Why Is There an Uspanteco Center in Las Pacayas?

It was February 4th, 1999, 4:05 p.m.  The typesetting of the Uspantec New Testament is finished.  We were euphoric.  But our euphoria was dampened just a bit when a Wycliffe Bible Translator member congratulates us and then adds:  “the work is just beginning”.

Yes, in a sense our work as translators for the Uspantec New Testament was just beginning.  Unless the New Testament is used by the Uspantecos, then it has little value.

This is the reason why the Uspanteco Center in Las Pacayas was dedicated on March 10, 2002.

{House For Our People From Town—translation of center sign at right, above}

It is built of cement blocks and it is 46 feet by 40 feet with a tin roof insulated with thick black plastic underneath the tin.

The mural to the left of the main entrance to the Center has Matthew 11:26 written in Uspanteco that says:

Tzajtak wiq’uil atak ri cosolcatak li chac
y ralaj awika’nak y in atinya’taka’ chi uxlan.

“Come to me, you who are tired from work
and are under your burden and I will give you rest.”

{Mar `02} Only 10% of the Uspantecos in Las Pacayas are literate. Reading classes in Uspanteco are provided at the Center for those who want to learn how to read in their own language.

To see what Paul Kinney, the director of Lutheran Bible Translators, presented to Uspantecos in Las Pacayas click here.

To God be the Glory!  Or as the Uspantecos say:

Tinimirsaj jk’ij Kakaj Dios - May God’s name be made big!