Jerry & Joyce McDaniels opening God's Word through literacy
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: (more…)
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. (more…)
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! (more…)
Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
There is great value in taking time to be sharpened, equipped, and refocused for the tasks God has called us to do. This guards us from becoming dull and ineffective. The annual Kuna leadership conference in Panama, held early in November is a “sharpening” time for the church leaders and their wives. (more…)
Edelfonso & Jerry
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. (more…)
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. (more…)
We trust this finds you well and enjoying Spring! There’s just something about being able to open up the windows and let in the sunshine. Our jasmine is blooming on the fence and it smells incredible. (And for you poor souls who are still up in the cold, hang on it shouldn’t be much longer!)
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.” (more…)
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. (more…)
the understatement of the day - dangerous curves ahead
Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer while we were in Bolivia! We had a wonderful time getting to know the missionary candidates who are preparing for service. They learned about literacy’s importance in church planting and discipleship and practiced writing primers and teaching them.
look Mom - no railing
After class was done we traveled to the other side of Bolivia to the Simba work to encourage the team with their literacy ministry. (For pictures of our harrowing trip along winding mountain roads, click on the Photos tab and then on: our last trip). (more…)