Another interesting situation took place while I was taking computers to the different translation projects and training them to use the software, I took a monitor to a translation project in the North of Guatemala. The trip by bus from Ciudad de Guatemala to the remote place near the border with Mexico took about 8 hours.

When we arrived at the final stop, I was transported with monitor and luggage too, by jeep. But when we encountered a flooded river, we had to hire a mule for me to ride with the monitor and take a longer route to cross the river.

The translators received me as if I was a member of their own family, which we are in Christ, and since it had been a long trip, after a light dinner and great conversation, I gladly went to bed early.

Before the sun came up, the wife came to wake me. They wanted me to see how they “turned” the coffee beans. I did not know what she was talking about, but I got dressed and went down to a terrace in front of the small house. The terrace was covered with a huge piece of fabric. On top of that fabric were zillions of coffee beans.

The two missionaries, the owners of the property where we were, some natives and I proceeded slowly to turn each bean of coffee by hand. Coffee is a pod that grows on a tree. Typically, there are 2 seeds in each pod. The seeds inside of the pods are the beans we buy roasted at the supermarket. But it takes time to get there. Processing is what is done to a coffee pod to remove the pulp and other parts outside of the coffee pod in order to get to the seed. After the seed is removed, if you want to store the green beans for any period of time, it’s important to dry them quite well so they don’t mold. This can take days in the sun. Thus, the coffee beans must be carefully turned one by one so they get the sun to dry them fully; and then can be stored.

When we finished the interminable task, we went for breakfast and I started working on the connection of the monitor and installation of the software. Finally, once the monitor was properly attached and software installed on the computer, I asked for the printer. The missionaries, who were not at their house, had brought the computer but not the printer from their field location so the missionary had to travel in his truck overnight 18 hours to get the printer, and, praise God, the manual.

Of course, I had to change DIP switches and prepare for printing.

While we waited for the printer to arrive, a 90 years old native sat in front of the computer to proofread the translation after the text was input by the translator’s wife. When the printer arrived and we could print what the patient nonagenarian had managed to correct on the screen, he gave a big sigh and, smiling, said in Spanish, “Ahora si.” Meaning “Now I can”.

That missionary couple spent their life in Guatemala and translated four New Testaments for some of the native languages of Guatemala: the Mam, Kaqchikl, Q’anjob’al, and Chuj languages.