The In-Village Work Completed At Last
I felt so happy and excited it seemed as if Christmas had begun on Thursday, September 28th, 1989. I looked up from the page of Canela translation and said to Jaco, our best translation helper, “Yeah, we’re done! This is the last page. You and I have worked and learned together since you were a teenager, and now you are a married man with a family and responsibilities. Thank you, Jaco, for being so faithful. You kept taking time to work with me to translate God’s Word into your language.” Jaco grinned broadly, sharing my delight at completing a massive project–translate, check, improve, and approve every one of 370,000 words in the Canela partial Bible. We kept grinning at each other as we celebrated with coffee and Jo’s cookies.
“I will be processing all our work on computers,” I explained. “It will take many months, first in Belem, and then in Brasilia, but by early next August, when no one is working in their fields, Jo and I’ll be back in the village with boxes full of printed Bibles; everyone will see your work, and you will finally hold the Book of God in your hands.”
Satan’s Fury and Revenge
That was the plan, but I had failed to remember that we had an Evil Enemy. “Our
struggle is not against flesh and blood . . . but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12.) Satan is a poor loser. After having imprisoned countless generations of Canelas, he knew that with the arrival of God’s Word, the recent trickle of escapees would turn into a complete jailbreak. He was furious and wanted revenge. God was still ultimately in control, but, as in the case of Job, he allowed Satan to inflict some injury.
Two months later, the day Jo and I finished dealing with the new material, we got word that Jaco was very sick, and his family was bringing him to Belem for us to care for him.
Jaco looked fragile when he and his family arrived. He was mentally confused and could not walk unaided. I immediately took him to our doctor, gave him medicines, and took him for a dozen tests, but he got worse instead of better.
Ten days later, he had gall bladder surgery, during which time he had a cerebrovascular accident and went into a coma. When I explained to Kajari, Jaco’s wife, why he was in a coma, she said,
“After you left the village, he was repairing our house, and a heavy beam fell on his head. We thought he was dead, but he got up again. He’s been sick and confused ever since.” The doctor said that head trauma probably caused the brain bleed. I took Kajari to see him in the ICU twice a day, and we prayed over him constantly for weeks, but there was no improvement.
“Satan is sure a poor loser,” I said to Jo. “He is mad at losing his hold on the Canelas. And it seems God is letting Satan take his anger out on Jaco and his family.”
Yet Another Attack
But Satan was not done yet. On Christmas Eve, we got a phone call from Cheryl in Canada, “Mommy, Grandpa in Oliver just died, and Grandma is also very sick. Please come home right away.”
I can remember nothing about Christmas, except Jo packing to leave for Canada the day after Boxing day. It was a huge hassle to get a ticket at such short notice, board a flight to the US, and then to Canada. She arrived, in Oliver, utterly exhausted, the day before the funeral. Jo, our three daughters and Jo’s Mom comforted and supported each other during the funeral and the days following. Since Cheryl was slated for gall bladder surgery a week or so later, Jo stayed to be with her.
Kajari’s Sacrifice
Meanwhile, I received word from the director of publications, “If the first two weeks in August is the best time to have a Bible dedication celebration among the Canela, you need to start work here on January 1st.
“Kajari,” I said when we were on our way to visit Jaco, “I need to go to Brasilia to work for four months to make the Bible ready for the printer to make books. So, I need to leave very soon.”
“But how will I see my husband?” she interrupted, crying, “Don’t leave me!”
“I have already asked four of our friends to take you to see Jaco as often as you want every day.”
Through tears, she said, “My husband has sacrificed to help you make God’s Book in our language, but I have never done anything to help. So, this time, I will sacrifice. You can go. I will depend on your friends to take me to see my husband.”
I left for Brasilia, and two days after I arrived, Jaco died. The Wycliffe plane took Jaco’s coffin, Kajari, and her baby directly to the village. Jaco’s friends and the rest of his family had already left for home on the bus.
Celebrating the Victory
God then intervened, and Satan’s attacks ceased. Jo joined me in Brasilia, and on May 9th, we celebrated with praise to God and turned the 750 camera-ready pages over to the printer.
On Friday, August 10th, Jo and I were in the village with boxes full of Canela Bibles, excited and eager to celebrate the victory. Joining us in our delight were my Dad and Mom, Jo’s Mom, my brother Henry, and his wife, as well as our three daughters, one with her husband, the other two with their boyfriends, and of course many Wycliffe colleagues.
Kajari was, of course, the first person to receive a Bible, “This is your husband’s work.” After that, I called each person who had earned a Bible by memorizing an unbelievable number of Bible verses. On receiving their Bible, each one opened it, started reading, sat down with the others, and kept on reading. I nearly cried when I saw they kept reading even though several village leaders and I made speeches. Yes! Oh yes!
A few hours later, Jo and I stood off to one side and watched the celebration. “I felt like it was Christmas eleven months ago,” I said to Jo, “but I was wrong. Today is the true Christmas for the Canela people. God’s Written Word has come to them in their village, to reveal Jesus, the Living Word who came to Bethlehem that first Christmas.”