Panama News

We really enjoyed the Easter season here. We had the whole week off of school, so had plenty of family time, catch-up time (on work and sleep), time with friends, time to enjoy the lovely outdoors, and best of all, time to contemplate what Easter is all about. The week culminated with two services on Good Friday, one at each of the churches we attend. Both services were beautiful and thought-provoking, and included drama, interaction, music and meditation. Easter morning saw us up bright and early to go to a local theater, large enough to house an extra-large crowd for the church’s Easter service. Many children and youth of the church ministered in music (including Danny and Laura), in addition to all the usually expected Easter activities. The day ended with a church family day at a local park, with swimming and visiting and sports on the agenda. We trust that each of you had a blessed Easter time as well.

Now we are doing the countdown to the end of school and our trip to Michigan. Needless to say, we are looking forward to that! We will spend about 7 weeks there, visiting with Kirsten and other family as well as seeing many friends and visiting lots of churches to talk about our work of Bible translation. Among the highlights will be a big family gathering at the summer cottage near Lake Michigan for the 4th of July. We really enjoy these trips and the chance to re-connect with so many of you.

Kirsten has finished her first year of college, to her and our great joy. Her second semester went really well and we thank the Lord for helping her through this difficult transition time. This summer she is staying with the Mortensens in Midland, Michigan, as she gets her driver’s license, works, volunteers at a local hospital, and possibly takes some summer math classes. She was overjoyed to be presented with an (almost) new PowerBook laptop when she arrived in Midland, thanks to the generosity of a loving family member. This was an answer to prayer, as her present computer was needing to be replaced.

Danny keeps very busy finishing up his sophomore year of high school. When he’s not studying or IMing friends, he might be biking, reading, with friends, at youth group activities, working on the yearbook, taking pictures, editing and organizing those pictures, or visiting a local orphanage with a service group from school. This past weekend he enjoyed a youth group retreat, along with about 150 other kids. One of the highlights of the weekend was an early-morning hike up a very tall mountain. Some upcoming events he’s looking forward to are a talent show, the end-of-the-year formal banquet at school, and (after we return from Michigan) a youth group mission trip to Guatemala. He is among a group of 25 Crossfire youth who have signed up for this mission trip. You’ll hear more about that in the next few months.

Laura finished up a book of original poetry recently for a poetry month at school. She experimented with lots of forms of poetry and illustrated it all as well. She continues to progress in gymnastics and also enjoys practicing and performing with the church’s children’s ministry team, called Psalm 8:2. (Look it up!) We plan to enroll her in a gymnastics class this summer in Michigan, so she can keep up. She looks forward most of all to seeing Kirsten again. Her upcoming events include a talent show (a different one from Danny’s) and this Saturday’s children’s mission trip to an Embera village. She especially is hoping to spend time with Lisbet, her Embera friend from the filming of End of the Spear. (For those who saw it, Lisbet plays Bibanka, the little girl who gets eaten by a boa).

Chaz continues moving steadily forward in the Embera translation work. This week he’s going over another consultant’s comments on the book of Genesis. Later this month he’ll be with Doug for two weeks again to go over partner checking and reading through more Scripture portions with Doug and other Embera men. He’s trying to get back into soccer and basketball after experiencing some bursitis in his knees. He also anticipates watching the World Cup. Helga tries to keep up with 16 active kindergarteners in the morning class and 9 slightly-less-active kindergarteners in the afternoon. This job has been a fun challenge, sometimes more challenge than fun, but she’s learning a lot, and hopes the kids are too! When she’s not teaching, she can be found at home catching up or out walking to keep up some exercise. Both of us will be going along with the children’s mission team this Saturday to the Embera village. Danny hopes to go too if his homework will allow it.

So that is our family news. Be sure to share your news with us as well. We love to hear from you. Don’t forget to check out our links at the right of this page.

Thank you for praying for God to guide the distribution of the provisional books of Mark/1&2 Thessalonians/1&2 Timothy.

We had 100 books made. Abundio took roughly half of those in order to distribute them at the Embera church’s Holy Week conference. When we saw him on Saturday he said they had run out of copies and needed five more.

Doug took 15 copies to an Embera church near the city. This church is key to the widespread acceptance of the Bible translation. Doug wasn’t sure how he would be received, but when the pastor saw him, he asked what the books were for, made sure all those present got a copy, and took one himself.

A couple of Sundays ago at our church, one of the Embera youth saw that I was carrying one of the books and asked me what it was. I showed it to her and she said, “I have been trying to teach the children in my home village how to write in Embera but I didn’t know how to write some of the sounds.” I asked if she wanted the book (she did) and encouraged her to try reading it first (she reads Spanish well), get familiar with the spelling and then try teaching it later. Then this past Sunday another of the girls asked if I had any of the books left. I hope she wants to actually read it and not just have what the other girl has.

In another Embera village where we visit occasionally, we found out that there is a small group of believers. They are led by a Spanish-speaking woman who comes to their village once a week. One of the women had asked for Embera Scripture. When I visited last week, I brought a Mark/1&2 Thessalonians/1&2 Timothy book for her. But before I could get it into her hands, one of the men started reading it. He said some missionaries had taught him to read years ago. So the book eventually got to the woman and she was very pleased, but the guy wants one also.

To make a long story short, we will have distributed all 100 provisional books by the end of this week. We really wanted them to go to truly interested people and we believe they have. Please pray for people to read them carefully and come up with helpful suggestions for their improvement. And ask God to speak to these people through his word.