Grateful listeners tuning in to God's Word

SOLOLÁ — Many Kaqchikel Mayans have been listening to God’s Word in their own language, calling to thank their local radio stations for playing it.

One radio station receives four to five calls from listeners every time they play the dramatized Kaqchikel audio New Testament, according to Victor, a worker at the station. The station plays Scriptures four times a week at 6 p.m. Each program lasts 30 minutes, and they have already reached the Gospel of Luke.

Brother Isidro and I visited six radio stations yesterday, checking to see how things are going where we had given copies of the audio Scriptures about a month ago. Listeners have said that hearing the Word helps them grow in understanding God’s Word.

The first station was the stand-out. Others told us they are playing the Scriptures, but they play them at irregular times. One station owner’s answer left us doubting whether he’s played the recording yet or not, but we hope he will in the future.

Folks here at Viña Studios recorded the audio Scriptures for Faith Comes By Hearing, a ministry based in Albuquerque, N.M., shortly after the New Testament was published in 1996. But few people know about the audio or printed translation. We’re hoping airplay will change that and spark interest in God’s word.

At another station, where the station owner’s wife was operating the controls, she phoned him to tell him we had arrived. This apparently caused a bit of panic because he thought we were going to take the audio Scripture CDs with us. Through his wife, he asked if we could make him a copy of the two-CD set and leave it for the station. It makes me smile, but that wasn’t our intent. Later, I told Isidro, “He obviously values the recording, since he got so worried about us taking it with us.”

That man seemed to have a real heart for the Lord and for ministry. Each week, he does a youth radio program, reading from a book, “Escape For Your Life.” The book addresses problems facing young people. He received two calls from young people, thanking him for the radio program, saying it stopped them from committing suicide.

Isidro suggested the radio station owner play some of the audio Scriptures as part of his program, and the owner’s wife seemed to think this was a good idea. At least that would put the Scriptures on the air at a regular time and people could look forward to it.

We experienced a bit of a delay midway in our journey when Isidro’s rickety old Toyota pickup decided to take a nap. I suggested we read some Scripture while the pickup napped. Wouldn’t you know, I picked the passage in I Peter 1, which reads, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials.” It wasn’t a very grievous trial, however. I enjoyed the break, actually. It was raining while I read. When the rain slowed up about 10 minutes later, Isidro hopped out and poked around under the hood. Fortunately, the motor responded.

The last station we visited apparently has technology problems. They don’t have the equipment to play the recording. Please pray for these stations and the people ministering to their community. If you’re interested in helping the last station update its technology let me know.

Headline: Two sons, bus drivers, killed by gangs

You could get the wrong idea about Guatemala, if you just read the newspapers. But if you don’t read the newspapers and only read the tour guides, you’d get the wrong idea as well.

I bought a newspaper Saturday and found a sad story: A Guatemalan woman lost a second bus-driving son, killed by gangs.

Three gang members on Friday shot and killed Ilda Lopez’ son, Marlon Estuardo Bautista López, a 26-year-old bus driver in Guatemala City; the gang members also killed López's cousin, Byron Leonel Ordóñez Alvarado, 24, who worked as Lopez’s assistant.

The pair didn’t have correct change to pay the gang members’ extortion money at 5 a.m., and that apparently angered the trio, who shot the driver 13 times and the helper — who leaped from the bus and tried to run away — four times in the head.

Sadly, Ilda Lopez lost another son two years ago — also a bus driver, also killed by gang members demanding extortion money.

*****

Almost weekly, local papers here run stories about repatriated Guatemalans, sent back by the United States, usually with a headline like, “End of the American Dream” — for not having legal status. The U.S. has repatriated several thousand Guatemalans already this year.

I didn’t realize, however, until Saturday that the Guatemalan president Álvaro Arzú in 1998 turned down a U.S. invitation to establish a program granting Guatemalans “Temporary Protection Status” to live and work in the states. Honduras, which has 70,000 citizens in the U.S. under this program, just renewed it this past week.

*****

Up in San Miguel Acatán, Huehuetenango, torrential rains caused a river to leap its banks and wipe out 26 homes, killing four people, and leaving at least 15 missing. Here’s a pickup that likely won’t be the same again.

Here's a write-up in a Palm Beach, Florida newspaper, showing a connection between a Guatemalan community there and San Miguel Acatán.

Violence affects audio Bible projects in India

We received sobering news today from Faith Comes By Hearing regarding ministry partners in India who are suffering under the wave of persecution against Christians that has swept India’s Orissa state in the last month.

Three people who were serving as readers for an audio-Scripture recording project in Orissa have been killed, and on another Orissa project being recorded in neighboring Nepal, two uncles of the recording director have been killed, one beaten to death and one burned in his home.

We felt this loss keenly here at Viña Studios, as recording the Scriptures is one of our main ministries here in Guatemala, having recorded more than 25 New Testaments in Guatemala and Central America. Our staff held a special time of prayer for the brothers and sisters there during our mid-morning break, lifting up heart-felt prayers.

Officials at Faith Comes By Hearing, the Albuquerque, N.M.-based ministry that sponsors our recording work and that of the Orissa projects, recommended a temporary halt to the recording in Orissa.

After the deaths of three readers, the Orissa project was halted temporarily, but the team has decided to push on, regardless of the present dangers they and their families at home are facing. “Personal safety is less important to them than getting out the Word of God,” said Ray Warrior, the recording manager for Faith Comes By Hearing.

“They are doing a good work,” said Brother Isidro, a co-worker here at Viña Studios who has recorded 20 New Testaments. “We give thanks to God that they haven’t given up hope and they haven’t abandoned the project. More than anything, they need prayer so they don’t suffer any more.”

Viña’s Scripture-recording project among the Kiché speakers in Joyabáj, Guatemala continues ahead, although slowly because of difficulties finding qualified readers. As of this morning, they have recorded about 62 percent of the New Testament.

Please pray for these projects, especially for those in India and Nepal that God would bless the audio-Scriptures and speak to many who cannot read or write their own language.

*****

For an overview of the violence in Orissa, check out these write-ups at TeamPyro, a blog of the Reformed persuasion dedicated to defending biblical truth. This first story focuses on the outbreak of violence and its causes, and the second shows some of the recent history of violence against Christians in India.

How a little boy unmasked my generous plan

Sure enough, my “kindness” came back to bite me. I just knew that if I gave “Dennis the Menace” a banana the other day, that he would be pestering me for more.

My fears were realized this morning as I washed my dishes in the wash basin. Here came Dennis, the smallest of seven children at the house where I live.

“Do you have any bananas?” he asked. Hmmmmm. I thought. Do I lie? If I say I’ve got bananas, of course he’ll want one; then so will the others. I had just bought six bananas yesterday in the market for 45 whole cents. “Yes, I have bananas,” I answered, reluctantly.

I wasn’t ready for his next question. “Do you have any bananas?” he asked. What’s with this kid? I thought.

“Yes, I have bananas,” I answered, still washing my dishes.

Then, again, one more time: “Do you have any bananas?” ... By then, I was thinking, “Where’s the remote control to change the channel on this kid?” Aaaaaaaaaagh!

“How many times do you want me to tell you I have bananas?” I asked impatiently. “Yes, I have bananas.”

“Oh, well, I don’t want any.” Then he ran away.

Huh. That was unexpected. ... And yet why was I impatient with Dennis? God was patient with me:

And yet, when I cried out to the Lord, he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock, and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God, (Psalm 40:1-3).

Ugh. Have mercy on me, O God, a wretched sinner. How many times have I contented myself to look out only for my own interests, my own appetites?

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God — even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.” — I Corinthians 10:31-33.

The Apostle Paul did everything for God’s glory, seeking the good of others, hoping, praying and working for them to be saved by God’s grace in Christ.

Why don’t I? Why was I so concerned about having to share another measly banana with a little boy who doesn’t have a father? The other day, I had thought about taking a banana to town to have something to give away to a poor person. I just didn’t expect someone to want to cash in so quickly on my generous plan.

Lewis: Love risks & gives, 'safety' found in Hell

To love anything at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

— From C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves

Audio Scriptures to be played in Mayan church

SOLOLÁ — A Kaqchikel pastor has agreed to use a Proclaimer to play the audio Kaqchikel New Testament during church services.

My Viña Studios co-worker, Isidro, presented the idea to him last Thursday evening, and the pastor agreed enthusiastically. The pastor plans to use the Proclaimer (which is like a small radio) during Sunday school classes. He liked it so much he asked if he could have one to play at regular gatherings with his growing family.

The pastor has 13 children, and at least two of them are married. He said he would like to invite the married children to join them for listening sessions, playing a chapter or two at a time, after which they could have a discussion about what they heard.

Thursday evening, as Isidro left his house with the Proclaimer to show the pastor, his wife stopped him: "Are you taking that?" she asked him. "Yes, but I'll bring it back," he said. "Oh, good," she answered. "It's really helpful."

While she had it at the house for a couple of weeks, Isidro's wife listened to the entire New Testament as she worked. She's starting over again at Matthew.

"You know, we go to church services all the time, but hearing God's Word is different," she said. "It's very helpful. People need to hear it."

The pastor's response was an answer to prayer. His planned use is the kind of listening group that Albuquerque, N.M.-based Faith Comes By Hearing (the Proclaimer's sponsor) has found effective. We've got a dozen Proclaimers here at Viña, waiting to be distributed. So we said, "Sure! Go for it!" and sent one out to him.

Viña Studios recorded the audio Kaqchikel translation soon after it was printed in 1996, but the audio cassette media format proved an obstacle. Locals complained the 90-minute tapes wore out their stereo tape players. The newly formatted MP3 CDs have been well received at area radio stations, but few Mayans have modern stereos or computers to play them yet at home.

The audio Bible is vital because very few Mayans can read or write their own language.

Virtually all the area Kaqchikel Mayan pastors use the Reina-Valera Spanish Bible (similar to the English King James Version) and then explain it in Kaqchikel to their congregations. We continue praying for a breakthrough for them to use the Bible in their mother tongue, which many, many people would find clearer.

Isidro said his wife understands the importance of his work better after having listened to the Bible recording in her language. Isidro has worked recording about 20 audio New Testaments in Guatemala and Central America (most recently with the Q'eqchí in Cobán and the Ixil in Nebaj).

In October, he will have to travel several hours from home for about two months to record the Achí Mayan language New Testament. The separation causes family stress, especially since their boy, Juanito, has been ill somewhat frequently. Please pray for this important work, including our on-going recording with the Kiché language of Joyabáj.

False teachers share traits with dog & its vomit

SOLOLÁ — There in the street stood the dog, lapping up its vomit — an image the Bible uses to warn against deceptive false teachers.

Seeing the proverbial dog on my way to work foreshadowed a conversation I would have later in the day with Isidro, my Kaqchikel brother in Christ, about false teachers. Scripture uses the dog-and-its-vomit to represent one who returns to his sins (II Pet. 2:22), one who leaves the path of God’s truth. The Apostle Peter cites the famous proverb (Prov. 26:11), in a passage warning believers against false teachers, wolves in shepherd’s clothing:

“For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through licentiousness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error,” Peter wrote (I Pet. 2:18). “They are spots and blemishes, carousing in their own deceptions while they feast with you, having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls. ... For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit.’ ”

Unfortunately, we hear periodic stories here of false teachers deceiving believers. Many Guatemalan churchgoers have scant knowledge of God's Word and are all-too-easy prey for the wolves’ deceptions. Just as anemia leaves one feeling weak, a soul that feeds on spiritual junk food will be undernourished and susceptible to corrosive lies or temptations — spiritual bacteria and viruses.

Some Mayan Christians here quickly turn to God for help when they encounter financial or health problems. All too many, however, prefer to visit Christian “prophets” or even Mayan shaman to solve their problems and heal their illnesses. Perhaps it comes from a cultural tradition of placing high value on spiritual guides as authorities or deeply ingrained Catholic-Mayan syncretism.

Several years ago, a young Kaqchikel woman from this area fell ill. Her evangelical parents contacted a “prophet” they had heard on the radio. Somehow, he convinced the family that it was vital that he and the girl pray together alone. He visited regularly. Pretty soon her illness was gone and she had another problem. It took some sorting out because when they asked who had gotten her pregnant she said “the pastor,” but she meant “the prophet.” By then, of course, the so-called “prophet” was long gone.

A 17-year-old Christian girl down the hill by Lake Atitlán willingly dedicated herself to Satan, after a friend whose parents are Mayan shaman offered to help relieve stress she felt to perform well in her studies. The girl thought nothing of dedicating herself to a spirit, whose voice she soon began to hear. At least once, the voice woke her in the night, directing her to a cemetery, where he instructed her to cut her finger and bleed somewhere. Soon, she became controlled by the spirit, speaking in a frightening voice and exhibiting tremendous strength. Several shocked family members managed to prevent her from taking her life with a knife, and through much prayer, fasting and wrestling over several days — burning things she had dedicated to Satan — she was delivered.

Another family up the hill from here whose daughter fell ill, contacted a Christian “prophet” for healing. The prophet gladly offered to help, suggesting they meet at the church. Once there, however, he determined that the family didn’t “have faith,” and that it would be necessary for them all to go home till midnight while he and the young lady prayed together. The poor mother — believing her daughter would be healed by midnight — arrived with coffee for the pair at the appointed hour. There she found her daughter alone and crying.

In nearby Totonicapán, a Kiché woman recently found a doll with pins in it on her doorstep. She did what she thought anyone should: Visit a Mayan “brujo” or shaman to undo the hex she believed someone had placed on her through another brujo. No amount of convincing to the contrary could persuade her Christian sons that this is not a Christian response.

The Apostle Paul warned, “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud ... having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,” II Tim. 3:1-6.

If I weren’t already convinced Guatemalans desperately need to hear, understand and put into practice God’s word, today’s conversations with Isidro, my Kaqchikel brother in Christ, galvanized my thinking. He shared the examples of the local false prophets.

The Apostle Paul gave instructions how to counter falsehood: with the truth of God’s Word.

“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived,” the Apostle Paul continues, “But as for you continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ... Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth and be turned aside to fables.”

Please pray for Guatemala and for our efforts to get the audio Scriptures on the radio and in people’s homes. Unfortunately, many believers, despite attending an incredible number of church services here, are quite ignorant of God’s Word. A 2003 study by SEPAL found just 12 percent of Guatemala’s evangelicals could be considered biblically Christian. God has promised his people will be well fed and that knowledge of God will cover the earth.

“Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden,
And they shall sorrow no more at all.”

— Jeremiah 31:12

When Jesus prayed for his disciples, he prayed, “Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth,” John 17:17. Since so few Mayans can read God’s Word in their own language, the audio Scriptures are a powerful means to speak to their hearts and give them liberty in Christ.

*****

John Piper gives us a brief example of deceptive teaching that took my breath away.

Kiché Scripture recording work struggles ahead

After a month of toilsome, difficult work, Viña Studios’ Scripture-recording team has managed to record just about 40 percent of the Kiché New Testament of Joyabáj, encountering extreme difficulty finding speakers capable of reading their language.

Viña’s ministry putting translated Scriptures in audio format is vital for oral Mayans who can’t read the printed text. Few Kichés who have tried to read the text have proven capable as readers.

The scarcity of Kiché readers forced the team to assign Jesus’ speaking parts to Bill Vasey, the Methodist missionary who translated the Kiché Bible; Vasey speaks Kiché well, but, of course, has a slight accent. Carlos, Viña’s Kaqchikel recording director, had to play the second-largest role, that of the Apostle Paul. Carlos can read the Kiché script, but he also has a slight accent and doesn’t always understand what he’s reading.

One young woman could read only marginally well, but very quickly improved. She has been a big help as a reader and monitor of other readers.

In one case, a reader who has a major role came to work hung over. Viña avoids using readers who struggle with obvious vices, such as alcoholism, because it can taint the recording, causing some to reject it. But in this case, they didn’t have any options.

“It’s hard,” Carlos said. “I don’t know why it’s so hard, but we can’t find readers. It’s the worst I’ve ever encountered.” In one case, a man labored all day with the team, trying and trying to read the text. He had so much difficulty that they had to tell him not to come back.

Please pray for the team to persevere through discouraging circumstances, and for God’s hand on the Scriptures, to produce fruit among the Joyabáj churches (Isaiah 55:11).

*****

Syncretism seemed to be alive and well in Joyabáj. While I visited there in April, I observed a number of Kichés performing Mayan rituals beneath a Ceiba tree (believed to be a portal to the underworld). Nearby, Catholic believers burned incense and candles before a concrete cross.

*****

Last evening, I watched a 30-minute children’s cartoon, The William Tyndale Story, about the famous English Bible translator and martyr. It is a moving, well-done video, with an informative interview of Tyndale scholar and biographer Dr. David Daniell.

Seeing that video brought home to me just how desperate and ferocious are Satan’s attacks against the Word of God reaching average people in the language they understand best. Tyndale famously said he hoped a ploughboy would understand more of the Scriptures than the Pope and church officials who attempted to thwart his work.

The movie helped me understand a bit more how the gates of hell are determined to prevent God’s Word from reaching people and perhaps why our team is having so many difficulties.

Radio stations collaborating, playing Scriptures

Isidro had some good news Friday to quiet growing doubts about our audio-Scripture promotion efforts.

Four out of six radio stations above Sololá are now playing the Kaqchikel audio New Testament, and a fifth will begin doing so next week.

Wow! This news was like Rachmaninov’s “Vespers” to my ears. I was so happy with Isidro’s faithful help, following up on a request I had made and forgotten about. He phoned several of the radio stations to check up on them, and his relatives had been listening to the stations to see if they’re playing the Scriptures.

Oral Scriptures are a vital means for Mayans to hear God's word because few can read or write their own language.

When Isidro called one radio station, the owner answered. The owner had not been at the station when we visited it — some 25 minutes from Sololá. When Isidro asked whether the station had been playing the audio Scriptures, the man confessed he didn’t know what they were, but just the day before he had found the MP3 CDs we left and wondered about them. After learning what it was and who we were, he said he plans to begin playing them next week.

Also on Thursday, Isidro’s wife happened to hear the audio Scriptures being played on the first radio station we visited three weeks ago. A neice heard the Scriptures being played on a third station, and another continues to keep its promise as well.

When Isidro phoned a radio station at Los Encuentros, the furthest away, an operator said they have been playing the audio New Testament at 6 p.m. in the evenings. Isidro wasn’t able to contact the sixth station.

This news and Isidro’s faithfulness made my day! Thanks be to God, these radio stations are collaborating with the project and playing the Word as they said they would. Please pray with us that God’s Word would yield fruit, causing people to grow in grace and understanding of Jesus Christ.

“So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it,” Isaiah 55:11.

*****

Just this week, the need for the audio Scriptures in this oral Mayan society was driven home to me. I happened to ask a 21-year-old Mayan young lady — who has attended church services several times a week since childhood — how much of the Bible she has read. She reported she has read from Genesis to Deuteronomy, the first five books out of 66 altogether. None of the New Testament? Nope. Not yet. Later, visiting with her 28-year-old brother, who told me, “I grew up in the church,” I asked him the same question. “I’m just getting started,” he told me. Which book are you in? “Genesis,” he said with a laugh.

Viña staffer regaining strength after head injury

Renzo’s road to recovery from a serious head injury April 19 has gone considerably better since he began therapy in a Guatemala City hospital in late July.

I visited Renzo yesterday at his home in Panajachel, from which we walked probably a half mile or more to eat lunch at a nice restaurant. Renzo, Viña Studios’ administrative assistant and smooth radio voice, suffered a serious head injury aboard a bus nearly five months ago, returning home from classes in Quetzaltenango, two hours away.

Impact from the blow fractured his skull, pushing a silver-dollar-sized piece inward, coming in contact with his brain. Despite having had two surgeries already, Renzo must undergo another in February to insert a metal plate in his skull where a gap remains.

Specialists at the hospital have given Renzo a variety of physical therapy exercises, tests and training in many disciplines. In some areas, they have said he is fine and doesn’t need any more work, while in others he continues doing exercises to help improve his equilibrium and sense of balance, for example.

One test involved reading some material and answering questions for comprehension. While he was reading, the doctors said, “Wow. You have such a nice reading voice.” Renzo told them, “Well, this is my work.” Prior to his four years at Viña, Renzo, 32, worked nine years in live radio and recording ads.

I hadn’t seen Renzo for quite a while, so it was great to see him again and get caught up. He seemed to be in very good spirits, pleased with how the therapies have helped his recovery. He remains anxious to return to work at Viña; Lord willing, he will return in early October. His girlfriend, Ema, returned to her university studies in Boston, and he hopes to visit her there.

Staying at the Guatemala City hospital helped Renzo see how blessed he is to have his faculties, because many other head-injury patients remain without the use of one side of their body, or can’t concentrate to read, or have difficulty speaking. Others have nearly lost their minds.

Renzo enjoyed the chance to get out and about yesterday, walking to the restaurant, and it was great to hear his plans for the future and hopeful attitude. Thank you for your prayers for his life. I’m sure he could use many more for the challenges ahead.

*****

Psalm 42, it seems to me, serves as good medicine for the soul in need of hope, calling one to remember God’s past goodness.

As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
By day the LORD commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.

Audio Scriptures effort hits economic reality

Our audio-Scripture promotion efforts to radio stations slowed a bit Saturday in Panajachel, and we’re beginning to wonder whether we might need to take a new approach.

It turns out Christian radio stations here are businesses just as much as they are ministries: They need money to pay the bills and stay on the air.

But we don’t have funds to pay what they would charge. One radio station owner yesterday told us he doesn’t “charge” for air time, but he requires an “offering.” How much? That’s up to us. What are your costs? He wouldn’t say. When I show up, a tall gringo, they see dollar signs.

Over coffee, prior to setting out, Isidro, my co-worker at Viña Studios, told me he was wondering if it wasn’t going to take money to ensure these stations play the audio Scriptures. “I haven’t heard the stations playing the Scriptures,” Isidro told me, wondering aloud whether the stations had merely accepted the CD recordings, promising to play them when they weren’t planning on it at all. That’s a possibility. Culturally, it’s seen as much better to say you’ll do something — even when you may not plan to or be able to — than to reject a request outright.

For the past few Saturdays, we’ve been visiting local Christian Kaqchikel-language radio stations, offering the dramatized, audio New Testament in Kaqchikel (the local Mayan language) on two MP3 CDs. We’re asking the radio stations to play the Scriptures because this reaches a broad audience, and many Kaqchikels listen to the radio.

The Bible Society printed the Kaqchikel New Testament in 1996, and Viña Studios recorded it soon after, but the vast majority of folks around here seem unaware of these facts. As oral Mayans who don’t read and write their own language, so it’s important for them to hear God’s Word.

We’re pretty certain that at least one of the first six stations near Isidro must be playing the Scriptures — the one where the operator immediately invited us on the air to announce the program. Other than that, Isidro either hasn’t been able to listen at the promised, scheduled times, or he’s out of reach of the radio signal.

Yesterday’s outing was a bit of an adventure because Isidro didn’t know where the radio stations were, and, of course, neither did I. After getting lost and having to ask directions many, many times — finally giving up and calling our injured co-worker Renzo, who lives in Panajachel, we arrived at the first station. Very quickly, I could tell the owner wanted to talk about money. Before yesterday, no one had mentioned money.

“At least we heard the hard, cold truth,” I told Isidro. I appreciate having Isidro with me because he picked up on a suggestion from the owner that I didn’t. We might be able to approach local businesses around the radio stations to sponsor Scripture readings. For some sponsors, perhaps Viña Studios could potentially produce a short radio jingle to accompany the ad. We have the equipment and expertise to do it, but that would be a pretty big new project. And I really doubt we have the funds to cover our expenses producing radio jingles. Perhaps something could be worked out.

Later, we found our way to a larger radio station, where the owner met us and immediately invited us to sit down. This fellow was much friendlier and didn’t press us for money. He agreed to play the Scripture recordings between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Ideally, we would be able to provide audio Scriptures to everyone who wants them, and they could listen to the Word in their homes with family and friends. But very few people here have computers or higher-technology CD stereos equipped to play MP3 CDs. So we're focusing on radio stations and plan to promote the Proclaimers, a small radio with the New Testament preprogrammed, through our contacts and churches.

We’d appreciate your prayers for this project. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, Romans 10:17.

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.