Nard Pugyao
Nard Pugyao grew up in an isolated village in the northern Philippines. The year he was born, God moved in the heart of Dick Roe from Vermont to become involved in Bible translation. Financed and sent by Christians in the USA, Dickspent 25 years working on the translation of the Bible into Isnag, the language Nard spoke.
In this story, Nard talks about going to school as a child. He had to walk an hour over the mountain to get to school, and was taught in a language that was foreign to him. He hated first grade so much that he skipped school for three months! But by the next year, Dick has prepared literacy material in the Isnag language. When Nard encountered books in his own language, he fell in love with learning.
Nard goes on to talk about his life, how he helped Dick learn Isnag better, and how he eventually became a missionary pilot himself. Never did that barefoot jungle boy dream of flying!
In October of this year, Nard spoke to the staff at Wycliffe’s headquarters in Orlando, FL. Below is his talk. While his focus was to encourage the office staff to persevere and not give up, the message is just as relevant to each of us who are an active part of Bible translation. It is well worth 35 minutes of your evening.