Senator Tina Rose Muña Barnes	Senator Frank Blas Aguon, Jr.	Senator Joanne M. Salas Brown

Senator F. Randall Cunliffe, Esq.	Senator Carmen Fernandez, Ph.D.	Senator Mark Forbes	Senator Lawrence F. Kasperbauer, Ph.D.
Senator Robert Klitzkie	Senator Lou A. Leon Guerrero	Senator Jesse Anderson Lujan	Senator vicente c. pangelinan
Senator John M. Quinata	Senator Rory J. Respicio	Senator Antoinette Sanford	Senator Ray Tenorio

The second (2^nd) of three Chamorro Bible Resolutions sponsored by Senator Tina Rose Muña Barnes and adopted on October 31^st, 2003 ChST by I Mina'Bente Siete Na Liheslaturan Guåhan in full legislative session (LS). The resolution was offically presented by Senator Tina Rose Muña Barnes, I Mina'Bente Siete Na Liheslaturan Guåhan Legislative Secretary and Chairwoman of the Committee on Community, Culture, Recreation and Public Broadcasting on Wednesday, January 28^th, 2004, at approximately 12:00 Noon ChST in the Public Hearing Room of I Mina'Bente Siete Na Liheslaturan Guåhan, Hagåtña, Guam. The resolution's text is available in HTML (using the legislative Certificate format), Certificate (Microsoft Word) or Working (Microsoft Word) format.

Note: The Commentary for Resolution No. 88(LS), which follows the resolution text below, contains important clarifications.

Resolution No. 88(LS)
As amended.

Relative to acknowledging, recognizing, and thanking Susan Margaret Gay Kirk for her donation to the University of Guam’s Richard Flores Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center of a copy of the 1908 diglot edition of the “Gospels”, “Psalms” and “Acts of the Apostles” of the Holy Bible, commonly known as the “Chamorro Bible”, and to acknowledging, recognizing, and thanking the Taitano family for their contribution and assistance in the translation of portions of the Holy Bible into the Chamorro language.

      WHEREAS, the late Methodist Missionary Francis Marion Price of Richland, Indiana, was the first Protestant missionary in Guam, arriving on November 27, 1900, and in letters to friends wrote that “a knowledge of Chamorro is absolutely necessary if we are to reach and instruct the people”, and he felt “that the one great crying need of Guam is for the Holy Scriptures”; and

      WHEREAS, determined to learn Chamorro, the late Reverend Price enlisted the aid of a language teacher who was most likely the late Jose Mendiola Taitano, and translated into Chamorro the complete Old Testament “Book of Psalms” and the complete New Testament biblical books “Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Acts of the Apostles”; and

      WHEREAS, the title of the volume containing portions of the Bible is Y Cuatro Ebangelio Sija Yan Y Checho Y Apostoles Sija Gui Testamento Nuebo Y Sennotta Yan Y Satbadotta Si Jesucristo Yan Y Salmo Sija. Un Trinanduse Y Fino Griego Yan Hebreo Gui Fino Y Tano Guam Pat Y Chamorro, and is also known as the 1908 “Chamorro Bible”; and

      WHEREAS, in 1908, the American Bible Society published the translation in a single volume in diglot or bilingual format with Chamorro on the left page and the English King James Version on the right page in a quantity of about one thousand (1,000) copies, the late Reverend Price regarding the translation into the Chamorro language, “as the best work I have ever done, most valuable to the kingdom of God on earth”; and

      WHEREAS, properly known as “The Four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles of the New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the Psalms / Y Cuatro Ebangelio Sija yan Y Checho y Apostoles Sija gui Testamento Nuebo y Senotta yan y Satbadotta si Jesucristo yan Y Salmo Sija”, James King Gay and Melody Hendriks Gay inherited the Chamorro-English Bible from his mother Ana San Nicolas Taitano Gay, who read it until the day she died in an effort to preserve the Chamorro language; and

      WHEREAS,, John P. Sablan, an employee at the Richard Flores Taitano Micronesia Area Research Center, sent a copy of a magazine containing an article entitled, “The Resurrection of the (1908) Chamorro Bible”, to several of his relatives, one of whom was his cousin, Susan Margaret Gay Kirk, the granddaughter of the late Elmer Lee Gay and the late Ana San Nicolas Taitano Gay; and

      WHEREAS, the article motivated Susan Kirk, who resides in Grenada, to donate a surviving copy of the Chamorro Bible on May 21, 2003, to the Guam and Micronesia Collection at the Richard Flores Taitano Micronesia Area Research Center (MARC), University of Guam, knowing it would be the best place to preserve the “family” Bible because it would accompany other materials in the Chamorro Bible collection; and

      WHEREAS, the late Ana San Nicolas Taitano Gay’s role in the history of the translation and publication of the Chamorro-English Bible and her son’s love and appreciation for the Chamorro language, his mother’s native tongue, are also reasons Susan Kirk was moved to make the donation; and

      WHEREAS, the late Elmer Lee Gay and the late Ana San Nicolas Taitano Gay are buried in Hagåtña, Guam, at the Custino Cemetery, once the only place Protestants were buried in Guam, alongside members from the Taitano, Gay, Gutierrez, San Agustin, and Flores families, among others; and

      WHEREAS, the late Elmer Lee Gay and the late Ana San Nicolas Taitano Gay were the former owners of the property where the Seventh Day Adventist Church is now located in Agana Heights; and

      WHEREAS, the Guam Micronesia Mission, headed by President Willy Nobuo, will be printing the Chamorro Bible at the cost of Forty Thousand Dollars ($40,000), the copies to be used for planned Evangelistic meetings for Guam, Saipan, Tinian, and Rota in the future; and will be made available to book stores on the islands, including the Guam Adventist Book Center; and copies will be given to public libraries and school libraries; now, therefore, be it

      RESOLVED, that I Mina'Bente Siete Na Liheslaturan Guåhan does hereby, on behalf of the people of Guam, acknowledge, recognize, and thank Susan Margaret Gay Kirk for her donation to the University of Guam’s Richard Flores Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center of a copy of the 1908 diglot edition of the “Gospels”, “Psalms” and “Acts of the Apostles” of the Holy Bible, commonly known as the “Chamorro Bible”, translated by the late Methodist Missionary Francis Marion Price and most likely the late Jose Mendiola Taitano; and be it further

      RESOLVED, that I Mina'Bente Siete Na Liheslaturan Guåhan does further acknowledge, recognize, and thank the Taitano family for their contribution and assistance in the translation of portions of the Holy Bible into the Chamorro language; and be it further

      RESOLVED, that the Speaker certify, and the Legislative Secretary attest to, the adoption hereof and that copies of the same be thereafter transmitted to Susan Margaret Gay Kirk, granddaughter of the late Elmer Lee Gay and the late Ana San Nicolas Taitano Gay; to Janet Taitano Flores, great-granddaughter of the late Jose Mendiola Taitano; to Carlos Pangelinan Taitano, grandson of the late Jose Mendiola Taitano; to the Richard Flores Taitano Micronesia Area Research Center; to the Guam Adventist Academy; and to the Honorable Felix P. Camacho, I Maga'lahen Guåhan.

DULY AND REGULARLY ADOPTED BY I MINA'BENTE SIETE NA LIHESLATURAN GUÅHAN ON THE 31^ST DAY OF OCTOBER, 2003.

1^st WHEREAS: Francis Marion Price, Missionary of the American Board for Commissioners for Foreign Missions, arrived in Guam on November 27th, 1900. Francis Marion Price was (also) a member of the Congregational denomination. On Francis Marion Price's Oberlin College alumnus form dated April 4th, 1905, item number 8 requests, "Date of Church Membership?" and "Denomination?". Francis Marion Price responds, "1865" and "Methodist", respectively. Moving forward to his April 21st, 1915 alumnus form, item number 12 asks two questions: "Are you a member of a church?" and "Denomination?". His responses are "Yes" and "Congregational", respectively. Vinton Books of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Volume 1: Francis Marion Price and The Year Book of the Congregational and Christian Churches, Statistics for 1937: Price, Francis Marion document his July 1st, 1883 ordination by the Congregational Council in Oberlin, Ohio. See the Congregational Library of the American Congregational Association and Oberlin College Archives documents in the Francis Marion Price (1850-1937) section at ChamorroBible.org (http://ChamorroBible.org/francis-marion-price.htm).

10^th WHEREAS: Understandably, the USD $40,000 is subject to revision, and indeed it has been recently revised. See the January 22, 2004 ChST announcement (http://ChamorroBible.org/announcements.htm) at ChamorroBible.org .