topical index in Kuna

After our normal work on correspondence from missionaries and literacy consultants, we’ve also been working on a couple of very interesting projects. One of Jerry’s projects was formatting a book for Bible translators in Portuguese and getting it ready for printing. The book uses many ancient Greek and Russian examples, so it’s been tedious getting the right fonts in the right place. 

And Joyce has been working on the topical index to be included in the Kuna Old Testament. Now that can hardly be described as “work.” It is such a joy to look through the Old Testament and pick your favorites verses dealing with all kinds of topics, realizing that our friends will go to the list as a guide to find encouragement and direction! One of the recent topics was “how should you act and speak when you are being persecuted because of your faith in Jesus.” Quite applicable to our Kuna friends as they stand against the village pressures. Just imagine how Jeremiah 1:17 & 19 will encourage them: “Get up and prepare for action. Go out and tell them everything I tell you to say. Do not be afraid of them…They will fight you, but they will fail. For I am with you, and I will take care of you. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

Jerry deciding on cover style

Great, great news! The Kuna literacy program has been turned in to the printers and work has begun on the printing, laminating and binding of students’ books, flashcards, homework assignments, writing practice, tests, attendance sheets, teachers’ daily lesson plans…!

Thank you for your prayers while we were in Panama. We watched God do wonderful things:

• We had the best time with our friends! Many of them have said, “God didn’t just send you here to work on the literacy materials. He sent you to encourage us in His Word!”
• The final questions for the literacy materials have been answered, artwork completed, formatting done. It was a busy time, but you know how much fun even hard work is with great friends!
• We just received word that 100% of the funds for the Kuna literacy project have come in! Many thanks to all who gave towards this!
• Details are coming together for the next big step in the process, the literacy teacher training in November.

These are exciting days in the life of the Kuna Church as they look forward to soon being able to read God’s Word in their own language with understanding!

Joyce & Norma

We have to tell you the story of two Kuna ladies, Yeli and Norma with whom we were just re-connected while in Panama. Many years ago when we had to leave the Kuna village where we had been living because of safety issues, we resettled in a community outside of Panama City where there was a large Kuna population. Joyce began a Bible study and literacy classes with 4 Kuna ladies from that neighborhood. The group quickly outgrew the facility and was moved to a large Kuna church where it touched hundreds of ladies. Well, Yeli and Norma were in that original group of ladies! They heard the Gospel, trusted Christ, learned to read in Kuna and fell in love with His Word!

We’ve lost track of them over the years. But recently while in Panama, we visited a new Kuna church in that area where we used to live. And yes, we ran into Yeli and Norma! They were so excited to tell us how that little group has continued to grow and that now there are Kuna men, women and children with their own dear Kuna pastor meeting together. Just goes to show that you never know what God is going to do as you are faithful with a few that He brings your way!

Newly designed mola for book covers.

If you’ve ever worked on a huge project for a LONG time, you know how wonderful it is to see things coming together! That’s how we are feeling about the Kuna literacy project.

Years ago we began developing a whole literacy program using all the things we’ve been learning about successful literacy training. Since it has not been our “full-time” ministry, we’ve worked on it here and there between other projects as we could.

Well, we are in the very final stages of editing and formatting in order to take it down to Panama in a few weeks to check a few questions we have, get some artwork done, and then turn the whole Kuna primer series into the printers! Woo-hoo!

Would you pray for us as we finish up the last details on this huge project? We are thrilled with the financial gifts that have come in toward the project. The Kuna literacy fund has received 77% of the total cost.

To follow the progress, please go to:  usa.ntm.org/projects/kuna-literacy

reading Psalms for the FIRST time!

We had the most wonderful time in Panama for the Kuna leadership conference. It’s always a thrill to be able to reconnect with our Kuna friends, study God’s Word together, sing and hear reports of how God is working in the churches. But the thing that touched our hearts the most was something that they carried back to their villages.

Our Kuna friends received the first copies of the newly translated books of Psalms, Proverbs and Exodus. Let that soak into your mind for a moment…Makes us want to shout each time we think about it!!!

Most of us grew up hearing “the Lord is my Shepherd…” We have had free access to God’s whole Word through multiple translations in our language (often sitting in dust on our bookshelves), digital copies if we prefer, and even apps that go wherever we are. Praise God that by 2013 the Kunas will have the whole Bible in their language! Pray for the final steps necessary to get things finished up and off to the printers.

A part of preparing for the Kuna Bible is literacy training. The printed Kuna Bible will be wonderful, but how will it change lives if people cannot read with understanding? Next year we will be working hard to get this important step completed. We invite you to participate by giving to the project. Together our small gifts add up. God has provided 64% of the funds! For information on the project, please go to usa.ntm.org/projects/kuna-literacy

For pictures of the conference click on the photo tab above and go to the album:

our last trip. 

Ever wish that you could somehow invest in strengthening the Kuna churches of Panama?

As you’ve gotten to know some of our dear Kuna friends, have you ever wanted a tangible way to reach out to them, to spiritually encourage them and their families?

 If so, we’ve got an opportunity for you!

The Kuna Old Testament translation is nearing completion. Just think of it! Soon our Kuna friends will be able to read the Psalms and all those wonderful Old Testament books in their own language for the first time! Well, that is if they are able to read! There are many who cannot read and will not have access to God’s Book.

A whole literacy program in Kuna has been developed with a series of student’s books, writing practice, comprehension drills, daily lesson plans for the teachers, flash cards, and homework papers. We are asking God to provide partners to join us by giving to fund the printing, travel and training of Kuna literacy teachers and a literacy supervisor. New Tribes Mission has approved the Kuna literacy project and tax-deductible receipts will be given for each gift.

So even if you are able to share only a small amount, would you please consider this need? As we work together it adds up and God’s Word goes out stronger and stronger. For more information please go to: http://usa.ntm.org/projects/kuna-literacy

Anelio & Silverixia

We have such a great respect for so many of our Kuna brothers and sisters in Panama! Anelio & Silverixia are a young couple that were sent out as missionaries by their church to a village upriver. You may remember that in 2009, while returning to the village where they minister, they lost their 3 year old son in the flooded river. God has used their faithfulness in spite of many hardships to win many to Christ.

A church has been established in the village. Every Saturday Anelio has also been traveling upriver with some of the new believers to the next Kuna village to teach “God’s Book.” The chiefs are asking Anelio and the church leaders to come for some official meetings the end of this month. They would like to have  a couple move into their community to dedicate more time to teaching literacy and the Bible.  Pray for God’s wisdom, provision, and timing for this open door. What a bright spot to remember that God’s Word is still going out to new areas!

reading the Word

The countdown has begun! Next week Joyce & I travel back “home” to Panama. So much has happened in the lives of our Kuna friends since we last saw them – the flooding and devastation, intense pressure on the believers to return to the traditional ways and forsake the Bible, a dear friend’s death, the Old Testament translation nearing completion! It will be so good to have time together to rejoice and grieve. Plus we have a lot of work to do!

The Kuna literacy program is ready for its final check and then printing. This means there are 6 primers, each with detailed daily lesson plans for the teachers, student writing practice, worksheets, extra reading practice booklets. Would you pray with us that God would multiply our time and allow us to complete all this checking and editing? Pray that this literacy program will be used by God that the Kuna people will be able to read and love God’s Word in their own language.

Please also pray that we will be an encouragement and blessing to our Kuna friends. We look so forward to hearing how God is faithfully working in their lives and churches.

The Kuna ladies sent a message to us that made us smile. They have lost the recipes that Joyce had given them for desserts, especially the banana bread and squash bread. They need these recipes as the churches in several of the villages have purchased little stoves and would like to make the goodies for activities as well as to sell to support their missionary outreaches. In the absence of measuring cups, the recipes were written using tomato paste cans as the standard measurement – something they all would have!

So as the Lord brings us to mind, please hold us up in prayer. There is a lot to do, but we can hardly wait!

We’ve been explaining our ministry focus on literacy and some of the key elements that keep us busy. In our last post we looked at the importance of missionaries finding a good orthography and how alphabets are not simply “one size fits all.” (Now if you aren’t much into grammar, this part might be boring to you…but don’t you dare skip it! Keep reading so you know how to pray for us and the missionaries working with all the different languages).

After a good alphabet has been chosen, and before teams begin actually writing their literacy program, they need to organize all the linguistic information (this is the grammar stuff). We need lists of all the vowels and consonants, as well as diphthongs (two vowels that make one sound; such as boy, eye) and consonant clusters (consonants that blend into one sound; like gl, str, or –ng). We need to know which letters occur most frequently in the language because those letters would give us the most useable words for brand new reader to practice reading. We’ll need a list of every punctuation mark used in the language. Again, languages are not “one size fits all.” Quotations can be shown in many different ways. ¿Just how will questions be marked?

These lists are used by the missionary teams and consultants to make sure that every possible thing that will be written in the language is covered in the literacy materials. We want the people to be able to read God’s Word with great comprehension! And even punctuation is part of really understanding what is written. So that’s how it all fits together – with the goal of having great readers with great understanding of the Most Important Message ever written!

PNG man taking notes on Bible lesson

Imagine God allowed you to move into one of the 2,500 still unreached people groups of the world. You have progressed well in learning the unwritten tribal language and understanding your new friends’ culture. So where do you go from here? How do you move into Bible translation, evangelism and discipleship? 

The first step is to determine an excellent orthography (alphabet). Did you ever stop to think that alphabets are not “one size fits all?” Every language has different sounds, put together in their own unique way (because our amazing God left His touch on the languages when He confused them at the tower of Babel). So every language needs its own special alphabet and grammar.

Missionaries learn unwritten languages by writing down what they hear using a phonetic alphabet. This system of writing has a symbol for every possible sound the mouth can make, including the clucks and clicks found in some languages. While the phonetic alphabet is perfect for determining the exact sounds in the language, its complicated symbols are not easy to learn to read.

So the teams take their language data written in the phonetic alphabet and boil it down to an easily readable alphabet for that language. Normally, this would follow the alphabet of the national language of the country as closely as possible. This makes it quicker later on for the people to transition into reading the national language. And with an excellent alphabet in place, your team is ready for the next steps in ministry: literacy, Bible translation, evangelism and discipleship.

So next time you try to spell a word or divide a word into syllables, thank God you speak one of the languages with an alphabet and translation of the Bible! And pray for the millions of people speaking one of the languages that do not.