July 2007

Mortensen Family

Memo from the Mortensens

Translating God's Word for the Northern Embera People of Panama and Colombia
July 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Greetings once again from Panama! We enjoyed celebrating the 4th of July yesterday with local friends, complete with a BBQ and backyard fireworks. Here in Panama you just go to the local Chinatown where most the stores sell fireworks year-round. Usually fireworks are seen in Panama on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, but local gringos added to the tradition yesterday.

The Northern Embera translation continues to move forward. The final revision stage is now 30% complete, as Chaz and Doug and the committee finished Exodus last week. They have started the Leviticus portions and hope to finish them and the Numbers and Deuteronomy portions by the end of July. Their target date for finishing the final revision is next May 10. There have been some disagreements along the way and one committee member will need to be replaced, but overall it is going well. Many old-timers in Wycliffe tell us that when a team is nearing the end of the translation, they encounter all sorts of troubles and obstacles. Please pray with us for health and safety, both for all the translators and committee members but also for their families and for continued financial provision for everyone.

We’re happy to announce that Kirsten has officially graduated from the University of Michigan, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Linguistics and Spanish. We were very glad and proud to be able to accompany her on the big day.

Mortensen Family

She is working this summer and preparing to start grad school in September at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She will be studying Speech and Language Pathology. Her current address is:

1237 White Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734)972-1855
kirsaram@gmail.com

This summer Danny is living with us here in Panama, resting up from his first year of college at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX. He is working most days for a local professional photographer, doing a wide variety of jobs for him. After a photo shoot last week at the local meat manufacturer, he has decided he will never eat hot dogs again! We’ve enjoyed having him around after being gone all year. The end of July he will be going with the local youth group on a mission trip to Mancora, Peru, the third time he has made this trip.

Laura is finding a little too much time on her hands this summer, as most of her friends are gone. She goes to soccer academy twice a week and is teaching her mom what she is learning. She also likes to read, go on local trips and help mom in the library. Speaking of the library, this is a big change for Helga. She has transferred from the job of kindergarten assistant to elementary librarian and she is VERY excited about this change. She’s using the summer vacation to get the library into better shape for the coming school year.

With the current financial situation in the world as bad as it is, we have not seen a significant drop in our support level. We thank all of you for being so faithful in your giving over the years and especially now that we are nearing the end of the project. Prices are going up here in Panama and we have accrued quite a bit of debt, thanks to travel and car repairs on our 8-year-old car. Please pray with us for God’s continued provision of our needs so we can stay through the end of the translation and also get our debts paid off.

We love hearing from our friends, so please write us back! If you have email but haven’t been getting our updates, please send us your address at chaz_mortensen@sil.org or helga_mortensen@sil.org so you can hear from us a lot more regularly.

Chaz and Helga Mortensen

#PTY-7982
P.O. Box 025207
Miami, FL 33102-5207
011-507-317-0308
chaz_mortensen@sil.org
helga_mortensen@sil.org
www.chmort.com
Kirsten: 1237 White St., Ann Arbor MI 48104, kirsaram@gmail.com
Danny: Lamar University, P.O. Box 10212, Beaumont TX 77710-0212, really_weird750@hotmail.com or djmortensen@my.lamar.edu

Address for all financial contributions:

Wycliffe Bible Translators
P.O. Box 628200
Orlando, FL 32862-8200
www.wycliffe.org

Please send mail (no packages) to:

Chaz & Helga Mortensen
#PTY-7982
P.O. Box 025207
Miami, FL 33102-5207

Email addresses:

chaz_mortensen@sil.org
helga_mortensen@sil.org

Telephone:

011-507-317-0308 or 011-507-6483-9288 (Chaz' cell)
011-507-6687-2541 (Helga's cell)