Touching the Hearts of the Totonac People of Mexico

Touching the Hearts of the Totonac People of Mexico
The work that was begun in 1972 by Manuel Arenas, a brilliant Totonac Indian, is continuing today

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

NANACATLAN, MEXICO (ANS) -- The hearts of the Totonac Indians, based in the highlands of Mexico, are still being touched by Totonac Christian leader, Felipe Ramos, as he continues the work that began in 1972 as the Totonac Bible Center, Inc.

Manuel Arenas (Photo: Dan Wooding)

At that time, its primary goal was to support the work of Manuel Arenas, a brilliant Totonac Indian who was the principal translation helper for Herman P. Aschmann, who translated three versions of the Totonac New Testament.

Manuel helped Aschmann in his early translation efforts with the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL). (Mr. Aschmann died on February 18th, 2008 - his 94th birthday -- at the Life Care Center in Longmont, Colorado, due to complications from pneumonia.)

After having gained an excellent education in the United States and Germany, Manuel Arenas determined to establish a school among his own people. He recruited Felipe Ramos, another Totonac in seminary at the time, to help him begin the project. The Centro Cultural Pro-Totonaco in La Unión, Puebla, is a witness to his vision.

Herman P. Aschmann

Over the years, Manuel tried in various ways to expand his vision to all the tribal groups of Mexico. He organized three different consultations of Christian leaders from other tribes. The first was held at the Totonac Center, the others in the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, as he wanted to attract more of the pastors from those areas. He also opened his school to students from other tribes.

After Manuel's death in 1992, Dr. Dale W. Kietzman, a former head of the U.S. branch of Wycliffe Bible Translators and a founding board member of ASSIST Ministries, became president of the Totonac Bible Center board in the United States.

Increasingly, the support activity focused on other tribes, following Manuel's vision. As a consequence, in 1996, the Board voted to change the name of the corporation to Latin American Indian Ministries (LAIM). Its website is: www.laim.org.

Now the work amongst the Totonacs has continued under the leadership of Felipe Ramos who was, some time back, was asked to give a report to a gathering in Oaxaca, capital city of Oaxaca state, of CONIMEX, which represents mission leaders in Mexico.

Felipe Ramos preaching in a Totonac church

Ramos began by reciting the history of the church in the Totonac language area, where he said at that time there were now more than 150 congregations in the Highlands dialect alone. He stressed the key role a weekly radio program had played in that growth. He reported that, "in every Totonac village, they played the program at highest volume," both out of pride that such a language program was on the air, and also so everyone could hear. Now the almost weekly appearance of a new group gathering for Bible study has shifted the emphasis once again to training leaders for the new congregations.

Dr. Kietzman, who once took me to visit Manuel Arenas at his center in La Unión, told me at the time of his report, "Ramos, in his presentation to the conference of the Mexican Missions Association, particularly explained how the Gospel was expanding in his area. He noted how Hispanic churches are, in recent months, beginning to come to the aid of the tribal congregations. He also suggested that training schools should be opened in every tribal language area, teaching not only Bible subjects, but also trades that would make it possible for the pastors to more easily support their families."

Now, Peter J. Petry, LAIM's Totonac Ministry Coordinator and President of the Board, has given an encouraging update to ANS about the continuing ministry of Ramos to his Totonac people.

Felipe makes a point during his Totonac radio broadcast

"At the center of Felipe Ramos' success in ministry among the Totonac people of Mexico lies one undeniable truth: People have a great hunger for and natural attraction to the Gospel written in their native heart language," he began. "Wycliffe Bible Translators founder, Cameron Townsend, applied this principle to people groups all over the world, but one of his most successful projects is among the Totonac Indians of central Mexico.

"Listeners to the Totonac Radio Hour call frequently to request a free copy of the Highland New Testament, recorded Gospel messages, and the Jesus video, all produced in the Totonac language. Lives are changed when the Good News is heard or read by the people in the language they understand best.

With the true Word of God

"One noteworthy example comes from a group of Jehovah's Witness that congregates near Felipe's home town of Nanacatlan. A young man named Manuel, who is an elder and teacher of the congregation, called to request a Bible. Several weeks later he called Felipe again to ask questions and request a personal visit. 'Of the two Bibles I like the Totonac copy,' he explained, 'because I understand it. The Jehovah Bible is in Spanish. I have compared the two Bibles. Yours is different from the version that we teach in our church.' Continuing, Manuel said, 'In reading the Totonac New Testament, I understand that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and is the One Jehovah God of the Bible who is savior of your soul. My Jehovah Spanish Bible says that Christ is lower than Jehovah God, not one in the same.'"

Petry went on to say, "With various other teachings from that day forward Manuel accepted Christ as Savior and began teaching a Christian church in his small village. Manuel's wife also accepted Christ. Since then other elders of the Jehovah's Witness congregation have come to ask for copies of the Totonac New Testament for their people because they better understand the Words in their own language.

A Totonac baptism

"In this way the New Testaments available to distribute have become a great blessing to the Totonac people. Of similar impact on the tribe are the CDs, cassettes, and the radio program that are distributed through door-to-door evangelism and on the air waves, all produced in the Totonac language. Soon all of this material will be available for download on Pastor Felipe Ramos's website http://misiontotonaca.org.

"Please look for up-to-date monthly reports, pictures, and music on the website. There you will find information on all of Felipe Ramos' ministries supported by LAIM. Tax deductible donations can easily be made through the website.

"Every week brings reports of people finding faith in Jesus through the radio program and through personal contact, and every month small groups of believers contact Felipe or Silvestre and request help in forming a congregation. There is much work to do and we need your help." 

You will also find information on the www.laim.org website about other areas in Latin America where LAIM is making a difference and you can sign up to be added to the LAIM monthly newsletter at this website.

"Overall giving has declined this year due to the economic situation in America," Petry concluded. "At the same time, the financial needs of the ministries presented to us are very great. We ask for your support to continue to carry the Gospel message to many who have not heard. And I hope one day we will together have the experience of meeting many Totonac brothers and sisters whose lives were changed for eternity by your generosity."

Note: The Totonac Culture was a rival city state to the Aztecs, who had ruled most of what is now Veracruz in Mexico before the Aztecs conquered them about 25 years before the Spanish conquistador Cortés landed in AD 1516. The capital city of the Totonac culture was at Zempoala, and at the time of the Spanish arrival, they numbered about 100,000 people. In 1980 there were 185,836 Totonac speaking people, 117,533 in Veracruz and 63,303 in Puebla.

According to Wikipedia, the Totonac people speaks Totonac, which together with Tepehua form an isolated language family; that is, they are not known to be related to any other languages or language families. There are several local varieties of Totonac that are not mutually intelligible. The first grammatical and lexical descriptions of Totonac accessible to Europeans (unfortunately now lost) were by Fray Andrés de Olmos, who also wrote the first such descriptions of Nahuatl and Huastec (Teenek).

Note: To read more about the work of Herman P. Aschmann and Manuel Arenas, please go to: www.assistnews.net/Stories/2008/s08020214.htm 

    See all ASSIST News articles at www.assistnews.net