The entire Bible has been translated into the Quechua language of the Eastern Apurímac in the high Andes Mountains of southern Peru. The project began with language surveys in 2004, and the Bible translation project began in 2006, with the New Testament completed in 2012 and the Old Testament in 2021. Due to the pandemic-caused issues in various ways, especially the printing of the Bible, which was hindered by inflation and transportation delays, the dedication ceremony was delayed for over 3 years. AIDIA decided to print the Bible in Brazil, which is usually printed in Korea, but this was also delayed. Then they printed it again in Korea, received the Bible at the end of last year, and finally held the dedication ceremony by traveling to various villages (towns) several times this year. We invited five Korean-Canadian partners to join the dedication ceremony, and it was a precious time to bless them and to be blessed in return.
The dedication ceremony we attended was held at the Chuquibambilla church, about three and a half hours away from Abancay. We left early at 4:45 a.m. The AIDIA headquarters in Abancay is located at 2500 meters above sea level. From there, we drove past a beautiful lake at 4,580 meters above sea level, and then back down over mountains exceeding 5,000 meters to reach the village of Chuquibambilla, which is situated at approximately 3,200 meters above sea level. The road was rugged, with sharp curves going up and down, and many of the participants said they had a renewed appreciation for the local workers and missionaries who travel to and from these places to do Bible translation work.
The Chuquibambilla village church leaders and the AIDIA staff who had left early the day before, greeted us and served us corn porridge, potatoes, and sweet potatoes that they had prepared earlier in the day, followed by a hearty bowl of lamb soup. Over the course of about 2-3 hours, Quechua saints from about 10 villages arrived one after another with their village representatives, and we, the early birds, served them breakfast. One of the Quechua senior ladies arrived earlier and sat on the prayer cushion, praying aloud. One of the visiting guests sat down beside her to pray with the Quechua lady for a long time, gathering our hearts for the day's consecration.
The project began with language surveys in 2004, the New Testament was completed between 2006 and 2012, and the entire Bible was completed in 2021. It was a remarkable feat of passion and dedication to produce quality Bible translations in such a short period. It was God who achieved this, through the commitments of local workers recommended by church leaders, the dedication of local communities, and the devotion of IDIA. In his exhortation, Pastor Dave, Wycliffe's Latin America representative, asked and challenged the pastors to be like Ezra and devote themselves to the study and teaching of God's Word, and for the whole church, as the owner of God's Word in their language, to work together to reach other Bibleless peoples that they will have God's Word in their language. Asked to pray for the pastors, Gyoojun gave thanks that the Lord, the Word made flesh, had now returned as 'the logos' to the highlands of the Eastern Apurimac in the Quechua language, and prayed for the Lord's reign among us to be heavenly, for abundant life leading to eternity, and for lives dedicated to the spread of the gospel.
The local pastors who represented each village expressed their gratitude, saying that they never imagined that saints and Wycliffe workers from Japan, Malaysia, (Korea,) Canada, the United States, and other places would join them in celebrating their dedication, and one of the visitors said that this was the fulfillment of Revelation 7:9, and another said that through the songs the Quechuan saints sang together and the words they read, they could see the devotion of the people who had been waiting for the Word, and that this made them look forward to what God would do in the future, including the spread of the gospel, the fruit of the Spirit, and abundant life. The youngest visitor was grateful for the experience of seeing all nations united in Christ to praise and glorify the Lord together, and thanked the ministers for their hard work in making this happen.
Wycliffe Canada has been cooperating with AIDIA in this process, and since 2015, Chinese churches in the B.C. area have been visiting, fellowshipping with, and cooperating with them in evangelism. Another Chinese church has also contributed generously to the printing of the entire translated Bible. The Korean-Canadian visitors who participated in the dedication ceremony vowed to share the impressive and precious fruit of the ministry with many others, serving as a witness to the hard work of all those who have already labored and to what God has done. It was also a precious time of fellowship with the Wycliffe missionary family from New York. Sandy and Nick (Ozzie/Eve) were called to the Bible translation mission during the pandemic, where they were trained as Bible translation consultants with AIDIA, and are now serving alongside the local workers. We prayed together that God would anoint them for this very essential ministry and that Sandi and their children would fulfill the mission of the Lord's abundant life as salt and light at Shalom Private School here in AIDIA.
We invite you to join us in praying for the continued ministries of AIDIA (their ongoing Bible translations in 12 other languages) and the amazing things God will do through them.
(Pictured below: From left to right, AIDIA ministry briefing for Wycliffe Canada staff and Korean-Canadian partners/Wycliffe Malaysia staff & Wycliffe Japan director, AIDIA Director Luis Cervantes and Administration Manager Keila, Wycliffe Canada's Senior Vice President Lee McGow, Wycliffe Malaysia Driector Lei Leng Tan, Wycliffe Japan Director Matsumaru Yoshi, and Wycliffe Canada's Diaspora Engagement Team Director, Gyoojun Lee
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