Volume 18, No. 4, November 2004
Volume 18, No. 4, November 2004
Happy Thanksgiving! As we approach the annual day of thinking through our blessings, we want to share with you some things for which we are thankful to God. [Click on the pictures below to view a larger image.]
We are thankful to God for putting us into this work. It is hard, it is tedious, it is not glamorous, it is not full of instant results, but it is deeply satisfying and eternally significant. We are glad we can dedicate our life to God's Word and to helping others understand it better.
We are thankful to God for a good month of work with Abundio. He and Chaz have done read-throughs of first drafts of Matthew and Mark for revision and have gotten part way through re-drafting the Gospel of John. Abundio is patient, thorough and careful in his work. He stays with us during the week and goes to visit family on weekends, giving us all a break from each other. This past weekend he got word that back in his home area, there were terrible floods and his family lost their plantain and corn crops. Two pigs were swept away as well. Please pray for their recovery from this loss. Abundio will return to his home soon for two weeks to help out the family. Thank you to the generous supporter who has already offered to buy two new pigs to replace the lost ones.
We are thankful to God for the two strong churches we attend here in Panama. One is out in Gamboa, the town we lived in our first two years. It is an interesting mixture of Americans, Panamanians, several indigenous groups, and an assortment of people from many countries, a variety that changes weekly. There is a strong Spanish children's Sunday school, a prison ministry, women's and men's ministries, and regular local outreach. The other church is in the city, near our house. Recently this church has hired a youth pastor. He and his wife are enthusiastic and willing to do whatever God wants them to do. God is re-energizing the youth group, which is currently at about 100 kids getting together weekly at church for music, encouragement and Bible study. Both Kirsten and Danny are involved in the youth group in a variety of ways and love every minute of it. Laura wants to know when she can start attending "Crossfire"!
We thank God for giving us three great kids who keep us busy and young (at heart, anyway) and never bored :). We are thankful that each is in a really good school that suits their needs and where they are doing well.
Recently Kirsten performed in Pygmalion, in the part of Professor Higgins' mother. This was a big time commitment for her, on top of worship band, college applications, yearbook and lots of challenging studies. She did a great job, in our unbiased opinion. She's almost done with her college applications, and fervently wishes she never had to write another essay in her life!
Danny always provides extra interest in our lives, especially when he found several bottles of colored hair spray for "crazy hair day" at his school. He has recently finished a 2-month chocolate cooking class and continues with his computer graphics class. He also looks forward to performing in two different Christmas programs. He enjoys reminding us that he is now taller than all of us (except for dad).
Laura really enjoyed trick-or-treating as a California harbor seal, inspired by our trip this summer to the Monterey Peninsula. She's finishing up her year of first grade, and looks forward to homeschooling next year. She and Mom keep busy with Brownie Girl Scout activities, including a Thanksgiving lunch with Panamanian Girl Scouts ("Muchachas Guías") and a mother-daughter tea at a Panama City hotel restaurant.
We are looking forward to Thanksgiving Day with a crowd at our house, 19 all together. We have been making more effort to be hospitable and have guests over to our house, and we've had some memorable times with friends both old and new.
"Promenade with your partner...". The night before Halloween we hosted a "hoedown", complete with square-dancing! It was especially entertaining to see a dancing seal... Kirsten and Danny missed out because they were at a weekend "Crossfire" youth retreat.
We thank God for all of you faithful partners who pray for us and send financial support. Some of you have been with us from the beginning of our career with Wycliffe (161/2 years now), some of you have started in recently, and some of you have given for years but have had to stop. Some of you give monthly and some give at other intervals. Some of you pray for us every day and others do so at other times but whatever you do, you are a partner with us in giving the Bible to the Northern Embera people and we deeply appreciate your commitment to us and to this translation project.
We are thankful for the financial help we receive each month from Wycliffe Bible Translators' special project funds to help us pay our Embera co-translators and part of our office rental. Without those funds, we'd have had to stop working. Over the past several months our support has been much lower than usual, which has created quite a bit of hardship for us as we've had to go into debt just to buy groceries and fill up the car. Please pray with us for God to provide the extra we need to pay our bills and living expenses so we can get out of debt.
We hope that all of you reading this will have a joyful Thanksgiving Day, with time with family or friends (or both!), and opportunities to think over the things for which you can thank God. He is the Author and Source of all good things. We are thankful to be on His team.
-- Chaz and Helga, Kirsten, Danny and Laura Mortensen
