Have you ever considered what it would be like to be an international or overseas missionary? Can you imagine sacrificing or giving up what you know and love about this country to move to another country to serve as a missionary to the people of that foreign country? For example, imagine all of the friends and family functions you would miss attending. Wikipedia defines a missionary “as a member of a religious group sent into an area to proselytize or perform ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.” Missionaries can be sent out to locations here in the USA and they can also be sent out to international destinations which are located far away from home. International missionaries often leave their families and friends and relocate to countries with different cultures, languages and customs. When you start a new job in the business world, the new employee usually knows what his/her new job description is and what the requirements of his/her new job are. The new employee typically knows who their boss will be, where they will report to work each day, where their office or cubicle is located and what type of technology is available to support them in their daily work endeavors. When you begin your life as an overseas missionary, many of the answers to these types of questions or job defining characteristics are just not available and the Christian missionary must figure everything out as they go along. For someone like me who has spent my whole post-college life working in the business world, I find the prospect of being an overseas missionary, with all the potential unknowns, to be a very scary proposition at best.
So why in the world would anyone want to leave their friends and families and relocate to a country and culture they know very little about? The simple answer is Jesus commanded the Church to share the Gospel around the world. More specifically, in the Bible, Jesus is recorded as instructing the apostles to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19–20, Mark 16:15–18). These verses are referred to by Christians as the Great Commission and they inspire missionary work. Followers of Christ want to be obedient to His commands and serve Him as He calls them to do. All Christians are called to share the good news of the Gospel and to use their gifts in serving God, but not all Christians are called to be international missionaries. Those who are called to international missionary work certainly have a servant’s heart and are willing to make a tremendous amount of personal sacrifices for the cause of proclaiming the Gospel throughout the world.
Before I begin telling the story of a missionary couple who will be the focus of this blog post, I would like to ask everyone reading this a few questions. Have you ever worked on a project for a long time (Note: I am talking decades here)? When it seemed like you were getting close to finally completing your long project, were you ever thrown a MAJOR curve ball, which might impact or delay the completion of your project? If yes, how did you respond to the trial(s) which followed the unexpected curve ball? Furthermore, can you imagine what it is like to work on one project for 34 plus years? Yes, what would it be like to have one project being THE focus on your life for over 34 years? I must admit that I have never worked on one project that long in my life. As a result, I cannot imagine what it would be like to be almost to the finish line of a decades-long project and then get thrown a curve ball which seems like it might delay or derail the project. If you are like me and have never worked on any one project that long in your life, how did you respond when you encountered trials in your life such as the following ones?
Perhaps your marriage ended in divorce or your spouse passed away and you were left as a widow?
Perhaps you lost a child or one of your children’s lives started to head down a path which was filled with deep trouble?
Perhaps you did not get the job of your dreams or the promotion of your dreams or you lost your job altogether?
Perhaps the project you are leading at work is a disaster or your business is imploding?
Perhaps you were greatly deceived by someone you trust?
Perhaps you are older and all your friends are dying and you are starting to feel lonely and afraid?
Perhaps you have received a health diagnosis which will significantly alter or change the course of your life?
Perhaps your life has been impacted by some other major trial which has deeply impacted you?
I just found out recently that a 37-year-old friend of mine has been recently diagnosed with colon cancer, which is the first type of cancer I was diagnosed with back in 2007. He is married and has been blessed with a daughter and he is in the prime of his business development career at a growing professional services firm. His daughter, who is 7 now, spent her first six months of life in the premature baby ward at the local children’s hospital wing. Today, she is finally a healthy child living a fairly normal life and then, boom, my friend and his wife are hit with this new cancer trial news. Wow, are you kidding me – haven’t they been through enough the past seven years? I have been ministering to people with cancer for over 12 years and I have come to learn that a cancer diagnosis is never expected and, from our perspective, it usually comes at the most inopportune time(s). Cancer has a way of interrupting all of our life’s missions at a time when we least expect it.
This blog post is the story of a missionary couple, Mark & Patti Bean, who have been serving as missionaries for Wycliffe Bible Translators in the Andes Mountains of Peru for over 34 years. In 2017, when the Beans’ translation team was getting very close to finalizing the Quechua Bible translation project (six related Quechuan languages) for Wycliffe, Mark was diagnosed with low-grade lymphoma. When he was diagnosed with cancer, there was so much work yet to be done on their translation project, including lots of final edits of the text and over $200,000 had to be raised to publish and print the Bibles. Because they were so close to finalizing a project which they have spent most of their post-college lives working on, a normal human reaction would be for them to ask themselves “why is this happening to us now”? If I was in Mark’s cancer trial shoes, I might also wonder “why is God allowing this to happen to us when we have spent the past 30+ years serving Him, performing the missionary work He has called us to do”? Because the Beans would need to be at the center of the final fundraising efforts, I might also worry if I were them about “what is going to happen to this important project, will all our translation work go to waste and will these Bibles ever get published”? While these are all normal questions for someone enduring a cancer trial to ask themselves, I have had a chance to interact and talk with the Beans on multiple occasions. I have observed how they continue to respond to their cancer trial in a way which is different from the natural human response. It is my hope that sharing how the Beans have responded to the challenges of a significant cancer trial will encourage others who face trials, including cancer trials, in their own lives.
Mark’s journey began in 1973 at my beloved Indiana University (Bloomington, Indiana) when a fellow student at The Willkie Residence Center shared the Gospel with Mark. During his conversation with his classmate that night in the Willkie dorm, Mark accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. It was a simple decision to make that night in Bloomington but it would end up being the biggest decision of Mark’s life. Yes, it was a decision that radically changed the direction of Mark’s life and resulted in him traveling around the world in his service to Christ. Mark 8:34 tells us:
“And calling the crowd to Him with his disciples, He said to them, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
After his freshman year at Indiana, Mark then transferred to Purdue the following year and it is on the campus of Purdue where Mark met Patti. I love the Beans dearly but I do have to admit the whole Purdue story still gets to me a little bit as almost all Indiana University alumni like me consider Purdue to be our biggest rival. Grrrrrr… However, I will save my Purdue jokes for another day…. Mark and Patti got married the summer before their last year at Purdue and then they headed off to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, north of Chicago, where Mark earned his Master of Divinity degree. After he graduated from Trinity, both he and Patti started training for Wycliffe Bible Translators and then they headed off to the Andes Mountains of Peru to begin their lives as missionaries focused on translating the Bible into languages of the Quechua language family. Here below is how the Wycliffe Bible website describes the missionary work of Mark & Patti Bean:
“Mark & Patti Bean went to Peru in 1984 as Bible translators in the Andes Mountains. In addition to Bible translation, they also encouraged worship music in Quechua, prepared basic discipleship materials for the Quechua church, and developed literacy materials. In 2003 they dedicated two New Testaments: one for Margos-Yarowilca-Lauricocha and the other for Huamalíes-Dos de Mayo Quechua speakers. Since then they have been translating the entire Bible for six related Quechua languages: the two above as well as Huaylas, South Conchucos, North Conchucos and Huacaybamba Quechuas. Additionally, Mark serves as a translation consultant for other translation projects.”
So, when the Beans arrived in Peru, was there was a welcome party with a red-carpet roll-out announcing their arrival? Of course not. The Quechuan people did not know who the Beans were, the Beans looked and dressed differently than the Quechuan people and they were all scared of Mark because he is rather tall. As a result, the Beans first had to gain the trust of the Quechuan people which of course took time and continued effort on their part. The Beans were determined to earn their trust and to show them that they were there to help and serve the Quechuan people. In the first few months after they arrived in Peru, Patti became ill while Mark was away from the village traveling. When some of the ladies of the village came to assist her while she was in bed with a fever, they began to see her as more than just a visitor or someone to be scared of but they started to connect with her as a fellow human being while they served her in her time of need. It was the interactions from this sickness trial which helped break the ice with the Quechuans and allowed the Beans to slowly start gaining their trust. After they slowly started to gain their trust, did the Beans just buy some computers and immediately begin their translation project? That would be a big “NO.” First, they had to figure out how to write the Quechua language they had been assigned to. No one had ever seen their language in print before. Thankfully, other linguists had been studying Quechua in other parts of the country before the Beans arrived in Peru. Plus the Beans had colleagues in neighboring Quechua languages. With their colleagues they could think together what different word parts might mean and puzzle out how to represent sounds for a practical way to spell.
Can you imagine how difficult that must have been to start writing down a language which had never been written down before? I did a quick Google search and this process is referred to as documentary linguistics. According to a website called languages in danger, “language documentation fieldwork is often a lengthy process during which documenters need to travel, establish new contacts, integrate with the local community, become familiar with their customs, habits, and culture, before they can begin the actual work”. I have enough trouble just communicating properly in the English language, a language which has been well documented over time and is also a language I have spoken my entire life. However, I cannot begin to imagine how difficult it must have been to phonetically sound out words and start writing down those words for the first time. As you can now see, the Beans’ Bible translation project was going to be truly transformational for this region of Peru as it would bring the Quechuan people their language in a written format for the first time and it would also bring them the truth of God’s word. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 tells us:
“16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
As the years progressed, the Beans started to document the Quechuan language and then began the process of translating the Bible, which is hard work. The following quote from the Wycliffe Canada website (https://www.wycliffe.ca/2018/10/17/one-letter-makes-a-big-difference/) is an October 2018 excerpt from a website posting written by Bob Creson, President/CEO of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA, called “One Letter Makes a Big Difference”:
“Last year, they completed a workshop to begin checking the proofs prepared for publication in each language. Each of the languages found small edits and corrections to make here and there. Every day these reviewers would meet with Mark to inform him of their tweaks and edits. The Beans report that it was encouraging to hear them voice amazement using a Quechua equivalent of “awesome!” as they read.
But the reader for one of the languages caught a major change! Instead of Jesus saying, “It would be better to have one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,” one error, just one letter in one word, had Jesus saying, “It would be better to be a buzzard than to have two eyes. . . !” What should have been wiskul accidentally said wiskur.
Accurate translation takes time. If anyone tells you this can be done in two weeks, don’t believe it. Accurate translation of God’s words in His Book ensures these communities that they can claim its promises. His words cause us to prosper and succeed (Joshua 1:8 NLT). They bring life and healing (Proverbs 4:20-22 NLT), insight for living, and are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold . . . sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb (Psalms 19:8, 10 NLT). They give understanding, are a lamp to guide our feet and a light for our path (Psalms 119:103-105 NLT).
As translation nears completion for these Quechua language communities, they are experiencing what Jeremiah did—the Word of God burning in their hearts like a fire. Like a fire in their bones! It will wear them out trying to hold it in and they won’t be able to do it (Jeremiah 20:9 NLT). It will be awesome!”
In 2003, the Beans were able to publish two New Testaments (in two Quechuan languages) and at the end of 2018 they were preparing to go to print with six complete Bibles for six related Quechuan languages. I cannot imagine how difficult it must have been to translate the whole Bible into one language which has not been documented before but I cannot even begin to fathom having to translate the Bible into six closely related but different Quechuan languages. The attention to detail which is required for such a project is almost beyond my imagination and certainly beyond my writing capabilities. Preparing to publish these Bibles is the culmination of the 34 years of work by the Beans and their team of workers in Peru and at Wycliffe.
So why all of this effort and energy in translating the Bible? Below is a quote from a Bob Creson (CEO at Wycliffe) letter which Kristina and I recently received and this quote does an excellent job of summarizing the life-changing importance of Bible translation:
“We asked him (Ambose, one of the men from the church which speaks the Ambonese-Malay language in Indonesia, who cried the first time their bible translation was tested in a community), “Sir, why are you crying? Have you not known about Jesus Christ before now?” “I’ve known about Jesus dying on the cross my whole life” replied the man. “But now for the first time, in my own language, I understand why he died for me”.
While they were in Peru, the Beans managed to raise four beautiful children in the mountain village they resided in. As you can see, this Bible translation project was not only the life’s work of both Mark and Patti but it is also consumed much of the lives of their immediate family.
As I mentioned earlier, Mark was diagnosed with low grade lymphoma in 2017 when he was undergoing a routine scan on his lower back in Peru. The doctors in Peru saw some spots in his lower vertebrae and he was eventually diagnosed with a low-grade lymphoma. He underwent oncology treatments in the USA the summer of 2017 and, after he completed these treatments, he was he was unable to leave his house for 3 to 4 months as he fought a bad case of pneumonia. As of the writing of this blog post, he is in the last month of a five-month treatment for the pneumonia. Throughout the coughing, fatigue and the treatment, however, he continued working on getting those Bibles published. When he was in the hospital receiving care in 2017, I will never forget the story Mark told me where he described how he was blessed because he had the opportunity to continue his translation work in his hospital room. He told me he had his computer set up on his hospital bed and was able to work and discuss with his team in Peru different tweaks to the translation that had come up as they read through the proofs. He was extremely thankful his hospital stay did not prevent him from continuing his translation work. I cannot remember visiting a cancer patient in the hospital who was as busy with their work as Mark described he was during his time in the hospital. You see, this Bible translation project is more than just work for the Beans. For Mark and Patti, it is both a calling from God and an opportunity to serve Him as they promised to do so many years ago. Yes, this project it different from most work in the business world as it has eternal consequences.
In December of 2018, I had the opportunity to interview Mark and Patti in a room of 40+ people. One of the questions I asked them was “if they got mad at God when they received the news of Mark’s cancer diagnosis? If not, then how did they respond?” Mark responded and said he has always viewed life as a “great adventure” with God and he has held this biblical perspective ever since Patti and he were sent out as missionaries back in 1983. Since he has always viewed life in this way, he said he has always viewed his cancer diagnosis as part of this big adventure with God. Mark added that if God could protect both of them from terrorists in Peru and all the other trials they have endured while serving Him there as missionaries, why should they stop trusting Him now when they need His help to get them through a cancer trial?
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)”
What Patti said next just blew me away. She indicated that Mark’s mom, who lives in Ohio, is in declining health and needs her attention and care. (Patti calls Mark’s mom her mom, since she lost both of her parents when she was 12.) As a result, Mark’s cancer diagnosis supported and reinforced the Beans’ decision to move back to Ohio after they had already decided to move back for their mom. Wow, are you kidding me? I have interviewed cancer patients who have come to realize that cancer was a tremendous blessing in their lives as it caused them to be receptive to the message of the Gospel, resulting in them putting their faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. However, I cannot recall hearing someone tell me that cancer was a blessing as it helped reinforce or support tough decisions made in other parts of their lives. Oh, Mark and Patti, how I am humbled by your faith and your ability to fully and completely trust in God’s plan for your life.
During that December 2018 interview, I was able to sit right next to Mark and Patti and was able to look them both directly in their eyes as they responded to my rather direct and tough questions. I was amazed by the lack of emotion which I normally see when I interview someone diagnosed with cancer. I observed how their lack of emotion was replaced by the confidence they both have in God’s plan for their lives and for their ministry. I have thought a lot about what the Beans said since that interview and I have come to realize that their lack of emotion is not because they don’t care for and value their own lives and it is not because they don’t love their own family, because they do. No, when I have reflected on what they said in that interview, I have come to realize that their lack of emotion and overall confidence in God’s sovereignty was because they really do TRUST in the Lord’s plan for their lives. They did more than just say they trust God. They demonstrated their trust in Him in a lot of ways, including how they perceive and respond to all the challenges (there have been many) which come with a cancer trial. I have known the Beans for approximately 18 months and I don’t ever recall them asking for prayers for healing for Mark. Since they joined CSG ("Cancer Support Group", which I help lead), I don’t remember all of their prayer requests but the ones I do recall focused not on themselves but on their ministry. 1 Peter 1:6-7 tell us:
“6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Yes, as the 1 Peter scripture suggests, a cancer trial will definitely test the genuineness of your faith. We all face trials throughout all phases of our lives but a cancer trial has a way of turning our lives upside down and inside out unlike any other trial we have ever faced before. I have observed on a number of occasions how a cancer trial has brought someone to their knees and convicted them of their own mortality. As a result, they became receptive to the Gospel and, after being convicted by the truth of God’s word, they made a decision to put their faith and trust in Christ so they could spend eternity with Him. However, I have also observed how a cancer trial will cause people to get angry with God and even turn from their faith altogether. I have also observed individuals who investigated faith in Jesus and chose to die from their cancer rather than putting their faith in Him. In other words, they chose to die and to leave this earth without having a plan for the eternal destiny of their souls. It is somewhat ironic when this happens as a cancer trial is a time in our lives when we all need God more than ever. In fact, it is an opportunity for spiritual growth as it is a wake-up call to the fact that we are all going to die and we had better get to know our savior better if we plan on spending eternity with Him.
In the 12+ years I have been serving at CSG, I have had the amazing privilege to interview and speak with a number of people who have been diagnosed with cancer. I have seen more than a few people, including myself, cry uncontrollably when speaking about or reflecting on their cancer diagnosis. While crying is a normal human emotion when dealing with something as serious as a cancer diagnosis, why is it that so many of us respond in this way? Is it because we love our friends and family and don’t want to leave them or is it because we do not want them to be burdened by caring for us as we battle cancer? Yes, those are typical reasons for responding with such emotion. However, in reflecting on this question for the past 12 plus years, I have come to realize that many of us, including myself, do not fully trust in God’s plan for our lives when dealing with something as serious as a cancer trial. When a cancer diagnosis forces us to realize that our lives may not turn out according to our preconceived expectations, there is an emotional response which normally follows. When you are talking about something as important as our own mortality, many people have a hard time totally submitting to God’s will for their lives. Instead, the individuals want God to confirm or support their own desires and expectations for their own lives and such individuals have severe emotional responses when these expectations are not met.
When dealing with something as monumental as a cancer diagnosis, why is it that we have such a hard time trusting God and his plan for our lives? Some of the definitions of trust from dictionary.com include:
reliance on the integrity, strength, ability, surety, etc., of a person or thing; confidence.
confident expectation of something; hope.
a person on whom or thing on which one relies:
Are you confident in the promises of God? Do you believe He truly provides us with hope? In times of despair, are you able to rely on his integrity, strength, ability etc. or do you react like those who have no hope? Matthew 28:18 tell us:
“And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”
If we truly believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17), do we believe what the preceding scripture says, that Jesus is in control of all things in heaven and on earth, including the outcome of a cancer trial? You will note the preceding scripture does NOT say “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, except when dealing with cancer”.
James 4:13-15 tells us:
“13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
As the scripture in James suggests, our own plans and expectations are meaningless. If our own plans and expectations are meaningless, do we have any other option than trusting in God’s plan? If you do not believe the promises of God as outlined in the Bible then who else can you turn to?
At the end of October 2018, Kristina and I went to a church missionary dinner to hear Mark and Patti speak about their ministry in Peru. It is worth noting that their ministry in Peru was so much more than just translation work. They became a tremendous Christian resource for this region of Peru by preaching and teaching the Quechuan people and by singing with and praying for them. They did so much more than what is documented here in this blog post. Anyway, while I was at the missionary dinner, Patti came up to me while I was standing in the food line and told me their daughter Emily, who with her husband works full-time for a division of Cru (what used to be known as Campus Crusade for Christ), had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer 2 weeks earlier. Patti asked me to pray for both them and for Emily. My first thought was this was the same cancer (Thyroid) which my brother was diagnosed with 25 years ago so I was deeply touched by her daughter’s recent diagnosis. My second thought was “why is this happening again to this family who has served God with all their heart and soul for so many years”? My third thought was reflecting on what my mother has said to me so many times over my life – “there is nothing which causes a parent more pain than to see their own child suffer”. When I had a chance to interview Mark and Patti in December of 2018, I asked them how Emily’s cancer impacted their faith and did they get angry with God upon hearing this cancer trial news? I was impressed when Mark looked at me and gave me the same “great adventure and need to trust God answer” I mentioned earlier in this blog post. It was essentially the same answer Mark gave me when I asked him about his own cancer diagnosis. I was amazed by both his lack of emotion and his overall confidence in God’s sovereignty when he spoke about one of his beloved children enduring a cancer trial. Patti’s comments were very similar to Mark’s when speaking about trusting God’s plan for Emily’s life. Does this mean the Beans love Emily less because they were not balling their eyes out when speaking about her? No, of course not. If you raised your children in a mountain village in Peru and were not distracted by all the conveniences (technology, sports, entertainment, etc.) we have here in the USA, I can promise you that they are as close to their children as any parent and love them all very dearly. I could see their love for her in how they responded to my questions. However, I am convinced that their calm demeanor which accompanied their response was because they fully and completely TRUST in God’s plans for both their lives and for Emily’s.
Am I suggesting it is wrong for someone to get emotional when talking about a personal cancer trial? No, I am not suggesting that someone’s emotional state impacts their salvation in any way. Graciously, the eternal destiny of our souls is already determined by Christ’s finished work on the cross and His salvation is offered as a free gift to all who believe in Him. When you come to saving faith in Jesus, you must first seek Jesus, then you must find Jesus, then you must trust Jesus, and then you will worship Jesus after you begin to realize all that He has done for you. In all my years of helping with CSG, I have watched a number of individuals battling cancer struggle with finding Jesus and with trusting in Him. For example, I have observed numerous cancer patients who make finding a cure for their cancer disease the number one and overarching goal in their lives. Finding a cure so consumes these individuals that they struggle to think about or focus on anything else. In other words, they are putting their trust in the medical professionals or whoever they are seeking their cancer care from. While I certainly encourage all cancer patients to be good stewards of all the medical solutions which are available today, there is nothing any of us can do to extend our lives one minute longer than what God has planned for each of our lives. Psalm 139:16 tells us:
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be”
When finding a cure for their cancer situation becomes the sole focus of someone’s life, such a preoccupation with one’s owns circumstances shows a lack of faith and trust in Christ’s finished work on the cross in my humble opinion. In other words, these individuals are saying “God, I don’t care what your plan is for my life. Instead, I want you to meet my expectations for my life because this life of mine is of the upmost importance to me.” When you have this type of “give me what I want or else” relationship with God, it is a path that is ripe for emotional turmoil and despair as you are telling God that you know what is best for your life and He doesn’t. There is nothing wrong with asking for prayers of healing but you have to be prepared for if God answers those prayers in a way which doesn’t line up with your own expectations. We are all going to die. It is just a matter of when it will happen to each of us, so are you prepared for when death comes knocking on your door?
Anyone who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer will need to come to grips with one question which is “WHO will I put my hope and trust in for eternal destiny of my soul?”. I Timothy 2:5 tells us:
“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus”
Yes, as the preceding scripture indicates, Christ is the only one who can offer us hope, even when the medical professionals tell us our situation is hopeless. If you are battling cancer or if you are experiencing some other significant trial in your life, WHO are you putting your hope and trust in for the eternal destiny of your soul? 1 Peter 1:3-5 tells us:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”
As referenced in the preceding scripture, do you believe in the living hope which only Jesus can provide? I have yet to meet a cancer patient who did not want to be cured of their cancer. However, when I meet cancer patients who have a personal relationship with Jesus, their faith gives them hope when they tackle the question “what happens if I do not survive my cancer trial?” When a Christian puts their eternal faith and trust in Christ, it gives them a different perspective on the ultimate outcome of their cancer trial. Sure, they want to survive their cancer trial but they also have an eternal hope if they do not survive. If and when they succumb to their cancer trial, they start to look forward to meeting their savior in heaven as the following song, “How Marvelous”, describes well.
Verse 1
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene
And wonder how He could love me
A sinner condemned unclean
Chorus
How marvelous how wonderful
And my song shall ever be
How marvelous how wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me
Verse 2
He took my sins and my sorrows
He made them His very own
He bore the burden to Calvary
And suffered and died alone
(Repeat Chorus)
Verse 3
When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see
'Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me
When I think of how Mark and Patti have approached their ministry both before and after Mark’s cancer diagnosis, the following verse from Philippians 3:14 comes to mind:
“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
No matter what happens to them during this cancer trial, Mark and Patti are both going to press on with their faith in Christ as well as their Quechuan translation project. Does Mark want to be around for years to come and see these Bibles get published and transform the Quechuan region of Peru with God’s life-changing word? Of course, he does – Patti and he have spent most of their lives working on this transformational project. Does Mark know what the final outcome of his cancer trial will be? No, he does not know what will happen but then none of us know what tomorrow will bring. It is worth noting that Mark is not currently undergoing any oncology treatments for his cancer and his worldly medical prognosis is good.
When I had a chance to interview the Beans in December of 2018, I asked them if there have been any blessings, which came as a result of their cancer trial(s), which they were able to identify and recognize along the way? I already mentioned how Mark’s diagnosis was a blessing as it reaffirmed their recent decision to move back to the States to care for his mom. I also mentioned how they have felt blessed by being able to continue their translation and fundraising work throughout the cancer trial, including while Mark was in the hospital. However, when they were summarizing the blessings of their cancer trial, what Mark said to me next surprised me a little. Mark went on to say that the cancer trial has blessed them both by reminding them of the importance of a personal quiet time and Bible study. Hold on – you just spent the past 34 years translating the Bible verse by verse and now you are telling me you need to study the Bible more? Yes, he said it is easy to get so involved in the daily Bible translation tasks that personal devotion and application becomes secondary. He indicated his cancer diagnosis was a little of a wake-up call, causing both of them to start spending more time on their daily personal devotions and prayer time. Isn’t it amazing how God uses trials to remind us all of our need for Him? When we realize we need Him more, He enables us to pray more and to study His word more which causes us to grow in our relationship with Him. Yes, there can be many blessings which come from a cancer trial and it is even better when we recognize the blessings when they come along during the trial.
Patti and Mark are nearing the end of their fundraising project to get all of these Bibles published and printed. If you would like to support Mark and Patti, please click on the following link to do so:
https://www.wycliffe.org/partner/bean
When I think of the Beans and their cancer trial, the first word which comes to mind is “TRUST”. Mark and Patti, thank you for demonstrating to all of us that we can continue to TRUST in God, even when an important mission is interrupted with an unexpected cancer trial.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)”
Jim Risk, a two-time cancer survivor, is the volunteer Ministry Coordinator for the Cancer Support Group (CSG) at a non-denominational church in NE Ohio. Jim and his wife, Kristina, have participated and served in CSG, a Christian ministry, since 2007.