I am holding in my hand a copy of the Muśhü Limalicuy. It’s a miracle. My friends Rick and Melanie Floyd gave it to me. They lived most of their adult lives, twenty-six years, in Peru. Much of that time was spent in San Pedro de Pihuas, a village of about a thousand Wanca speaking people in the Andes Mountains of central Peru. An estimated two hundred and fifty thousand people speak Wanca Quechua, one of many dialects within the Quechua language family. The Quechua people, descendants of the Inca Empire, are mostly potato farmers and shepherds.
Prior to the arrival of the Floyd’s in 1981, there was no written form of the Wanca dialect. Rick, who holds a Ph.D. in linguistics and fluent in both English, Spanish, and now Wanca, embarked on the task of learning the language and culture of these amazing people. Rick and Melanie’s home had dirt floors and no running water. In that home they raised three very fine sons. The Floyd’s are missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators. Rick created a Wanca alphabet and lexicon of words. Together with the help of a small team of nationals, they translated the entire New Testament into Wanca Quechua. It took two and a half decades but today the Muśhü Limalicuy is available to all Wanca speakers who want to read the God’s Word for themselves.
With this backdrop, check out the words of the prophet in Ezekiel 43.10-11 NIV...
“Son of man, describe the temple to the people of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their sins. Let them consider the plan, and if they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the design of the temple — its arrangement, its exits and entrances — its whole design and all its regulations and laws. Write these down before them so that they may be faithful to its design and follow all its regulations.”
The Floyd’s were called to do exactly what Ezekiel did. They ‘wrote down’ the words of God. Rick and Melanie and their supporters fulfilled the Great Commission of Jesus Christ to “go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28.19). Another two hundred and fifty thousand souls now have access to the Word of God. Armed with the Muśhü Limalicuy (New Testament), Quechua followers of Jesus will inspire Wanca speakers everywhere to pick up their very own Bible, to “be faithful to its design and follow” its Author into everlasting life.
