¡Feliz Pascua de Resurreción!

Happy Easter! Today is the day that makes every other day make sense if you're a Christian. This is the day that separates us from all other beliefs. Mohammed has a tomb and he's in it. Buddha has a tomb and he's in it. Nietzsche has a tomb and he's in it. Jesus' tomb is empty! What wonderful news for all of us!

We didn't have clinic in San Andres today, so we actually got to go to church. The American missionary community in Chichicastenango has a weekly church service in the Casa del Rey hotel there (run by Americans). So, for the first time here in Guatemala, we got to go!

Also, after church today, we walked up the hill to help dedicate the home of an American missionary who has been here for nearly 40 years. Previously, Bill lived in Joyabaj and had been working to translate the Bible into K'iche (Joyabaj version). Now, he's moved to Chichicastenango and will start over in the Chichicastenango dialect of K'iche.

We were lucky enough to have lunch with him after the dedication of his new home and he taught us as about much about the local people and language as we've learned in nearly 10 months here on our own. His background is in anthropology and linguistics, and when he moved down here in 1968, he started with literally nothing.

The Mayan languages, before the Conquest (early 1500s), were written languages, but in the style of ancient Egypt (symbols, not letters). All of that has been lost. For centuries, K'iche was a spoken, but not written, language. Bill had to start from scratch. He had to introduce the concept of an alphabet and start learning K'iche phonetically. He began to write it like that.

"His" alphabet was accepted by the president of the country as an official alphabet for K'iche (Joyabaj dialect). Since dialects of the K'iche language are so different (65-70% comprehension rate from Joyabaj to Chichicastenango), and since there is no standardized spelling for words, like in English, he has to start over again in Chichicastenango.

Think about this - this sentence can be read by anyone who speaks English all over the world, though the pronunciation will very greatly from place to place (i.e., Texas vs. Northern Ireland). But since K'iche is only written phonetically, it has to be redone for each accent or dialect. For example, the word "wash" would have to be written "warsh" in Arkansas, "wush" in New York, and "waash" in Wisconsin.

We were a bit surprised that someone would take the time to translate the Bible into a language that is mostly used by illiterate people. Bill explained that he is fluent in English, Spanish, and K'iche, but since English was the language of his youth, when he prays, he prays in English. People have told him that they are much better able to relate to a God who speaks their language. When they pray, they want to pray in K'iche. What if we had no evidence that God speaks K'iche? Wasn't that a big part of the Reformation? The right of the people to have God's word in the language that they speak? People died for this. And, hopefully, people will live because of it.

Anyway, that's a lot on that topic, but please keep Bill and his work in your prayers. All of our dreams should be that no one is denied entrance to the Kingdom because they spoke the wrong language here on earth.

Tomorrow is clinic in Chicabracan, then we have our bi-monthly/quarterly networking meeting at our house. This time, it's still just medical people, but we're going to propose periodic meetings with non-medical people, too. There are still lots of English-speaking missionaries out there who are doing great work who do not have the benefit of this community. Some are from Ireland, some are from Canada, others from England, and many from the United States. Surely we can all benefit each other - we ARE all on the same team!

Just one picture today - of Heidi and Matt in front of Bill's new house (the view is spectacular!)