¡Hola!
Greetings from Marietta, Georgia, USA. In January 2019, we began listening as a couple to the BEMA Podcast. This thought provoking material challenged our scriptural understanding and ignited spiritual conversation between us as a married couple. Like every new dimension of our journey with God, we longed to share it. We found others in our fellowship of churches who were listening, but our non-English-speaking Hispanic brothers and sisters could not. We learned, to our dismay, that there were no other groups working with the podcasts in Spanish. We felt we had no choice but to begin trying to figure out a way to present the material in Spanish.
One consideration was to translate the podcasts as recorded, which one brother did with of a number of the episodes. The end product, however, turned out to be a bit confusing due to the dialogue between Brent and Marty. We’ve settled on making a transcription of the material, which, although not word-for-word, presents the information as closely as possible. At times, we find ourselves having to do a little research in order to preserve the accuracy of the Hebrew word or phrase in its written form. Also, we aim to be sensitive to the fact that our audience is made up of people from different countries for whom a particular word may carry a different meaning. Certain humorous comments, for example, are modified or omitted (sorry, Marty!) so they aren’t “lost in translation.” Then, the show notes are recreated and translated since there is no easy way for the BEMA team to provide us with the original presentations. Please pray for us when we get to the Creating a Space diagram or the Hebrews infographic!
Because of how much is involved in putting together a podcast, progress is very slow. At first we were having discussion groups every other week. Lately we’ve fallen behind due to personal situations, but we are looking forward to getting back on track as the reception has been met with great enthusiasm, not to mention great food! During one of our sessions, an older woman who has studied the Bible for many years spotted a chiasm and exclaimed with widened eyes, “It’s right there!” In time we hope BEMA en Español can become a shared collaboration with others who are equally eager to get the message out to our Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters.
Con amor en Cristo,
Alberto & Ana María Schirmer
