from the Global Heritage Network

Photos and project index from Mirador by the Global Heritage Network

'Magic beans' story revives memories

Waiting at the local DMV office for a new driver’s license today, I came across a fascinating magazine article on three of my favorite things: chocolate, Mayans and Guatemala.

“Magic Beans,” by Peter Kaminsky tells the story of a California chocolatier, John Scharffenberger, who stumbled upon some magic cacao beans that led him on an auspicious journey to Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.

Kaminsky starts the story well: describing Mayans reaction to eating gourmet chocolate for the first time. Of course, they loved it. But the funny thing is — sad, really — most Mayans don’t get to eat gourmet chocolate, despite, apparently, growing some of the world’s best cacao beans. It gets better. ...

Click here to go to Condé Nast Traveler's story, “Magic Beans.”

Scharffenberger describes a bit of the trip in his own words on his “Chocolate Maker's Journal. Scroll down to the entry, 3/16/09 - OUR GUATEMALAN BEANS HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED to read about his trip there in his own words. If I remember correctly, the delicious, spicy turkey soup

that he describes is called kaq' iq' and is eaten with plain corn tamales.

For an article on some Mayan women making “artisanal chocolate,” here is a short story, “The Chocolate Makers of Santa Rose Chivité.”

I first learned about cacao during a missions trip to Honduras in February, 2000. The cacao fruit grow directly on the tree trunks and and limbs, and when cracked open they reveal bitter seeds or beans enveloped in a tangy sweet mess. I loved sucking that stuff off the beans because it tasted like gummy bears to me.

Home again, hello again Dr. Ajo

WILLAMETTE VALLEY, Oregon — For five weeks, my system seemed impervious to Montezuma’s malignant assault, while Darren suffered.

But once we got back from Guatemala, Darren was fine (thanks to Cipro), but suddenly my defenses seemed weaker than a sombrero against a lightning strike.

Unfortunately, I forgot to stock up on cheap amoeba pills before we left Guatemala. Now, I’m not in favor of President Obama’s expensive nationalized health care ideas, but it sure would be nice if I could walk through the door of a doctor’s office without getting dinged $100 just to ask for some amoeba pills. Turns out, I can’t.

So I apologize right here for my odiferous breath, but I’m back with the more economical Dr. Ajo (Spanish for garlic). I’m happy to report that it’s working fine.

Darren's search for Verapaz reaches its end

SAN CRISTOBAL VERAPAZ, Guatemala — Darren’s search for Verapaz reached its destination Wednesday evening as we rolled into town.

Whether it's all Darren ever imagined, I can't tell you. When I asked him what was behind his "Search for Verapaz" blog name he said, "That's a really long story, and I don't have time to tell you." Shucks.

Anyway, we bade farewell to Viña Studios’ recording crew in San Miguel and to Rodrigo and Carol Barrera, who showed us kind hospitality during our three-day visit there. Moments after stepping outside the Barreras’ door, a wonderful sight appeared — a public bus bearing down upon us.

I signaled it, and we were off to Salamá and then La Cumbre, a crossroads where we disembarked to hail another bus — of the Monja Blanca (white nun) bus company. I like those buses. They’re large, comfortable buses with comfortable seats and way more legroom than most chicken buses. The mountains of Alta Verapaz are more densely wooded with pines than those near Sololá.

Once we arrived and found a hotel, we stopped by to visit Doña Armenia, who rented a room to me here while I tutored Boris and Beth Ramirez’s three oldest boys in 2002. It was great to see her again and get caught up.

Yesterday, we stopped by to visit Bill Brierly, founder and director of Hope for the Pokomchi, a Christian-based community development group whose offices are near Lake Chicoj.

Bill and his wife Linda have been working in the area 10 years here with Pokomchi people in remote villages, providing water, safe cookstoves, education, scholarships and more. Linda left for the states a couple of days ago to rest up and visit family. She has been suffering some health problems since contracting Lyme’s disease here three years ago.

Bill shared stories of their work and his passion for helping the Pokomchí in the name of Christ. Their work is somewhat similar to his earlier career as a Canadian park ranger, hiking demanding hills to reach small Pokomchí villages. Bill and Linda will retire later this year to a small cabin in British Colombia. Please pray for a smooth transition for the new couple who will replace them.

This afternoon, Darren and I will visit the Ramirez clan. I think all but two of their 11 children are here, I believe, as they returned to their home in Nisnic to conclude the New Testament translation into the Pokomchí language. Tomorrow we head back to Sololá, leaving bright and early at 3 a.m.

So we're off on a hike to the Ramirezes, and I'm going to ask Darren to fill me in on the "really long story" behind his blog name. (I'll try to have more photos up later today, perhaps.)

Achí 'devil' gets tongue-tied during temptation

SAN MIGUEL CHICAJ, Guatemala — Amid false starts, tongue tripping and laughter, the devil spent the better part of Tuesday morning tempting Jesus.

The devil wouldn’t have spent so long if he were more used to reading his native language. But this young devil — played by a young Achí Mayan man named Rodriguez — struggled to read his native language.

So began the New Testament recording here in the Rabinal Achí Mayan language. After lunch, the devil rode off on his bicycle, content he had done his work well.

Viña Studios’ recording duo, Carlos and Miguel, are directing the recording which will provide Achí speakers with an audio version of the translated New Testament. The recording is the 28th that Viña has produced. It is sponsored by the New Mexico-based ministry, Faith Comes By Hearing, which has recorded more than 300 audio Scripture translations.

After the devil (a local teacher) departed, an unknown disciple and Martha, the sister of Mary, entered the studio to record their biblical lines for the dramatized recording. Faith Comes By Hearing has found that indigenous peoples respond better to dramatized recordings, and each one requires 25 different readers.

Rodrigo and Carol Barrera worked together on the translation for nearly 35 years before shipping it to the printers in Korea earlier this year. “Two years ago I thought we had finished,” Rodrigo told me last evening. Then, his supervisors with SIL International advised him to use a computer program to recheck the translation, taking special care in difficult passages. “I thought we had finished and I cried with happiness, but it was good that we revised it. They were things that had escaped us.”

Viña’s audio recording may be released at about the same time or sooner than the printed Scriptures, sometime early next year.

Rodrigo Barrera saw power of film in wartime

SAN MIGUEL CHICAJ, Guatemala — Wartime ministry wasn’t a theme with mere spiritual implications for “Don Rodrigo” and Carol Barrera.

During the height of Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, they traveled the mountains of Baja Verapaz with a cassette tape recording of the Gospel of Luke in the Achí language, and the Genesis Project’s film version of Luke, playing it before illiterate audiences, many of whom had never seen a film before.

One evening, Rodrigo set up a bed sheet for the screen and began playing the Luke video and the cassette player. The crude setup required improvisation. When the tape fell behind, Rodrigo had to fast forward it to catch up with the film.

As it got dark, they saw about 200 torches comeing toward them. Military death squads had been operating in the area, and guerrillas and the army had been fighting each other. The Barreras feared the worst, but Rodrigo began praying. Not long before, the townspeople had evicted evangelical believers from their midst. Fear and mistrust dominated the people.

“We didn’t know who it was,” Carol said, recalling the group’s approach.

“Well, I took my two kids, and elias and I just prayed and prayed,” Rodrigo said. The group reached the audience at the point in the film when soldiers were crucifying Jesus on the cross. A leader of the torch-bearing crowd approached the bed-sheet screen to set it afire, but the people cried out in protest. “No, no, we want to see what happens,” they said.

The torches went off, and the crowd joined the audience watching the film.

Later, as he walked around the crowd, Rodrigo noticed a man with tears running down his face. “I have heard all my life that Jesus had suffered for us, but I never understood that it was this way,” he said.

Experiences such as this confirmed to Rodrigo the value and power of oral media to communicate spiritual truths. His convictions and testimony also apparently played a pivotal role in helping Viña Studios get its start.

By God’s providence, one day in about 1983 or 1984, Rodrigo and some of his Achí friends visited SIL International’s Central American Branch office in Guatemala City. As they walked through a meeting room, administrators happened to be meeting to discuss the future of an audio-video recording studio in the branch office. They had been planning to shut it down, perhaps to save costs.

But as Rodrigo passed through the room, they stopped him and asked him to share of any reports he had of their ministry using oral media. Rodrigo shared about their recent experiences, the people’s response to film showings and cassette recordings. The leaders were greatly encouraged by the report, and eventually the SIL branch studio was moved to Sololá to become Viña Studios.

“This was a time when Viña was not about to be born,” Rodrigo said. “But they called us and said. ‘Let’s see what’s going on.’ The whole thing switched around, and they approved Viña Productions.”

Achí helpers 'discover' Word as they translate

SAN MIGUEL CHICAJ, Guatemala — Their future remains uncertain, but Rodrigo and Carol Barrera look back with satisfaction and gratitude on their lives translating the New Testament into the Rabinal Achí language.

Rodrigo rattles off names of Achí men and women — Elías, Toribio, Kike, Estér, Vicenta and Eder — who helped them with the translation over the past 30-plus years, and whose lives they touched. Many are now leaders in area churches.

“It has been exciting to see as they go along how they’re discovering the Scripture,” Rodrigo said. One young man, Toribio, quit a good job working for a Guatemalan electric company to become a pastor. During the worst years of Guatemala’s civil war, Toribio stayed with them in the capital city, aiding them with the translation in the evenings.

“He was just so anxious to come back. He was saying, ‘I’ve been thinking about what we’ve been translating,’” Rodrigo recalled. “He would come with an answer to a translation problem. He was really into it. The word will do its job and just come through to the people.” Toribio now pastors a large Nazarene church in another city.

Rodrigo and Carol look forward to the publication of the Achí New Testament (probably early next year) and express excitement at arrival of Viña Studios' recording crew this week to record a dramatized audio version.

The Barreras arrived here to begin the translation in November 1975. Several months later, the 1976 earthquake hit, killing some 20,000 people, and they became involved with reconstruction.

Originally from Mexico City, Rodrigo was first asked by Wycliffe Bible Translators to go to India or Nepal. He agreed, but then the doors closed to India and he was asked to come here. Carol, a Wyoming native, joined him here as his co-translator, and they had two children, a son and a daughter.

Along the way, they worked with Achí speakers to teach literacy in their mother tongue. As with most minority languages, Achí is almost exclusively a spoken language with scant written materials. So the Barreras and their Achí co-laborers traveled the hills to teach Achí reading and writing.

Teaching a class once on someone’s inner patio, Rodrigo noticed an older, illiterate Achí man paying close attention to the instruction. The man sat transfixed as the teacher pronounced different syllables — “Ri, re, ra, ro, ru” — to show how sounds are put together and reduced to writing. “He jumped with the answer,” Rodrigo recalled. “I mean it was for kids, young kids, but he discovered that he could read. His face was so bright. It was an amazing thing to see this old man suddenly discover that he could do it.”

The Barreras have become convinced of the power of oral media to communicate the Gospel and impact lives. Many years ago, they asked Elías, an Achí translation partner, to record the Gospel of Luke on a simple tape recorder. Then they distributed the tapes. One evening, they visited a church in a small town. During the service, a young boy named Giovani of about 7 or 8 years began to speak from the altar.

“He started reciting by memory chapter after chapter after chapter — about seven chapters just by memory with the very same intonation as Elias on the tape,” Rodrigo said. “We just sat there in amazement. ... The people were just as amazed as we were.”

Achí believers have been eager to receive the Scripture translation. Over the years, the Barreras published several books of the Bible, including the Gospels of John and Luke, as well as Acts, Revelation and some epistles. “People would grab them and read them and say, ‘Wow this is so clear. I can really understand the Word of God,’” Rodrigo recalled.

“We enjoy the translation,” said Estér, a local Achí woman who for 15 years helped the Barreras translate God’s word. “There are a lot of people who come and ask us, ‘When will the translation be published?’ because they want to read the material.”

“We have always thought, ‘This year, this year’ it will be published, but it never happened,” Estér said, “but finally it will be.” Recent movement by the Guatemalan government to support indigenous languages may help the Scriptures’ acceptance and use, she said.

“There are many people who understand the Achí language better,” said Benedicto, an Achí Nazarene church pastor. “The men understand Spanish better, but there are many women who do not, and you can see them falling asleep during the preaching because they don’t understand Spanish.”

The Achí believers hope God’s word will be a blessing for their people. Estér noted that after having read God’s word several times in the Achí language her understanding of God has grown. “It put a love for God’s word in my heart,” she said. “They don’t understand the Spanish very well so we enjoy it in our language because there it’s all clear.”

Achí churches are ready to receive the Scriptures, Rodrigo believes. “They’ve been ready for a long time.”

Literacy work continues as some young believers are traveling the hills around San Miguel to teach Achí people to read and write their own language.

Meanwhile, the Barreras continue to wait on God’s direction for their future. They may remain in San Miguel to continue working with area believers, promoting the Scriptures, helping with an Old Testament translation, or they may move elsewhere, perhaps to India or Mexico to assist other translation projects.

A los Verapazes

Within a few minutes, Darren and I will head out for las Verapazes with Carlos and Miguel from Viña Studios. It’s our first major trip during our stay, and we’re looking forward to it.

We will be visiting the Ramirez family in San Cristobal, friends from my first trip to Guatemala in 2002. Beth and Boris have been busily translating the New Testament to the Pokomchi language since the 1980s. Along the way, their family grew abundantly to 11 children, which includes an adopted daughter from the village there.

Prior to arriving there, we will accompany Carlos and Miguel to San Miguel where they will be recording the New Testment in the Rabinal Achí language.

Once we get to San Cristobal, I’m hoping to see the Hope for the Pokomchi ministry as well, directed by Bill and Linda Brierly. They do community development work in the name of Christ.

Last evening, I got to thinking that it would be a good idea to visit Isidro and his wife in Guatemala City and see how little Juanito is doing. So, God willing, I think I’ll try to make a stop there and catch up to the Viña crew later.

Boy remains hospitalized in Guatemala City

Isidro’s son Juanito remains in serious condition today at a government hospital’s intensive care unit in Guatemala City.

He was transferred there late June 19 after an emotional day for his parents and family. Doctors have been trying various medications, and Juanito, 2, has been connected to several life-support machines in the meantime.

I spoke with Isidro briefly yesterday as he traveled on a noisy bus. Apparently, they have received housing somewhere closer to the hospital, after having to travel nearly 45 minutes to a brother’s house each day earlier this week.

Isidro said doctors may begin taking away some life-support machines in hopes Juanito’s body will respond and be able to sustain his life on its own. He said they may be there in Guatemala City for a couple more weeks.

Viña worker's son remains serious

SOLOLÁ — Juanito remained in serious condition at the hospital when Chepe and I left there this afternoon.

It was an emotionally exhausting day for Juanito’s parents, Isidro and Isabel, who remained there with him. His condition worsened overnight as he began to pass bloody urine and stool.

At one point, we were told 2-year-old Juanito had died. Later we learned that was not true.

During one-at-a-time visiting hours, Isidro’s father, a brother, a sister-in-law and another relative came to visit them, along with my friend Chepe and I. Juanito was lying on a little table, when I went in, and three medical staff hovered over him. His mother sat crying behind them. Isidro stood to the right of them where he could see.

A young pediatrician of about 30 years directed two other health staff — both men. One was seated, periodically squeezing an air pump to provide oxygen through a tube in Juanito’s mouth. On the other side of a table, two bags hung from a rack — one was an IV for fluids, another was a blood transfusion.

A machine with four squiggly lines showed his vital signs, beeping regularly. At one point, I heard a high-pitched steady squeal, which made me wonder whether Juanito’s heart had stopped. The boy’s mother may have wondered about the noise as well because she got up with an anxious look on her face and walked around the table for a better look.

The doctor gave an order, and the third health care worker walked behind us to unplug something on the other side of the room. The noise stopped. It wasn’t what I thought.
Juanito lay under a lamp, blinking periodically, moving his arms. I thought his color looked good.

Before I left, I heard the doctor ask the boy’s parents, “Are you sure you don’t want to send him to Guatemala City?”

Earlier, they had apparently been told Juanito would probably die today, and they made the painful decision not to send him to a better equipped hospital only to have him die in an ambulance en route. The doctor’s advice seemed to go back and forth today, saying they should send Juanito to the capital, then saying, maybe not because he could die on the way.