Panama News

Danny has graduated from high school! We were so happy to have all the grandparents and also Kirsten to help us celebrate.

Read the rest of this entry »

During Holy Week, Chaz had the privilege of attending the annual conference of the Embera church. This year the meetings were held in Lajas Blancas, an Embera community in the Darien province in eastern Panama. There were about 300 people from eight churches attending. There were sessions each morning and evening, with plenty of singing, usually a brief Bible reading and then a featured speaker from one of the churches. Sessions during the second half of the morning were offered for mature believers, new believers, non-believers, children, and youth. The youth group from one of the churches presented a drama one evening.
Read the rest of this entry »

One of the translation problems we had was in Romans 8:22: “…the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth…”

When Doug and Abundio were drafting this verse some months back, they checked the old translation first, thinking that if it was clear and correct they would use it. However, Abundio could not understand the verse. He had no idea why the woman giving birth was groaning (actually in Embera it was “screaming”). To Doug it was obvious enough. “Well, when a woman gives birth it hurts, so they scream.”
Read the rest of this entry »

The boys finished 7th in their division of 15 cayucos, beaten only by the 5 veteran teams and one other team they were neck to neck with the whole time.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some blasts from the past to set the mood:

Kirsten and her crew preparing for the first part of the race

Read the rest of this entry »

If you are anything like me, you like the Gospel of John the best because it is the easiest to understand. However, in our time checking this Gospel with a team of Embera Christians, we stumbled upon a number of misconceptions which had them confused.

One man, who had participated in the check of Luke, recognized the words in John 1:15 as those of John the Baptist. I said, “Yes, you’re right.”
Then the man concluded that the “John” mentioned in verse 6 was also John the Baptist. Then he said, “So John the Baptist wrote this book? I always thought John the disciple wrote it!” Read the rest of this entry »

Danny is taking part this year in the annual Ocean-to-Ocean Cayuco race. A cayuco is a canoe, made in the fashion of the indigenous canoes. Some are wood, some are fiberglass and other materials. They are crewed by 4 people and the race has several categories, male/female/co-ed, sorted by age. Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, it happened on Saturday night. Here are the videos to prove it:

Go here

Go here

Go here

Further searching in YouTube will bring up more videos by other people, both of last year’s snow day and this year’s.  This is in the category of “you have to see it to believe it”.

Saturday, December 15, was Laura’s 10th birthday, which she celebrated in style. We have had great fun with Laura over these 10 years and we’re thankful for her belated but welcome arrival in our family! Read the rest of this entry »

November 3 was Panama’s 104th birthday and to celebrate, we all got a 4-day weekend. Nov. 3 is their Independence Day (from Colombia, in 1903) and Nov. 4 is Flag Day. In honor of that, Chaz and Helga climbed up Ancon Hill (”Cerro Ancon”), a mountain near the city and canal which houses the Canal Administration building. At the top of the hill, after a gentle climb of about 25 minutes, one is rewarded with a gorgeous view of the canal and surrounding area. Above it all flies the proud Panamanian flag. Read the rest of this entry »

Right here! In a small town in the department of Cordoba (bright pink), in the northwestern part of Colombia.  (Map is taken from www.colombiaenmexico.org).

He is spending time with three independent Colombia missionaries, also working among the Embera-Katio group. He is listening to and encouraging them in their work, and also evaluating their language ability for possible future help in the translation that Mareike is working on. Chaz said it’s a nice little town where he’s staying, overcast and hot, though not as muggy as Panama. There is a nickel mine there and the company has done a lot for the community. For a light evening meal at a local restaurant they were served ice cream fruit salads with cheese!

From Chaz:  Thank you all for praying for the consulting sessions with the Embera-Katio translation team. We checked over 250 places in the Gospel of Matthew for possible wrong meaning, potential lack of clarity, omissions and extraneous information. With God’s help we finished the check on Friday afternoon and we are all encouraged!

Pictured below are Chaz and Marion, the two translation consultants, and Mareike Schoettelndreyer, the Bible translator for the Embera-Katio project.  Also working with them are two indigenous translators, not pictured or named for security reasons.  Those of you who have been our partners for years will remember them and keep them in your prayers as well.

Even the most familiar Bible stories can present translation problems. The account of Zacchaeus meeting Jesus is one such story. We’ve heard it in Sunday School and we’ve sung “Zacchaeus was a wee little man.” Read the rest of this entry »

Reprinted by permission from the author Paul Frank

Linguistic and cultural diversity are often assumed to be the curse of Babel.  But we’re mistaken if we conclude that the resultant diversity of languages and peoples was contrary to God’s eternal purposes.  The scene that the Apostle John saw around the throne of God was what God intended from before creation.  Without the diversity of nations, tribes, peoples and languages, God’s purposes are hindered, not helped. Read the rest of this entry »

Thousands of Panamanians streamed toward Paraiso, a small town along the Canal, to celebrate a double ceremony: the beginning of the expansion and the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Torrijos-Carter treaty. Go here to see a video of the Panama Canal Railway going alongside all the cars. Read the rest of this entry »

Chaz will be accompanying an Embera church delegation in order to give a linguist’s perspective on the alphabet issue. Some possible activities may include Bible teaching, literacy instruction, reading practice, all with the end of strengthening ties with the community. They don’t know if any activities are actually scheduled or exactly what format to expect. Please pray for the Lord’s guidance, safety and good health. Chaz seems to be starting a sinus infection (courtesy of his loving wife). Please also pray that they can be a strong encouragement to a single Panamanian missionary who is working out there alone in church planting.

They will be traveling tomorrow (Monday) to the area that is circled on the map above.

Chaz recently returned from a brief trip to Michigan for a Mortensen family reunion. Someone unearthed this and passed it on to him. We are starting to feel old as we contemplate this c. 1988 photo.  Are there many of you reading this who remember receiving this card?

On August 2, Chaz, Doug, Cornelio, Abundio and Wendy (a New Tribes Mission literacy specialist) went up the Chagres River to Parara Puru (see red arrow in map above), an Embera community with a high interest in reading. They spent the day conducting a “transition literacy” workshop. “Transition” means helping the people transfer their knowledge of reading in Spanish to reading in Embera. Read the rest of this entry »

Danny returned home safely from Peru last week, glad for the adventures he had and the opportunities for ministry. Soon we will post his report and more pictures.

The youth group flew into Guayaquil, Ecuador, then took an 11-hour bus ride to Mancora, Peru. See the upper left quadrant of the map.

Here’s an excerpt from our latest email update from Peru:

“They had another good day of ministry yesterday. Christian and Gerardo did a great job speaking, although Gerardo was a little sick. He is feeling better now. Today there were 55 kids. They were excited about that.

“This afternoon they continued with the youth and more kids showed up there too. They are doing a mini-Crossfire type program [Crossfire is the name of the youth group at our local church]. Danny and Lina shared their testimonies. Then our youth taught them two Crossfire songs and the local kids taught ours two of their songs…. Tonight Mark will teach on 1 Corinthians 10:31-33.

“Prayer requests:
Thursday Alejandro & Andrea will teach on love - sportsmanship and teamwork.
Mark is almost back to normal. Thanks for your prayers.
That God would speak through our kids and to our kids as they interact with the people in town.”