By Heather Kinghorn
It
was drilled into my head: don’t drink the water, don’t eat fresh fruit you can’t peel – be very careful of everything you put into your mouth. So what did I do? I drank purple corn juice – complete with apple chunks – out of a bucket. For those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to sample this fine beverage, I highly recommend it. You may have to, like I did, travel to Peru for it, but you’ll be glad you did.
Admittedly, drinking juice from a bucket probably wasn’t the smartest thing I did that week. But it was all part of the celebration, all part of the experience of bonding with my Christian Wanca Quechua brothers and sisters from the villages surrounding Huancayo, Peru.
Making the trek to Huancayo may not be on most people’s to-do lists. It certainly wasn’t on mine. Until, that is, I found out some exciting news – the Wanca Quechua New Testament was completed! How could I pass up the chance to celebrate?
I wasn’t the only one eager to take advantage of this occasion! Nearly 1,000 other Christians from around the world also jumped on the bandwagon. From the Wanca men, women and children to Quechuas from around the country, from translators in Huanaco and Lima to missionaries in Dallas and Orlando, from 12-year-old children to 78-year-old grandmothers, we all wanted to share in the joy as the Wancas finally received the New Testament in their heart language. We wanted to experience the tears, laughter, hugs and emotion as God spoke to them in Wanca.
Sitting next to a Wanca woman, one American visitor couldn’t keep her love inside. “You are my sister,” she told her. “We are sisters in Christ.”
Songs praising God in Wanca echoed throughout the mountains, and passages, spoken by Wancas, Wycliffe translators and American pastors, solicited endless shouts of joy, praise and cheer. And the ceremony’s beauty was captured when the Wycliffe translators released a white dove into the sky.
But even when the ceremony was complete, the celebration was far from over. Twenty Quechua churches had spent all morning and afternoon preparing lunch for all the guests. They began by lighting stones until they were electrifyingly hot, and then they buried them, along with potatoes, beans and a pig, under the ground, to cook to perfection during the dedication ceremony. And it was, most definitely, cooked perfectly.
But nothing, not even the deliciously seasoned meat, could compare to the refreshing, thirst-quenching, delectable purple corn juice from a bucket – served with love from God’s precious servants, my Wanca Quechua sisters in Christ.
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
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