isles, spring 2003, special issue: the resurrection of...

I S L E SA Tropical Isles Report from the Guam-Micronesia Mission of Seventh-day Adventists Spring 2003

Chamorro Bible

S p e c i a l I s s u e

TheResurrectionOf The (1908)

ISLESISLESISLESISLESISLESMurray CooperManaging Editor

Bethany S. MartinEditor

Vangie LaniogCopy Editor

Matt DoddPhotographer, Technical Engineer

Guam-MicronesiaGuam-MicronesiaGuam-MicronesiaGuam-MicronesiaGuam-MicronesiaMissionMissionMissionMissionMission

Willy NobuoPresident & Ministerial Secretary

Reggie LeachTreasurer, Stewardship & Trust Services

Remenster H. JanoSecretary, PARL, Sabbath School,

Personal Ministries Director & LEADCoordinator

Murray CooperEducation, & AMICUS Director

Kyran L. JohnGMM Evangelist

Keith HorinouchiHealth Ministries Director

Mike MahoneyADRA Director

Kathryn HolmStudent Literature Ministry

Coordinator

Oni JimenoShepherdess

Julie EmmanuelChildren’s Ministries Director

Tony MiddletonYouth Director

Dana SchaferWomen’s Ministries

ISLES Special Issue Spring 2003The ISLES is the quarterly publication of the Guam-Micronesia Mission.This publication is printed by the Pacific Color Press, Tamuning, Guam.We would love to hear from you you. Here’s how you can get in touch:

ISLES, 290 Chalan Palasyo, Agana Heights, Guam 96910(671) 477-9745 or Fax: (671) 477-5674

E-mail: [email protected] changes of address, please send both the new and old address to the above address.

Please allow at least eight weeks for the change to become effective.

Cover Photo: Bethany S. Martin

I know you will be happy to see the Chamorro Brothers and Sistersread and hear the Gospel of Salvation in their own language. John the Rev-elator confined on the island of Patmos had the small islands of Guam andSaipan in mind when he wrote: “Blessed (happy) is he that readeth, and theythat hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written,for the time is at hand.” Revelation 1:3.

Guam Micronesia Mission realizes the shortness of time and has ac-cepted the challenge of printing the Chamorro Bible at the cost of $40,000.00.The Chamorro Bibles will be used for the planned Evangelistic Meetings forGuam, Saipan, Tinian, and Rota in the years to come. These Bibles will bemade available to Book Stores on the islands, including the Guam AdventistBook Center (ABC). Copies will be given to Public Libraries and SchoolLibraries.

There are 62,000 Chamorros living on Guam; Another 12,500 livesin Hawaii and 14,205 are living in the Commonwealth of Saipan. Guam hasa population of 153,000 and Saipan has a population of 76,000 as of 2003.There are more Chamorro people living in the mainland USA.

Providence has led to the finding of an out-of-print Chamorro Biblethat contains the four Gospels, Acts, and the Psalms. It was originally printedin 1908. Arrangements have been made to print this Chamorro Bible. ThisBible will contain Chamorro on one side and English on the other. The maintarget is to reach the 80% of the Chamorro Ethnic group who has commandof their language.

We are living at the end of the “time of the end” as signs around usindicate. Our only commission from our Lord is “Go and make disciples ofevery nations…tongues, and people.” Paul says, “Consequently, faith comesfrom hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word ofChrist.” We have no time to spare! It is urgent that we unite our effort andbring this Chamorro Bible to the hands of our brothers and sisters who readand understand the Chamorro language. There is a warning that comes to us

President’s Message

Up Front

ISLES 3

Special Issue:Special Issue:Special Issue:Special Issue:Special Issue:

ReflectionsReflectionsReflectionsReflectionsReflections--Perspectives from the pioneer of

the Chamorro Bible Project................

The Resurrection Of The ChamorroThe Resurrection Of The ChamorroThe Resurrection Of The ChamorroThe Resurrection Of The ChamorroThe Resurrection Of The ChamorroBibleBibleBibleBibleBible--The discovery of the Chamorro Bible and

events leading to its republication.............

Who Is Francis Price?Who Is Francis Price?Who Is Francis Price?Who Is Francis Price?Who Is Francis Price?--History of ReverendPrice on Guam and the translation of the firstChamorro Bible.................................

Taitano Family TranslatorsTaitano Family TranslatorsTaitano Family TranslatorsTaitano Family TranslatorsTaitano Family Translators--Legacy of alocal clan involved in the translation of the Biblereveals stewardship in faith and community.................................................

The ISLES magazine is always looking for stories to report, updates on the various islands in the Marshalls,Micronesia, and Marianas, as well as personal experiences. If you have any articles or story ideas you would

like to submit, please contact the editor at [email protected].

from the young prophet Amos who wrote: “Behold, thedays come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a faminein the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,but of hearing the words of the Lord: And they shallwander from sea to sea,…. they shall run to and fro toseek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.” Amos8:11 & 12. The Chamorro people have strong heartsthat are still beating and waiting to hear the Words ofGod. Let us help to quench the thirst of the Chamorropeople who are panting for Jesus Christ-the Water ofLife.

Another note of interest, Tinian is a small islandin the Commonwealth of Saipan where “Enola Gay” islocated; where the well know B-29 took off with theatomic bomb that was dropped on Japan ending WorldWar II. The Word of God written in Chamorro or anylanguage is more powerful than that atomic bomb, for it

gives eternal life to him “that believeth and is baptized...” Mark 16:16.

Friends of Guam and Micronesia, you will be sohappy to know that your contribution to the printing ofthis Holy Bible will bring additional light to God’speople, the Chamorros. “The entrance of thy word givethlight; it giveth understanding unto the simple.” says thepsalmist. “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea,sweeter than honey to my mouth.” Ps. 119:103.

On behalf of Guam Micronesia Mission, I wishto thank you. At the same time, I appeal to you to con-tribute as much as you can for this worthy project.

Your friend in Christ,

Willy Nobuo

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Page 5Why Did The Chamorro BibleWhy Did The Chamorro BibleWhy Did The Chamorro BibleWhy Did The Chamorro BibleWhy Did The Chamorro BibleDisappear?Disappear?Disappear?Disappear?Disappear?--Reasons leading up to the Bible’sdisappearance and prohibition of the nativelangauge.................................

The Scriptures A SafeguardThe Scriptures A SafeguardThe Scriptures A SafeguardThe Scriptures A SafeguardThe Scriptures A Safeguard--The impor-tance of the Word of God in our lives to-day......................................

www.ChamorroBible.orgwww.ChamorroBible.orgwww.ChamorroBible.orgwww.ChamorroBible.orgwww.ChamorroBible.org--How theChamorro Bible was added online for public ac-cess.....................................

The Transmission Of The Bible ToThe Transmission Of The Bible ToThe Transmission Of The Bible ToThe Transmission Of The Bible ToThe Transmission Of The Bible ToEnglishEnglishEnglishEnglishEnglish--A timeline charting the history of the

printed Bible.....................................

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Page 23

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From the Editor

4 ISLES

Responses toResponses toResponses toResponses toResponses toany article inany article inany article inany article inany article inISLES is gladyISLES is gladyISLES is gladyISLES is gladyISLES is gladywelcomed. Wewelcomed. Wewelcomed. Wewelcomed. Wewelcomed. Wewould love towould love towould love towould love towould love tohear from you!hear from you!hear from you!hear from you!hear from you!Send yourSend yourSend yourSend yourSend youremail to theemail to theemail to theemail to theemail to theEditor.Editor.Editor.Editor.Editor.

Do you haveDo you haveDo you haveDo you haveDo you havean articlean articlean articlean articlean articleyou wouldyou wouldyou wouldyou wouldyou would

like tolike tolike tolike tolike tosubmit?submit?submit?submit?submit?

Please email theeditor at

[email protected]

Bethany S. Martin, Editor

May God truly bless,

Letter From The Editor

The love of God transcends all knowledge and understanding. His riches andmercy endure forever and His plan in our lives exceed human boundaries. And for thatI am thankful. Never would I have imagined that I would have had the opportunity topartner-up with Him and be an instrument in bringing the Chamorro Bible back to Hispeople.

It has certainly been quite the journey as I have participated in researching thereligious history of Guam and the Chamorro Bible. There were many days when I feltoverwhelmed and speechless with awe at the history being uncovered. I rememberseveral times coming home late at night and sitting alone in the darkness with nothingto do but pray to the only One who could understand my thoughts, concerns, andsanctity of what I was handling. I felt incredibly unqualified and inexperienced to bepart of a project to bring the Holy Scriptures back to the Chamorro people in their ownlanguage. But each time those thoughts entered my mind, God’s voice was heard evenlouder: “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to andsay whatever I command you...” (Jeremiah 1:7) I am so thankful that God does notcall the qualified, but He qualifies those whom He calls.

I have such love, respect, and appreciation for the Chamorro people and theirculture. I’ve been a recipient of their unconditional hospitality and walked away inamazement that they would gladly welcome a complete stranger, such as myself, intotheir very own homes. While they may have been missing their own Bible for nearlya century, the character of Christ is not absent from their hearts.

The resurrection of the Chamorro Bible is an exciting time for the Chamorropeople and long overdue. Copies will soon be placed in the hands of every Chamorrowishing to have one. God’s words are true: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hopeand a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen toyou. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will befound by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity...’” (Jeremiah29:11-14)

God has heard the cries of the Chamorro people and has answered their prayers.They will no longer be without the Scriptures in their own language.

It is my privilege to be placing in your hands a special issue of ISLES dedicatedto the history and resurrection of the Chamorro Bible. I pray that you will find itinformative, educational, and that most of all, you will see the hand of God reachingout to you and personally placing the Bible in your very hands. May the Word of Godcome to life and cause you to fall in love again with the Book of books that givesfreedom and life to the soul.

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Clarence L. Thomas, IVClarence L. Thomas, IVClarence L. Thomas, IVClarence L. Thomas, IVClarence L. Thomas, IV

One of my favorite locations in Guam is the Rich-ard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Cen-ter (MARC), a world-class research center and

a United States crown jewel located on the campus ofUnibetsedåt Guahan (University of Guam) in Mangilao,Guam. It was there that I went to begin writing an all-too-brief overview of what is, up to the present time, the mostimportant, unexpected, and sacred turn in my life: A partici-pant in the restoration of the 1908 Chamorro Bible.

The plan was simple: (1) Determine the availabilityand status of the Chamorro Bible in places where religiousbooks are kept: Guam bookstores and public libraries, localSDA headquarters, the libraries of SDA pastors and BibleSocieties and (2) acquire the Bible(s).

When the plan was placed into action on August2001 the basic research proceeded rapidly and quietly.Based on the information coming in, it became clear thatthe goal should be to get printed copies of the 1908Chamorro Bible back into circulation: Chamorros havea right to a Bible, Jesus’ Word, in their own languagetoo. I also realized that to recognize the correct pathtowards that goal, I needed within a short period of timea clearer picture and a much deeper understanding ofthe Chamorro culture, Chamorro language, Chamorrosecular and religious history, and the history of Seventh-day Adventist activities in the Mariana Islands.

So I went back to—and still am in—school.Some of the teachers are individuals directly involvedin the Bible restoration phase, others are not. Althoughthey may have had only the faintest glimpse of theproject’s current scope, they took—correction—stilltake, the time to answer my Chamorro language, cul-tural, political, historical, and religious questions.

Here is a brief look at some of the contributionseach has made and is making (unless otherwise indicated allparticipants are in Guam):

Denise P. Hersey, Connecticut, USA: Ms.Hersey, the original 1908 Chamorro Bible Yale Universitylibrary loaned us has initiated actions that will reverberatefor the foreseeable future. Thank you and Yale Universityfor loaning it to us.

Guam-Micronesia Mission of Seventh-dayAdventists: Pastor Willy S. Nobuo, GMM President, andhis staff want to see the Chamorro Bible back in circulation.GMM is using its influence and resources, an example is thisspecial issue of the ISLES, to inform people of this veryimportant project. Pastor Nobuo’s continued personal sup-port and the support of his office, the GMM officers andstaff are much appreciated.

Pastor Eliseo A. Jimeno: Pastor and Mrs.Jimeno have continuously lived in Micronesia since theirarrival in 1953. Although retired, as a pastor and GAAteacher respectively, they have helped me understandvarious aspects of Guam’s Bible history, the Chamorroculture, and Guam’s religious history. Their advice,counsel, and perspectives which come from long expe-rience in God’s work are needed and priceless.

Frank Leon Guerrero Taitague: Even thoughPastor Taitague, a retired Seventh-day Adventist pastorand former GMM president, is now active in other ar-eas, he has always taken the time to place the MicronesianSDA work into perspective for me. I benefit from hislong experience in the SDA work and his intimate knowl-edge of the Chamorro culture. Pastor Taitague arrangedthe meeting with Begoña Santos Flores. It was at hisand Mrs. Taitague’s house, sitting at their dinner table,where that important proofreading session took place.A few weeks ago, I found out that Mrs. Taitague used tofreely distribute Chamorro Bibles in Guam.

Murray Cooper: Mr. Cooper was GAA’s prin-cipal when the then unnamed Chamorro Bible Projectunexpectedly arrived. He authorized the purchase of theOCR software used to process the scanned text, he spokewith the GMM leadership about the Chamorro Bible, hesigned GAA’s first Inter-Library Loan (ILL) form sowe could borrow the Bible from Yale University. Whenit arrived I had it for a short period of time, then re-turned it to his care and protection until the day we re-turned it to Yale University.

Begoña Santos Flores: During the optical rec-ognition process (OCR) phase I noted words that theOCR software and I couldn’t recognize or if I had theslightest doubt about a word, I noted it to for examina-

“O Jeova, Namandinangculo Sija Y Chechomo! Yan Jinasomo Mansentadong”Salmo 92:5 (Psalm 92:5)

See Reflections Reflections Reflections Reflections Reflections on page 30.

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TheResurrection

OfBethany S. MartinBethany S. MartinBethany S. MartinBethany S. MartinBethany S. Martin

King James. New King James. New International.American Standard. English. Spanish. German. Tagalog. Sanskrit. The list could go on

and on and on. A Bible can be found in pretty much anylanguage, version, or edition, and you don’t have to lookmuch farther than your coffee table or nearest church orbookstore to lay hands on one.

Most of us have grown up having complete ac-cess to the Bible whenever we choose, to the point ofalmost taking it for granted. We’ve either moaned andgroaned at the childhood obligation of joining the fam-ily for evening worship or memorizing Bible verses welearned in Church. Whatever the case may be, the factremains that we are perhaps jaded with the concept ofhaving a Bible at our disposal and in our own language.

The story is much different for the Chamorropeople—inhabitants of the Mariana Islands, includingGuam. They do not have ready access to a Bible in theirown language. Many years ago, a Chamorro Bible usedto exist and could be found in many homes. But forvery strange and odd reasons, the Bible literally disap-peared. How did it disappear? And more importantly,why?

It all began with one teacher, Clarence ThomasIV, and an 8th grade computer class at Guam AdventistAcademy (GAA). It was supposed to be a very simplematter. “I wanted to do something challenging,” saysThomas, “different, and useful. So we decided to createan Internet radio station.”

Thomas, who stands at a lean 6’5", is a man ofmystery. Never wanting to share his accomplishmentsand avoiding attention, he casually recounts the eventsleading up to the project. With a Bachelor of Sciencedegree in Computer Science from Andrews Universityin Berrien Springs, Michigan, Thomas is well traveled,having spent a number of cumulative years in Brazil,

Austria, United States, and now Guam. His love of cul-tures and following God’s lead is one of the reasons heis compelled to continue traveling around the world,making a difference in people’s lives.

The project for the 8th grade computer class wasright in line with Thomas’ experience. The content forthe Internet radio station would be researched and pro-vided for by the students. Because GAA is a Seventh-day Adventist school, they wanted to provide somethingspiritual as a part of the Internet radio station. It wasdecided that they would offer readings of the Bible inthe local language--Chamorro.

“All I had to do was go to the GAA library andcheck out a Chamorro Bible,” Thomas remembers. “Noproblem.” However, it was a problem. Arriving at thelibrary, he found that there was no Chamorro Bible. Itwas just always assumed by Thomas and others that therewas a Chamorro Bible. After all, how could such a reli-gious island, such as Guam, spiritually survive withouta Bible in their own language?

The bottom line was they needed a Bible for theclass, so phone calls were made, and Seventh-day Ad-ventist pastors were contacted, but still no Bibles werefound. “When answering our calls, pastors would say,‘Yes we remember seeing a Chamorro Bible at sometime, but we don’t have one.’ One man, David FloresSr., even said that he used to have a Bible, but he loanedit out and it never came back.” The same response wasgiven by Eliseo Jimeno, a retired Filipino pastor and 50year resident of Guam. He came from the Philippines in1953 and established the purchase of the land that theSDA Mission, GAA, Guam SDA Clinic, and other prop-erties are now built on. He had been instrumental indistributing Chamorro Bibles during the early 1960s andremembers that after awhile he could not get anymorecopies to distribute. The Bibles he had been passing out

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Chamorro BibleThe

were the revised Chamorro Bibles that did not have theEnglish translation or the Book of Psalms. Several de-cades later, he could not even find a Chamorro Bible inhis home.

The local Seventh-day Adventist FM radio sta-tion, Joy92, used to have readings of the Bible in thelocal language and it was assumed that they were read-ing from a Chamorro Bible, but the local gentlemen,Pastor Bill Taitague of the Talofofo Seventh-day Ad-ventist Church and Fred Ulloa, would simply translatethe English texts into their own language. “Is this nor-mal for people not to question why they do not have aBible in their own language? Why haven’t questionsbeen asked a long time ago?” I watch Thomas’ face ashe relayed these passing events and a look of exacerba-tion and sadness flashes through.

Thomas was distraught and unsure what to dowithout a Chamorro Bible. Not only did he need it forhis class, but he was disturbed that the people did nothave a Bible in their own language. “If you want toreach people, you have to speak their language and itmakes a clear difference when you use the Bible in theirown language,” says Thomas. “How can you get any-thing done without a Bible? And where is this Bible?”

Janet Taitano Flores, office manager and regis-trar for GAA, made calls to all the libraries in Guam andnone of them had a Bible. They called all the book storesand discovered that trying to locate a Chamorro Biblewas a very sensitive topic. Those asked if they couldlocate a Chamorro Bible seemed as if it was an absurdidea, probably because they were not aware that oneexisted, or one which was covered in many years of painfrom losing such a treasure.

“Why don’t the Chamorro people have a Bible?”questioned Thomas. “Other islanders have a Bible. Whydon’t we? It just didn’t make sense. Where is the

Chamorro Bible? Why have the people gone without aBible for so long? So I went looking for those answers.”

Searching for the ScripturesSearching for the ScripturesSearching for the ScripturesSearching for the ScripturesSearching for the Scriptures

Thomas didn’t have to go much farther than hisown computer to begin finding answers to his ownquestions. He researched the history of Chris-

tianity in Guam and the first Protestant missionaries toarrive on island bringing with them the Gospel. Historygave the name of Francis Price and his wife, Sarah, asthe first Protestant missionaries to minister to theChamorro people. In a brief biographical summary, Pricehad spent several years as a missionary and linguist inChina and Chuuk Lagoon as part of the Congregational-ist Church and under the supervision of the AmericanBoard of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Afterhis work was finished in Chuuk, which included trans-lating a dictionary and part of the Bible into Chuukese,he arrived on Guam in 1900.

Following his arrival, he established the first solidprotestant mission on island which included schools forboys and girls that taught them academics as well ascultural trades. Price also built a reputable repoire withthe local people and learned the Chamorro languageextremely well with the help of his language tutor, JoséMendiola Taitano. By 1907, he had translated the fourGospels, Acts, and Psalms into the Chamorro languageand in 1908 the first Chamorro Bible was printed anddistributed. However, in years to come, the Bible woulddisappear leaving an island to wonder what happened totheir gem.

After connecting Price with the translation of theBible into Chamorro, Thomas asked Flores to contactthe libraries asking for anything written by Francis Price.After much searching, a book written by Price was foundat the Nieves M. Flores Memorial Library that appeared

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to be the translated scriptures, although it did not re-semble a modern Bible in any way.

“I felt relieved that we had finally been able tosecure a copy of the Chamorro Bible,” says Thomas. “Idecided thatwe’d make acopy of the en-tire book the li-brary had foundand I’d be on myway.”

He wentto the library andhad the librarianset up the copy-ing machine tocopy the“Bible.” Beforehe left to go tothe library, hehad even writtena memo to theprincipal at GAA,Murray Cooperand Guam-Micronesia Mission of Seventh-dayAdventists President, Willy Nobuo, saying they hadfound a Chamorro Bible. After making copies of theentire book, Thomas returned to his apartment and pro-ceeded to examine what they thought to be the ChamorroBible. Flipping through the copy, Thomas read the titlepage which contained the book of Psalms, but when heturned to the back of the book, he found that it only hadtwenty five chapters. Knowing that Psalms has 150 chap-ters, he knew that something was wrong. After a carefulstudy of the book, Thomas realized that the section hewas looking at was not Psalms, but Acts of the Apostles.

Although the book was part of a Chamorro Bible,it only contained the four gospels of Matthew, Mark,Luke, and John, and Acts of the Apostles. While Psalmswas included in the title, the book itself was actuallymissing Psalms. Astonished, Thomas quickly realizedthat the four gospels, Acts, and Psalms had been trans-lated into Chamorro, but for reasons beyond his under-standing, the Psalms had been dismissed from the latestpublication. In other words, this book was not the origi-nal Bible that Price had translated and published in 1908;

it was a 1952 republication of the original that excludedthe Psalms. So what happened to the original?

Even though it was a partial publication of theChamorro Bible that Thomas had located, he was ec-static to see God’s Word in the local language. He sharedit with Flores at GAA and asked her to translate se-lected scriptures to validate the authenticity of the trans-lation. They went to several key Biblical texts and eachtime Flores would translate it to English, they both felt awave of excitement sweep over them because there wasfinally a good translation of the Bible in the local tongue.

“I asked Flores and several others to translatekey texts because I needed to have confidence in thecredibility of the translation,” says Thomas as he smilesin recollection. “I’d already decided this Bible neededto get back into print. Seventh-day Adventists live anddie by the Bible and it is only right that the Chamorropeople should have access to the same treasure.” Tho-mas leans back in his chair with a look of reverence inhis eyes. The sacredness in which he talks about theresurrection of the Chamorro Bible is one that can onlybe understood by those who it has affected first hand. Ahushed silence almost demands existence.

“I’ve always wondered how God preserved theBible through the ages,” Thomas ponders. “He reallyguards it, and I got a view of how He does this.” Thereare only a few copies of the Chamorro Bible in the worldand Thomas set out to find the original publication ofthe Bible that Price had translated and distributed. “Iwas looking for a full Bible, not the partial and incom-plete one we had here at the Flores library. No one shouldbe without a Bible especially if there is a translation.”

Thomas spent many hours on the Internet search-ing through archives and libraries that may possibly havea copy in their library or Special Collections Depart-ment. He found references at several libraries to aChamorro Bible, but was unable to obtain contact infor-mation in which to communicate further. Thomas un-derstood that he was not going to be able to find what hewas looking for without speaking with someone directly.He needed to make contact with a real person and dia-logue with him or her to receive results. After searchingmany libraries, he was finally able to secure a contactnumber for a woman by the name of Denise Hersey atYale University Library. She was just the person heneeded to speak with. Hersey was the Coordinator ofAccess Services for the Mudd Library at Yale.

Cover page of the incompleteChamorro Bible found at the

Flores Library

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ISLES 9

From Yale to GuamFrom Yale to GuamFrom Yale to GuamFrom Yale to GuamFrom Yale to Guam

Thomas explained that he had found a referenceonline to what appeared to be a Chamorro Biblein the Mudd Library and needed to verify if this

was truly the Bible he was looking for. Shelved alongwith hundreds of other books on open shelves—not inthe Special Collections— Hersey pulled the Bible refer-enced. She confirmed with Thomas the contents of thebook and that it was the complete translated ChamorroBible containing all four Gospels, Acts, and Psalms, andincluded the diglot, which is the parallel pages ofChamorro and English. Yale, and Hersey herself, didnot realize what a rare and valuable book they had sit-ting on their library shelves. Most books with these rarecharacteristics and limited circulation are placed in theSpecial Collections department of libraries. However,the Chamorro Bible sat silently on a library shelf hiddenamongst the heaps of literary publications.

At finally finding an original Chamorro Bible,Thomas was overjoyed beyond words. He petitionedHersey as to how he could borrow the book from theYale library. Hersey said that because it was referencedas a regularly accessible book, all Thomas needed to dowas fill out an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) through anotherlibrary on Guam or through the GAA school library.

Having never needed to use an ILL in Guam be-fore, Thomas and Murray Cooper, principal of GAA atthe time, were not sure exactly how to do an ILL,muchless if the GAA library would be considered a cred-ible library through which to file an ILL. Cooper filledout the form and they faxed it back to Yale the sameday, saying a silent prayer.

On September 10, 2001 (EST), Yale approvedthe ILL and Hersey contacted Thomas to let him knowthat they would be shipping the Bible next-day air andthat Yale would cover the cost; GAA needed to pay forsending it back to Yale. Amazed at Yale’s generosity,Thomas and Cooper both were astounded and speech-less at how God’s hand was at work. Yale would beshipping the Bible the next day.

September 11 brought a rude awakening toAmerica as the terrorists attacked New York city andWashington D.C. As history will recall, it was a day ofconfusion and disturbance. Aware of what was goingon in the mainland, Thomas was instantly concerned forthe whereabouts of the Chamorro Bible that Yale had

just shipped. Due to the terrorist attacks, planes weregrounded, shipments were halted, and not much later,the anthrax scare threatened the U.S. postal system whichdecreased productivity for awhile. There was nothingThomas could do to ensure the travel safety of the Bibleexcept to pray. This rare book that has disappeared overthe years could just as easily disappear in the chaos anddisturbance of this new war on terror that was onAmerica’s horizon. It was out of Yale’s hands and outof Thomas’. He could only wait.

Nine days later, on September 20, Cooper walkedin Thomas’ classroom holding a box and a grin span-ning the width of his face. They both knew what was inthat box and they both said a prayer of thanks. Thomaschecked the tracking details which revealed the ship-ment process of the Bible. Despite the terrorist attacksthat threatened the nation, Yale had mailed the Bible onSeptember 11 at 3:23 p.m. and it was transported fromConnecticut to Kentucky, California, Hong Kong, andfinally arrived on Guam at 12:15 p.m., September 20,Chamorro Standard Time, which is 15 hours ahead ofEST. Divinely guided and kept from obvious delays,the Chamorro Bible had finally made its way back home.

The Chamorro Bible ProjectThe Chamorro Bible ProjectThe Chamorro Bible ProjectThe Chamorro Bible ProjectThe Chamorro Bible Project

When the Bible was finally held in Thomas’hands, he recounts that he realized this wasan amazing experience to be holding such a

priceless treasure. “No one foresaw the importance ofthis, and we’re only seeing the beginning,” explainsThomas. “We’ve only seen the tip of it. It’s a rare Bible.The people have a right to their own Bible.”

Once again, Thomas set out to make copies ofthe true original Chamorro Bible containing the fourGospels, Acts, and Psalms, as well as the Chamorro andEnglish translation. It became very clear to Thomas thatthis Bible must be reprinted so that the Chamorro peoplecould have unlimited access to the Word of God.

“Having a Bible in the Chamorro language saysthat Jesus hasn’t forgotten them. It says, ‘Hey, Jesusknows my language too.’”

Thomas handled the progression of the ChamorroBible Project with fragility and tenderness, most of thetime not knowing how or in which direction to movenext. “Don’t play with God’s Word,” Thomas says withconviction. “It is a whole different piece of literature.

See Project Project Project Project Project on page 17.

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Francis Price?Who IsBethany S. MartinBethany S. MartinBethany S. MartinBethany S. MartinBethany S. Martin

Francis Marion Price was the first Protestantmissionary to arrive on the island of Guam.He and his wife, Sarah, were lifetime Con-

gregationalist missionaries serving under theAmerican Board of Commissioners for ForeignMissions (ABCFM), the first American overseasmissionary agency. After America received con-trol of Guam as a result of winning the Spanish-American War, ABCFM saw this as a divine op-portunity to bring the Gospel to the people ofGuam.

Price began petitioning ABCFM in favor ofa Guam mission and eventually won the case.Price offered himself as the one to begin estab-lishing the mission and on November 27, 1900,he and his wife arrived on the island to begin the Gospelwork. A graduate of Oberlin Theological Seminary,Price was a preacher by trade and a linguist by talent.1

He acquired various languages with amazing ease andproficiency and this gift is what enabled him to sharethe Gospel and establish missions in places otherwiseimpenetrable. His study and fluency of Hebrew andGreek enabled him to do a considerable amount of trans-lation work. Previous to Guam, Price had spent manyyears as a missionary in China translating the Bible andin Chuuk, Micronesia establishing a Protestant missionand translating the Bible and dictionary into the locallanguage. It is not surprising that he would also quicklylearn the Chamorro language with astounding accuracy.2

Upon landing on island, Price was greeted by JoséCustino, a former whaler and Chamorro convert to Prot-estantism. Custino and his brother Luis sailed on Brit-ish and American whaling ships that frequented Guamin the 1800s and they eventually settled in Hawaii wherethey changed their surname from Castro to Custino toaccommodate the Hawaiian pronunciation of their truesurname. The Custinos eventually married Hawaiiangirls and were converted to the Protestant faith and be-

came active members in their local church.After hearing of the American conquest of Guam

in 1898, the Custino brothers decided to return to theirnative island and evangelize among the Chamorros.Arriving in 1899, the Custinos met José MendiolaTaitano, an elderly Agana resident born in 1839 andpopularly nicknamed “Cueto.” Taitano had embracedProtestantism many years before as a result of discover-ing the Scriptures for the first time while working aboardwhaling ships. He was not allowed to publicly practicehis new found Protestant faith under the Spanish regime,but he couldn’t be forced to practice Catholicism either.It was with great eagerness that Taitano and his 10 chil-dren supported the Custino brothers and became the firstmembers of the Protestant mission they were workingto establish.

By active evangelism and the distribution ofBibles, the Custinos succeeded in converting the Floresbrothers, nicknamed the “Cabesa” family, who farmedin the Mt. Santa Rosa area of Yigo. The Custinos,Taitanos, and Flores families formed the core of the first

Rev. Price and the first Protestant church members

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Chamorro Protestants to begin worshipping in theCustino home.

Establishing a MissionEstablishing a MissionEstablishing a MissionEstablishing a MissionEstablishing a Mission

In 1901, Price purchased 12 acres of land at Adelupfor $250 to establish the first Protestant mission. Itwas large enough to accommodate two residences

and a school for boys and a school for girls. Beforelong, Adelup became known asMissionary Point.3

Price soon found that hisfluency of the Spanish languagedid not get him very far in com-municating with the people.After the establishment of theCatholic mission during theSpanish regime in the 1600s,the padres and Jesuits beganinstructing the people in theSpanish language. Althoughthe use of the Spanish languagewas not stressed in the 1600s,during the years 1787-1789 anew policy was executed which

gave imperative orders to abso-lutely forbid the natural use of their national idiom. Al-though the Castilian language of Spain was indoctrinatedin the schools and churches, the Chamorros still suc-ceeded in speaking their native language in their homesand social circles and hence kept the language alive.4

Learning that the people never truly learnedSpanish and that they preferred and retained theChamorro language, Price saw that it would prove morevaluable to his mission to learn Chamorro and conversewith the people in their own tongue. José MendiolaTaitano became Price’s tutor and Price soon learned thelanguage. Eventually, he conducted morning worshipservices in Chamorro and evening services in English.5

Upon learning that the Chamorro people did nothave any Holy Scriptures in their language, Price beganworking on translating the Bible. In a letter written byPrice to Reverend William Haven at the ABCFM Boardon May 9, 1905 he stated that the only Christian litera-ture that had been published in the Chamorro languageat that time were part of a catechism published by theCatholic mission that contained “the Lord’s Prayer in

short form and also the Ten Commandments in briefform; but in these commandments the second command-ment reads: ‘Keep sacred the feast days.’” There wasanother pamphlet published by the Catholic mission inthe Chamorro language that was devoted to explainingthe sacraments and festivals of the church, but this wasnot the Holy Scriptures.

Translating the BibleTranslating the BibleTranslating the BibleTranslating the BibleTranslating the Bible

Price began translating the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the book of Acts,and the Psalms. As he would complete the trans-

lation of different sections, he circulated leaflets of themamongst the people. “This is all the scripture that hasever been published in the Chamorro language, so thatthese leaflets of ours are really the first portions of scrip-ture ever circulated in Guam.”6

Price saw the urgent need of the people havingaccess to a Bible in their own language. In another let-ter written to Rev. Judson Smith at the ABCFM writtenon May 9, 1905, Price stated, “I shall have the Gospels,the Acts, the Psalms, Genesis and part of Exodus readyto publish next winter, if I keep well.” Price had leftGuam for medical treatment, but was continuing the workof translating the Bible. “You will see by my letter en-closed that my plan is to go (return) to Guam and per-fect these translations before publishing them. It is very

important thatthese transla-tions be asnearly perfect asit is possible tomake them.”Ending his letter,Price declared,“I feel that theone great cryingneed of Guam isfor the Holyscriptures…”

In the en-closed letter toRev. Haven,Price expressesthe fluency inwhich he ob-

Luís Custino

First on left is Rev. Price’s home;next door to the Price home wasthe temporary church building

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tained the Chamorro language. “As to my own knowl-edge of their language, I think I spoke the language fairlywell. I acquire languages perhaps a little more readilythan some others. The best teacher I had in Guam (JoséMendiola Taitano) was accustomed to say to me: ‘Youknow more about the Chamorro language than I do.’Which was true, and not true. It was not true that I knowmore of the peculiar forms of expression in which alllanguages abound and with which all natives are veryfamiliar; but it is true that I had a larger vocabulary thanhe did and a profounder knowledge of the grammar andstructure of the language.”

Continuing on, Price gave a very detailed expla-nation of the process of translating the Bible intoChamorro. They apparently had access to SpanishBibles,7 possibly brought in secretly by whaling ships,because Price and his tutors would begin by translatingfrom Spanish to Chamorro. This gave him a grasp ofthe forms of expressions used for meaning in Chamorroand enabled him to secure a correct translation of theGreek texts. “…Taking these I revised them comparingwith the Greek and had copies made of them on the type-writer. I am now going over these copies comparingthem carefully with the Greek text and putting them inthe best shape possible…In order to secure this end, Ipropose to return to Guam and go over the translationsagain with the very best native help I can obtain andthere put them in their final form.”

Price was obviously very committed to the ac-curacy of the translated scriptures and went to great

lengths to secure their credibility. His background inGreek and Hebrew prepared the way to make these trans-lations perfect. In the same letter, he explains, “I havekept up my Greek ever since I left college and in recentyears have read in the Greek Testament almost everyday when at home. When I went to the Islands in 1894(Chuuk, also known as Truk), knowing that I would prob-ably translate the Old Testament into the language, Isecured Dr. Harper’s instruction books in Hebrew andwent over the entire course after reaching my field, whichrequired about two years time. This gave me a workingknowledge of the Hebrew.” Unquestionably, Price waswell versed in both the original Greek and Hebrew textsin preparation for the translation work he would be ac-complishing as a missionary in China and in the islandsof Micronesia.

Ending his letters, Price concluded with thesurety of providing these translated scriptures to theChamorro people. “I think if we should publish theGospels, the Acts of the Apostles, perhaps one or two ofthe Epistles, and the Psalms in one volume; and Genesisand the first twenty chapters of Exodus in another vol-ume, we should be fairly well equipped for our workthere for sometime to come. The other portions of thescriptures might be translated more leisurely…Ourpeople who have been deprived of the scriptures appre-ciate greatly these portions which have been given them(see note on endnote 6) and their delight is real at theassurance that someday the entire Word of God will begiven them. Do we not owe this to them?”

Left: Price, second from right. Right: Price and initial Protestant converts.

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Printing the BiblePrinting the BiblePrinting the BiblePrinting the BiblePrinting the Bible

Price continued working on the translations of thescriptures and true to his word, he returned toGuam to put the finishing touches on the transla-

tions and secure language accuracy. In a letter writtento ABCFM on November 10, 1906, Price gave an up-date on the work and excitement of the promise of aBible in the local language. “I am greatly enjoying thework here. The people are all so delighted that they areto have the Gospels in their own tongue and enter intothe work assigned to them so eagerly that one feels in-spired to do the best things for them. They desire thework printed in English and Chamorro, parallel columns.The natives say that it will add very materially to thevalue of the book and secure a wider reading for it. TheGovernor expressed his interest and offered to aid me inevery way possible to him. Undoubtedly, the publish-ing of this portion of scripture will give a new impulseto the work. I regard it as the best work I have everdone—most valuable to the kingdom of God on earth.”

In 1907, Price finished the translation of the fourGospels, Acts, and Psalms and began the process of hav-ing them published. He secured the permission of theAmerican Bible Society to have the books printed in NewYork at a cost of $250 for 1,000 copies. A letter writtenon March 16, 1907 revealed the anxiousness of theprinted translations: “It was the earnest desire of all inGuam that the translations should be published in En-glish and Chamorro, parallel columns. I estimated thatthe additional cost would be about $150. I told ourChamorro people about this and asked them to help. Tomy surprise and delight, they and their friends raisedmore than $130 toward this amount. This is the largestamount ever raised by them for the work and is interest-ing because it reveals their consecration and their inter-est in the publishing of these portions of Scripture.”

The translated Scriptures were finally publishedin 1908 and distributed amongst the people in Guammuch to their delight. To a population of nearly 11,000who had been deprived of a Bible for most of their ex-istence, spiritual freedom had arrived and God was nearerthan ever.

Price and his wife returned to California wherehe later died on September 5, 1937 in Berkeley, Califor-nia. Price was satisfied with the role he had been com-missioned to complete and rejoiced over the mission. “I

am thankful to the Divine Father, that it has been ourprivilege to do this great work for the neglected Guampeople, and that our health has stood the strains of theheavy task. It has been to me the most delightful work Ihave ever been privileged to do.”

FootnotesFootnotesFootnotesFootnotesFootnotes

1 The Year Book of the Congregational and Christian Churches,Combining the Congregational Year Book, Volume No. 60, andThe Christian Annual, Volume No. 66: Statistics for 1937, page56, General Council of the Congregational and Christian Churches.

2 Francis Marion Price, to William Haven, May 9, 1905. Papers ofthe American Board of Commissioners for the Foreign Missions(ABCFM), Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC) at theUniversity of Guam.

3 Forbes, Eric, “Guam History: Perspectives,” MARC, Universityof Guam, 1997, pgs. 123-128.

4 Thompson, Laura, “Guam And Its People,” Greenwood Press,Connecticut, 1947, pg. 215.

5 Pesch, William D., Praying Against The Tide—Challenges FacingThe Early Protestant Missionaries To Guam 1900-1910, Universityof Guam, 2001, pg. 8.

6 F.M. Price to William Haven, May 9, 1905. PABCFM, MARC.It appears from correspondence that these leaflets either remainedwithin the Congregationalist group or were more widely circulatedamong the island people.

7 Spanish Bibles were not publically allowed because the priestsforbade the reading of the Holy Scriptures. However, it is possiblethat Bibles entered Guam by way of whalers, ships passing throughGuam, or Protestant missionaries who were already in theMicronesian islands and using Spanish Bibles due to Spanishpresence.

* Photographs used with the permission and courtesy of DonFarrell.

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TaitanoFamily Translators

Bethany S. MartinBethany S. MartinBethany S. MartinBethany S. MartinBethany S. Martin

José Mendiola Taitano joined the Custino brothersand the Flores family in forming the first Protestant church on Guam. Born in 1840, Taitano was a

Roman Catholic who later converted to Protestantismafter discovering the Holy Scriptures while working asa whaler in the mid to late 1800s. After returning toGuam, he could not practice his new Biblically foundfaith under the prohibitive Spanish regime, but he couldnot be forced to practice Catholicism either. “So hewaited and did nothing, only he discarded the grossersuperstitions such as the wearing of Carmelite belts andother charms and amulets, and hoped and prayed fordeliverance.”1

The era under the Spanish regime was brutal andcognitively and spiritually restrictive. It was a publicmisdemeanor to disobey the priests and many obeyedout of fear instead of conviction. The Bible was notallowed to be read and very few of them existed on is-land. Prior to the 1850s, Bibles had been secretly broughtto Guam, perhaps by whaling ships, and “found theirway into a few families, and were read with eagernessby the more earnest men.”2 When one reads the Wordof God, a hunger is stirred within the heart and a long-ing to know more of Jesus’ love takes place that onlythe Bible can quench. The Bread of Life ministers heal-ing to the soul and the earnest seeker is compelled toshare the Prince of Peace with other family and friends.

The reading of the Bible spread amongst thepeople, and “finally knowledge of this reached thepriest’s ear; then the priest and ruler combined to stop it.Diligent search was made for the Bibles, and three largebaskets of them were publicly burned in the plaza about1856. Some successfully hid their Bibles and have themstill. One remarkable man, José [Mendiola] Taitano,who has been reading the Book of books for many years,was long ago convinced that there was a better way….”3

The govern-ment and the Catholicchurch were againstTaitano and kept acareful watch overhim. When theCustino brothers ar-rived on Guam imme-diately following theAmerican liberationin 1898, Taitano andhis 10 children wel-comed them joyously,recognizing that fellowProtestants meant spiritual freedom for his heavy heart.“The priests threatened them, telling them that they werestill under Spanish law, and would be punished as soonas the Americans left.”4 But the Americans did not leaveand the door was opened for freedom of worship and aspiritual liberation such as they had never known wasexecuted, resulting in the first Protestant church formedby Francis Price and the Custino brothers.

God enables all people to come in contact withHis Word. No matter what human restrictions are placedon the written Word, the King of the Universe loosensthose bonds and brings Water to the thirsty. Thoughhumanity may seek to silence the Holy Bible, the An-cient of Days looks down and preserves with loving carethe Book of books. Though It may pass through thefire, the Lord of lords claims with sovereignty that HisWord shall endure until time passes away. The Biblesurvived beyond all human efforts made to erase it fromhistory, and it was not without the working of the Lordthrough people such as José Mendiola Taitano.

José Mendiola Taitano

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Taitano Family TranslatorsTaitano Family TranslatorsTaitano Family TranslatorsTaitano Family TranslatorsTaitano Family Translators

José M. Taitano and his 10 children joined the Custinobrothers and Price as members of the Congregationalist Church, the first Protestant church on Guam.

Taitano and his family were key leaders of the churchand worked at the Mission established in Adelup thatincluded a school for boys and a school for girls. Hisdaughters, Ana Taitano (Gay) and Rosa Taitano(Custino), were school teachers as well as Sunday Schoolteachers at the Mission, and his son José San NicolasTaitano lived at the Mission and worked as thegroundskeeper and was a deacon in the church.5 JoséM. Taitano not only served as a key leader in the church,but during the years between 1901 and 1905, he servedas an associate justice of the Court of Appeals.6 Taitanowas a man of dedication and intellect that balanced hiscalling to serve God and to minister to his fellow man.

In letters written by Price to the American Boardof Commission for Foreign Missions (ABCFM), henames a José Taitano as his tutor in the Chamorro lan-guage. Without specifying if it was José MendiolaTaitano or his son, José San Nicolas Taitano, the possi-bility is substantiated that it was José Mendiola Taitanowho was referred to as the tutor because he had a work-ing knowledge of English, Chamorro, and Spanish. JoséSan Nicolas Taitano did not have a command of theEnglish language until many years later.7 Additionally,according to former Congressman Robert A. Underwood,the story passed down through the Taitano family wasthat José Mendiola Taitano was the most likely to havetutored Price because of his knowledge of the Englishlanguage.

Under the tutelage of José M. Taitano, Price ob-tained the Chamorro language rather quickly and withmuch proficiency that Taitano complimented Price bysaying, “You know more about the Chamorro languagethan I do.”8

When Price began working on translating theHoly Bible into the Chamorro language, the Taitano fam-ily played a significant part in aiding the translation ofthe Word of God. This divine role is one that should notgo unrecognized as it is a substantial contribution toChristianity, the Chamorro people, and forever writtenin the books of Heaven.

Price worked with a teacher and several othersat the Mission as part of the translating process. As men-

tioned before, Rosa Taitano Custino and Ana TaitanoGay were teachers at the Mission school and José S.N.Taitano worked as the groundskeeper. In a personal in-terview with Carlos Pangelinan Taitano, son of José SanNicolas Taitano,he recalls hearingas a young boy hisfamily speaking ofthe ChamorroBible. “They werevery proud of thatBible,” saysTaitano. “No oneclaimed to be theprincipal translatorhelping Rev. Pricebecause they wereall involved. JoséMendiola Taitano,José San NicolasTaitano, Ana Tait-ano Gay, Rosa Taitano (Custino), and Francisco Taitanoall assisted in the translation of the Bible.” Underwoodalso states that, “Everyone was of assistance.” Rever-end Joaquin Flores Sablan in his book, “My MentalOddyssey,” additionally confirms the Taitano family ashelping to translate the Scriptures.9

According to the recollection of Carlos P.Taitano, he says that his father, grandfather, uncles andaunts all served as advisors to Price as he worked ontranslating the Scriptures. When Price needed clarifica-tion or special assistance, he would enlist the help ofwhichever Taitano was around at the time. It is not sur-prising that Price did most of the translating on his ownbecause he had a strong command of the Chamorro lan-guage. However, the Taitano family should be acknowl-edged as servants of Christ whom God entrusted withthis most precious work of securing a Bible in the nativelanguage of His island people and should be added tothe history books as such.

Faithful StewardsFaithful StewardsFaithful StewardsFaithful StewardsFaithful Stewards

José M. Taitano retired from the Courts in 1905 andentered retirement, continuing to serve as a dedicated leader of the Protestant church, and passed

away on February 20, 1934 having lived a joyful 93

José San Nicolas Taitano

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years. His son, José San Nicolas Taitano, continued towork as a groundskeeper for the Congregationalist Mis-sion until it left in 1910. After the Mission closed, José

San Nicolas Taitanocontinued shepherdingthe congregation andbegan farming his land.He was a faithful stew-ard and took the Gos-pel to many people un-der much scrutiny. “Iremember that peoplewould throw stones athim during Bible stud-ies in Agat,” saysCarlos PangelinanTaitano, son of José

San Nicolas Taitano. “But the same people who would criticize and throw stones would hide

in the bushes and listen to the Bible studies that werebeing conducted and to the music being sung. The peopleloved the songs we were singing and pretty soon theCatholics adopted many songs from the Protestants.”

Despite opposition, José San Nicolas Taitanolabored diligently for the Lord, leading as many peopleas possible to the Word of God that brought fulfillmentto his soul. He lived a full life and died in 1965 at theage of 90. Rosa Taitano married Joe Custino, Jr., andcontinued teaching at the Mission Day School until itclosed shortly after the Congregationalists left. AnaTaitano Gay continued to serve as a teacher and SundaySchool teacher and later became a Seventh-day Adven-tist, in 1950, after the Seventh-day Adventists arrivedon Guam in 1946 and the SDA Mission was establishedin 1950. The land that the Guam-Micronesia Missionof Seventh-day Adventists, Agana Heights SDA Church,and Missionary housing across the street sits on wasdonated to the SDA Mission by Ana Taitano Gay and,at her request, a chapel was built on the property. Thechapel was destroyed in a typhoon and the Agana HeightsSDA Church was built to replace the chapel.

“They knew their Bible,” says Carlos P. Taitanoreferring to his father, José S.N. Taitano and aunts, AnaT. Gay and Rosa T. Custino. “They carried the Biblewith them everywhere.”

The Taitano family was honorable, bold in char-acter and steadfast in conviction. Enduring much socialpersecution, they held the Bible high and let the Wordspeak for Itself. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,will draw all men unto Me.” (John 12:32)

While the Lord does not depend on human agentsto sustain His written Word, it is the privilege of everyman and woman to become co-laborers with the Creatorof the universe in bringing more children into the knowl-edge of His infinite love. The Bible has withstood sup-pression, opposition, and agents who wish to silence itsauthority, yet it stands on its own firm Foundation. AFoundation that man cannot remove.

FootnotesFootnotesFootnotesFootnotesFootnotes

1 Francis M. Price, “The Island of Guam and Its People,” TheMissionary Review of The World, vol. 15, no. 1, Jan. 1902, pgs.17-18.

2 Ibid.3 Ibid.4 Ibid.

5 Personal Interview with Carlos Pangelinan Taitano, April 3, 2003.

6 The Guam Recorder, vol. 10, no. 12, March, 1934, p. 207.

7 Personal Interview with Carlos Pangelinan Taitano, April 3, 2003.

8 F.M. Price to William Haven, May 9, 1905. PABCFM, MARC.

9 Sablan, Joaquin Flores, “My Mental Oddyssey,” Stinson Press,Missouri, 1990, pgs. 122-123.

* Photographs courtesy of the Taitano family.

José San Nicolas Taitanowith wife, Dolores

Pangelinan Taitano

Ana Taitano Gay, far left, with the school children atthe Mission

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There’s something about it. It’s supernatural; it’s pro-tected.” Thomas hesitates a moment as if searching forthe right words to describe what he has experienced andis still feeling. “To be working this close with God’sHoly Word is a whole different thing. I wanted to getout of it because I could see that it wasn’t human. I wasscared of making a mistake; I’m not qualified. Who amI to be involved in something like this?”

Setting out with the Xerox copy in hand of theBible, Thomas sought out several Chamorros who whomhe knew were fluent in the language. He needed to knowthat Price’s translation was credible and a faithful trans-lation into the Chamorro language. Speaking with DavidFlores, Sr., resident of the village of Talofofo, he as-sured Thomas that Price’s translation was written in ex-cellent Chamorro and could be understood. Comparingthe Chamorro with the English and Hebrew/Greek trans-lation, he joyously discovered that in many places theChamorro text was purer and truer to the original He-brew/Greek texts than the the English translation. Tho-mas also showed the copied texts to a Chamorro busdriver. The driver was shocked and surprised to see aBible written in his own language. “He wanted to knowhow much he would have to pay in order to get a copyof my copy of this Bible,” Thomas grins. “That hasbeen the response from everyone who has come in con-tact with the Bible. ‘A Bible in my own language?’They’d never seen it before.” Recently, a woman by thename of Josephine Chargualaf Varley was shown the

Bible and her response was much like the previousgentleman’s.

“Wow! This is terrific!” She automatically readthe title on the cover and began thumbing through thePsalms stopping periodically at certain versus. “I neverknew a Bible in Chamorro ever existed,” exclaimedVarley. “I always wondered why, and thought it wouldbe great if someone took the time to translate. I remem-ber reading the novenas as a child and thinking it wouldbe great to have a Bible in my language.”

Varley continues skimming through the Bibleand holding it close to her chest in amazement. “Read-ing a Bible in your own language makes God so muchmore personal. This is absolutely wonderful. I want acopy.”

Thomas realized with surety that he must goahead with the project.

A year and a half later, Thomas sits in my officewith a look of astonishment that has not faded mingledwith a tinge of undetected sadness at the deprivation ofthe Word for so long. I can see a few droplets of tearsglass over his eyes at his intuitive knowledge that Godhas His very hand in this project and in the spiritual sur-vival of the Chamorro people. It’s been a sacred jour-ney that is reflected in the essence of Clarence Thomasand this story.

“This has been my role, and Bethany, it’s enough.It’s enough.” Thomas nods his head fighting back thetears that threaten to betray his countenance. “I haveworked with the angels and it’s been a real privilege.”

ProjectProjectProjectProjectProject, continued from page 9.

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WhyDid The

Chamorro BibleDisappear?


The disappearance of the Chamorro Bible is trulya mystery. Why such a gift to the Chamorro cul-ture would have been lost, is a question no one

knows the answer to. However, clues into the disap-pearance of the Chamorro Bible can be found in the sup-pression of the language itself.

As referred to in a previous article, the Chamorrolanguage was restricted and forbidden in replacement ofthe Castilian (Spanish) language, under the Spanish rulein the 1700s, and again by the Americans after the U.S.gained control of the island in 1898.

Upon gaining control of Guam and implement-ing an American government under military rule, theAmericans also brought to the island Western ideals andmethods of administration and education. By 1922, apublic school system was introduced and underway thatwas patterned after the California educational system.American teachers and local English-speaking teacherswere used in the classrooms and all children were re-quired to attend school.

While this was a well-intended educational sys-tem that was being introduced to the island for the intel-lectual improvement of the people, the indoctrination ofWestern ideals trampled underfoot the very heart of theculture of the Chamorro people: the Chamorro language.“When the U.S. occupied our island, it took more thanour land; it took away our culture, our way of life, andsupplanted these with its own imported values.”1

In a book by Dr. Laura Thompson, “Guam AndIts People,” she relays a deep excavation of the historyof the island and its people and the impact that Western-ization had on the culture. Thompson spent several yearsstudying the history and culture of Guam and theChamorro people as well as spending 1938-1939 on theisland conducting field research. She was also employedas a Consultant on Native Affairs to the naval governorof Guam, and “following her critical disclosure of navalpractices on Guam, she was barred by the Navy fromreturning to the island.”2 In regards to the research ofthe public school system introduced by the Americans,she writes: “All instruction was in English, andChamorro was prohibited in schools and on playgrounds.Chamorro dictionaries were collected and burned.”3

In addition, Thompson kept a diary during her timeon Guam, 1938-1939, in which she writes, “By gov’t orderabout 900 dictionaries were burned. Now out of print—only one or two in Guam.”4 This same diary reference spe-cifically names the 1918 von Preissig dictionaries as the oneswhich were burned.

Ironically, the von Preissig dictionaries that the navalgovernment ordered to be burned were the same dictionar-ies that they themselves commissioned to be written. “Adictionary and grammar of the language has been compiledby Lieut. Edward R. von Preissig (S.C.), United States Navy,and printed at the Government Printing Office, Washington,1918.”5

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The naval government was very proud of theChamorro-English Dictionary as endorsed in the prefa-tory correspondence of the dictionary: “It is believedthat this dictionary would be of great value to the de-partment of education of the island,” M.G. Cook, De-partment of Education. “This is a highly creditable pieceof work, which has been accomplished at the cost ofmuch labor. Nothing exists on the same scale. It isbound to be of great value to all the inhabitants of Guam,”Roy C. Smith, Government House.6

Why these precious dictionaries were burned is be-yond surface comprehension, but definitely deserves furtherinquiry. It should also be noted that members of the Taitanofamily who helped in the translation of the Chamorro Biblealso aided in the compilation of the Chamorro dictionary;both Juan Taitano and Francisco Taitano are acknowledgedby von Preissig in the introduction of the dictionary.

Resiliency of the LanguageResiliency of the LanguageResiliency of the LanguageResiliency of the LanguageResiliency of the Language

The fact that the Chamorro language was forbidden and dictionaries burned speaks volumes tothe extent that the U.S. government went to in

order to establish Guam as a mirrored extension of themainland. “Military government almost destroyed theindigenous people and was consistently inadequate inproviding for the needs of the society that Spain soughtto create in its own image on Guam.”7 These senti-ments demonstrate the continual desires of governmentsto convert the local people into images of their respec-tive cultures instead of allowing the Chamorros their ownhistory and culture in which to flourish. The price ofthis pompous ideology is one of the major contributingfactors in the near death of the Chamorro language.

However, the language has a great survival ca-pacity. There is a remarkably high level of resiliency ofthis native tongue that has withstood hundreds of yearsof suppression. Thompson says, “attention should begiven the problem of enriching the school and adult edu-cation curricula through the teaching of the Chamorrolanguage, especially the written language, and the de-velopment of Chamorro literature…such help is neededto keep the language from perishing.”8

Dr. George Bedell, Professor of Linguistics andDirector of the Research Center for Japanese LanguageEducation at the International Christian University inTokyo Japan, says that it is not terribly surprising that the

Chamorro language has survived throughout the years ofgovernment suppression. While Bedell is not an expert onthe linguistics of the Chamorro language, but an interestedobserver, his professional background and interest in the is-land of Guam lends credible thoughts concerning the state ofthe Chamorro language. “When you see yourself as lowerclass and are being exploited by people outside your cul-ture, you cling to your roots.” He speaks in reference to theAmerican government hoping to silence the Chamorro cul-ture and language in exchange for Western philosophies andthe English language, as well as the invasion of the Japaneseduring World War II and the pain they inflicted upon thelocal islanders. “The people, ages 60 and above, feel it isincredibly important to retain their language. I’m afraid thatonce they are gone, there will be no more Chamorro.”

So how does one ensure the survival of a dyinglanguage? “You learn the language when you are achild,” says Bedell, sitting casually in khaki pants andan untucked button-up shirt. “The foundation for thefluency of a language is best gained as a young child.”He leans back in his chair and rubs his white beard andpeppered mustache. “The problem with the Chamorrolanguage is that the pool of native speakers is not beingreplenished.” He peers down over his thick-rimmedglasses and speaks in earnest, “When you have to startteaching the native language at school it is already toolate. That’s my personal opinion.”

But is it too late? Bedell counters his statementwith his own interest in the Chamorro language and itslinguistics. “The Chamorro language is in a fragile state.We must study and preserve what we can while there isstill time.”

That time has been extended. With the resurrec-tion of the Chamorro Bible, the people have been re-turned a great historical and cultural work to use to theiradvantage.

Importance of the Chamorro BibleImportance of the Chamorro BibleImportance of the Chamorro BibleImportance of the Chamorro BibleImportance of the Chamorro Bible

David Herrera, Engineering WHE Test Directorfor Raytheon Technical Services and a localChamorro Seventh-day Adventist who was

deeply involved in the transfer of the Chamorro Bibleinto electronic format and responsible for the red let-tered contribution, says, “This is a serious matter for usChamorros. You discover that it has been taken away fromus and prohibited and that’s awful.”

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Herrera remembers attending school during the daysthat the Chamorro language was prohibited to be spoken inthe schools or on the playgrounds under penalty of beingfined. “It was years later that we discovered that Chamorrowas a sovereign gift from Almighty God who gave us differ-ent tongues,” Herrera shares with passion.

Not until 1972 did the Twelfth Guam Legislaturepass Public Law 12-132 declaring Guam as having two of-ficial languages: Chamorro and English. Up to that time,Chamorro technically remained illegal in all government of-fices, and signs remained posted in all government buildingsstating that code. Public Law 12-31 was also passed whichgave authority to the Board of Education to “develop a bi-lingual/bicultural educational program emphasizing the lan-guage and culture of the Chamorro people.”9

“This Chamorro Bible is important for two main rea-sons,” says Herrera. “There is not much classic Chamorroliterature and that’s one thing that makes this Bible unique.It’s a great tool to be used for studying and learning thelanguage.” He goes on to express that the Chamorro Biblewill be “an important addition to the educational curriculumand a valuable tool for all language and literature teachers.It should be required material for all teachers.”

Second, Herrera emphasizes that the ChamorroBible is a great source for reaching people with the Gospelof Christ. “This is great for all of the Commonwealth of theNorthern Mariana Islands. Most people on the islands ofSaipan, Tinian and Luta (Rota), and the manamku (elders)on Guam, only speak Chamorro. They must not be de-prived of a Bible in their own language when one exists.”

Chamorro Bibles in the 1960sChamorro Bibles in the 1960sChamorro Bibles in the 1960sChamorro Bibles in the 1960sChamorro Bibles in the 1960s

While the excitement of discovering a Bible intheir own language is expressed by everyChamorro who has come in contact with the

Chamorro Bible, it is still not clear why the ChamorroBible disappeared to begin with. Is it possible that whileChamorro was prohibited to be spoken in the schoolsand dictionaries were collected and burned that readingthe Chamorro Bible was discouraged as well? Or couldit be as simple as copies having been lost due to naturaldisasters and wars that occurred over the years? Remem-ber that Guam is in “typhoon alley” and receives nu-merous typhoons and earthquakes which destroy build-ings and homes resulting in the loss of books, furniture,and priceless belongings. Did the few copies of the Bible

that remained on Guam eventually become obsolete in wakeof these disasters over the years?

Eliseo Jimeno, a retired Seventh-day AdventistPastor, came to Guam from the Philippines in the early1950s. He clearly remembers the Chamorro Bible incirculation and even in a local Christian bookstore. “TheBibles were available for purchase at Faith ChristianBookstore,” says Jimeno, “until they were discontinuedfor unknown reasons.” In the 1960s, Jimeno, along withother church members, would visit families in theirhomes and provide them with Chamorro Bibles if theydid not already have one. “The Bibles were just paper-back material, not even hard covers, and for some rea-son did not contain the book of Psalms,” he recalls.

“That is something that remains a mystery,” saysDr. Lawrence J. Cunningham, Research Associate forthe Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Cen-ter. “I just can’t figure that out, why an entire book wouldbe omitted.” To date, no one has been able to offer anysolid answers as to why the book of Psalms was omittedfrom the reprinting of the Chamorro Bibles in 1952.

The quality of the paperback Bibles gives plau-sible reason to the theory of Bibles being lost duringnatural disasters such as typhoons. Wet paper tends tosimply disintegrate and become unsalvageable whenexposed to torrents of rain and flooding. And the hor-rendous destruction from World War II that laid to wastean entire island secures reason that many of the originalChamorro Bibles were lost during the war.

The years during the war when the Japanese con-trolled the island were years of brutality and sadness.The Japanese stormed the island and ran people out oftheir homes, off their land, and in to concentration camps.They established Japanese bases in seized homes andlooted foods and personal materials for their use or theirdestruction.

As one Chamorro elder who lived during the warand was forced in to a concentration camp says, “Guamwas the only U.S. soil that was taken by the enemy dur-ing the war and it was the only place where U.S. citizenswere held hostage.” She was one of those citizens.

Under those extreme conditions, it is not unlikelythat original Chamorro Bibles from the early Protestantchurch were destroyed, never to be found again. Butafter the war, Protestant churches resumed their role ofdistributing the Holy Scriptures.

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“The General Baptist church was also engaged indistributing the Chamorro Bibles during the 1960s,” explainsJimeno. “There was even talk of them expanding the trans-lation to include all books of the Bible in addition to the sixbooks that already existed in the Chamorro language.” Butover time, the dream died out, or perhaps was lost itself. “Itjust didn’t seem to click at that time. The thought of ex-panding the translation could have died because of a changeof pastors. Plus, a real ‘think tank,’ so to speak, of dedi-cated Chamorros was needed who truly knew the languagein order to do the translation work. Those resources werenot available.” Jimeno goes on to explain that the newergeneration was not raised learning how to speak theChamorro language, therefore, draining the well of nativespeakers. “One of the problems as to why the newer gen-eration does not speak Chamorro, I believe, is because it isnot a frequently written language.”

The scarcity of a written language makes the in-struction of the language extremely difficult. Such isthe case with the Chamorro language. Without an amplearray of Chamorro literature constantly being circulated,especially a Book as useful and pertinent as the Bible,the language began to disappear from the tongues of thenewer generations.

“If Chamorro is not revived,” says Jimeno, “itwill soon be a forgotten language. I don’t know whythe Chamorro Bible was discontinued. It looks like ithas been neglected until now.”

Community reacts to the BibleCommunity reacts to the BibleCommunity reacts to the BibleCommunity reacts to the BibleCommunity reacts to the Bible

The future of the Chamorro language proves to begetting brighter with the resurrection of theChamorro Bible. Every individual who has

learned of its existence is thrilled with having God’sWord in his or her own tongue, and that alone declaresthat the language and the people have not been forgot-ten.

“I didn’t want to let go,” remembers Herreraabout his first encounter with the Chamorro Bible. “Isaid, ‘Really—back then—a Chamorro Bible?’”

And David Flores Sr., who also helped in the proof-reading of the Chamorro Bible, and is the grandson of JoséAguon Flores who was the first Chamorro Protestant pas-tor on Guam who also worked with Francis Price and ledthe Congregationalist Mission in the village of Inarajan, said,

“I saw this and wanted to have one in my hand. I must havethis in my possession.”

The Chamorro Bible is neglected no longer. It iscurrently available for public access via its website,www.ChamorroBible.org, and is one of the newest ad-ditions to the Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Re-search Center at the University of Guam (MARC).

On September 25, 2002, two copies of theChamorro Bible were presented to MARC upon theirrequest and have generated a number of interests. “Thiswas a great addition to our materials because it repre-sents the history of the culture of Guam,” says Mrs.Omaira Brunal-Perry, Associate Professor of SpanishLegal Historiography and Head Librarian of MARC.

MARC specializes in Guam-Micronesian mate-rials and is an incredible hub for research of the history,languages, and cultures of Guam and the many islandsin Micronesia. “Having the Chamorro Bible in our li-brary is a tremendous addition to the Chamorro languagestudies and a great contribution to the Chamorro cul-ture,” says Perry. “Since its introduction, several stu-dents and members of the community have seen it onthe shelf or requested to view it. It is definitely beingused.”

Regardless of the many reasons as to why theChamorro Bible disappeared in the first place, a resur-gence of interest shows the immortality of God’s HolyWord and its importance to the Chamorro people. It isclearly evident that God has placed His protective handover the Bible and it has survived war, natural disasters,and human efforts to silence the written Word.

Presentation of the Chamorro Bible to MARC. Fromright: John P. Sablan, Pastor Eliseo Jimeno (ret.),

David Herrera, Pastor Willy Nobuo, Clarence Thomas,Murray Cooper, Pastor Frank Taitague (ret.), Omaira

Brunal-Perry and staff.

22 ISLES

Special IssueIt is no coincidence that the Chamorro Bible is now

becoming available once again for such a time as this. Jesusnever leaves His people without personal access to His Wordand the letters He has written and preserved especially forthem. He requires each individual to heed the Word He hasprovided to them and to share it with others so that no one isleft in darkness. Such is the purpose of the resurrection ofthe Chamorro Bible. And a heavenly dawn is breaking forthe Chamorro people.

Footnotes

1 Phillips, Michael F., “Kinalamten Pulitikat: Sinenten I Chamorro/Issues in Guam’s Political Development: The ChamorroPerspective,” Guam, 1996, pg. 11.

2 Hattori, Anne P., “Kinalamten Pulitikat: Sinenten I Chamorro/Issues in Guam’s Political Development: The ChamorroPerspective,” Guam, 1996, pg. 63.

3 Thompson, Laura, “Guam And Its People,” Greenwood Press,Connecticut, 1947, pg. 218.

4 Thompson, Laura, “The Laura Thompson Papers, Diary—FieldWork in Guam 1938-39”, MARC and by courtesy of Dr. LauraThompson.

5 Cox, L.M., “The Island Of Guam,” Naval Government of Guam,Government Printing Office, Washington, 1926, pg. 5.

6 von Preissig, Edward R., Dictionary and Grammar of the ChamorroLanguage of the Island of Guam. Washington, United States ofAmerica: Government Printing Office, 1918. Dictionary can befound on www.ChamorroBible.org.

7 Rogers, Robert F., “Destiny’s Landfall,” University of Hawai’IPress, Honolulu, 1995, pg. 106.

8 Thompson, Laura, “Guam And Its People,” Greenwood Press,Connecticut, 1947, pg.233.

9 Lujan, Pilar C., “Kinalamten Pulitikat: Sinenten I Chamorro/Issues in Guam’s Political Development: The ChamorroPerspective,” Guam, 1996, pg. 22.

STANZA 1Jesus loves me! This I know,

For the Bible tells me so.Little ones to Him belong;

They are weak, but He is strong.

REFRAIN

Yes, Jesus loves me!Yes, Jesus loves me!Yes, Jesus loves me!

The Bible tells me so.

STANZA 2Jesus loves me! This I know,As He loved so long ago,

Taking children on His knee,Saying, “Let them come to Me.”

STANZA 3Jesus loves me still today,

Walking with me on my way,Wanting as a friend to give

Light and love to all who live.

STANZA 4Jesus loves me! He who diedHeaven’s gate to open wide;He will wash away my sin,Let His little child come in.

STANZA 5Jesus loves me! He will stayClose beside me all the way;

Thou hast bled and died for me,I will henceforth live for Thee.

STANZA 6Jesus loves me! Loves me still,Though I’m very weak and ill,That I might from sin be freeBled and died upon the tree.

ISLES 23

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God has given us his Word that we may becomeacquainted with its teachings, and know forourselves what he requires of us. When the law-

yer came to Jesus with the inquiry, “What shall I do toinherit eternal life?” the Saviour referred him to the Scrip-tures, saying, “What is written in the law? how readestthou?” Ignorance will not excuse young or old, or re-lease them from the punishment due for the transgres-sion of God’s law, because there is in their hands a faith-ful presentation of that law and of its principles and itsclaims. It is not enough to have good intentions; it is notenough to do what a man thinks is right, or what theminister tells him is right. His soul’s salvation is at stake,and he should search the Scriptures for himself. How-ever strong may be his convictions, however confidenthe may be that the minister knows what is truth, this isnot his foundation. He has a chart pointing out everywaymark on the heavenward journey, and he ought notto guess at anything.

It is the first and highest duty of every rationalbeing to learn from the Scriptures what is truth, and thento walk in the light, and encourage others to follow hisexample. We should day by day study the Bible dili-gently, weighing every thought, and comparing scrip-ture with scripture. With divine help, we are to form ouropinions for ourselves, as we are to answer for ourselvesbefore God.

We should exert all the powers of the mind inthe study of the Scriptures, and should task the under-standing to comprehend, as far as mortals can, the deepthings of God; yet we must not forget that the docilityand submission of a child is the true spirit of the learner.Scriptural difficulties can never be mastered by the samemethods as are employed in grappling with philosophi-cal problems. We should not engage in the study of theBible with that selfreliance with which so many enterthe domains of science, but with a prayerful dependenceupon God, and a sincere desire to learn his will. We mustcome with a humble and teachable spirit to obtain knowl-edge from the great I AM. Otherwise, evil angels will soblind our minds and harden our hearts that we shall notbe impressed by the truth.

T h e S c r i p t u r e s A S a f e g u a r dMrs. Ellen G. WhiteMrs. Ellen G. WhiteMrs. Ellen G. WhiteMrs. Ellen G. WhiteMrs. Ellen G. White

Many a portion of Scripture which learned menpronounce a mystery, or pass over as unimportant, isfull of comfort and instruction to him who has beentaught in the school of Christ. One reason why manytheologians have no clearer understanding of God’sWord is they close their eyes to truths which they do notwish to practice. An understanding of Bible truth de-pends not so much on the power of intellect brought tothe search as on the singleness of purpose, the earnestlonging after righteousness.

The Bible should never be studied without prayer.The Holy Spirit alone can cause us to feel the impor-tance of those things easy to be understood, or preventus from wresting truths difficult of comprehension. It isthe office of heavenly angels to prepare the heart to socomprehend God’s Word that we shall be charmed withits beauty, admonished by its warnings, or animated andstrengthened by its promises. We should make thepsalmist’s petition our own: “Open thou mine eyes, thatI may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” [Psalm119:18] Temptations often appear irresistible because,through neglect of prayer and the study of the Bible, thetempted one cannot readily remember God’s promisesand meet Satan with the Scripture weapons. But angelsare round about those who are willing to be taught indivine things; and in the time of great necessity, theywill bring to their remembrance the very truths whichare needed. Thus “when the enemy shall come in like aflood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard againsthim.” [Isaiah 59:19]

All who value their eternal interests should beon their guard against the inroads of skepticism. Thevery pillars of truth will be assailed. It is impossible tokeep beyond the reach of the sarcasms and sophisms,the insidious and pestilent teachings, of modern infidel-ity. Satan adapts his temptations to all classes. He as-sails the illiterate with a jest or sneer, while he meets theeducated with scientific objections and philosophicalreasoning, alike calculated to excite distrust or contemptof the Scriptures. Even youth of little experience pre-sume to insinuate doubts concerning the fundamentalprinciples of Christianity. And this youthful infidelity,

See Scriptures Scriptures Scriptures Scriptures Scriptures on page 27.

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www.ChamorroBible.org



www.Chamowww.Chamor


The handling of God’s Word is something oneshould not take lightly. It is a special Book anddeserves the utmost regard and respect concern-

ing its preservation. So how does one go about makingit available to others when no previous electronic textexists? Or, to cut to the real issue, how did the ChamorroBible become available on the World Wide Web with-out having to retype the Bible in electronic format? Toanswer that question, we must take a step back and lookat why it needed to be online in the first place.

The Chamorro Bible had been lost among thenative people for decades. There were only a few cop-ies left in the entire world and none of them seemed tobe on the island for which it was intended. The ChamorroBible had been nearly erased from history without a trace.But in August of 2001, began the resurrection of theChamorro Bible. It brought life and refreshment to allwho crossed its path. When a person is able to see theeffects that the Bible has on individuals, especially hav-ing one in their own language, it leaves no doubt in thehuman mind that this Living Water must be provided toeveryone and be easily accessible so that all may ben-efit.

Clarence Thomas IV, pioneer and pilgrim withthe Chamorro Bible project and teacher at Guam Ad-ventist Academy, was convinced that God’s Wordneeded to be provided to His people in the MarianasIslands in their own language. But in his study of theChamorro culture and language, he knew that the lan-guage had undergone changes in spelling—orthography.How significant would the Bible be considering the spell-ing changes that had taken place in the Chamorro lan-guage over the past decades? Would the writtenChamorro be understood by people who were only familiar with the most recent Chamorro orthography?

“I agonized over continuing with the idea of re-printing the Chamorro Bible,” says Thomas. “I neededto know that people would be able to read and under-stand the older Chamorro spelling.”

His answer came soon after his concern. DavidBabauta Herrera, Engineering WHE Test Director forRaytheon Technical Services on Guam, read throughmuch of the Chamorro Bible with elated interest. Hetold Thomas with enthusiasm, “The spelling is differ-ent, but it can be understood. This is very goodChamorro.”

Thomas’ concerns were answered once againduring GAA’s Chamorro History week during the 2001-2002 school year. A speaker was arranged for each dayof the week, but Friday’s speakers fell through and theyhad no one to speak about Chamorro history or culture.Picking up the baton, Mateo Aggabao, history teacherfor GAA, asked Thomas to share an update on theChamorro Bible.

“What if someone can read in Chamorro?” askedThomas. Two high school students were selected whocould read in Chamorro: Jennifer Mafnas and RosabellaFlores, the daughter of GAA’s office manager and reg-istrar, Janet Flores. Thomas gave them a copy of Psalms19 and they reviewed it for five minutes and divided thetexts in half to be read. Thomas spoke to the studentsabout the Chamorro Bible and asked if they would like to hear it read in their own language.

“Jennifer and Rosabella read through Psalms 19perfectly with the original orthography,” remembersThomas. “They knew about the substitution of differ-ent characters to correspond with the present dayChamorro orthography and it was not a problem. Onceagain, I was comforted knowing that the older languageof the Chamorro Bible was not useless and

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www.ChamorroBible.orgorroBible.orgrroBible.org


it could be read.”Later that day, Thomas was speaking with an-

other Chamorro student and asked her if she was able tounderstand what Jennifer and Rosabella had read earlierthat morning. “She said that she understood everythingthat they read,” said Thomas. “This was just wonderful.God took this opportunity to confirm that this Bible canbe read and understood by the people.”

That conviction was what propelled the duplica-tion of the Bible into electronic format.

But what venue would be the safest against tam-pering, provide security of its existence, and allow ev-ery person access? Let us not forget that God worksthrough technology and uses it to further the Gospel topeople who may otherwise not be able to receive it. TheInternet is able to enter countries where missionariescannot go. It is able to reach people who would bepersecuted for seeking Christianity. It is able to instantlyreach an island where printed copies of the Written Wordhave been lost. Introducing, www.ChamorroBible.org.

Technical specificsTechnical specificsTechnical specificsTechnical specificsTechnical specifics

It wasn’t without great lengths that Thomas was ableto convert the printed text into electronic text. Whena large amount of text is needed to be entered elec-

tronically, there are several ways it can be done: typedinto a word processor, use speech recognition software,or use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) softwareon the scanned text. One function of the OCR softwareis to take scanned content and reproduce the same textin a version that can be edited in a word processor.

How exactly does OCR work? Thomas scannedevery single page of the Chamorro Bible and saved eachpage as its own file. After the entire Bible was scanned,

the OCR software was used to process each file. Thesoftware is able to recognize scanned characters in sev-eral different languages. Spanish was selected sinceChamorro was not available and the next closest lan-guage, as far as the spelling characteristics of theChamorro language are concerned, is Spanish. Select-ing a specific language in which to reproduce the text isimportant because it provides for more characters to beused than what is used in the English language. Forexample, because the letter “ñ” is used in Chamorro andnot English. Running the OCR software with the Span-ish option where that letter does exist allows the pro-gram to recognize the “ñ”. The OCR software was runon every page of the Bible until a complete copy of theBible was reproduced in the Chamorro language in aword processor format.

Perfecting the workPerfecting the workPerfecting the workPerfecting the workPerfecting the work

The OCR process is not without its limitations. Because the program recognizes the characters thebest that it can, there is always the risk that a let-

ter is mistaken for another character of the alphabet orthat a spec of dust is interpreted as a character. There-fore, a complete and careful proofreading must takeplace. The first proofreading session was done duringthe OCR process (mechanical); the second and subse-quent sessions required human involvement.

David De Leon Flores, Sr., and David B. Herrera,who both speak Chamorro, assisted in the proofreadingof the text and took their roles seriously. They under-stood the sacredness with which they must handle God’sWord. All three men would sit down together and onewould read from the original Chamorro Bible and theother would follow along with the reproduced electronic

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text and make sure that the spelling and punctuation wasidentical to the original. If a character in the electroniccopy differed from the original text, then that was high-lighted and Thomas would analyze the difference later.Begoña Santos Flores, Principal of George WashingtonHigh School in Mangilao was also consulted early on inthe first proofreading session.

Additional proofreading methods were consecu-tively taken to expedite the proofreading process. Dur-ing this time, Herrera expressed the idea that the Bibleshould be available with red letters. “Mr. Herrera said,”states Thomas, “‘The Bible should bemade available with Christ’s words inred. Wouldn’t it be really great if wehad the Gospels in red letters like otherBibles do?’ He was completely right.”

Herrera took a real protectivecare and devotion to reading through theGospels and Acts and highlightingChrist’s words that should appear in red.“It was a project that was real dear tohis heart,” expresses Thomas. AfterHerrera finished designating Christ’swords to be printed in red letters, Thomas electronicallychanged the color of those words to red completing theelectronic copy of the Chamorro Bible.

“At the beginning of each proofreading sessionI began with prayer, asking God to be with the pens andpencils and with those of us involved in checking forproofreading errors,” verifies Thomas. The completionof the OCR proofreading came on April 7, 2002 afterthe entire Chamorro Bible was proofread with many prayers and a fine toothed comb.

www.ChamorroBible.orgwww.ChamorroBible.orgwww.ChamorroBible.orgwww.ChamorroBible.orgwww.ChamorroBible.org

Having the Bible in electronic format provided theopportunity to make it available on the Internet.On May 31, 2002, Chamorro Standard Time

(ChST), www.ChamorroBible.org officially opened.This is the first Micronesian Bible to our knowledge tobe made available on the Internet and is the first to beproduced as a red lettered edition. There is no otherBible in these territories that provide those same char-acteristics. Anyone can access this website and will finda complete copy of the Chamorro Bible in the Chamorroand English language, as well as the 1918 Chamorro-

English Dictionary and a Chamorro Language Grammarbook.

Since the publication of the website, severalemails have been received from fellow Chamorros whohave browsed the site and are excited to find a Bible intheir native tongue. Here are a few comments:

“Buenas. Thank you so much for the informa-tion regarding the Chamorro Bible. Our native island-ers, the Chamorros, should be proud of this ChamorroBible. As I read the words, I felt a wonderful feeling inme. My question to you is, how many Chamorros have

been reached about this? I just want tobe sure that all Chamorros here inGuahan, Luta, Saipan, Tinian and theother Mariana Islands and abroad bereached about this important Chamorrohistory.”

“Hafa Adai, Chelu! The websiteis very informative and the words aretruly Chamorro. Keep up the good workand my family looks forward in seeingthis Bible out soon for all Chamorros tohave.”

“Biba Chamorro! Thank you for this website!Awesome! It’s about time that our Chamorros have aBible written in their own native language. Lookingforward to seeing this be published.”

“Buenas, Chelu! In regards to the website, Iwould like to say thank you! We the Chamorro peoplehave waited for this to happen…I was so amazed to seethe words from the Bible written in our native language.I look forward in knowing more about this.”

“I never knew that this website would create animpact on our Chamorro people, but it is. And, I am sohappy! It is about time that our native Chamorros beafforded a Bible in our native language. Keep up thegreat work. I know that some of the manamkos wouldfind this [Chamorro Bible] a word of God!”

There is no mistaking thatwww.ChamorroBible.org is revolutionizing theChamorro people. God truly does use the art of technol-ogy to reach His people in unexpected ways.

“I never knew thatthis website would

create an impact onour Chamorro

people, but it is... Itis about time that ournative Chamorros beafforded a Bible in

our native language.”

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shallow as it is, has its influence. Many are thus led tojest at the faith of their fathers, and to do despite to theSpirit of grace. Many a life that promised to be an honorto God and a blessing to the world, has been blighted bythe foul breath of infidelity. All who trust to the boastfuldecisions of human reason, and imagine that they canexplain divine mysteries and arrive at truth unaided bythe wisdom of God, are entangled in the snare of Satan.

We are living in the most solemn period of thisworld’s history. The destiny of earth’s teeming multi-tudes is about to be decided. Our own future wellbeing,and also the salvation of other souls, depends upon thecourse which we now pursue. We need to be guided bythe Spirit of truth. Every follower of Christ should ear-nestly inquire, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?”We need to humble ourselves before the Lord, with fast-ing and prayer, and to meditate much upon his Word,especially upon the scenes of the judgment. We shouldnow seek a deep and living experience in the things ofGod. We have not a moment to lose. Events of vitalimportance are taking place around us; we are on Satan’senchanted ground. Sleep not, sentinels of God; the foeis lurking near, ready at any moment, should you be-come lax and drowsy, to spring upon you and make youhis prey.

Many are deceived as to their true condition be-fore God. They congratulate themselves upon the wrongacts which they do not commit, and forget to enumeratethe good and noble deeds which God requires of them,but which they have neglected to perform. It is notenough that they are trees in the garden of God. Theyare to answer to his expectation by bearing fruit. He holdsthem accountable for their failure to accomplish all thegood which they could have done through his gracestrengthening them. In the books of heaven they are reg-istered as cumberers of the ground. Yet the case of eventhis class is not utterly hopeless. With those who haveslighted God’s mercy and abused his grace, the heart oflongsuffering love yet pleads. “Wherefore he saith,Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, andChrist shall give thee light. See then that ye walk cir-cumspectly, . . . redeeming the time, because the daysare evil.” [Ephesians 5:14-16]

When the testing time shall come, those who havemade God’s Word their rule of life will be revealed. In

summer there is no noticeable difference between ever-greens and other trees; but when the blasts of wintercome, the evergreens remain unchanged, while othertrees are stripped of their foliage. So the falseheartedprofessor may not now be distinguished from the realChristian, but the time is just upon us when the differ-ence will be apparent. Let opposition arise, let bigotryand intolerance again bear sway, let persecution bekindled, and the halfhearted and hypocritical will waverand yield the faith; but the true Christian will stand firmas a rock, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, than indays of prosperity.

Says the psalmist: “Thy testimonies are my medi-tation.” “Through thy precepts I get understanding: there-fore I hate every false way.” [Psalm 119: 99, 104]

“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom.” “Heshall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreadethout her roots by the river, and shall not see when heatcometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be care-ful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yield-ing fruit.” [Proverbs 3:13; Jeremiah 17:8]

~This article was published in the Advent Review andHerald, September 10, 1914.

* If you would like to read more about the history ofthe Bible through the years, a detailed history can befound in the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Dictionary,1979, Review and Herald Publishing Association.

ScripturesScripturesScripturesScripturesScriptures, continued from page 23.

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500 BC:500 BC:500 BC:500 BC:500 BC: Completion of All Original He-brew Manuscripts which make up the 39Books of the Old Testament.

200 BC:200 BC:200 BC:200 BC:200 BC: Completion of the SeptuagintGreek Manuscripts which contain the 39Old Testament Books AND 14 Apocry-pha Books.

1st Century AD:1st Century AD:1st Century AD:1st Century AD:1st Century AD: Completion of all Origi-nal Greek Manuscripts which make up the27 Books of the New Testament.

390 AD:390 AD:390 AD:390 AD:390 AD: Jerome’s Latin Vulgate Manu-scripts produced which contain all 80Books (39 Old Test. + 14 Apocrypha+ 27 New Test.).

500 AD:500 AD:500 AD:500 AD:500 AD: Scriptures have been translatedinto over 500 languages.

600 AD:600 AD:600 AD:600 AD:600 AD: Latin was the only languageallwed for Scripture.

995 AD:995 AD:995 AD:995 AD:995 AD: Anglo-Saxon (early roots of En-glish language) translations of the New Tes-tament produced.

1384 AD:1384 AD:1384 AD:1384 AD:1384 AD: Wycliffe is the first person toproduce a (hand-written) manuscript copyof the complete Bible; all 80 Books.

1455 AD:1455 AD:1455 AD:1455 AD:1455 AD: Gutenberg invents the print-ing press; books may now be mass-pro-

duced instead of individually hand-writ-ten. The first book ever printed isGutenberg’s Bible in Latin.

1516 AD:1516 AD:1516 AD:1516 AD:1516 AD: Erasmus produces a Greek/Latin parallel New Testament.

1522 AD:1522 AD:1522 AD:1522 AD:1522 AD: Martin Luther’s German NewTestament.1525 AD:1525 AD:1525 AD:1525 AD:1525 AD: William Tyndale’s New Testa-ment; the first New Testament to beprinted in the English language.

1535 AD:1535 AD:1535 AD:1535 AD:1535 AD: Myles Coverdale’s Bible; thefirst complete Bible to be printed in theEnglish language (80 Books: O.T. & N.T.& Apocrypha).

1537 AD:1537 AD:1537 AD:1537 AD:1537 AD: Matthews Bible; the secondcomplete Bible to be printed in English.Done by John “Thomas Matthew” Rogers(80 Books).

1539 AD:1539 AD:1539 AD:1539 AD:1539 AD: The “Great Bible” printed; thefirst English language Bible to be autho-rized for public use (80 Books.)

1560 AD:1560 AD:1560 AD:1560 AD:1560 AD: The Geneva Bible printed; thefirst English language Bible to add num-bered verses to each chapter (80 Books).

1568 AD:1568 AD:1568 AD:1568 AD:1568 AD: The Bishops Bible printed; theBible of which the King James was a revi-sion (80 Books).

The Transmission Of The

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ISLES 29

* Chart used with the permission of Greatsite.com.

1609 AD:1609 AD:1609 AD:1609 AD:1609 AD: The Douay Old Testament isadded to the Rheimes New Testament (of1582) making the first complete EnglishCatholic Bible; translated from the LatinVulage (80 Books).

1611 AD:1611 AD:1611 AD:1611 AD:1611 AD: The King James Bible printed;originally with all 80 Books. The Apoc-rypha was officially removed in 1885 leav-ing only 66 Books.

1782 AD:1782 AD:1782 AD:1782 AD:1782 AD: Robert Aitken’s Bible; the firstEnglish language Bible (a King James Ver-sion without Apocrypha) to be printed inAmerica.

1791 AD:1791 AD:1791 AD:1791 AD:1791 AD: Isaac Collins and Isaiah Tho-mas respectively produce the first FamilyBible and first Illustrated Bible printed inAmerica. Both were King James Versions,with all 80 Books.1808 AD:1808 AD:1808 AD:1808 AD:1808 AD: Jane Aitken’s Bible (Daughterof Robert Aitken); the first Bible to beprinted by a woman.

1833 AD:1833 AD:1833 AD:1833 AD:1833 AD: Noah Webster’s Bible; afterproducing his famous dictionary, Websterprinted his own revision of the King JamesBible.

1841 AD:1841 AD:1841 AD:1841 AD:1841 AD: English Hexapla New Testa-ment; an early textual comparison show-ing the Greek and 6 famous English trans-lations in parallel columns.

1846 AD:1846 AD:1846 AD:1846 AD:1846 AD: The Illuminated Bible; themost lavishly illustrated Bible printed inAmerica. A King James Version, with all80 Books.

1885 AD:1885 AD:1885 AD:1885 AD:1885 AD: The “Revised Version” Bible;the first major English revision of the KingJames Bible.

1901 AD:1901 AD:1901 AD:1901 AD:1901 AD: The “American Standard Ver-sion”; the first major American revisionof the King James Bible.

1908 AD: Francis M. Price trans-1908 AD: Francis M. Price trans-1908 AD: Francis M. Price trans-1908 AD: Francis M. Price trans-1908 AD: Francis M. Price trans-lates the four Gospels, Acts, andlates the four Gospels, Acts, andlates the four Gospels, Acts, andlates the four Gospels, Acts, andlates the four Gospels, Acts, andPsalms into the Chamorro language.Psalms into the Chamorro language.Psalms into the Chamorro language.Psalms into the Chamorro language.Psalms into the Chamorro language.

1971 AD:1971 AD:1971 AD:1971 AD:1971 AD: The “New American StandardBible” (NASB) is published as a “Mod-ern and Accurate Word for Word EnglishTranslation” of the Bible.

1973 AD:1973 AD:1973 AD:1973 AD:1973 AD: The “new International Ver-sion” (NIV) is published as a “Modernand Accurate Phrase for Phrase EnglishTranslation” of the Bible.

1982 AD:1982 AD:1982 AD:1982 AD:1982 AD: The “New King James Ver-sion” (NKJV) is published as a “ModernEnglish Version Maintaining the OriginalStyle of the King James.”

Bible To English

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tion later. Once the OCR process was finished, Mrs. Floreswas the first person to sit down with me and go through thethat multipage list. Because of that meeting, the ChamorroBible Project significantly moved forward.

David Babauta Herrera: When the ChamorroBible is printed it will be a red-letter edition: the wordsof Jesus will be in red. We can thank Mr. Herrera forthe many hours he sat at a table in GAA’s computer labhighlighting a Chamorro Bible, generated from theOCR’d text, the Bible words that should be red-lettered.Our proofreading sessions were also my Chamorro his-tory, culture, political, and language lessons, duringwhich his love of the Chamorro language and culturewas clearly communicated. I’m deeply appreciative forhis patience, persistence, and dedication.

Josephine Chargualaf Varley, Pennsylvania,USA: On April 16, 2003 ChST Mrs. Varley arrived atGAA to record a few chapters of the Chamorro Bible. Itis her voice you hear reading Salmo 8, Salmo 19, andSalmo 23 at www.ChamorroBible.org. These freely dis-tributable audio files represent an important milestone.Publishing the Bible in audio form is a most importantway of spreading Jesus’ Word and a way for people tolearn and brush-up on the Chamorro language.

David De Leon Flores, Sr.: I pressed Mr. Floreson Chamorro language issues and usefulness of theChamorro Bible, listening attentively to his responses.He met my concerns and questions with tact, patience,openess, and directness. In addition to inadvertentlybecoming my Chamorro culture teacher, he was alsoinvolved with the proofreading phase of the project.

Janet Taitano Flores: Searching for a ChamorroBible, Mrs. Flores called all Guam’s public libraries andperhaps some other places that I’m currently unawareof. Whenever I’ve requested a literal Chamorro-to-En-glish Bible verse translation so I could have a better graspof the quality of the translation, she always provided it.Mrs. Flores great-grandfather, José Mendiola Taitanoplayed an important role in the translation of the 1908Chamorro Bible.

American Bible Society, New York, USA: Dr.Liana Lupas and her staff sent information from theirarchives on the history of the Chamorro Bible. Dr. Lupasalso resolved a proofreading question that perplexed us.I wish I could say more about the ABS’ Licensing Depart-

ment staff, but for now, please accept a heartfelt thank you.It’s difficult to overstate the American Bible Society’s im-portance.

Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Re-search Center: The Micronesian Area Research Centeris near-and-dear to my heart. The assistance of andmaterials provided by the professional staff of this price-less research center is deeply appreciated and will notbe forgotten.

Congregational Library of the American Con-gregational Association, Massachusetts, USA: Dr.Harold F. Worthley and his staff provided informationabout Francis Marion Price, a Congregationalist mission-ary and translator of the 1908 Chamorro Bible. Dr.Worthley’s assistance and permission to publish the in-formation is appreciated.

Two Participants Requesting Anonymity:Thank you for your continuing and important role in theChamorro Bible Project.

I finish this article at Guam Adventist Academy,the hub for the restoration project. Jesus has really hon-ored this SDA school by giving it the privilege to coop-erate with Him in restoring a Chamorro Bible to allChamorros. I find it simply remarkable that everythingwas in place for this project to be where it is today: events,students, staff, technical tools, beautiful setting, the birdchoir which sang at sunrise and sunset, telecommunica-tion facilities, and the protection of His Word throughtwo major earthquakes and typhoons.

There are times when I see past the trials, disap-pointments, failures, and successes, and for brief mo-ments see and feel the grandeur, the nobleness, the sa-credness, the continuity, the majesty, and the power of Jesus’Word, the Bible: “What is man, that Thou art mindful ofhim? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” “ThyWord is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” “ThyWord is very pure: therefore Thy servant loveth it.” “O Lordour Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth!” Psalm8:4; Psalm 119:105, 140; Psalm 8:9.

“Jaye y taotao, para uguaja guiya güiya jinaso? yanlajin taotao para ubinesita güe.” “Y sinanganmo y candetpara y adengjo, yan manana gui chalanjo.” “Y sinanganmosengasgas: enao mina jaguaeya y tentagomo.” “O Jeova,Señotmame: jafa muna mauleg y naanmo gui todo y tano.”Salmo 8:4; Salmo 119:105, 140; Salmo 8:9.

ReflectionsReflectionsReflectionsReflectionsReflections, continued from page 5.

Project Update

ISLES 31

NAME:NAME:NAME:NAME:NAME:_______________________________ PHONE:PHONE:PHONE:PHONE:PHONE:________

MAILING ADDRESS:MAILING ADDRESS:MAILING ADDRESS:MAILING ADDRESS:MAILING ADDRESS:________________________________________

Please make all checks payable to the Guam-Micronesia MissionGuam-Micronesia MissionGuam-Micronesia MissionGuam-Micronesia MissionGuam-Micronesia Mission. May God bless you for your support!

If you are seriously considering volunteer service in the Guam-Micronesia Mission area, please send a resume andcover letter stating your qualifications for the position you are applying for. Possible posititions include teaching,contruction/maintenance, administration, accountant, radio ministry and ESL instructor.

Gifts Of Love

Chamorro Bible ProjectA sum of $40,000 is needed to reprint the Chamorro Bibles and placethem in the hands of the Chamorro people.* If you would like tocontribute to the reprinting of the Chamorro Bible, please detach thisform and mail it in, along with your donation, to:

Guam-Micronesia Mission of Seventh-day Adventists290 Chalan Palasyo

Agana Heights, Guam 96910

*A detailed description can be found in the President’s Message on page 2 of ISLES.

Please check the project(s) you wish to assist and write in the amount of your gift on the right.

$$

.

. Chamorro Bible Project:

ISLES Magazine Cost Defrayment:

Total: $ .

ISLESGuam-Micronesia Mission of Seventh-day Adventists

290 Chalan PalasyoAgana Heights, Guam 96910

Forwarding Address RequestedReturn Postage Guaranteed

NONPROFIT POSTAGEU.S. POSTAGE PAIDBARRIGADA, GUPERMIT NO.66

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