Go and Keep on Going!

by Christine Foris

Our training and preparation seemed to take ages.  We had to have adequate financial support, prayer supporters, and friends who would encourage us.  Some jobs have a definite point in which we say “it’s completed, it’s done” and our lives take a new direction.  On the other hand some tasks just keep running on but with a change in focus.  I wonder now, what is the greater challenge – starting something, or bringing it to an end?

While we were completing the translation and preparation for printing the New Testament into Sochiapan Chinantec our supervisor asked us, “What do you have planned for yourselves once the NT is done?”  He said that it was really important to know what you are doing next.  Kinda like – if you aim for nothing, that is what you will hit!  We weren’t sure, but since our eldest child Michelle was ready to start University, we returned to NZ in December 1986 (with our two Mexican born kids Cyndi and Steve) and began working on the Wycliffe NZ home team.  What a great opportunity to input into the lives of others during their journey into becoming Bible translators or Literacy workers, as David taught Language Awareness (Grammar) at SIL, then later became Principal of the course.  In the meantime I worked in the Auckland regional office and became a facilitator for Personal Growth at our training courses.  In 1990 David began a PhD in Linguistics at Auckland University, graduating in 1994.  This opened doors to teach in Thailand at Payap University and also in India. We still worked remotely with the Sochiapan Chinantec project providing for on-going translation work of the Old Testament and Literacy classes.

After the NT was translated we realized that the greatest challenge was to train readers so that the Word of God would be used.  In July 2000 our Auckland phone rang at about 5 a.m.  It was our language assistant in Mexico, Marcelino, asking after our health and that of our family.  Then he asked if there was any money available to finance some literacy classes – there were Chinantec people wanting to be trained as teachers.  A couple of days later we were put in touch with the director of an agency specializing in funding “Scripture use” and looking for a literacy program to fund.  David and a friend left for Mexico to do a baseline survey on the current percentages of reading ability in the area, and the funding was given for a year for intensive literacy training.  The literacy project continues to this day, funded by a NZ business man, and Chinantecs are learning to read.  The working space is cramped and so we are hoping to build a second storey to facilitate the growing needs of the Literacy centre.

The reason the work is expanding is that Wilf and Anita Flores are now working in the Sochiapan Chinantec language (Wilf’s mother tongue), and Wilf’s dream is to bring together translation teams from the other 13 Chinantec language variants to translate the OT into their own variant.  This is a God-sized vision and we pray that He will bring it to pass.

We returned to Mexico in 2005 and in 2006 celebrated the 20th anniversary of the completion of the New Testament with a feast for the village, and the distribution of the entire NT on CDs for those who will never learn to read.  A new music CD was made incorporating all of the songs in the hymn book so that people can learn to sing these songs in their homes.  New skills were taught to the women and now many can quilt and bake cakes and bread, following recipes in Chinantec.

In 2007-2008 we went to Lima, Peru on a new adventure – primarily for David to teach the SIL course in Spanish to Latin-American missionary trainees.  He’d taught many times in English, but this was a chance to stretch his skills and his faith.  It was a huge privilege to be part of the lives of these young people who are so passionate about serving God.  Most are now on the field or in study programs to further their skills, or are getting more experience as teacher’s assistants.  Others are in the process of building their support team in preparation to heading out to their field of service.

We are amazed by God's faithfulness to us over the 41 years that we have served in mission.  Out most recent adventure was from May to late July this year when we returned to Oaxaca, Mexico for David to attend a dictionary workshop with Francisco. the Chinantec-Spanish dictionary has around 9,500 entries. So why would Bible translators write a dictionary? Good question!! Isn't that academic, scientific work? Yes, it is that. It is also a document that records a language that is alive and well and proves to the world that it is a language. There are people who think languages like Chinan-tec don't have a grammar, or can't express philsophical concepts, so a dictionary presents all the evidence. It gives great pride to the speakrs of that language that they have a dictionary of their words.

As we return to New Zealand, the story continues…

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