may God’s name be made great in our pain

Hello from Panama! The checking of the Kuna literacy materials has gone very well. The Lord’s timing is so perfect! The Kuna Bible translation team has recently made some significant changes in the spelling of certain words and hyphenation. Since the literacy program’s main focus is to equip people to read the Kuna Bible, we want to make sure it completely follows the spelling and punctuation used in the Bible. Had we finalized the literacy books sooner, they would not have been correct. So we just have to smile at God’s amazing timing.

We were able to visit with Pastor Edelfonso. The Kuna believers stood with him and the children as they adjust to Eneida’s death. His oldest daughter Yanera and her husband, who have one child of their own, have moved back into the village to help Edelfonso with the eight other children. We were concerned that this would be a heavy load for her at 23 years old. The believers have come to help Yanera with all the tasks she has inherited – hand washing clothes in the river, bringing firewood for cooking, cutting platano, etc. And this testimony of God’s love is touching some of Edelfonso and Eneida’s unbelieving relatives.

Edelfonso’s father, a chief of the village, has always opposed the Gospel message and the believers. But God is using Eneida’s death to soften his heart. Recently, while visiting in the city, he attended a Kuna church with Edelfonso. He listened to the teaching and later told his son, “I am close. I believe this is God’s Book.” Other unbelieving family members in the village are asking questions that show they are contemplating the Truth. Many are coming over to Edelfonso’s house to listen to the audio Kuna New Testament.

So Edelfonso asks us to join him and his children in prayer that God will use their life to bring many more to Christ. As Edelfonso told us with tears in his eyes, “This is something for which Eneida and I have been praying for a long, long time. If this is what it takes to bring others to Christ, then may God’s name be made great in our pain.”

For pictures of our time here in Panama, go to the photo tab above and click on the third album, “our last trip.”