Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength. You must commit with all your being to fulfill each of these commands that I give you today. Deuteronomy 6:4-6.
We recently heard these verses, and we can see more and more sense in them as we recognize the great responsibility we will have when our baby is born, for we will be the first ones to model in her the love of God and his truth. However, we cannot help but think that there are still people who have not been able to hear and appropriate these words: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone”. We cannot tire of speaking to others about who God is. The eternity of each person depends on recognizing that there is salvation in God alone.
Workshop in Colombia
During July I was able to support this workshop. It was directed to a group of 14 missionaries that serve indigenous populations in Colombia and Venezuela.
In this workshop they received lessons on how to create dictionaries for indigenous languages. It was guided by 4 of our colleagues, mainly by one of them with many years of experience in the creation of indigenous dictionaries.
My part consisted of teaching a computer program that we use for this purpose, called Flex. This program is fabulous. It has been created after decades of SIL’s work experience around the world. Today, Flex allows you to create a dictionary no matter how complicated the language is.
Why dictionaries in the missions?
Imagine this: You want to read the Bible in Spanish for the first time and you come across new terms from the customs, geography or animals of the biblical era, or you want to read other books about health or stories from your culture that are new to you, a dictionary would provide you with information on those new terms.
Workshop in Oaxaca
In August, the same night that the Flex workshop ended, I traveled back to Mexico, to the city of Oaxaca. The next day the other workshop began.
This was a special workshop, different in several ways. This time it was not directed to the indigenous groups we serve, but to our own colleagues in the organization.
The workshop consisted of a week of reviews of our raison d’être as an organization, how the circumstances and needs of the indigenous populations have changed over the years and what challenges we face in current times to continue the mission.
My colleague Jaime and I were in charge of a module on spiritual formation within the organization. It basically consisted of reviewing our faith position as an organization and encouraging our colleagues to always remember our faith position within the many different contexts in which we serve.
Course in El Monte
In August, for one week, we were teaching a class to 2 mission students at El Monte High School in Morelos, Mexico. The topic was “The impact of Bible translation on missionary work”.
They are preparing in obedience to the call that the Lord has given them to go to another country. We hope that the Lord will guide them, open doors and that every subject they are taking will be useful to them not only now, but when they are in the mission field.
Upcoming plans
During our stay here in Mexico the Lord allows us to continue serving the indigenous speakers in South America and also to serve Him in the local church, as in July, Miriam was able to participate in a Bible School (VBS) in our church in Cuautla.
She is currently in the last few weeks of pregnancy, but is able to move forward with a course called Introduction to Language Development, which will give her a better overview of service among indigenous people.
In October and November I will be supporting two different workshops, one to be held in the State of Mexico and another in Ecuador. At the same time, I continue to serve translation projects at a distance, through the Internet.
Prayer requests
We appreciate your prayers for the following reasons:
- Thank God we have reached the eighth month of pregnancy. We would like to ask for your prayers for the good term of the pregnancy and that Miriam can have the necessary care in the hospital to receive Karina.
- That Miriam and I can organize our time well, between the arrival of the baby and the workshops in the coming months.
- That the people who took the dictionary workshop can put what they learned to good use in creating more materials for indigenous language people.
Some more pictures:
Thanks to each one of you who are being part of the Lord’s ministry with your prayers, offerings and messages of encouragement.
Rosas Maya Family
Iglesia Bautista Getsemaní from Cuautla, Morelos, México.
Iglesia Evangélica Unión Peruana El Sembrador from Iquitos, Perú.
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