Panama News

Doug Schermerhorn, our partner with New Tribes Mission, informed us that one of the Embera church members on the alphabet committee had a meeting with a government official a few days ago. This person is wanting to help the church with the alphabet situation. She is aware of certain people in government who don’t want to listen to the Embera people and just do things their way. She wants to talk with the community chiefs about it and probably go to the Minister of Education. After all, she said when the alphabets go to the national assembly but there is even one group that shows up in disfavor, then the bilingual education program will be postponed. So it appears that this official is in favor of the alphabet that the church and the majority of the Emberas want and is willing to help it pass.

Several of the church alphabet committee members will be going out to a remote area this week for an Embera conference and Chaz and Doug have been asked to join them. Chaz returned Thursday night from getting Kirsten settled at college and leaves today (!) for the conference. He, Doug and the others plan to return Monday.

Kirsten is moving in today to her dorm room at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She has been counting the days and is very excited to be at this point in her life. Chaz is able to be with her today and part of tomorrow to help her settle in and take care of details, like finances, books, loading, carrying… She’s had a great summer and is now facing the challenge of college life. Her grandfather had these words to share in the bulletin at his church:

“Tomorrow my oldest son will carry out a task I performed 26 years ago. He will cram his firstborn’s belongings into a car and drive her to a college campus, and help her move into a dorm room she will share with someone she will meet for the first time. After her stuff is in the room, the bed made up, and the clothes closeted, he’ll linger over saying goodbye, maybe shed a tear or two, and then finally hug her close, bid her goodbye and drive away with a lump in his throat.

“He has journeyed far to carry out this parental duty, having come to Michigan from Panama to do so. The situation he faces differs from mine of long ago in some respects. For one thing his daughter has a lot more stuff to move in than mine did. No one had computers in 1979, or CD collections, iPods, and cell phones, and most people had far fewer “necessities” to haul around. I took my daughter to a small liberal arts college 300 miles from home; he’s taking his to a mega-university in Ann Arbor 3,000 miles from home in Panama. There was no shortage of things for a father of a daughter to worry himself about back then; now greater terrors have multiplied and compounded.

“Some things don’t change. Kathy and I struggled to pay for Anne’s education — her National Merit Scholarship was more honorary than monetary. Chaz and Helga face a comparable challenge for Kirsten. I shudder to think what the bill just for books will be. Or how much more tuition will be next year and the one after that.

“The hard part — then and now — is saying goodbye and then letting go. Last summer a robin family nested just outside our dining room window. We had front row seats on an amazing sight: the rearing of two broods of baby robins. We saw eggs split from inside, gawky, skinny chicks emerge, and in a matter of days young robins leap into space and wing away to their own uncertain life.

“I wasn’t, and I’m guessing Chaz isn’t as ready for the leap from the nest which robins take in stride, for losing close contact and control, for letting go. Yet it’s one of those “necessary losses” that Judith Viorst wrote about in her book of that name. Maturity for both child and parent requires that we loosen and even snip the strings.

“Leave-taking takes faith, trust in the Lord, trust in the hard work of parenting you’ve done, and trust in your child. My first wife’s father fussed about his three daughters and expressed his anxieties about them to his brother-in-law. Uncle Carl replied, with the Danish accent he never quite lost, “Artur, you got to trust in d’ Lort.”

“And so we do, or try to do. In the words of our New Testament reading today, we “continue steadfast in prayer” for all whom we love and have given leave to find their way in the world.”

Off they go!

Last Friday the Panamanian government launched their new bilingual education program, supporting education among the indigenous groups in the native language first and then later in Spanish. As part of this declaration, each group received an “official” alphabet. Unfortunately, the one put in for Embera was the universally rejected one, with less than a handful of supporters. After initial upset over this, Chaz and the others received word from friendly sources within the Ministry of Education that that is NOT “official”, only written in to give a nod to the Embera program, not to worry, that no alphabet will be “official” until the Embera Congress approves it. The Education Ministry officials want to see progress and are open to using what the people want and making changes to materials as needed. As of now, all indications are that the alphabet the church favors is also favored by the vast majority of Embera people. The Embera Congress will convene later this year and then present their decision.

Yesterday Chaz and Doug and the church alphabet committee had yet another meeting, which was encouraging. This was a meeting of representatives of several alphabets and several interest groups among the Embera people, from the church, education, Embera political and community leaders and missionaries. Lots of issues were discussed and the church group expressed themselves well. The unusable alphabet was roundly defeated and several initial decisions were made on some letters that were under discussion (letters i.e. characters used in the alphabet).

Chaz characterized the meeting as “winning 3-2, but still winning.” A Christian friend who works in government has told Chaz that “we have the ear of the President”, if that is needed. Please keep praying for this situation. It’s not over yet, but is closer to being resolved than it has been previously.

Chaz will be leaving on Thursday for his whirlwind trip to Michigan. He will be speaking at several churches and calling or visiting as many people as he can manage. The main reason for his trip is to help Kirsten move into her dorm at the University of Michigan on August 29. Please pray for him and this time, that he can be an encouragement and blessing to those he visits with, for safety and for a smooth move for Kirsten. Pray also for us three left behind, to carry on with life and go to school while Dad gets to go and see Kirsten! See our photo gallery for some new pictures recently posted.

Note a new link on the right to Kirsten’s photo gallery. She’s enjoying her new digital camera!

This is an update from Bearing Fruit, the production company for End of the Spear, the movie Laura was involved in last year.

END OF THE SPEAR IN THEATERS

January 1956, a culture on the brink of extinction saw the gospel lived in men who were willing to die.

January 2006, our culture will experience the same story.

See “End Of The Spear” on opening weekend Friday, January 20th in USA and
Canada theaters. A preview teaser can be viewed at www.endofthespear.com.

FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT
We are pleased to announce Fox Home Entertainment has partnered with us
and Every Tribe Entertainment to handle the home entertainment release of
the documentary, Beyond the Gates of Splendor. The documentary releases
in retail stores October 4th. FOX will also handle the home entertainment
release of END OF THE SPEAR, following the theatrical release.

[Beyond the Gates of Splendor is a documentary about the lives of the 5 missionary men killed in Ecuador in 1956 and the story of what happened to the Waorani people after that and in the intervening years. It was showed briefly in US theaters and will be available for DVD purchase soon. It is available for pre-ordering on Amazon.com.]

LIMITED EDITION DOCUMENTARY SCREENING KITS Over 3,000 requests have been
received for information on the Free Limited Edition Screening Kits for
Beyond the Gates. The kit includes an abridged version of the documentary
for churches, colleges, and other interested organizations. Do your part
to make sure your group is participating! Forward this email or the link
to the documentary website, www.beyondthegatesthemovie.com.

THE DIFFERENCE
These 2 film projects represent 7 years, hundreds of partners, and the
contribution of thousands of people. Our hope is to inspire people and
shape our culture with true stories that explore what it means to live out
the truth of scripture. Our prayer and belief is that great stories like
this will be broadly embraced, and that people everywhere will be lifted
to reconsider the foundational truths of forgiveness and reconciliation
found in the Bible.

Sincerely,
The Bearing Fruit Communications Team

www.bearingfruit.org

We think that finally we are settled in to our new place. After about 5 weeks, we now have our telephone installed and our DSL, which is new to us. We’re enjoying the convenience and speed of instant internet access instead of dial-up. We have found a place for everything in our new home and are especially enjoying the air-conditioning. With AC, by the end of the day we still have some energy left instead of feeling totally exhausted from fighting the heat and humidity. Chaz has his office set up also, in the apartment upstairs. We are sharing the cost with a young man from our church, who lives there. It didn’t work out for us to share the apartment with our Wycliffe colleagues, because they will not be returning to work in Panama. But for this next year we’ll share with Ryan, and the year after that we will see what happens and what our needs are. It is a blessing and a relief to be settled, both at home and work, and to get organized and back in track in our lives. Thank you all for standing behind us in your prayers and your extra gifts during these last couple months of house-hunting and moving and turmoil.

Here are some pictures of our new place:

We live downstairs, the office is upstairs. Behind the building and up a slight hill is the US consulate. If we ever need a new passport, we are very close.

We have bananas and coconuts growing behind the house.

This is our back patio, now has a table and chairs. With all the rain we’ve been having, we haven’t used it yet, as we don’t have any covering for it.

Danny and Laura have started back to school today, Danny in 10th grade and Laura in 3rd grade. She was a bit nervous, as this is her first day in an American school. They attended a back to school time yesterday to meet new students and teachers and look around the new part of the building. Laura already knows a lot of the kids in her class. We expect she will especially enjoy art class and library time. Danny is the student council president this year, and looks forward to new responsibilities in that role as well as new experiences in the newly-formed drama club.

We continue to miss Kirsten tremendously. She is enjoying a relaxing summer with her grandparents in Midland, Michigan. The hoped-for job has not materialized, as she got to town late and everyone had hired for the summer. This has been a good chance for her to rest, get reacquainted with family, make new friends and be of great help to her grandparents, as Chaz’s mom has had foot surgeries. Chaz will travel up to Michigan Aug. 18 to visit friends and some churches and to move Kirsten into school at UM August 28. Needless to say, she’s excited about that. If you wish to write her, you may reach her at kirsaram@umich.edu or at 4214 Chelsea Court, Midland MI 48640

Thank you for praying for the two Embera congresses, where the official alphabet was discussed. The church is encouraged by the current situation.

At the first congress, which was convened by the chief who is recognized by the government, the commission which had been promoting the unusable alphabet did not even show up. So their proposal was thrown out. As a result, different alphabets were discussed and those present agreed on a cross between a compromise alphabet from 1988 and the church’s alphabet. The difference between the two alphabets amounts to three letters: how to write the sixth vowel, how to write a sound that is close to J in English (J is not an option because it represents the H sound, just as in Spanish), and whether to use K or C and Qu as in Spanish. Pray for God to give wisdom to the church as to how to negotiate.

At the second congress, which was convened by the council of local leaders, the church was disappointed because of the lack of organization. Basically, all this congress did was nullify everything the chief’s congress had done.

On Sunday afternoon we will have a meeting with church representatives about how to move ahead. They would like a linguist’s input and so I will be there. Then Monday they have another meeting with some in government and the ministry of education. Thank you for your prayers!