Panama News

From a letter from Bob Creson, the current president of Wycliffe Bible Translators USA:

“Our friend and partner in ministry, Mart Green, attended a New Testament dedication in Guatemala in 1998 where his life was changed. Mart is an American businessman, the founder and CEO of Mardel Christian and Education Supply stores, and a friend of Wycliffe. One of his favorite activities is funding the publication of translated New Testaments, which is why he attended the celebration in Guatemala. The dedication service made a deep impression on him, especially when he saw a man weeping as he received his copy of the New Testament.

“That night, in a cold hotel room, Mart found himself unable to sleep. He began to read Kay Arthur’s book, “As Silver Refined,” and came upon these words: “Being in God’s Word and knowing it for yourself is the key.” His mind flashed back to the dedication ceremony and the image of the man weeping as he clutched the Word of God. “Here I am,” he said to himself, “a third generation Christian on one side and a fourth generation Christian on the other. I sell Bibles as my business. I’ve sold thousands of Bibles, but I’ve never before seen anyone weep when I sold them a Bible! I have 40-50 Bibles in my home…but I don’t read the Bible regularly!”

“God brought conviction to his heart, and during the wee hours of February 8, 1998, he promised God that every morning thereafter he would rise and begin his day by reading God’s Word. He hasn’t missed a day since, and the Word has spoken to his heart many, many times. Now Mart’s passion is to instill that same love of the Word in others.

“Mart has chosen to spread his message, “This Book is Alive,” through films. He has founded two production companies — Bearing Fruit Communications, which creates documentaries for church audiences, and Every Tribe Entertainment, which creates feature films for the general public. Both are committed to telling true stories in a culturally relevant way so that viewers can explore for themselves the question of what it can mean to live what the Bible says is true.

“Every Tribe’s first feature film, “End of the Spear,” is the Waodani (Auca) story of the martyrdom of Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian. The film will open in theaters in January 2006, the 50th anniversary of the death of the five missionaries.”

Laura with the replica of Nate Saint’s plane

Dayuma (right) with the actress who plays her, Christina Souza

Action shot

“Already available is a documentary of the same story produced by Bearing Fruit, entitled “Beyond the Gates of Splendor.” The documentary comes in both a long and a short version, so that it can more easily fit into the time constraints of church schedules.

“Attend the movie “End of the Spear” on opening weekend — January 20-22, 2006 — and take your friends. If the film does well the first weekend, it will be held over for subsequent weeks and more people will decide to see it. If it does well, it will also increase the likelihood that Every Tribe Entertainment will be able to produce more stories that challenge people to read the Bible for themselves.”

If you’d like more information about either of these films, see the links at right.

Here is an excerpt from a letter from a New Tribes couple working currently in Venezuela:

” …It has been a little over three weeks since the president of Venezuela announced our expulsion from the country on national television. In some ways it has seemed more like 3 years, as the ultimate outcome of our ability to minister here is still in question. We are in a holding pattern of sorts, on the one hand hearing reports from the government on television that they are still planning on expelling New Tribes Mission from the country, and on the other hand seeing no legal or official action from the government in that regard. We still have not received any legal order of expulsion, nor has any timeline for our departure been given.

“This period of waiting has been a blessing in disguise, as it has allowed the truth about what New Tribes is and does to reach the national press. The New Tribes Mission leadership has had literally scores of radio, newspaper, and television interviews in which they have presented clearly and factually what New Tribes Mission is doing in tribal locations, and have even had a chance to share the Gospel with a national audience. They have also invited those who are accusing us to come to where we work and see for themselves that the accusations made against us are not based on fact. In addition, the Venezuelan churches and the Evangelical Council have rallied behind the Mission, supporting the work the Mission has done in Venezuela for almost 60 years. And probably most encouraging of all, the tribal people themselves have stood up in our favor, proclaiming the good work we have been doing among them and the ways we have benefitted them not only spiritually, but also physically. …

“While these outpourings of support are definitely an encouragement, all the positive press does not appear to have changed the president’s mind about us. We are praying that God will allow the truth to change his thinking. But in the end, it is not about New Tribes Mission, but about God and what He desires to accomplish in Venezuela. So in the meantime, we press on in our respective ministries, trying to redeem the time and make the most of whatever timeframe God allows us. Bible lessons are being taught with greater frequency, Scripture is urgently being translated, and discipleship efforts are being redoubled so that the work of the Church can continue in the event the missionaries have to leave. The Mission leadership is still seeking an audience with the president in order to resolve the accusations made against us through legal means. We will continue doing the job God has called us to until He Himself shuts the door.”

President and Mrs. Bush spent 20 hours in Panama, from Sunday night to Monday afternoon. (Unless otherwise noted, these pictures are taken from the internet. We were not present at these events!) Here are some images:

Morning meetings followed by a press conference. He is shaking hands with President Martin Torrijos of Panama, the son of Omar Torrijos of the Torrijos-Carter Treaty of 1977.

President and Mrs. Bush stopped at the American Cemetery in Corozal, next door to Danny and Laura’s school. They laid a wreath in honor of the soldiers buried there. None of us were allowed anywhere close, though we tried.

Photo courtesy of La Prensa newspaper.

Chaz and Laura saw the motorcade pass by on the way to the Locks.

The two presidential couples at the Locks.

President Bush checks out the control room.

A tour of Miraflores Locks. Next to President Torrijos is First Lady Vivian de Torrijos.

President Bush spent time at a baseball clinic in the former Fort Clayton (where we live), greeting young Panamanian players and throwing a pitch:

With Bush are (left to right) Mariano Rivera (NY Yankees), Martin Torrijos, Roberto Kelly (NY Yankees 1980’s), Olmedo Saenz (LA Dodgers) and Omar Moreno (Pittsburgh Pirates 1970’s and 80’s). These Major League players are all Panamanians who came down especially for this clinic and for the chance to meet with the President.

From the ball field Bush went to a nearby auditorium for a brief “meet and greet” with US Embassy staffers. This is the same auditorium where Kirsten graduated and where the Balboa Academy plays are performed.

To President Bush’s right is the US Ambassador to Panama, William Eaton.

Thanks, Rick and Barb, for sharing these last two pictures with us.

Helga was on the sidewalk watching the motorcade in Clayton, and also watched the baseball clinic from a distance and greeted the group as they entered and exited the auditorium (from a distance, of course.) The whole city was paralyzed for the day, all schools were closed and most major streets blocked off. It made for an interesting day!

Today is Danny’s birthday and he is celebrating by being sick! We thank the Lord for the 15 years Danny has been part of our lives. Here’s our first family portrait:

We’ve all changed a bit since then, but our love for each other has not. Many of you have known us since before Danny was born and we thank you for all your years of love and support for us and for him. He’s 15 now and if he were a girl in Latin America, he would have a big party to celebrate his debut into society. But, being a boy, he is spared all that. We’ve enjoyed a long weekend, some time with friends, some time as a family. Danny is popular with his friends and has a variety of interests like good books, photography, computer graphic arts, drama, biking and friends. Go to our picture gallery for some glimpses of his life through the years, in the “Danny is 15″ album.

Have you ever gotten stuck while reading a passage of Scripture? Have you ever felt unable to follow Paul’s reasoning in his letters? You’ve probably settled for less, reading one verse at a time and looking at the notes in your Study Bible. If this describes you, keep reading.

Colossians 3:11 ends with the statement “Christ is all and in all” in many English Bible versions. These six short words are strung together to make a statement that communicated little if anything to me. While I was checking Doug and Abundio’s rough draft (this process is called a partner check), I came across 3:11 again. The Embera draft sounds like this in English:

“Because God has made this new man, before Him the Greek is the same with the Jew. The ones who are body-cut (circumcised) are the same as ones who are not body-cut. A foreigner, a wild jungle-dweller, a servant, a non-servant, too, are the same. ONLY CHRIST IS THE BETTER ONE. HE IS IN ALL OF YOU.”

The implication, which is now obvious to me, is that since Christ is in all who believe, and those who believe are all “this new man”, we are all the same. And since Christ is in each of us we treat each other with deep respect. Only our Lord can claim he is better. After all, he is Lord over all things (2:10, 15). This thought must have been readily apparent to those who spoke Greek in Paul’s day.

However, we are not living in Paul’s day and don’t speak Greek. Unless a lot of Embera Christians go learn New Testament Greek, they need to be able to understand a passage in their language the first time they read it. They are inexperienced enough at reading that if they don’t understand something they stop and say, “I can’t do this. It’s hard.” The aim of our work, therefore, is to translate the meaning of the text clearly so the Emberas read it with understanding. If they read a short sentence in their language with short words, but can’t tell us what it means, we have not done our job yet.

Earlier this week a rally in support of New Tribes Mission was held in a regional capital where many indigenous people from various tribes come for education, work and supplies. Please see the official report by viewing the following link:

http://www.ntm.org/news/news_details.php?news_id=2536

In a personal message we read that the order expelling New Tribes missionaries may take quite a while to be carried out because of these large displays of support. One unexpected result of the order is that all the Mormon missionaries have left.

Chaz and Maximiliano were planning to go visit a remote part of Panama where the Emberas have had relatively little contact with missionaries. The last time we were out there we made a short presentation about the alphabet issue at the regional congress and were well received. At that time some people attending from other villages invited us to come and visit them the next time we came out. Since Maximiliano got stuck with an extra plane ticket, we decided to take advantage of that and go.

However, a few days before we were to leave, I got the feeling that I was not prepared to go. I told Maximiliano as much and he had no problem with that. We postponed the trip as a result.

Then last week Maximiliano called and said the weather in the Sambu had been especially bad. Heavier-than-normal rains fell and the floodwaters coming down stream from the mountains coincided with high tide, inundating coastal areas. A number of Embera villages were affected since they are near sea level. It is a good thing we didn’t go!

Pray that we would know the right time to go. Maximiliano’s ticket expires soon.

Today is Panama’s 102nd birthday. On November 3, 1903, Panama was officially separated from Colombia and became an independent nation. The country celebrates with lots of parades and flags everywhere, along with a 4-day weekend.

The flag of the Republic of Panama is a red, white and blue quartered flag. The white in the flag represents peace, the blue star stands for purity and honesty (and the Conservative party), and the red star symbolizes authority and law (and the Liberal party). This flag was adopted on December 20, 1903, and was designed by Panama’s revolutionary leader and first President, Manuel Amador Guerrero. (flag information taken from www.enchantedlearning.com)

We are thankful for this peaceful and free country we are living in as guests. It has its imperfections, of course, but we are free to do our work and worship as we please. There is no standing army, only a well-trained police force. The weather is fairly consistent and we are protected geographically from the force of hurricanes and other weather extremes. The physical landscape of Panama is lovely, as you can see from some of our gallery pictures. Any time you want to come and visit, let us know!

Speaking of visits, President Bush will be visiting here November 6 and 7. The president of Panama, Martin Torrijos, had visited the White House earlier this year and extended an invitation to President Bush to come to Panama. Since Bush is coming down this way for a summit, he’s making time to stop in. He will be visiting the Canal and the American cemetery (which is literally next door to the kids’ school) and attending a local baseball training camp in a park just a mile from our house. We hope to be able to see some of the action, if only from a secure distance. We expect the security will be very tight. Monday the 7th has been declared a national holiday, due to Bush’s visit, so we actually have a 5-day weekend, just perfect for Danny’s birthday on Sunday.