Making Plans

After working with the Quichua translation team all day Tuesday, there was still an issue of word breaks that needed to be addressed. Quichua words can be very long, with as many as five suffixes on one word. So Tuesday evening Brian spent several hours on the computer, figuring out a way to break the words correctly. Wednesday morning he showed the team what he had worked on, and they were extremely happy with the results.
Now the translation is finished! In a few months, three different examples or layouts of one of the books will be sent to the team. From those, they can decide which one they prefer. After that, they'll get one book at a time as it's being typeset. This gives them one last chance to proof-read the translation and make any final corrections. If all goes well, within a year the completed Bibles should arrive in time for their dedication. Considering that only about 500 languages around the world have the entire Bible, this is truly a major accomplishment and celebration.

Allow me to share a little about making plans and having those plans change.

This is how we thought our last day in Canar would go:
Brian would work with the team from 8:30-10:30 in the morning. Rachel and I were going to do a few hours of school, then meet him at the translation office at 10:20. We’d have a short time of prayer with the team, then we’d check out of the hotel and catch an 11:00 bus for Guayaquil. We were told the bus ride would take about 5 hours, so we’d get to our hotel in Guayaquil around 5:00 or 6:00 at the latest.

This is how our day really turned out:
The first part of the day went as scheduled. Brian did go to work with the team on the word break issue from 8:30-10:30. Rachel and I did some school work, then went to the translation office around 10:20. As soon as we got there, Manuel and Oliva, two of the three translators, left to record their weekly Quichua radio program. We had gone with them the previous week, and the recording took about half an hour, so we figured we were still okay schedule-wise.
While we waited for them to return, we sat and talked with Reinaldo about the translation project. He mentioned that when everyone returned we’d have some coffee (so far so good), and that Oliva had prepared cuy, or guinea pig, for us as a special treat (uh-uh). We really thought we’d get by without eating this Quichua staple, but it looked like our luck ran out.
11:00 came and went, 11:30 came and went, and still the rest of the team hadn’t returned. Finally, since we had to be checked out of our hotel by 12:00, Brian went with Reinaldo to pick up our suitcases. The other translators finally came back, but soon left again. Finally around 12:30 everyone was back and our lunch was ready. And what a feast it was! Yes, it included cuy (which, according to Rachel, does NOT taste like chicken), soup, rice, potatoes, and corn.
Then they brought out coffee and a beautifully decorated cake that said, “Dios te bendiga, Brian” (God bless you, Brian). One by one, they went around the table and expressed their gratitude to Brian for the computer assistance he had given them over the past few years. It was deeply touching to see how appreciative they were. When Manuel got done speaking, he handed Brian a gift, a typical Quichua hat, which Brian had been eying and commenting on all week. After Oliva spoke, she presented me with a beautiful Quichua blouse that she had made.
It was very meaningful and touching to not only spend two weeks working with these incredible Christians and to see their sacrifice and determination to complete this project, but to also share this very special time with them.
Finally, around 1:30, Manuel took us to the main road where the buses to Guayquil stop. Despite assurances that the buses pass by “all the time”, we waited until almost 2:20 before finally boarding the bus we needed. The scenery on the way to Guayaquil was gorgeous and a reminder of how incredibly diverse and spectacular the country of Ecuador is.
Right at 6:00, the bus pulled into the terminal, and soon we were on our way to the hotel. Traffic was hectic, but by 7:00 we were in our room, remembering and relishing the events of the day.
Did the day turn out the way we thought it would? Not at all. Were there times of frustration and impatience as we wanted to get going and couldn’t? Of course. But would we have wanted to miss any of it? Not for a second. What God had planned for the day turned out so much better than what we had planned. Why is that sometimes so hard to remember? Donna