NEBAJ, Guatemala— When Ray Elliott and his wife, Helen, took the job of student pastor at a small church in northwest Oklahoma, he had no idea he would one day wind up here in this small, fertile valley where people speak a strange language.
But just as Elliott and his wife were trying to make a good impression on the townspeople, God sent an itinerant preacher from Arkansas riding into town on horseback. The preacher had lived a hard life and was dying of syphilis, having converted to faith in Jesus Christ late in life.
But the preacher recognized the difference between do-good religion and faith firmly placed in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. So the preacher kept after the Elliotts, trying to persuade them. He annoyed them, but God used his persistence and one evening they both came to faith in the true Gospel of grace.
“After we were led to the Lord by this preacher, the Scriptures took on a whole new meaning to me,” Elliott told a dinner crowd of more than 100 people here Monday to attend Tuesday’s dedication of the Ixil Bible translation. “It still amazes me.”
Meanwhile, the Lord had sent a blind man to Nebaj. The man, a follower of Jesus Christ, desired to share God’s Word with the people, but he didn’t speak Ixil and knew he wasn’t the man to do the job of translating the Scriptures. So he began praying.
After Elliott received Bible training at Wheaton College, he planned to go to China and become a missionary, serving with Hudson Taylor’s China Inland Mission. “As it turned out, 1949 was not a good year to go to China,” Elliott said.
So on the fourth of July, 1953, Elliott and his wife stepped foot in Guatemala, heading to Nebaj to answer the blind man’s prayers, having heeded the pleadings of the dying, horseback preacher.
Still bemused at his first faltering attempts to master the strange sounds of Ixil, Elliott related how much trouble he had trying to learn to say the Ixil word for “dog” correctly. First his language helper said the word; then he tried it. No, that’s not it. He tried again. No, that’s not it either. “No, that means to eat meat or bite somebody,” the man told Elliott.
“It went along that way for quite a while,” Elliott said. “Finally, I said ‘chit’ and he said, ‘Yeah, that’s it!’” Elliott said he thought to himself, “What did I do different?”
After three years of studying the Ixil language, Elliott decided to try to translate a Bible story. Then he traveled to Chaju
l, one of the three towns in the so-called “Ixil Triangle.” There, he told the story to a man, anticipating a good response. After he finished, the man said, “That sounded pretty good, but when are you going to do that in my language?” About that time, Elliott began to realize just how profound the differences are between the languages spoken in the three towns: Nebaj, Chajul and Cotzal. He compares them to Italian, Spanish and French, saying, “I don’t know anybody who says those are the same language.”
In 1960, he translated the Gospel of Mark. Though he later felt embarrassed at how it read, he said God amazed him by using it to start new congregations of believers in places he had never visited.
As he continued his work, Elliott encountered new problems. When Jesus called Andrew and Peter, who were along the Sea of Galilee, which one was the oldest? When Jesus turned over the tables and chairs in the temple, did the chairs land on their sides or with the legs pointing up?
He hit more rough water at I Peter 5:7, where Peter writes, “Cast all your cares on God because he cares for you.” As Elliott doggedly attempted to state the idea several different ways, his Ixil co-translator continued to refuse every version. Finally, Elliott asked, “Well, if we say that, what would an Ixil person think?”
“Well, if we said that, people would get the idea that God was individually interested in them, and we can’t say that,” the man answered.
Elliott said, “That’s exactly what it says and what I’m trying to say.” Hearing that and finally understanding it, the man leaned back in his chair and started to laugh.
“The God who created the universe is interested in me?!” the man asked. Elliott added, “He couldn’t get over it.” When the man returned home, he told his family the new things he had learned and it revolutionized their lives, Elliott said, noting, “It reminded me how God’s word can change lives when people hear it and obey it.”
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Note: Through a series of events and the untimely deaths of at least two translators, the Nebaj Ixil translation later involved about a half dozen different linguists, including David Henne, Dwight Jewitt, an Ixil woman named Juana, and Tim Carey (some are pictured here). It was finally finished last year and published this year. Viña Studios recording team came here in February and March to record it. Locals should be able to hear it later this year when it becomes available through Faith Comes By Hearing.
Musicians pictured above accompanied Monday evening's dinner. Primarily, they are the family of Benito Brito, director of the Centro Educativo Cristiano Ixil. The dinner was organized by Sharon Rosenwald, an SIL International worker, whose webpage has more information about the Ixil here in Nebaj.
It was touching to see all eight of Elliott's children in attendance at the dinner last evening. They all arrived here for a week together and to attend the dedication today, touring Viña's offices last Thursday and praying for our ministry.
This week Nebaj holds its annual celebration with lots of fireworks and beautiful princesses. Above there's a photo of a young Ixil princess ready to be carted off to the stage for pomp and ceremony.
For Spanish readers, there's a lot of information about Nebaj and the Ixil on this website.
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