Jungle Jewels & Jaguars

The Real Deal About Bible Translation and the Amuesha Indians of Peru

5 out of 5 Stars!
Review by Ronald P. Manus "Ramon"

I was blown away by this book for two reasons. First I have known the author for over 40 years and can't get over being in awe of what she and her colleagues have accomplished--but most of all by the way she takes us unto the very lives and thinking of individual Amueshas. The reader begins to get to know individual Amueshas and is drawn into feeling at home with their thinking and way of life.

The book starts out as the very well written personal adventures of Martha Duff and Mary Ruth Wise --missionaries who left home and North American culture, in 1953, to take on the way of life and culture of what was then an isolated people in the foothill jungles of central Peru. The author, Martha Duff Tripp, not only lived the life of the Amueshas but she and Mary Ruth teamed up with Amuesha helpers to translate the New Testament into the Amuesha language. Along the way, living in community with Amuesha leaders, they encouraged a tribal educational system that came to deploy a vast web of Amuesha led schools and school administrators, as well as teams of Amuesha health, community development and church leaders and workers for 15,000 Amueshas living in hundreds of scattered villages.

This was all done in a context of the coming together of a respect for an Amuesha world view--as impacted by the power and truth of God's Word as found in the Bible. Their aim was to help the Amuesha people to know and serve the powerful, all loving, God of the Bible--but also to help them be able to compete and sometimes win in the often hostel context of Peruvian national life.

This book helps us to understand how leaders of the Amuesha churches have not been push-overs for either spiritual enemies within their own Amuesha society or outside influences. We find an intimate introduction to brothers and sisters who have have gotten a good idea of where they stand as Amueshas, Christians and Peruvian citizens.

Five stars for the book, the author and the Amueshas who's walk with God may open our eyes to some things we may have missed.

Published by Harvest Day Books
Available at ReadingUp.com

Engaging Narrative: 4 of 5 Stars

Review by David Midkiff

Jungle Jewels & Jaguars is an engaging narrative of the work of two bible translators in a native tribe in Peru. I was struck by the easiness of the read as well as the intricate details of each story. While Martha did tend to romanticize the translator's role, she was honest about the hardships she and the tribe endured. My only complaint would be that the narrative spends time focusing on certain star characters and then drops off suddenly without mentioning them again. Other then that, I think the book was well worth the read and would highly recommend it to those who are interested in the possibility of Bible translation.

Published by Harvest Day Books
Available at ReadingUp.com

Opening Eyes to Bible Translation

Dear Martha,

I had to share this with you.... Today while talking in my bedroom, our houseguest saw your book on my shelf and asked to read it.

 

Sharon Meier has been coming to Oaxaca, (Mexico) for about 2 years. She has a successful consulting business, training teachers in several school districts across the country. She is a reading and writing specialist. She comes for 2-3 weeks at a time and does writer workshops and trains the teachers effective ways to teach reading and writing. She has done tremendous work at our little school. I wish my children would have been under her training. Anyway, she is only half way through your book (Jungle Jewels & Jaguars by Martha Duff Tripp) and I hear her laughing, and crying.

 

She calls me into the room to reread a portion that really impacted her. I smile. She just closed the book and said; "I LOVE this book!"  "I think everyone should read it!" "I had no idea this is how it works".

 

The whole world of Bible translation is really becoming more clear to her. Prior to coming to Mexico, she knew little to nothing about Bible translation and only the name Wycliffe. So it's been so fun to share our experiences and the importance of having a good school for SIL families.

 

I am so glad that you wrote your book and that part of life history wasn't lost and that it is opening minds like Sharon's to the importance of bringing God's word into heart languages. 

 

Thank you,
Donna Shaver

 

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Jungle Jewels & Jaguars:
Living With the Amueshas Translating God's Word

 

$15.95 published by Harvest Day Books

 

 

Thank you note for Jungle Jewels & Jaguars

Dear Bob and Martha,

I was reminded today that I hadn't given my response yet to your 
book, Martha. I thoroughly enjoyed it! In the first place, it 
brought back memories about when we would be in the villages,
flying, trekking, and going on the river.  

Then, what blessed me most of all was how God changed the  lives of 
the Amueshas! I had to stop a number of times to thank and worship 
the Lord for the miracles that He performed in various ones. Then to 
see how the Spirit gave them understanding of the Scriptures  And 
then to see how they developed in other areas as well. The greatest 
miracle there is, is the miracle of a changed heart.

I  know that it must have taken months and years to first write, then 
compile all the incidents, etc. in the book. Thank you for writing 
it!  I want to be loaning it out to others.

God bless you folks, and give you health and strength as you 
continue to serve Him.

With love,

Jan Walter

Book Notes by David Mays

	TriJung 08-07-97  Jungle Jewels & Jaguars Living with the Amueshas Translating God's Word   Martha Duff Tripp Harvest Day Books, 2008, 347 pp., ISBN 978-0-9790834-5-7
The author provides an autobiography of her life and ministry in Peru from the 1950s to the 1990s. She describes the unique experiences of translating the Bible and living with a remote group of indigenous people in the Amazon Jungle along the foothills of the Andes. The book gives an excellent description of the joys and heartaches of ministry and the power of the Scripture in the lives of people newly learning to read. Her experiences may be typical of many Bible translators in remote areas. Imagine two single women in their 30's living alone in the jungle, boating and hiking to more remote areas, learning to talk in a language they have never heard, learning to put that language in writing, teaching people to read, teaching readers to teach others, and developing schools.    Imagine learning to read the very first things written in your own language.  Imagine learning to write and writing things that had never before been written in your language. Imagine life change when you first discover the true "Our Father!"  Amazing experiences.  Wonderful life changes.  True heroism.

What People are saying about JUNGLE JEWELS & JAGUARS

What readers are saying about Jungle Jewels and Jaguars

 

I am so ‘caught up’ in reading Jungle Jewels & Jaguars that I can hardly stop reading!  --Velva H.

 

WHAT A BLESSING!!!! …this awesome story of God's faithfulness  --Carleda

"Terrific!" and “Every Christian, not just missionaries, should read this book.”  --George M. Cowan, Wycliffe Bible Translators President Emeritus

 

I have read the book and loved every minute of it! --Judy Boyd

 

It is so beautifully written and so inspirational.  --Alena D.

 

What a blessing it is and it’s hard to put it down!  --June H.

 

I enjoyed it immensely!  --Sandy S.

 

It is a wonderful book and is impacting people here for the Kingdom.  --Anon.

 

Martha, your book is tremendous!  --Vangie W.

The book is fantastic. I love it.  --Bernie May, author, & former President of Wycliffe Bible Translators

My heart burned within me as I read your detailed account of your work among the Amueshas. You have opened my eyes to the joy that I'm sure all Wycliffe translators can attest to, of bringing God's word to those who have never even heard - in the language that is closest to their heart. I encourage and thank you, and your husband Bob as well, for giving me, and so many others, a practical example of a genuine people movement - affirming the principles I have learned through the Perspectives course. I patiently hope that within a few years I will be able to participate in God's wonderful plan of reaching all the peoples of the world.  --David M.

What Others Have Said About Jungle Jewels & Jaguars

"Martha's unpretentious heroism, so humbly storied, beckons to a new generation."
Don Richardson, author of Peace Child, Lords of the Earth, Eternity in their Hearts, and Secrets of the Koran.

"Now the thousands of people who annually read the book or take the course Perspectives on the World Christian Movement can get a vivid, real-life picture of what those pages are talking about--as they read Jungle Jewels & Jaguars by Martha Tripp."
Dr. Ralph D. Winter, General Director, Frontier Mission Fellowship

"Every Christian, not just missionaries, should read this book."
George M. Cowan, President Emeritus, Wycliffe Bible Translators

"The book is fantastic. I love it. I think God is going to use it in a significant way."
Bernie May, Wycliffe-JAARS pilot in Peru, author, former Director of JAARS, President of Wycliffe USA, founder and President of The Seed Company

Go to ReadingUp.com to read about the author of Jungle Jewels & Jaguars, Martha Duff Tripp.

Jungle Jewels & Jaguars by Martha Duff Tripp

Jungle Jewels & Jaguars chronicles the unique experiences of living with a remote group of indigenous people called Amueshas, in the headwaters of the Amazon River--learning the language, reducing it to writing, establishing bilingual schools, and translating God's Word into the language--and the joy of seeing the Word change their lives resulting in the development of 45 churches established by the Amueshas themselves. (from the back cover of the book by Martha Duff Tripp)

	Jungle Jewels & Jaguars by Martha Duff Tripp Available at ReadingUp.com