Poqomchí visitors recording 'God's Story'

A trio of Mayans from San Cristobal Verapaz joined us here at Viña Studios this week, recording the Poqomchí narration in their language for “God’s Story,” a video giving a panoramic view of God’s plan of salvation.

The Poqomchí live in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, a lush, wooded mountainous area in the Central Mountains of Guatemala, where you can still occasionally spot a quetzal, Guatemala's national bird. These believers hail from San Cristobal, the town I lived and worked in for four months in 2002, during my first visit to Guatemala, tutoring missionary children of Boris and Beth Ramirez, Bible translators.

Pastor Rumaldo Ixim of the Iglesia de Dios Evangelio Completo de Chiyuc has been working long, hard hours, serving as the film's narrator. Two Poqomchí young women, Glenda and Anabela, are serving as the recording's monitors, carefully listening to his reading of the translated script.

Most Mayans are unaccustomed to reading their own language, and Pastor Rumaldo is no different. He has had to reread his lines dozens and dozens of times, trying to get them to fit exactly within the time slot available for each line.

It’s exhausting work. They’ve been working diligently, beginning each day at about 7:30 a.m. and continuing past 6 p.m. some days. The evangelistic movie tells the Bible story with just one person’s voice narrating the entire film. If it weren’t for that, I’m sure Pastor Rumaldo would be glad to have a break and let someone else read for a while.

“We never imagined it would be this difficult or take this long,” Glenda told me, noting they’ve learned much in the translation and recording process.

The recording being sponsored by the Asociación Saqombal Poqon, a community development group also known as Hope for the Pokomchí. The group commissioned a translation of the movie script, which took three months to complete. The recording should finish by Saturday, a six-day process. Editing, mastering and producing DVDs will likely take another three months.

Pastor Rumaldo told me his back is getting sore from sitting in the same position before the microphone for so long. Glenda and Anabela are patiently and good-humoredly correcting him and helping him in his task. Two Viña recording technicians are also attending the project.

Today the team surprised us by ordering the traditional Kaqchikel Mayan meal, pulik, saying they wanted to try it and share it with us. The Viña crew was happy to oblige them and join them for a delicious meal. Apparently, the Tzutujil across Lake Atitlán also make this meal, although reading this recipe for pulik that I found, it appears to be slightly different (though no doubt delicious). The ladies also tried on some of the local dress, provided by some local ladies, and our fellows were happy to snap their photos.

Please pray for the Poqomchí version of “God’s Story,” that it may serve as a blessing for the Poqomchí people, helping people to understand and grow in God's great love and grace.

While you're at it, the Ramirez family will be returning to Guatemala in November to try to get over the hump and finish up the Poqomchí New Testament translation. I'm sure they would appreciate prayers. I think they're hoping to finish within a year.