Dr. Soper had never previously considered deaf people as a mission field, but God opened his eyes to the needs of this large and largely unreached people group. After visiting Colombia, he was asked by SIL International, a missionary agency working on Bible translation, to lead a project to translate the New Testament into Colombian Sign Language.  Later that organization asked him to start and support similar projects in Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Costa Rica, Argentina, and Brazil. 

After several years of working on video translations, Dr. Soper realized the Deaf needed a written Spanish Bible. So, he left SIL and started exploring how to produce an easy-to-read text that will take into consideration the particular needs of adults reading Spanish as a second language.

During this process he received support and advice from his wife, Dr. Luz Mary Plaza. She holds both a Master's and Doctorate in Education with an emphasis in language, and has more than 30 years of experience working with the Deaf. Furthermore, for 10 years she served as the Director of the National Institute for the Deaf (INSOR), an agency of the Colombian national department of education. Among several significant accomplishments during her tenure, you can count increased inclusion of Deaf people in educational and occupational settings, the recognition and promotion of the use of Colombian Sign Language in public education, and improved training for Sign Language interpreters.

The process for developing a text to accommodate the special needs of the Deaf was not easy.  Dr. Soper and his co-workers developed their methodology from scratch, through academic research as well as trial and error.  Writing a simple text is fairly easy, but simplifying an existing text without losing meaning is not.  After years of hard work he and his team have created a methodology for accurately communicating the full meaning of the Greek New Testament text in easy-to-read Spanish. 

Originally, our vision included only the Deaf in Colombia, but as time went by and the text reached other people, God enlarged our vision to include the millions of people who cannot understand existing Spanish Bible translations because they are written at a too difficult reading level. Our scope now includes people who have been poorly served by the educational system and consequently cannot read well such as indigenous peoples, the elderly, people living in extreme poverty, and many others who also need an easier-to-read Bible. Geographically, God has also lifted up our eyes beyond Colombia to see the harvest-ready fields in all 21 Spanish-speaking countries, plus the large group of immigrants in the US.

Another addition to our original vision relates to increasing literacy. We’ve come to understand that while it is possible to share the message of salvation without the Bible, discipling new converts who cannot read the Bible is very difficult. To make passionate, serious followers of Jesus, new converts need the Bible. From a humanitarian standpoint, the benefits of literacy are enormous. After a saving relationship with Jesus, nothing else can do more to lift people out of unemployment, poverty, abuse, teenage pregnancies, etc. than teaching them to read. 

To make passionate, serious followers of Jesus, new converts need the Bible. From a humanitarian standpoint, the benefits of literacy are enormous. After a saving relationship with Jesus, nothing else can do more to lift people out of unemployment, poverty, abuse, teenage pregnancies, etc. than teaching them to read.