Call for the Bible as
Floodwaters Rise in Mexico

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (October 1999) — The Bible Society of Mexico (BSM) has drawn up a plan to provide 204,000 Scriptures for people affected by the recent floods.

Across Mexico, exceptionally heavy rains have caused rivers and lakes to break their banks, resulting in widespread flooding. There is massive damage to crops; whole communities have been cut off with no communication. In places roads have been destroyed and buildings are under water.

It is estimated that more than 303,000 people in 179 municipalities have been affected by the flooding, and some 450 sites of temporary accommodation have been set up to cope with upwards of 70,000 displaced people. Puebla, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Hidalgo and Tabasco have been declared disaster zones.

Urgent need

“These are the worst floods for 40 years,” said Dr Alejandro Ruiz Muñoz, BSM General Secretary. “More than 340 people are reported missing, and there is an urgent need for pure water, food, blankets, medicines, shovels and picks for rescue operations, as well as cardboard to create temporary shelters. But there is also a great demand for Scriptures.”

The Bible Society, he stated, was committed to raising P 350,000 (US $35,000) to provide 2,000 Bibles and 2,000 New Testaments to replace those people had lost in the floods. He hoped the Society would be able to raise this amount within the next six months.

“In some locations people have lost everything,” he said. “Even where there has been no loss of human life many animals have drowned, and this has meant that the floodwaters themselves have become contaminated with the decaying corpses – hence the need for drinking water.”

Crocodiles

There was a great risk of disease spreading via the floodwaters. And in Villahermosa, the state capital of Tabasco, police shot at least one of several large crocodiles seen drifting down the high street. Alarmed pedestrians had found themselves wading within feet of the reptiles.

There were also reports of people, who had suddenly been made homeless by the rising waters, clinging desperately to trees which they discovered were already occupied by poisonous snakes escaping from the disaster. Army and navy personnel were called out to help the mass evacuation effort across Mexico and took thousands of people to safety and shelter.

But for many communities isolated by the waters, which in places had risen by several metres, contact with the outside world was impossible without a boat. These communities could only be reached with food and medicine supplies by helicopter.

Unreachable

Some communities in Oaxaca and hundreds of villages in the north of Veracruz were unreachable even by helicopters standing by. In mid to end October, none had been able to fly out merely to establish visual contact with many rural settlements.

“We had a call from Christians in the Chiapas region begging for Scriptures to replace those they had lost in the floods,” said Dr Ruiz. “They told us that the floods had totally destroyed their community, they had lost all their earthly possessions, including their Bibles.

“They asked us for our help, support and prayers,” he said. “Some of our colleagues have family in Veracruz where the floods have caused great damage. Their families are living without shelter, without clothes, without furniture, and everywhere the water level is rising. Some people have been without food for three days, and many have escaped into the mountains because the plains are covered in water. But the fear is that they will starve if rescue teams cannot reach them.”

Comfort and hope

The Bible Society will also produce and distribute 200,000 Portions entitled Nothing Can Separate us from the Love of God. The Portion offers a selection of Scriptures that will bring comfort and hope to many, according to Dr Ruiz.

“We have an important task ahead of us if we are to bring practical and spiritual help to the many people affected,” said Dr Ruiz. “We need to raise the funds that will cover the printing of these Scriptures, currently under way. We will also make a list of all active churches willing to help us with the distribution.

“The post-production stage will be to distribute these Scriptures though churches, church leaders and pastors, and other Christian organisations willing to help us. We will ourselves, of course, become volunteers in helping the churches to reach those worst affected by the floods.

“We are planning to start the distribution in November through to January. The whole project should be completed by April.” (WR 346/10 - 12.99) [PHOTOS]

Flood Victims ‘Hungry for Bibles’

NORTH CAROLINA, USA — Hurricane Floyd, which has proved to be the most expensive natural disaster in the history of North Carolina, has left in its wake “a hunger for Bibles”, according to the director of a state Baptist relief agency.

When Floyd hit the south-eastern coast of the United States in mid-September, North Carolina suffered winds of up to 110 mph (176 kph) and, in the east of the state, 20 inches of rain. Some 3,700 homes were destroyed and 10,000 people were driven into temporary shelters. The final death toll for the state rose to 48.

Local churches and church associations quickly began relief work. This included collecting and distributing food, replacing household furnishings, and sending out teams to repair and clean flood-damaged homes.

Richard Brunson, the Director of North Carolina’s Baptist Men, said the American Bible Society had given his organisation about 10,000 Bibles, Selections and Portions for distribution to the flood victims.

“They were one of the things that was asked for the most,” he said. Within days of the storm, one relief center was set up in an old grocery store in Tarboro, North Carolina, a town with a population of about 10,000. The organiser was Dr Lavelle Waters, pastor of First Baptist Church, Tarboro. Everything in the store was donated. “We operated the place on faith,” he said.

Busy operation Open from 10am until 2pm six days a week, it was a busy operation. Some 70 volunteers – and occasionally as many as 200 – unloaded delivery trucks, put merchandise onto the shelves or helped the center's 'shoppers' to choose what they needed.

“We guided them through the store and they could get what they needed for two days,” said Dr Waters. If their needs continued after that, he said, they were encouraged to come back. “We couldn’t take care of a week's groceries at once because there wouldn’t be enough to go around.”

The ABS Bibles and New Testaments sent by Mr Brunson were available in the store along with all the other donated goods. On the whole, said Dr Waters, people were very receptive to them.

“Usually when you give out Scriptures most people look at them and if they’re not religiously oriented they’ll leave them in the shopping trolleys or dispose of them. But I only saw one copy that was left and a lot came in.”

Praise

Among the volunteers helping at the center were some women from a local correctional institution. Dr Waters was full of praise for them. “They did whatever was necessary: cleaning out drains, cleaning bathrooms, going round with our shoppers and taking out trash,” he explained. “I couldn't have operated the place without them.”

Although they were serving time mainly for drug or alcohol abuse, most of them, he said, had a religious orientation. “We had a prayer before we started each day and when I said Amen, almost in unison their response was Amen.”

And, to his great joy, some asked if they could take Bibles from the store back into the institution with them. “They really made my day when they did things like that,” he said.

According to Mr Brunson the other service which the volunteer teams of Baptist Men provided was ‘mudouts’. “You go into a house that has been flooded with two feet of water,” he explained. “There’s water, mud and sewage in there. It is in a very unsanitary condition.

“So our volunteers would come in and take out the furniture, the carpets and the plasterboard off the walls. Then they took high-pressure washers and bleach and they cleaned the house. It would take several weeks to dry out and then they would come back and install insulation and put plasterboard up.”

When the work was done, the team delivered a Bible to the family living in the house. “The volunteers would sign it and have prayer with the family,” said Mr Brunson. “Many of these were non-church families. A team leader told me that when he presented one lady with a Bible she was more appreciative of that than of all the work they did on her house!”

Long-lasting

More long-lasting than the damage done to individual homes, however, was that suffered by farmers. Officials put the losses to agriculture at US $1 billion.

“Even though we are downtown we have several farmers in our church,” said Dr Waters. “What they had not gotten in before the storm is gone – and most of what they had gotten in was tobacco. Most of them lost much of their peanuts, sweet potatoes, soya beans or whatever and if there is something that is grown underground it will not be harvested, just ploughed in. The farmers will be feeling the effects for years.” (WR 346/11 - 12.99)

First Creole New Testament in the Caribbean

ST LUCIA — The translation of the New Testament into Creole – the native language of this small Caribbean island – has evoked strong emotions and a sense of national pride among St Lucians who have been struggling to gain official recognition for their language.

The fruit of a partnership between the Bible Society in the East Caribbean (BSEC) and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), the translation project was undertaken by a team comprising Dr David and Lyn Frank, Paul and Cynthia Crosbie, Emmanuel Leon and Peter Samuel.

Quiet revolution

Fifteen years in the making, the Creole New Testament with selected Psalms was launched on October 10, and is poised to play a major role in what the country's Prime Minister has described as a “quiet revolution” to give the Creole language and culture the legitimacy it deserves. The launch coincided with the annual Creole celebrations held throughout the country.

English is the official language here, but more than 90 per cent of the 150,000 St Lucians speak Creole (also known as Kwéyol) as their preferred language of communication. Many of them cannot read the language, however, because until recently English has been the only language used in schools and official institutions.

Only in May last year was Creole permitted in the House of Assembly. Previously speakers were only allowed to use English. This marks a significant step in the island's history, and in this context, the arrival of the Creole New Testament is extremely well timed.

More than 500 people at the launch ceremony heard speakers emphasise the importance of the new translation for the people of St Lucia as they develop their Creole identity.

“Our country is bilingual,” said the Executive Director of the Folk Research Centre, June King-Frederick. “This New Testament makes me feel very proud because it says to the Creole people that you are equal to everybody else.”

Describing the new translation as a “monumental work”, the Governor of St Lucia, Dame Pearlette Louisy, expressed the pride that the Creole people feel in having God's Word in their language:
“I am sure that when Jesus spoke about nations and peoples he did have Creole speakers in mind,” she said. “We have come a long way from Hebrew to Creole, but the language, Creole, is ours.”

Understanding

Referring to a quote about language being “the house in which the human spirit lives,” the Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs, Damien Greaves, said that the new translation will help bring the Creole people to a greater understanding of the Bible.

Monsignor Theophilus Joseph of the Roman Catholic Church agreed: “In the Roman Catholic Church we have already made quite an effort to make Creole truly the language of the people, and with God’s help we are using our language to encourage people to turn their lives to God,” he said.

“This first translation is important, and we will do all we can to encourage our people, not only to buy these books, but also to learn to read them in Creole, because it is the mother tongue of all of us.”

Teaching resource

Although the translation work on the New Testament is now complete, the BSEC and the SIL do not consider the project to be over, and are running literacy programs which will rely heavily upon the Creole New Testament as a teaching resource. SIL International has submitted material to the Ministry of Education for approval.

Five thousand copies of the Creole New Testament were printed for the launch ceremony, and these were eagerly received by guests. Xavier Llewelyn, an artist who received an advance copy of the new translation, described his feelings on hearing his wife read a passage from the book: “It was the most profound experience of my life to hear the Word of God being read in my own language,” he said. (WR 346/12 - 12.99)

Hearing Promotes Bible Work

SOLOLA, Guatemala — The first time Cackchiquel speakers in Guatemala sat and listened to a new reading of the Gospel in their “heart” language – as distinct from Spanish – their reactions were wide grins and plentiful laughter.

Cackchiquel is a Mayan language spoken by some 132,000 people, mainly in southern Guatemala. The official launch of the Faith Comes By Hearing (FCBH) cassette program in Cackchiquel took place at a celebration service in July and was attended by more than 400 people.

A few days afterwards the first listening session for a congregation took place at The New Jerusalem Church, in Solola, a little more than 40 miles (64 km) north west of Guatemala City. The arrival of FCBH coordinator Pedro Bocel with the cassette tapes was eagerly awaited.

The listening session was to be from the Book of Matthew. Mr Bocel suggested to Pastor Tomas that they listen to one chapter. “That will be no fun,” the pastor replied. “If we are going to listen only to one chapter, we had better not listen to anything.” In the end, such was the enthusiasm of the people that they listened to the first three chapters of Matthew’s Gospel.

Laughed

At the end of the readings Pastor Tomas walked up to the pulpit at the front and he laughed. He was not the only one. There were grins on the faces of all the men and women sitting in the church. “Did you understand what you heard or not?” he asked them. They all laughed. “Of course we understood!” they called out delightedly.

“I think there is no more excuse for saying that we do not understand the Word of God,” he said. “It touched my heart so much I do not know how to express it.” Then, in an eloquent mixture of metaphors, he added, “I feel the flavour of the Word because I can understand it.”

After he had praised the FCBH project, others in the congregation also felt moved to speak. “I listened and it is very beautiful because it is my heart language,” said one.

Movie

“When I was listening to those three chapters it was as if I was watching a movie,” said another. “I was imagining in my head what was happening. In the passage when John is in the river, I could hear the river running.”

“I read the Bible in Spanish,” said a third speaker. “I love reading it but sadly I understand almost nothing. Today I did not read, I only listened but I was able to understand everything perfectly and I feel that this is going to bring peace to my heart.”

Before drawing the meeting to a close, the pastor asked the congregation to pray there and then for the people involved in the worldwide FCBH program. The program is funded under the terms of a partnership between Hosanna and the Bible Societies and is operated by local churches. In most cases the local FCBH coordinator is a Bible Society employee.

Although Mr Bocel is not with the Bible Society – he is with the recording ministry VINA – the evident success of the Cackchiquel cassettes is bound to generate a hunger for reading the Word of God in Cackchiquel and to boost the translation program which is currently under way.

Reflecting on early indications of success for the Cackchiquel cassettes, Mr Bocel referred to promotion which he undertook both before and after the readings were produced. “Before we started recording the Cackchiquel New Testament, I visited the churches looking for readers,” he said.

Excited

“I explained the objective of the recording, that it was going to be done in audio-drama and what we were going to do when the tapes were ready. The people have been very excited since then, waiting for the recording to be completed.” Then, when the tapes were finished, he planned the thanksgiving service and in preparation went to a radio station to talk about it on the air and to have a sample of the readings broadcast.

“The man in charge of the radio station told me, ‘Pedro, I like this very much. Why don’t you come and play the tapes for 15 minutes?’” For 15 days prior to the official launch, the radio station broadcast 15-minute readings. “Promotion is very important,” said Mr Bocel. “That is why these people are now ready and hungry for the Word.” (WR 346/ 13 - 12.99)