Meet the Missionaries
Rick and Melanie Floyd are members of Grace Evangelical Free Church in La Mirada, CA. Rick was born and raised in Dallas, TX. He professed faith in Chris in high school after attending a Billy Graham Crusade. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from North Texas State University, a Master of Arts in Linguistics from the University of Texas, and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from U.C. San Diego. Melanie was born in Killeen, TX, but raised in Redondo Beach, CA. As a young girl Melanie prayed to receive Christ, and saw her faith grow through her high school and college years. During college she attended and served at Del Rey Church, teaching Jr. High Sunday school from 1976-78. Melanie earned her BA and teaching credentials from Cal State Long Beach, but also attended Biola University for a time. Rick and Melanie met in the summer of 1978 in Norman, Oklahoma, where Rick was teaching linguistics to prospective *Wycliffe missionaries. Melanie was also there studying linguistics to become a Wycliffe missionary. They were married in December 1979 and have three adult children (and 3 grandchildren): Erik age 35, Ryan age 33, and Lucas age 30.
*The vision of Wycliffe is to see God’s Word made accessible to all people in the langue of their hearts, because they believe the Word of God transforms lives when it’s translated into a langue that speaks to people’s hearts. Their mission is to see a Bible translation program in progress in every language still needing one by 2025. Today there are approximately 1,600 languages still waiting for a translation project to begin, but many are in areas that are hard to reach.
The Journey
During college Rick became interested in linguistics. He took a summer course on linguistics at the University of Oklahoma that was run by SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics), which is a sister organization of Wycliffe. It was there that his relationship with Wycliffe somewhat accidentally began. As Rick put it, “When I got there, people were asking me “Are you joining Wycliffe?” “No.” Later “Are you joining Wycliffe?” “I don’t know.” Later “Are you joining Wycliffe?” “What you have to do to join Wycliffe?” “Go over and talk to that man and he will tell you what to do.” Little did Rick know that conversation would lead to Rick becoming an official Wycliffe Bible Translator by the end of that summer. A number of years later Rick and Melanie were off to Peru to work with the Wanca Quechua people group.
The Wanca Quechua people group in Peru, whose population surpasses 250,000, were among many groups without the Bible in their language. The Quechua people, descendants of the Inca Empire, are mostly potato farmers and shepherds. By the time Rick and Melanie Floyd reached Peru in 1981, many Wanca Quechua had already believed in Jesus. Churches could be found too. One thing was lacking though, a readable translation of the Bible in Wanca Quechua. Spanish translations were available, but it was and remains a second language for them.
Why is it so important though to have a Bible that is translated in someone’s native language? Imagine if the only Bible we had was in the Scots language, which is the closest relative to English. As an English speaker, after some practice and interaction with native speakers of Scots, you could begin to glean the proper meaning of the NT in Scots. But imagine if that was your only Bible. It is close enough to understand pieces, but not close enough for widespread understanding and use by English speakers. The Floyds wanted to provide the Wanca Quechua people with a Bible in their own language.
A year later in 1982 the Wanca Quechua translation began. Much of their time completing this task was spent in San Pedro de Pihuas, a village of about a thousand Wanca speaking people high in the Andes Mountains of central Peru. Rick and Melanie’s home was a typical Wanca residence with no running water and mud floors. It was in this context that they also raised three sons. Along with the Floyds, a team of native speakers began the work to complete the New Testament. Before any actual translation could really begin, Rick had to create a Wanca alphabet and lexicon of words. The process is not easy. After mastering the language and creating an alphabet, the next step was to implement a literacy program. This ultimately educated people in how to read their own language and helped determine the nuanced grammatics of Wanca Quechua.
After two decades, the New Testament was completed in 2006! The Floyds remained in Peru for another year to allow their youngest son to finish high school. In 2007 they returned to the United States. After so many years away, however, they experienced a reverse culture shock. This is common among many veteran missionaries and is similar to overcoming the initial immersion in a new culture, as when they first began. Emotional apprehensions can be strong. And as Rick described, it often includes loneliness, being homesick (for Peru) and feeling out of place. But they have learned it’s okay to not be strong, to not have it all together, as one might suppose missionaries are supposed to be.
With the move back to the United States, the Floyds have taken on new roles and responsibilities, but with the same focus. For Rick, he has taken on a teaching role at Biola University and serves as the chair of the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) program there, which is aimed at recruiting and training new linguists for Wycliffe. He also continues to be involved with the translation of the Old Testament in Wanca Quechua as a consultant. Melanie meanwhile became the Resource Coordinator for helping Wycliffe missionaries when they return to the United States for home assignments and furloughs. Their current responsibilities undoubtedly continue to assist the gospel and more specifically the Scriptures, to reach those who are lacking it, albeit in a different way!