It’s about time we checked back in with you all before everyone takes off for their summer vacations.
Our April letter was written from Canada (thus the Easter family photo above). We really enjoyed our three weeks with the Bergmans. It was also a surprisingly productive time for SLR translation projects, while Curtis and Esther were away on vacation for eight days and Kaylie and Kegan were in school.
The first weekend in May, Art and Kaylene came to Orlando for a cheer event in which her gym and friends were competing. It was a total immersion experience for us in the world of cheer athletics — lots of high-energy choreographed routines of gymnastic quality, with teams striving to perform to perfection. Kaylene is totally into it and perfecting her skills rapidly!
A week later, Steve flew out to San Jose, California, to serve as caregiver for his 93-year-old mom. That was Mother’s Day weekend and thanks to some organizing on the part of our sisters, all of Steve’s siblings were gathered there for a family reunion. I believe it had been 20 years since all of us — Steve, Vicki, Richard, Sandy, Dave and Lee — had been together.
By Wednesday, it was just Mom and me in the house, so I assumed the daily lunch prep duties and settled into working on translation projects. Mom gets her own breakfast and just has a snack for supper, so she’s not hard to care for. We enjoyed plenty of good conversation, worked on puzzles and watched a bit of Gunsmoke and tennis together.
My old Biola college roommate, Tim, loaned me a scanner and I was able to digitize about 10 carousels of family slides. At the end of the month, Sandra and Lowell returned from their home in Atlanta to resume their care of Mom and I flew back to Florida.
We are happy to report that our eldest granddaughter, Natalie Bergman (in green), has graduated from Ethnos360 Bible Institute in Waukesha, Wisconsin! She did very well academically and, to top it off, she finished with no debt (looking for an affordable two-year Bible School?). Praise the Lord! Unfortunately, we were not able to attend, but her parents and siblings drove down from Nova Scotia to join her for the great event.
Exciting things lie ahead this summer. The 49th anniversary of our wedding is approaching on June 21st, and on the last day of July I will be crossing the rubicon from my 60’s to my 70’s, God willing. And the weatherman says we may have a busier-than-usual hurricane season since the ocean has warmed up early this year.
Very encouraging progress is being made in our resource translation ministry, thanks in part to Juan Horta, my “boss,” our regional director for Latin America, who was one of our first students in the Colombian training program, back in ’82-83. He has been “grounded” from his usual heavy travel schedule because of cardiac issues, so he volunteered to help out with the position papers that I’ve been working on. Several field leaders and trainers in our region have expressed gratitude for these resources which deal with timely issues. Please pray for Juan’s heart health. He’s been on a pacemaker for many years.
PROJECTS TO PRAY ABOUT
Before we sign off, we’d like to ask you to pray for a couple of big projects which have been shared with us by Latin American collegues, former students of ours. —————————– Luis and Ana Sánchez work with the Emberá people of northern Colombia and southern Panama. They are stationed in a jungle town and their big need is for a building where the Emberá believers can meet as a church and where Luis can teach Bible classes and disciple the men so that they can take the message of life in Christ up and down the rivers of the area. There are a lot of unfriendly people in that area so it’s risky for foreigners and even for nationals, but the tribal people generally can move around without being much hindered. Luis has found a plot of land they’d like to buy. It’s next to the river and on the edge of the Emberá neighborhood of this jungle town, so the location is very good. He calculates that it would cost about $18,000 to buy the lot and build a two-story building with an apartment upstairs where he and Ana could live. If your church is interested in helping, gifts can be sent to Ethnos360, designated for the Field of Colombia, Embera Church Project. —————————– Jacinto and Ruby Porrello work in another tribe in a neighboring country, which it would be better not to name. They are needing a camper to travel out to the tribal locations on the plains, but no such thing exists there, so they’re hoping to create a home-made version on a truck bed. They have found a truck for $5,000 and already have $1,000 pledged to the project. They also work in a dangeous area, where insurgents roam around and cause trouble. It’s best that they not be in one place for too long, which is why they need that mobility. If your church is interested in helping, gifts can be sent to Ethnos360 designated for Jacinto Porrello Truck project. —————————– We’d be grateful if you’d be praying for these ministry needs to be met according to the Lord’s will, so that God’s Word will be spread among these people groups. Your partners in spreading the Good News to those who have not heard, until He comes,
Steve & Eida Irwin Spanish Language Resources Ethnos360
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