Panama News

News from Bearing Fruit Communications and Every Tribe Entertainment:

At the request of an Ambassador to the United Nations, Every Tribe Entertainment took End of the Spear to New York for a private screening for the Ambassador and her distinguished guests at a theater in Times Square.

Steve Saint and Mincaye attended with some of the actors from the film, and they welcomed the dignitaries as they entered the theater. By the end of the evening, over 75 people, representing 12 countries, experienced this story.

As our distinguished guests were leaving, a man from the Christian Embassy invited Every Tribe Entertainment to a meeting of UN dignitaries the next morning. At this meeting, 11 dignitaries from 9 countries heard this story and talked about its potential on worldwide conflict for nearly two hours. One of the dignitaries said that he had long considered himself a ‘dealer of peace.’ “But I submit to you,” he said, “that we are not dealers of peace but agents of reconciliation.” On Monday, Every Tribe Entertainment will return to screen End of the Spear at the United Nations. This time, the film will be experienced from a theater inside the U.N building. The ambassadors from 191 countries have been invited. We ask that you pray for the nations and their leaders who will receive this story for the first time.

We’ve enjoyed hearing various reports from all of you on your viewing of the movie. We hope you all will get a chance to see it!

Chaz and Rogelio, a local Embera Christian, have finished answering our translation consultant’s questions on the Gospel of Mark and have sent the responses to her in preparation for our consulting sessions which begin February 8 (see below).

Until then, Chaz and his partner Doug will be in Colombia with translators who work in languages related to Northern Embera. They will be discussing how they have translated key Biblical terms like “priest”, “Son of Man”, “angel”, and so forth. Since the languages are closely related, the respective translators can give each other insights and good ideas on how to express these thoughts. Please pray for good time working together and that they can be of mutual assistance to each other. Also pray for safety all around, of course. They will not be meeting in a dangerous part of Colombia, but there’s always some risk. Chaz is very much looking forward to being there again, enjoying the food and coffee and seeing some old friends.

After returning from Colombia, Chaz and Doug will meet with our consultant, Marion Miller, and a committee of 5-7 Embera church members. They’ll be checking some last rough spots in the Gospel of Mark, 1 & 2 Timothy, and possibly 1 & 2 Thessalonians. Once we deal with those, Marion will approve the books for publication. We will also be deciding once and for all how to express a few key terms like “disciple” and “Son of Man”. There’s a several new people coming, including some women (Elisabeth and Feliznita) and a couple of pastors (Eufemio and Gregorio). Abundio’s brother Fulgencio will attend as will Beltran, an older man, and Enrique, who has attended twice before. We are thankful to have received all the funds needed to cover the expenses.

Here’s an excerpt from a note from a missionary in Colombia who received the package Chaz sent:

“Chaz, … the Calendars are wonderful and also the Bible segments. I am going to Bahia Solano and Jurado [small towns on the Pacific coast with nearby Embera communities] this week and again in Feb., by the way, a ’shamen’ [sic] in the Embera community recently gave his life to the Lord and I have met him on another trip, so this week I will take time to visit him again in Playa Huine [near Bahia Solano].”

Last week some fellow missionaries who had friends visiting from the U.S. contacted me about going to visit an Embera village for the day. So we made the arrangements and went. I had hoped to get some of the checks on the Gospel of Mark done that our consultant had asked me to do.

As I talked with the people, one man told me that he was trying to write in Embera but having a hard time. He said, “After they finished making the movie [End of the Spear], the man in charge came one day to bring our community a new generator. I was the chief then, so he presented me with some books of God’s word in Embera. I’ve been trying to read it ever since then but I would just get confused. I can read Spanish. My wife said I ought to be able to read Embera, too, if I was really an Embera!”

It turns out he didn’t understand the squiggles over some vowels and dashes through some consonants. So I pulled out the checking materials I had brought and read a sentence to him, showing that the vowels with squiggles over them represent nasalized vowels, which don’t occur in Spanish. I also explained that Embera has two Bs and two Ds, not one each like Spanish has. So the dashes through them show the difference. He could hear the difference because he speaks Embera; he just didn’t know what the symbols meant.

Then we tried reading a couple of sentences together from Genesis. I read the first verse and before I could start the second, he started reading it. It wasn’t perfect, but now he had the idea and could practice, knowing what he was doing. I then decided to leave him the copy of Genesis.

The last time I visited this village, there was a man who wanted to tell me a joke. But I said, “If it’s bad (sinful), I don’t want to hear it.” He said, “No, it’s not bad!” As he proceeded to tell it, it turned out it was bad indeed. I walked away, rather disgusted, but this encouraged him to keep reminding me of the joke. Every time he saw me over the next two days, he would call out the punch line. So I started praying for some key person from that village to be saved. Who knows? Perhaps it will be the former chief.

There are many steps in producing a Bible translation: exegesis, rough draft, revision, comprehension checking, a partner check, and a consultant check.

In order to get the consultant check done, first we produce a very literal back-translation in English so our consultant can see what the Embera text reads like. She then checks to make sure the meaning is being expressed correctly. Our back-translation of Mark 1:39 reads as follows:

“In this way he went around all Galilee land. [In/At] every Jews’ habitual meeting together house he habitually taught God’s word and he habitually expelled evil demons.”

Our consultant responded, “The only question that I have is that it sounds like he also cast out the demons in the synagogues and I don’t get that idea in the texts. Maybe it is fine in Embera.”

My responsibility, then, is to go to Emberas who haven’t worked on the translation or aren’t familiar with this passage to ask them where Jesus was casting out the demons. If they answer, “Everywhere he went,” we know the translation is expressing the meaning adequately. But if they say, “When he was teaching God’s word in the Jews’ meeting house,” the meaning is not clear enough and adjustments must be made.

Go to this link to look for theaters near you that will be showing End of the Spear:

http://www.endofthespear.com/index.html?deeplink=tribe&item=theaters

From Bearing Fruit Communications:

Here are more chances for you to see and hear updates about End of the Spear

In anticipation of the January 20 release of End of the Spear, we’re excited to tell you that our friends Cornerstone Television have agreed to air the Beyond the Gates of Splendor documentary and Dare to Make Contact, a look behind the scenes at End of the Spear.

Beyond the Gates is the award-winning documentary which tells the story of the lives and deaths of the Ecuador missionary heroes and the amazing reconciliation that followed their deaths, as told by their widows, children, and the Waodani tribesmen themselves.

Dare to Make Contact is a compelling look behind the scenes on the set of End of the Spear in a Panamanian jungle. You’ll meet the indigenous tribe that portrayed the Waodani for the motion picture, as well as other never-before-told stories behind this production.

Please note the schedule below (all times listed are CST - Central Standard Time):

CORNERSTONE TELEVISION NETWORK (also on Sky Angel Satellite)

Beyond the Gates of Splendor
Friday, January 6th — 2:00 PM
Wednesday, January 11th — 7:00 PM
Friday, January 13th — 8:00 PM
Monday, January 30th — 8:00 PM

Dare to Make Contact
Friday, January 6th — 3:00 PM
Wednesday, January 11th — 8:00 PM

In addition to these airings we currently have the following appearances and interviews on schedule (please keep in mind that these are subject to change):

Date Time Description
01/04/2006 8:00 PM
Open Line Live - Moody Radio Network (also on Sky Angel Network) - Steve Saint, live
01/05/2006 10:00 AM
Celebration LIVE on Daystar Television - Steve, Mincaye and Mart - (We will also tape the Joni program for later airing. Not certain of that date yet. Stay tuned for details.)
01/05/2006 -01/06/2006 varies
Family Life Today w/ Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine - Steve, Mincaye and Mart
01/08/2006 varies
TBN’s Praise the Lord program
- Steve and Mincaye.
01/13/2006 varies
Focus on the Family w/ Dr. James Dobson
- Steve Saint
01/13/2006 varies
Bott Radio Network
- Steve Saint interview - part one
01/16/2006 varies
Jerry Rose Show/Total Living Network
- Steve and Mincaye
01/17/2006 varies
On Screen — Total Living Network and FamilyNet
- Interview with Matt Lutz (Pete Fleming in EOTS)
01/16/2006 -
01/17/2006

varies
Life Today w/ James Robison
- Steve and Mart
01/20/2006 varies
Bott Radio Network
- Steve Saint interview - part two

Remember to check the website link at the right of our blog page to look for the movie theaters nearest to you!

Here we are all together again for a couple weeks:

We had a good 2 weeks celebrating Kirsten’s birthday, Christmas and New Year’s. We ate a lot and talked a lot and just enjoyed each other’s company. We look forward to seeing each other again in June, when we 4 Panama Morts will head up to Michigan for a couple months.