Panama News

This was the last message we received, on Saturday:

“Good morning! We are up bright and early as we prepare to take the boat back over the lake. Friday was a great last day. The house is almost complete and during the vbs many of our kids had the opportunity to share Christ with the Sutuheel children. Liza gave a great message about Jesus as the good shepherd. We had another great time of teaching with Dave - from Nehemiah - on God’s will for our lives.
Many kids shared great things God has been speaking to them. Be sure to ask your kids what God has showed and taught them this week. Don’t accept short answers. Maybe God wants to tell you something too. We will have our final night in Guatemala City and we will see you all at 7pm Sunday night.”

Danny did arrive safe and sound on Sunday night, tired but very happy that he had gone.

On Sunday I attended a meeting at the nearest Embera church and it went well. Cornelio, a trained Embera teacher, had gone to the Indigenous Education office to find out whether there was anything of interest going on. It turns out that a couple of people have been moved around, so there is an opening for someone to work in that office, especially someone who can review spelling and handle alphabet matters. Both Cornelio and Feliznita, another college grad, were encouraged to apply. During the meeting, the local pastor felt that Cornelio was the right person for the job: he’s a teacher, knows the alphabet and would represent the church well even though the position is not “church representative.” Pray for this to work out the way God wants it.

The Embera in charge of educational materials also told Cornelio they were doing some teacher training in a more remote community sometime after August 20 and asked the church to encourage teachers to attend. They said they plan to use the new materials in first grade starting in September. I don’t know how many schools will be doing that, though.

Cornelio was also told that the education people wanted to be able to consult with a linguist who knew Embera– yours truly. The church people at the meeting thought that would be good. So I said if I could still dedicate enough time to translation, I would be available.

Thank you for praying for the alphabet issue– it is really important to the Embera church.

Before we left for our short furlough, I left some work for a couple of Emberas to do. Feliznita was to translate our Embera draft of Matthew, chapters 1-18, back into Spanish so our consultant could check it. Bienvenido was to make a new draft of Acts, using notes and suggestions I had prepared for him.

At a meeting on Sunday, Feliznita told me she had done only (!) 12 chapters because she had been very busy with a university class. Now that the class is done, however, she will be able to do the rest quickly. She has been feeling a lot better than she was earlier in the year, too. Thank you for praying for her.

Bienvenido hasn’t gotten much done on Acts because the generator that powers their church’s computer is broken. To do anything he has to go to a town an hour away. Please pray for the generator!

One of the Embera pastors at the meeting Sunday, Gregorio, asked if I had any of the provisional Mark-1&2 Thessalonians-1&2 Timothy books. I had one with me, but he said they needed ten! I was pleasantly surprised because I had thought all those able to read from that church had their own copies already.

I received a call from Enrique, an Embera high school student, who is helping a Christian radio station make 3-minute recordings of portions of the Embera Scriptures. The segments are played one per day. We had been hoping for a long time that the station would do this. It is also important that Enrique is not afraid to speak into a microphone. He has a nice, clear voice and reads fluently.

Praise God for these nice surprises! We should be away more often!

Here’s an excerpt from the latest report from the Crossroads Team Guatemala:

“[On Tuesday] we met the pastor [of the local church] - Abraham. He said that we could have anywhere from 40-70 kids. We are excited. That will happen each afternoon from 2:30-4:30. The mornings will be spent in Colonia building a house and helping to finish a retaining wall. There is so much more to tell but know that we are safe and God is working in and around us. Thanks again for your prayers and support. Please pray for Thursday night as we will have a chance to share in front of the church here. Continue to pray against headaches from the altitude.”

Danny left Sunday morning for Guatemala. He is one of a group of 25 teenagers from our church here in Panama City going on a missions trip, the first one ever for young people from this church. They will be doing lots of physical labor, rebuilding houses and other buildings destroyed in earthquakes. They will also be doing VBS-type actitivies with local children. They have been planning and praying about this trip for many months now, so we look forward to hearing more about it when they return this Sunday. They started in Guatemala City, then traveled west to Panajachel, then yesterday crossed Lake Atitlan to Santiago de Atitlan, where they will be working.

See maps below:

This is a section of Guatemala, showing Guatemala City on the right, with Lake Atitlan at left center. Below is a close-up look at Lake Atitlan:

Panajachel is on the north shore of the Lake; Santiago is on the southwest shore. Here is a picture of the Lake:

This is the latest message we received yesterday, August 2:
“We have had some great sessions with Dave & Linda our hosts and have travelled by plane, bus and boat. I will send more details tomorrow but I wanted to get this out to you today so that you could know we are all well.
Prayer requests:
The altitude is having some effect on a few of the kids. Please pray as they adjust. Pray that we would all have right attitudes and be great servers as we start to build tomorrow. Join us as we all pray for god to speak to each of us in powerful ways!! Individually and as a group. also for safety as we work and open hearts as we do our vbs for three afternoons. Thanks for your prayers and love.”