A Promise Without Borders

A Promise Without Borders

A promise can begin in the smallest of places.

For Peter, it began in Idaho, in a family and a world that seemed to have little room for anything beyond the next day. He was a boy when he made a promise to his mother. He could not have known how long he would carry it, how much it would ask of him, or how deeply it would shape the man he became.

When I began writing Peter’s story, I imagined sharing it in English. I never expected that the world surrounding those books would grow to include music, films in the form of trailers, and a place online where guests could spend time with the characters and their stories. And I certainly didn’t imagine the day I would be preparing to welcome guests into that world in another language.

That day is almost here.

At midnight Mountain Time tonight, as October 20 begins, The Promise Trilogy website is scheduled to take its first step into Spanish. It is more than a translated page or a new menu option. It is an invitation to explore the same world in the language that feels most natural to you.

When someone visits using a browser set to Spanish, the website will ask whether they would like to experience it in Spanish. The question is asked once. On later visits, the site will remember their choice, presenting the experience in Spanish or keeping it in English, just as they prefer.

The invitation extends throughout the website. The first chapters, trailers, blogs, and the other places where guests can explore Peter’s journey will be available in Spanish. The music will remain in its original language. Some things are carried by words; others are carried by a melody, a voice, or the feeling a song leaves behind.

I’ve always wanted this website to feel less like a place where someone is trying to sell you something and more like a home with its doors open. You can read a chapter and leave it there. You can listen to a song, watch a trailer, linger over a reflection, or come back another day. You can follow Peter’s journey from beginning to end, or simply spend time in whichever part of his world speaks to you.

There is no correct way to visit. That is entirely yours to decide.

This week brings another milestone. On Friday, October 23, the Spanish-language trailer for The Promise Trilogy is scheduled to be released. It offers another glimpse into Peter’s life, this time with Spanish-speaking guests in mind.

Then, on Tuesday, October 27, Promesa: Luchando—the Spanish edition of Promise: Struggling—is scheduled for release. It begins the arrival of the trilogy’s Spanish editions over the coming weeks. Peter’s journey will unfold for a new audience, but it will remain the same journey: the childhood promise, the years of discovering who he is, and the life he eventually builds with the people he loves.

Translation is not simply a matter of replacing one word with another. A story lives in the spaces between words—in a hesitation, an unexpected kindness, a silence that says more than dialogue. My hope is that Spanish-speaking readers will find those moments as naturally as English-speaking readers can, and that Peter will feel like the same person in either language.

Perhaps that is what moves me most about this next chapter. The details of our lives may differ. We grow up in different places, speak different languages, and carry different histories. Yet the desire to be loved, to belong, to keep our promises, and to become ourselves does not stop at a border.

As these doors open, I hope every guest feels free to choose their own path. There is room here for the person who wants to read every page and the person who only wants to listen for a little while. There is room for the curious, the familiar, and the visitor arriving for the first time.

Peter’s promise was made in one language. Its meaning was never limited to one.

Wherever you’re visiting from, and whichever language you choose, welcome.