Family
News – Timothy Jones
Our biggest news was Hannah’s graduation April 18th
from the University of Costa Rica in Business Administration. Three
weeks before graduation she got a good job with a software engineering firm
from California needing to open an office in Costa Rica. She is trying to keep
the 17 boys in the office working as hard as she does. We are very proud of
her.
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Other news was that I was gone to the U.S. for the
month of May visiting family and supporters. It was wonderful to see relatives
in Alabama that I have not seen for over twenty years. I had a lot of rich time
with my parents and with my brother Steven and his family. Thanks to all of you
that hosted me or listened to me share about the Cabécar Old Testament project.
Thanks to those who focused prayer on me and on this work.
While I was gone Keiry got her nursery of 5,000 coffee
plants set out in our old coffee field which needed replanting. She had her
hands very full taking care of the house and the workers while I was gone.
Thank you, Keiry!
Rebekah continued learning to do crowns, root canals,
dentures, extractions and all the other things her training entails. Joel
started a new quarter at Bible college and continues working on their house
here on the farm. Mark is about to finish his first semester of engineering.
Ruth, John, and Abigail are almost to the middle of their school year here in
Grano de Oro.
Old
Testament Translation
One day about six years ago, I was returning home after
5 days in the mountains with Reyes, who at that time was my constant companion.
We passed a village, Klewä Ri, and Reyes, for the umpteenth time, asked me for
the run down on the area and the important kinship relationships there. Since
Reyes was from somewhere else, I was functioning as his tour guide. I was so
tired by that point that I said, “I don’t really know anything about this
village. Why don’t you pop your head in find out for yourself?”
Reyes satisfied his curiosity and we continued on.
Finally about two hours before home I just sat down and sprawled my legs out in
the middle of the trail, in very un-Cabécar like fashion (they rarely admit or
show tiredness.) Inside of me I thought in desperation, “Lord is there anyone
within three hours of here who hungers and thirsts for righteousness?” It just
seemed so impossible.
A minute or two later a young man came walking up the
trail and stopped to talk to us. “Where are you going_” we asked. “To Klewä
Ri,” he answered. He was married in at Kächuk Ri but going back to Klewä Ri to
plant some crops. He seemed like a good man and a man of peace. His name was
Román. Sporadically over the next years I began to seek him out to share the
Word with him and persuade him about Christ. Eventually he took a job in the
city for over a year, but often before coming home for a visit, his wife would
send word to me that he would be coming so that I could go and visit him.
One day in January 2010 I was sitting in our church
praying, very discouraged. The door opened and in walks Román. He had finished
his job and come home with funds to build his own house. But what he came to
tell me was that while he was in town he had started attending church. One
night he had a dream in which he saw the Lord Jesus. The Lord said to him,
“Your sins have been forgiven. Lift up your hands and worship me.” His faith
has never wavered. He became an avid student of the New Testament in his
language (Cabécar) and goes with this wife reading the word to other people. He
attends a Cabécar church whose leadership does not read the Bible in their language
in the church, (nor in Spanish much either, for that matter.) But the leaders
appreciate Román always getting up to read a passage of the New Testament in
their language.
When the audio New Testament came out, he began to play
it for night visitors at his home or to go out to other homes and play it for
them. He even went to his village of Klewä Ri and tried to play it for his
mother, but she is a strong believer in their traditional religion and did not
want to hear any.
It is hard to find men in this culture who are not busy
bodies, like to provide for their families, who do not weary of having to sit
and think hard, and show ability for this type of work. He has a nice family
that respects him. So awhile back when I began to think about hiring someone
more local to work several days a week with me on the Old Testament, I thought
of him. I still work a week a month with David Lopez and occasionally with
Reynaldo, but though they are very experienced, they live too far away to help
me only a few days a week.
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I need to start recruiting and training new people,
but it is difficult to have to provide a full time job and housing for a family
to help translate if I am still studying Hebrew and doing research on the text.
I will only be able to actually translate a few days a week.
I arrived home Saturday night from my month long trip
to the Southeast planning to go Friday to find Román and propose this idea to
him, but not long after I got up on Sunday there was Roman standing out in the
yard. He does not come very often to Grano de Oro, but whenever he does, he
comes by to see me and pray with me. He said he thought I just might be
home and came by.
So I proposed to him my idea of him working with me
part time which would still give him time to keep up his own farm. I asked him
to start next Tuesday. He said great “Great, tell me what chapters we will be
starting on so I can study them in Spanish.”
I will appreciate your prayers and help as we move
forward as a family and with the translation. Thank you for believing in us and
our calling.
In Christ,
Timothy Jones
