By Heather Kinghorn
Jaime Ayala chuckles as he recalls when he began learning the Wanca Quechua language. He and his wife, Maria, were excited to become involved in the Wanca Project in Peru, ready to use their gifts in literacy for the Wancas.
The journey to language learning began near the mountain city of Huancayo. Eager to visit the Wanca village for the first time, Jaime and Maria, along with their young daughter, piled their belongings into a truck just outside the city, ready to live in the village for a month. Their director had already sent a letter to the village president to arrange for their living quarters, and they were sure everything was all set for their arrival. And when they arrived, no one was there to meet them. No room had been arranged. They later found out the president didn’t really want them in his community; he just didn’t tell anyone.
But God used the situation to His advantage. Someone spotted Jaime and Maria and offered them a room in his house. Once there, the couple learned the family was actually part of a religious cult. So, Jaime and Maria took the God-given opportunity to share the Gospel.
And then the language learning began.
They went into the fields where the Wancas cultivate the ground, and were instructed not to speak any Spanish, or the people would speak to them only in Spanish, rather than Wanca.
As they observed, a Quechua man struck up a conversation with Jaime in Wanca. Jaime didn’t understand what he was saying, and he was trying to soak it all in, so he had responded with a blank expression. So the man spoke to him in Spanish. And, although Jaime completely understood, he didn’t want to reveal that he knew Spanish, so the blank expression remained.
The Quechua man turned to his friends. “This gringo is so dumb,” he said. “He has the brain of a guinea pig. He doesn’t even understand Spanish.” Jaime still cracks a smile when he retells the story.
But a lot changed in the years Jaime and Maria served the Wancas. Not only did they learn the language and the culture, but they earned the trust of the people, too. Many Quechuas are afraid of tall white men – they call white men Pishtacos; they fear the men will kill them at night and take their body oil to grease machines. But when people began suspecting the translators of being Pishtacos, their new Wanca friends defended them.
“These are our gringos,” they said. When that happened, Jaime knew they had won the Wancas’ trust.
“When you enter someone else’s world, you have to have that trust level,” Jaime says. “You’re so different; you have different backgrounds and limited communication.”
And after more than ten years of service to the Wancas, Jaime and Maria, along with Wycliffe translators Rick and Melanie Floyd, and several native-tongue co-translators, the New Testament was complete. And the literacy tools, books and calendars that Jaime and Maria helped complete and promote have taught the Wancas to read their own language, and even to teach their own people how to read, too. Before the New Testaments were printed, Jaime developed a Versebook, complete with 12 passages. Whoever could memorize all the passages received a free New Testament at the dedication – the dedication that nearly one thousand people attended.
But Jamie and Maria couldn’t help bring God’s Word to the Wancas and teach them to read without the prayerful and financial support of their partners. One of their faithful partners has been supporting them for many years through a Missionary Support Plan with the Wycliffe Foundation. You can help translators like Jaime and Maria, too, by providing guaranteed monthly support – with just one gift through the Foundation. Contact us to learn how.
“This is God’s body working together,” Jaime says. “The Lord is doing it through His people.”
Every day, Wycliffe missionaries go into the field to serve God and the Bibleless peoples of the world. When you make a planned gift with the Wycliffe Foundation, you support their Bible translation, linguistics training and literacy efforts for many years to come.
Call toll-free (866) 379-7746 or e-mail
to find out how to set up a planned gift and take your support into the field.
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