the Bible in my own language
Ricardo cuts our grass twice a month.
Now, you're probably asking, "Dan, why don't you cut your own grass?" Good question. Ricardo is one of a few hundred gardeners who make their living trimming bushes and cutting grass. His dad (who died when he was five) was a gardener. His uncles are all gardeners. And Ricardo and his two brothers are carrying on the family trade. In fact, last year they were so successful, they bought a truck and a chainsaw and opened their own tree trimming business which they do during the dry season. If I didn't hire someone like Ricardo, I'd be cutting him out of a job that supports his family.
Ricardo's day starts at 5am, and ends around 7pm (when it starts getting dark) during the rainy season when he has the most work. By working hard and saving carefully, he and his wife have been able to build themselves a modest home.
Every time Ricardo comes to our house, we chat. He's teaching me to speak Quechua and we share a cup of coffee, or lunch together. I've found out that a man named Wick Jackson more than befriended him, he became an adopted father. And through this relationship Ricardo came to know and love Jesus. We talk about parenting (he has two kids the ages of Naomi & Benji), politics, grass, soccer, lots of things. Two months ago I discovered that even though he's bi-lingual and a master agriculturalist, he reads very slowly and with very little comprehension. I could give him a Bible in his language, and he could read the words slowly, but it wouldn't sink into his heart. By the time he finishes the words in a sentence, he's already forgotten the ones at the beginning. Much of the working class in Bolivia are like Ricardo. Though they know how to read, they are an oral culture, and learn by listening, not by reading.
Two weeks ago I gave Ricardo a cassette tape in Quechua about the story of Jesus. Yesterday he told me, "Dan, that tape you gave me, it's in my language! I listened to it while I laid on my bed. When I hear Spanish, the words go into my head, but not into my heart. But that tape, the words went into my heart, all of them. It was beautiful, the story about Jesus. I laid there, and it made me cry."
Campus Crusade and the Bolivian Bible Society are doing more recording projects into Quechua, hoping to put them on portable speaker sets and MP3 players. You can read more about it on Ron & Jeanie Burgin's web site. For a someone like Ricardo, having the Bible recorded orally into Quechua is as significant as reading a Bible for the first time would be to you. I'm looking forward to giving Ricardo more of the Bible in his language.
I'm very thankful for all the Campus Crusade recording teams (thanks Tony, James, Dan, & Vince) and for directors like Ron Burgin, and also for the many donors who are giving so much to make this project and others like it happen around the world. To all of you out there, on behalf of my friend and brother Ricardo, Thank you.
Now, you're probably asking, "Dan, why don't you cut your own grass?" Good question. Ricardo is one of a few hundred gardeners who make their living trimming bushes and cutting grass. His dad (who died when he was five) was a gardener. His uncles are all gardeners. And Ricardo and his two brothers are carrying on the family trade. In fact, last year they were so successful, they bought a truck and a chainsaw and opened their own tree trimming business which they do during the dry season. If I didn't hire someone like Ricardo, I'd be cutting him out of a job that supports his family.
Ricardo's day starts at 5am, and ends around 7pm (when it starts getting dark) during the rainy season when he has the most work. By working hard and saving carefully, he and his wife have been able to build themselves a modest home.
Every time Ricardo comes to our house, we chat. He's teaching me to speak Quechua and we share a cup of coffee, or lunch together. I've found out that a man named Wick Jackson more than befriended him, he became an adopted father. And through this relationship Ricardo came to know and love Jesus. We talk about parenting (he has two kids the ages of Naomi & Benji), politics, grass, soccer, lots of things. Two months ago I discovered that even though he's bi-lingual and a master agriculturalist, he reads very slowly and with very little comprehension. I could give him a Bible in his language, and he could read the words slowly, but it wouldn't sink into his heart. By the time he finishes the words in a sentence, he's already forgotten the ones at the beginning. Much of the working class in Bolivia are like Ricardo. Though they know how to read, they are an oral culture, and learn by listening, not by reading.
Two weeks ago I gave Ricardo a cassette tape in Quechua about the story of Jesus. Yesterday he told me, "Dan, that tape you gave me, it's in my language! I listened to it while I laid on my bed. When I hear Spanish, the words go into my head, but not into my heart. But that tape, the words went into my heart, all of them. It was beautiful, the story about Jesus. I laid there, and it made me cry."
Campus Crusade and the Bolivian Bible Society are doing more recording projects into Quechua, hoping to put them on portable speaker sets and MP3 players. You can read more about it on Ron & Jeanie Burgin's web site. For a someone like Ricardo, having the Bible recorded orally into Quechua is as significant as reading a Bible for the first time would be to you. I'm looking forward to giving Ricardo more of the Bible in his language.
I'm very thankful for all the Campus Crusade recording teams (thanks Tony, James, Dan, & Vince) and for directors like Ron Burgin, and also for the many donors who are giving so much to make this project and others like it happen around the world. To all of you out there, on behalf of my friend and brother Ricardo, Thank you.
1 Comments:
How very cool. Thank you for sharing that! Hope all is well in your neck of the woods...
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