Ed and Catherine McGuckin served the Gapapaiwa people of Papua New Guinea from 1986 to 2021. It took years to learn the unwritten Gapapaiwa language and to develop an alphabet and a literacy curriculum to teach them to read and write their own language. The McGuckins trained a team of Gapapaiwa-speaking translators and worked side-by-side with them to translate the Scriptures. During the process of translation, the power of the Word transformed many lives. The Gapapaiwa New Testament was completed in 2009 and all copies were quickly sold out. The translation is also available online in the You Version app and as an audio Bible (https://apk.fcbh.org, Gapapaiwa WBT Bible).
Over the years, Catherine also assisted other translators as a linguistic consultant. Until their retirement in 2021, the McGuckins continued to facilitate translation, Scripture-use, linguistic and and literacy activities in Gapapaiwa and in the related Ghayavi language group. The Gapapaiwa Mother Tongue Translators are now working independently on Old Testament portions. The book of Genesis was printed and distributed in 2020.
Please join us in praying for the Gapapaiwa and Ghayavi Translation teams that now work on their translations without the McGuckins. Ed & Catherine continue to encourage them from afar. Any contributions to the McGuckins in their retirement should be labeled “Preference for the Wycliffe retirement pension of Ed & Catherine McGuckin.”