Apu Yaya Jesucristo

While reading Turn Right at Machu Picchu I, of course, learned much more about the history of Peru and the Incan rulers. I read names and places that were familiar which brought back fun memories. Most interesting, however, it sparked a language and cultural conversation that also taught Albino more about his language (Quechua). The author mentioned a song commonly sung in churches around the Cusco area, Apu Yaya Jesucristo. I, like the author, understood apu to refer to the mountain gods (a simplified definition for this blog entry), and, thus, the translation of the song title makes Jesus an apu. “This doesn’t sound right,” I thought. But, I chalked it up to the synchronistic tendencies seen in the churches. Albino recognized the song and didn’t seem to take issue with the lyrics. Confused, I asked him to explain how Christians could sing songs that apparently made Jesus just one of many gods. Upon closer examination of the word, apu, it means, the highest—a title, not a thing. Jesus holds the title of being “the highest” He is the highest, the best. He is Lord of creation, Lord of the mountains, Lord of our lives.

Christian Quechuas struggle with their traditional worldview and the new biblical worldview. For Quechuas, spirits cause illness, etc. Rather than saying that those spirits don’t exist (which is our tendency to believe in North America) we all must recognize that Jesus is greater than those spirits. He truly is the apu. My disclaimer: I write now that Jesus is the apu in order to share my cultural and language insight, but I will probably be cautious to use the terminology in the future. Too many common misunderstandings of traditional Quechua culture and language can get in the way. I’m not an expert and even native Quechua speakers have difficulty explaining.

Speaking

In the last month we have had two formal speaking engagements to share about our ministry.  The first one was at College Baptist Church in Hillsdale, MI; Sandy called this church, home for her college years.  It was incredibly fun to see old friends and meet some new ones.  The second was during a Sunday School class at our home church here in Holland. The more we talk about our plans, the more excited we are. The passion we have seems to spill out, and we see others interest rise, and they, too, begin to dream about how they may get involved.  As many people that have expressed interest in visiting us, we’ll have a stream of visitors in no time at all.  Will you be one?  J
It’s been a few dream-filled years.  Now it feels like we are really moving forward.  The few meetings that we had with youth in Cusco, before we came to the US, have continued thanks to our faithful Board of Directors.  Our financial support is slowly but surely coming in.  Dreams are being put on paper and spoken aloud for others to hear.  We’re forming partnerships and talking about others.  We’re even more anxious to get back.