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JULY 2, 2002
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
This work that the Lord has done in this country through the power of His Word is utterly breath taking!!! The stories of missionaries adapting to jungle life with all of the insects and animals, the stories of Bible translators whose lives were taken by the people that they were trying to reach for the glory of God, and the stories of the head-hunters and cannibles having their lives forever changed by the power and love of Christ leaves me sitting here in awe.
I'm in a little town right now called Yarinacocha just outside of Pulcallpa. It's a tiny plot of land that was developed into a living center for people to come and live in order to translate the Bible into the languages of the jungle people. Yesterday i was able to tour the tiny museum filled with native crafts, artwork, bug and bird collections, spears, blowguns, bows and arrows, drums, but most importantly the result of over 50 years of Gods work: 27 new testaments translated in to 27 different languages of the peoples of the jungle here in Peru. That's extremely impressive when it takes about 12 years to translate a new language into new testament scripture.
The Lord has really amazed me in the work that he's done so far in the week that i've been here. When waiting to board the airplane in Houston the Lord provided an opportunity to share the truth of the gospel with a married couple headed to Peru. He's also making things work on these computers that baffle me. I added a computer to the network yesterday and started to copy the hard-drive onto the new machine. When i came in this morning i couldn't access the network to complete the work. After working on another project and coming back, I looked on the computer screen to find everthing i needed right in front of me and i was able to finish copying the files. God is Awesome!!!!
Prayer Requests:
1. To be able to pull a medical update off of the internet and load it onto a special palm pilot. Right now there are hardware problems on getting a computer set up to do that. Mrs. Marilee is a physician/translator that is going out to the tribe for a couple of months in order to attend to their medical needs and finish translation work. Having all of that information readily available on her hand held will keep her from having to take a volume of medical journals.
2. That nobody will have any computer problems that would slow down or stop the priceless work that they are doing.
3. That the Lord would supernaturally give me the wisdom to fix or set up new equipment on the nextwork.
4. That i would pick up on Spanish very quickly in order to communicate with the people here in order to share the love of Christ more effectively.
He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. Rev. 19:13
in His hands,
george note: a while back an antropologist condemned a Peru native believer of the Bora tribe by saying that she and the rest of their tribe should go back to their old way of life (apart from Christianity) because it was a beautiful thing. The woman kindly told the man that if they did that then he would have already been in a pot.
JULY 13. 2002 - Afraid of Rainbows
Howdy,
I'll explain the title in the subject field at the end of this letter. Things here are going extremely well. Here in Yarina, i'm pretty much the only 'computer guy.' Gil Muñoz, the main 'computer guy' has been in Lima the last few weeks and will be there for a little while longer. His wife, Darcy, just gave birth to a baby girl by the name of Hattie Fay two days ago. Awesome!!! Gil and his family have been such a blessing to me since i have arrived here. I'm staying in their house out here in Yarina and have adopted their two cats (which i try not to kick too much) and dog, Muffin. Just kidding about the cat kick'n.
The houses out here have single paneled wooden walls with screen windows on every exterior wall to allow the breeze to go through. No a/c except for cool room in each house which is usually used for any type of electrical equipment and extremely hot nights. I quit sleeping in the cool room after two nights to get used to the heat in case the Munoz's need that room for the new baby. The first night out of the insulated cool room was interesting. Not only is the cool room insulated from heat but sound as well. You can only imagine the sounds that you could here out here at night in the Amazon Jungle with only screen windows in between you and all of creation. The other night a dog ran right smack into the wooden wall of the room that i was sleeping in to chase one of the cats. It scared the living daylights out of me!!! It's amazing to hear all that goes on outside at night. The harmony of all of the bugs and frogs pretty much sing you to sleep. Oh yeah, on another night, a dog was barking like crazy. I was two seconds from praying and asking God to shut the dog up and it began to pour outside. God answered my prayer before i had asked Him, and i laughed as the thought of God getting that dog soaking wet to shut him up.
The computer work here has kept me quite busy. So far nothing has slowed down bible translation work. Big Praise! The Lord also allowed us to get through all of the error messages and get the palm pilot loaded with all of the recent medical updates for the translator/physician going out to the Yora tribe to do work for 4 months. This also leads me to the explanation of the subject line: "afraid of rainbows..."
Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, "Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will look upon it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth." Genesis 9:8-17
The rainbow is the sign of an everlasting covenant between God and Noah and his decendants (that's us). The Yora tribe is afraid of rainbows. The Yora's are a group of people here in the jungle that a couple of people are working on getting the Bible translated into their language. They are also afraid of evil spirits/demons. I've also found out from one of the locals here that many of the people here are afraid of the rainbows and he mentioned that sometimes they offer a sacrifice in order to appease the spirits when seeing one. Being in a rainforest area there are a lot of rainbows here. What really blew my mind is that I recently finished a book called, "And the Word Came with Power." (Joanne Shetler) It's about a Bible translator who went to the Philipenes to translate scripture for a group of people called the Bolangaos (sp?) The Bolangaos had the same fear of the rainbows and the spirit world that the Yora tribe has here now!! The tribe in the Philipenes had that fear. The Yora's have this fear now. Marrilee is one of the translators/physician going to spend the next four months with these people in their tribe. Her prayer request for them is Hebrews 2:14-15
Prayer Requests:
1. Hebrews 2:14-15 for the Yora's: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He (Jesus) )Himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.
2. for Paul Ramos: He's a 26 year old Peruvian that is going to Singapore for a Christian leaders conference. I'm helping him with his conversational English. He has to turn in a paper that's all in English. There is a lot of work to be done on this paper before he has to present it. Please pray for patience on his part in putting up with me and patience on my part with him. He's an amazing guy and i cannot wait to see what the Lord does through him. He's very open to being challenged in the Word as well so please pray for discipleship opportunities with him. (He asked me to correct him whenever he makes a mistake in pronunciation when just talking casually with him, I think he's picking up a Texas accent)
3. That all of the problems with the computers will continue to be simple fixes and nothing will slow down Bible translation.
overwhelmed with joy,
george
JULY 22, 2002
Hello all!
Things here are still going extremely well. Last Friday, however, i was reminded of a huge lesson that i would love to share with you. Here there are quite a few 'missionary kids' (mostly teenagers) on the center. Friday they invited me to have a picnic lunch with them out on the raft that's in the lake. So I accepted the invitation and packed a quick picnic lunch and hurried out to the lake. I walked down the concrete ramp and approached the dugout canoe. It was either use that or swim and didn't have the desire to get my food wet, so i chose the dugout. (A dugout canoe is not some big aluminum canoe that you may be thinking about. It's a tiny piece of wood that has a little section cut out of it so that it floats like a boat. More suitable for the short locals here and not a 6 foot 2 inch 'green-go'. (That term is accepted here with no offense)). Needless to say, when trying to get into the dugout, my feet decided that they would rather slip on the ramp than get into the canoe. I got wet. They laughed. I laughed too. When i managed to get into the canoe, i then had the task of getting the dugout out to the raft (which has never been a problem in the aluminum canoes here). These dugout canoes are really sensitive when paddling and steering. All i could do was spin circles in the canoe. I could not manage to make it go straight out to the raft. One of the kids jumped into the water to 'help me get to the raft' by pulling the rope on the front of the canoe. (At first i interpreted this as a way to get George wet again, I didn't know whether to trust him or whack him with the paddle.) I decided it was best not to whack the kid with the paddle. He pulled the rope and i was able to get on the raft and eat lunch. Here's the reminder.
After eating lunch, four of the teens asked me to go swimming with them, two boys and two girls. (This is a lake that 2 weeks earlier me and some of the smaller kids caught eight small piranha) I jumped into the lake and not two seconds later felt all kind of tiny fish run into me and nibble at my skin. The teens said that you have to keep swimming to keep them from bothering you and they headed out across the lake. I thought they were nuts and decided to swim back to the raft. (It's estimated to be over a quarter of a mile across the lake). There four teens were getting close to the other side of the lake and me and the younger teens decided to see if we could beat them across the lake in the big canoe. So we raced across the lake and caught up with them and waited for them on the other side. They met up with us on the other side at a place where they could touch the bottom of the lake and not have to swim. I thought surely they would want to ride back with us in the canoe. Only one of them jumped in the canoe. The other three, one boy and two girls, wanted to swim back across the lake to the raft! I thought it was awesome for them just to swim one way across the lake and they were going swim back! So i thought, if these three teenagers (especially with 2 being girls) can swim across and back, then surly i could swim just one way across. I jumped out of the canoe and rested a while with the three teens while the canoe went back to the raft over a quarter of a mile away. I was still overwhelmed at what they had just accomplished and excited about having the opportunity to say that i swam across the lake with piranhas in it.
Off we went. For a while we stayed together and swam and swam and swam. Slowly we started to separate as i lagged behind. The more i swam the farther the other side seemed to get. I swam on my back for a while and then on my stomach and then my back again. I seemed to be getting nowhere. At one point i remember looking back to see if it would be easier to turn around and go back. At that time i was right smack in the middle of the lake and i didn't want to swim anymore. There were many points in which i thought, "wow! So this is how Im going to go. I'm going to drown in this lake and then my body will turn into piranha food." But in the same way thoughts of death were filling my mind, so were thoughts of being able to taste all of God has promised in scripture for those who believe. It was really exciting. i still continued to swim (more like doggy paddle), breathing heavily. I hollered to the kids in swimming in front of me to yell and get someone in the canoe to come back out and pick me up. I was out of hearing range and couldn't holler due to being so winded. About ten minutes later the canoe was there and i was rescued.
The lesson i was reminded of is that i have never found true satisfaction in my own accomplishments. So what if i was able to swim across the lake and back again ten times. Would this satisfy me??? Of course not. What truly satisfies our inner beings??? I can say right now that it's definitely NOT what we accomplish on our own strength. That can either leave you drowning in the middle of a lake or leave you with a temporary false sense of glory that will be overshadowed by someone elses work (in this case 4 teens). That glory will also fade like the color of fresh cut grass sitting in the sun on a hot summer day. What truly satisfies is knowing intimately the One who has an eternal glory far surpassing all that we could ever imagine or accomplish! This One is Jesus. I'm so thankful that His love for us is based upon His glory and what He has accomplished. His love is embedded in His grace, mercy, and worth. His love chose the lashes, nails, and crown of thorns to show us mercy by rescuing us from the lake of sin that we would drown in apart from Him. He grace does not desire for us to try our best and meet Him half way, but to pick us up as soon as possible and teach us how to breathe in a newness of life.
Right now you are one of two types of people reading this email. You have either been rescued by Jesus alone by believing that He died and paid for your sins and rose from the dead or you have not. The only way to be rescued is by believing. (1Cor. 15:1-4, Col. 2:13-14,Eph. 1:13, John 3:15-18, Acts 4:12, Romans 5:8-11, Romans 4:5)
Prayer request:
1. My prayer request is for anybody reading this back home that has not believed to believe. I pray that I you have not yet believed that you will see the greatness, beauty, grace and mercies of Jesus who though He was rich, yet for your sake became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. to the praise of His glory!!!
AUGUST 8, 2002
By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; Who establishes the mountains by His strength, Being girded with might; Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples. They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy. Psalm 65:5-8
I don't know how i'm still alive. My breath has been taken away, again. This time by beauty of the Creator and the events that He ordained over the last week. I flew into Lima last Thursday after a rough day of work. The next few days after that however opened my eyes to see the importance of the work. I would not mind going through rough days like that everyday for the rest of my life because of what i experienced within this past week. I was invited to go to Chacas to a New Testament Bible dedication for the North Conchucos Quechuas. (A Bible dedication is an event that happens when a people group receives their finished product, a Bible in their own language.) There are approximately 250,000 people in the North Conchucos Quechua language group scattered throughout some of the most remote parts of the Andes Mountains. The trip to Chacas included two days of driving, two big buses, and 30 plus N. Americans. The trip was extremely awesome and much needed!!! The beauty of the mountain landscape, the waterfalls, and the snow capped mountains reek of the brilliance of the Master's hand. It was amazing to see the poor Quechua farmers that worked so hard just to stay alive. They live in houses that they build themselves and farm some of the steepest slopes of the mountains by hand (no farm equipment except maybe a small plow pulled by a donkey). All of the children had beautiful rosy red cheeks which where chapped by the crisp mountain air and the bright sun. Sunday morning was the day of the dedication. The dedication was fantastic! Free food was provided for the 3 to 4 thousand people that attended. That doesn't happen too often for these people. It was amazing to see the people crowding for a Bible when they were being distributed. Juan Julio was one of the Quechua speaking translation assistants that worked with Jimmy, the translator, during the 12 plus years it took to translate the New Testament. When distributing the new testaments he was asked by a Quechua man if the entire book was written in Quechua. (These people may have a few books written in their language if any besides their new Bible.) Juan Julio said, "yes" and opened the book and began to read the passage in John 14:6 in which Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, but by me..." They talked for a while. Later on that night we were able to give a Bible to an elderly, blind Quechua lady. As we walked away i told Gil, my friend, that i would do anything to be able to read the language and to be able to sit down and read to her one of the passages in scripture where Christ heals the blind. Gil turned around and kneeled down beside her and began to read Mark chapter two to the lady. That chapter does not contain Christ healing a blind person, but it was a perfect passage for the moment. The lady greatly enjoyed it. He also read to her the next morning before we left. As i was walking down the road with my suitcase the day we were to leave the mountains, i saw a lady walking out a door holding her new bible open. She had either been reading it or having someone else read it to her. She rushed up to me and grabbed my hand saying, "Mi gusta me biblia in Quechua!!, mi gusta me biblia in Quechua!!" Which translated from Spanish means, "I like my bible in Quechua, I like my Bible in Quechua" I asked her in spanish if she could understand what it was saying. She said yes, with a huge smile on her face as she struggled to let go of my hand. After she did, she ran to a woman standing in the doorway of a little bakery and opened up her Bible and began to share her excitement with the other lady.
We had a flat tire on one bus and a broken spring on the other on a road about halfway up the mountain as we were leaving Chacas. One of the drivers was from Chacas. He was a Quechua man. His wife and his one-year-old daughter rode with us on the way back. While we were stopped i offered to hold the little Quechua girl to give her mom a break. Actually, the girl was adorable and I couldn't resist the opportunity to hold her. Her name was Marta. She had big happy smile and a grip that almost ripped my nose off when she got a hold of it. What blew my mind as i held her was the fact that she's going to be able to know the Lord in a way that her ancestors never have. She will have God's word in a language that she will be able to comprehend all of her life. The only thing that surpasses all of this was being able to see the awesome sovereignty of God. He has chosen Marta's generation to provide the means of a more intimate relationship with Himself through His word. Romans 11:33 says: O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!! Marta's going to have means to explore these riches that her ancestors did not.
Prayer Requests:
1. Praise God for His grace and mercy!!!
2. Praise God for the completion of the North Conchucos New Testament and the workers God used to get the job done.
3. Praise God that you have his Word written in your language.
4. Pray for teachers to rise up among them who will be able to accurately handle the word of truth.
5. Pray for more workers to reach the unreached.
6. Pray for me. The Lord is opening some doors for future work here in Peru. This next summer the computer support specialist is going on a one-year furlough back in the states. They will need someone to take his place. My name was brought up and i've been asked if i would like to come here for another year. I don't want to make a decision without asking for your prayers. Please pray that Lord will use me for His greatest glory and that He will show me clearly where that will be. I'm also contemplating lifetime work in computer support for Bible translators.
It is my eager expectation and hope that i shall not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
Phil. 1:20
World Population: 6.1 billion. Currently growing at an annual rate of 1.2%, or 77 million people per year. Six countries account for half of this annual growth: India 21%; China 12%; Pakistan 5%; Nigeria 4%; Bangladesh 4%; Indonesia 3%.
Source: World Population Prospects, The 2000 Revision Highlights, (2001). Population Division Department of Economic and Social Affairs. New York: United Nations.
Number of languages currently spoken in the world: 6,809
Source: Ethnologue. (14th ed.). (Vol. 1). Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2000.
Url: http://www.ethnologue.com
Number of languages needing translation: about 3,000.
Source: Estimate by SIL International Executive Director's Office, April 2002
Number of languages with some or all of the Bible: 2,281. Of these, 392 have an adequate Bible, 1012 have an adequate New Testament, and 883 have at least one book of the Bible.
Source: Scripture Language Report 2001. (04-02-02). United Bible Societies.
Number of people who speak a language with no Scripture available and no translation program yet begun: 250 million.
Source: Ethnologue. (14th ed.). (Vol. 1). Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2000.
Url: http://www.ethnologue.com
Number of people who speak a language with a translation program begun but no published portions yet available: 130 million. Source: Ethnologue. (14th ed.). (Vol. 1). Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2000.
Url: http://www.ethnologue.com
SEPTEMBER 3, 2002
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly...Col. 3:16
Howdy All,
Jungle life is going well. I went to a restaurant the other day nicknamed, Skins. I was told that you just point to a skin on the wall or point to an animal hanging from the ceiling and that's how you order your meal. From the looks of the place, that wouldn't have surprised me. I was greatly relieved to see a menu and the food was actually pretty tasty. Other than that, i have had a great time with the native wildlife. So far i've gotten to hold a snake, kill a snake and run from a snake. (the rules in Texas for poisonous snakes do not apply here, where 90% of the snakes are poisonous and the other 10% will swallow you whole. (estimation percentages are rough estimates from my dad)). The pretty, bright green snakes that are about 5 feet long are mean and can really fly. While here, I've also had the opportunity to hone in on my iguana catching skills. The trick is to get one of your friends to attempt to distract it by standing in front of it. These animals are extremely fast and easily spooked so you have to have a decoy. (If you want a good laugh, tell him to squawk like a chicken and wave his arms; however, this is not really necessary.) Then get a large stick and slowly press it down on the back of the iguanas tail, easily enough that you don't hurt him, but firm enough to keep his tail from slapping you. Once his tail is secure you can grab the tail firmly with your hand and hold him up off of the ground away from your body (sharp claws) and you've got him. WARNING: make sure that you do not take the iguana inside of the house with the family that you are staying with and scare the daylights out of the Mom (Darcy Munoz), just to get a picture taken. It's not polite to scare people and watch them get all icky feeling.
All of the above is a great, undeserved bonus that the Lord has graciously thrown in while being down here. However, the even more exciting adventure going on is the work that the Lord is getting accomplished. During these past few days i've been invited to 2 scripture checking parties, one for the Huamalies New Testament and one of the Margos New Testament. Both are Quechua languages. The scripture checking party is one of the latest steps in the process of getting the New Testament from computer format onto a printed page. We perform these checks from printed hardcopies printed out from the person doing the layout. When making these checks we look for possible physical inconsistencies such as page numbers, chapter numbers, we make sure the pictures are clear, make sure that the footnotes are on the right page, the columns are balanced, etc. Once finished, the layout tech will take all of the needed corrections and go back and edit the computer copy to make the necessary changes. It's just so amazing to know that these two people groups are soon going to get an opportunity to know the awesome wisdom of the Lord in new depths through His revealed character in Scripture!!!
One of my projects now is to run scripture through some computer checks. I'm currently working with Lambert Anderson, the translator for the Ticuna people, and Gil Munoz, the computer specialist here in the jungle in order to get Old Testament books of the bible ready for layout. My job when doing this is to free up the translator from having to do highly repetitious checks such as dealing with incorrect line spacing, character spacing, and incorrect fonts. It's like taking a rough draft and making into a presentable, readable copy. From what i've been told, the Ticuna language is one of the top six most difficult languages in the world. It's a tonal language meaning that you can have one word spoken at different tones. The tone you speak that one word in determines the meaning. A highly difficult tonal language would have up to 4 different tones. The Ticunas have five. English is a not a tonal language but i'm going to give you a very weak illustration using English. Say the following sentence. [The police officer would not permit me to go get my permit] Notice the difference in the pronunciation of the word 'permit' and how each syllable is stressed differently. English isn't even a tonal language. Now imagine there being five different ways to say 'permit'. Isn't God so awesome to give someone the patience, endurance, provision, support, and ability to learn a language like this and then have that language put in the form of God's Word!!!
Please take a moment and think about all of the above that the Lord is accomplishing and then think about some of the following passages. What are God's goals???
but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD. Numbers 14:21
Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.'' Psalms 46:10
"For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea" Hab. 2:14
"This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matt. 24:14
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." Rev. 7:9-10
Prayer Requests:
- increased time spent with the Lord for myself
- that God will be glorified by deeply cutting the hearts of the Huamalies, Margos, and Ticuna people with His written Word.
- continued prayer support from people back home.
- pray that nothing will slow down translation work.
- for the teens here going through inductive bible study methods through the book of 1 Peter (it's going great so far!!!)
- increased wisdom in working with computers and the ability to retain that knowledge.
- prayer about when to go to Lima.
- prayer about coming back and working in Lima for a year from the summer of 2003 to 2004
in Him,
george
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Col. 2:13-14
SEPTEMBER 18, 2002
As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking. Ezekiel 1:28
Since I've been here I have been overwhelmed by the something that I have taken for granted all of my life. It's the simple goodness of God. We treat him so commonly and doubt Him so much yet he never fails to be a good Father to us. He takes care of us constantly. Right now if you are reading this, you are definitely able to breathe. Your heart is also beating without you making it tick. It would impossible to write how many ways that the Lord is good to us. Today the simple rain was just a reminder of one way.
Right now it's raining outside and has caused me to think how the rain is like the Lord in many ways. The rain like the Lord is something we cannot control. Rain is extremely powerful. It has the ability to violently destroy life and land! However, it often provides a gentle peace giving sound that we find great comfort in resting in. Rain has the ability to slice through the heat of summer and cool the earth making the temperature enjoyable. Out here, the rain takes an immense amount of dust out of the air making it bearable to travel on the rugged, dirt roads. It also washes the dust off of the huge leaves on the plants making them sparkle. The water in the rain makes things clean. The water in the rain gives life and nourishment to the vegetation and animals that drink it in. The value of the rain is priceless, yet it's free.
In Isaiah 55:1-2 it says every who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money; come, buy, and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness!
In John 7:37-38, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.
The Lord's offer still stands. It's just another way He shows His goodness to us. Like the rain the Lord's invitation is priceless yet free because it cost Jesus everything as he paid for our sin on the cross with His blood. Like the rain, the Lord gives life and washes all whose who believe in order to make them glimmer and shine in the Son. Like the rain, the Lord causes those that already believe to grow and be nourished because He rose from the dead and is alive. Like the rain on thirsty ground, He satisfies!!!
In His Hands,
george
Prayer Requests:
There are three main people. Ben, Cynthia, and Katy. Ben and Katy are foreign exchange students from Canada. Cynthia is a Peruvian and a single mother. Ben and Cynthia have already heard the gospel once. Katy has not. Ben is living with a Christian Peruvian family. Please pray for opportunities to love them and share truth with them. Pray that the Lord will pierce their heart's with His goodness and that they will believe and glorify God. Please pray for wisdom in sharing the truth with them!
The work on the Ticuna Old Testament is going great!! Imagine taking at random any 88 characters out of the book of Psalms 51-100. That's what would be missing if we didn't run the scripture through these checks. Since the language has so many diacritics, there were many symbols used for characters. We run these through a program that removes the symbol and adds the actual character in place. If we didnt, all of the symbols would be dropped out when transferring to layout. Right now we have Proverbs through Malachi left! Please continue to pray for the work on this Old Testament as it's being prepared for final read through and is getting prepared for layout Lambert and Doris are the translators.
Update on praying about when to go to Lima: I was planning on going around the end of September but there is a chance that I may be going to the Perené in October with Nathan Payne. (Texas A&M graduate class of '01 Whoop!!!) His parent's translated the Bible into the Ashéninka language. From what I understand there are about 6 different dialects of this language and they have enough differences in which a new bible will be needed in each dialect. Since the languages are closely related they will be able to do computer adaptations of the other dialects. Nathan is working on one of those dialects and will need a native tongue translation assistant. I've been asked to go with him. This means going into the deep jungle. Please pray that the Lord will help him find an assistant whether I'm able to go or not and that the translation will be completed quickly and accurately and bear much fruit.
Correction: On the last email I sent, I gave an example about the Ticuna language. It's a language using 5 tones. I gave a weak illustration using the english word 'permit' using it in the following sentence: "he would not permit me to give him a permit" I said that you could say the same word permit with 5 different tones and get a different meaning. I was way off. After talking to someone who has taken linguist classes, there would be 100 different ways to say the word permit in the Ticuna language!!
Also, find a book called: God's City in the Jungle by [Rossi, Sanna Barlow]. It's a must!!! It's a short one-day read but it's totally awesome!!!
He Chases Them
"Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. "I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight." Ezekiel 36:22-23
The above passage altered my life and view of the Lord completely the first time it entered my ears as Dwight Edwards gave the message from the pulpit that Sunday morning. I cannot imagine anybody reading it without seeing the Lord as a blood-thirsty lion with his muscles flexed, his claws ready to defend what is most dear to him, and his voice thundering through the Earth as it makes all who have ears tremble. My first thoughts were, "These Israelites really missed the mark!!! What did these people do that was so wrong as to profane the name of God, among nations!?!" The answer came within the Hebrew definition of the word, "profaned." It simply means: to treat commonly
The language is Perenè Asheninka. The people call themselves Ashaninka.
Last Thursday, October 3, I arrived in Lima to meet up with Nathan Payne. He's currently working with a computer program that adapts the already complete Apurucayali Asheninka New Testament into a different dialect of Asheninka known as Perenè Asheninka. The languages are closely related thus making the Apurucayali New Testament a source text for the adaptation. My reason for meeting up with Nathan was to tag along with him out to the Perenè (area around the Perenè river). Our goal was to find the person or people that God had already prepared to help Nathan do the language work and get them to come out to the Yarina center to begin work. We were praying that the Lord would specifically point us to His people for the job and He did just that in a very eventful short time!
After traveling over 8 hours through the beautiful Andes on a bus we arrived in a little town called La Merced. So far I've noticed that there are three different mountain landscapes. There are desert mountains with no grass, mountains with grass and farmland that are typically farmed by the Quechuas, and thick jungle mountain ranges that are littered with tropical fruits and inhabited mainly by Indian-like natives who work the land, fish, and hunt. The area around the Perenè River is the jungle landscape. After settling in a hotel in La Merced we decided to look for someone who had a truck that would take us up to different villages in order to find the future translation assistants. As usual, our pale skin made us a target for everyone wanting to put a little change in their pockets. In the plaza people would come up to us asking if we wanted to buy their goods. One of the fellows that came up to us ran tours into the villages. What a perfect opportunity! Nathan elaborated on what we were specifically looking for. The man in turn mentioned that he had an Ashaninka man working for him and offered to find him and bring him to us. Later that night the man found us. Nathan was able to talk to Tyityiri (Frank), the 20-year-old Ashaninka. Nathan asked him how to pronounce a few words and found out that he was definitely of the Perenè Asheninka dialect. Frank has graduated from high school in Peru. This means that he's fluent in Spanish. Nathan made Frank aware of our plans. Frank agreed to meet us the next morning in order to have his sister take us up to his village to speak with their father. He should be able to help us.
Early the next morning, Frank met us at the hotel with a car that had been arranged. Frank stayed back in La Merced as his two sisters, Marishúri and Schuna, escorted us in the overloaded little vehicle as it headed up a mountain. The driver had to stop and let us out a few times so the car would not scrape bottom on a few bumpy areas in the road. We were told that the trip up the mountain took 3 hours to walk up and about a 1-hour walk down. Once we arrived at the top we met with Frank, Marishúri, and Schuna's father, Jaryoonka (Luis). He warmly welcomed us and then pointed us to our house for the night. We were unable to meet their mother, Mechi, that night because she was sick with a fever and did not come outside to greet us. They mentioned that they had no medicine so we gave them a package of ibuprofen. The house we were given was a one room, dirt floored delight. We were really surprised to see that there were three homemade wooden beds that were off of the ground. While we were setting up mosquito nets, Poechi (Tommy), Frank's little 10-year-old brother, came and sat down in the corner of the house and watched our every movement with his curious wandering eyes.
After getting situated in what would be our house for the next 24 hours, Nathan was able to speak with Luis some more about what kind of person or people he was looking for in order to work on the translation. He was looking for a fluent Perenè Asheninka speaker with not a whole lot of Spanish influence. The Lord had amazingly enough brought us to the right person. Luis is the head of 120 Ashaninka villages and would be the person needed to grant permission for any Ashaninka person to leave the area. Luis had Schuna prepare lunch while having Marishúri give us a tour of the village while he met with some others in order to make a decision on who if anybody would come and assist us.
Marishúri took Nathan and I up a trail that led to the top of the mountain. Along the trail we passed a building that was used as a church. It was very empty looking. After asking a few probing questions we were able to find out quite a bit. I'll explain more later. Along the way she told us all about the different plants and fruits that were along the mountain side, filled us in some on their customs, and asked many questions. She showed us plants that were used for medicine and a few that were good for eating. We picked a few fresh pineapples and carried them to the top of the mountain where we enjoyed the delicious treats and an incredible view of God's creation.
After returning from the mini-journey up the mountain we ate a delicious lunch consisting of rice, yuca, and fish steamed in a banana leaf. Fresh pineapple juice was also included. The Lord really took care of us because the juice we drank was not mixed with purified water. I believe that it was during lunchtime that Luis appointed Marishúri to be one of the translation assistants (I was unable to comprehend most of the conversation). She has spoken Asheninka all of her life but has graduated from a Spanish speaking school. She has had a lot of outside influence which is not good, but that could come in very handy when she would need to travel to Yarina without our escort. The Lord also has his reasons. Nathan also requested that we have one more person to bring along with us, preferably someone with not as much Spanish influence. Luis had not made that decision yet.
When lunch was over we took a long walk down to a waterfall where we were able to rinse off and filter some drinking water. We then walked back up to the village and had two great conversations: the first with Schuna and the second with her ten-year-old brother, Tommy. Both were bouncing questions off of Nathan left and right. Schuna, 18, asked if Nathan was married, he is. Then she asked about kids. He has one and one on the way. Then she asked if I was married. The answer was no. She then asked if I would ever consider marrying a Peruvian or an Ashaninka? (aren't guys supposed to propose?) She then mentioned that she had a cousin marry a Peruvian and then stated that she could not imagine marrying out of the Ashaninka group. My response to her question was that as long as the girl was a Christian, spiritually mature, and not content in her relationship with the Lord, then race wouldn't be an important factor. She then mentioned that she went through a confirmation process with a certain religious group and by her facial expressions and words we could tell that she was very confused about what all that meant. Her next question was, "what does it mean to be a Christian?" Bingo!!! Nathan shared the truth of the gospel while I prayed. He mentioned that the only thing that is important is Christ, His work, and how we respond in faith to what He did for us.
The conversation with Tommy was a riot. It was his opportunity for this little fellow to ask anything his wild imagination could come up with. He asked Nathan what his favorite food is? Shrimp, Nathan replied. What is shrimp? Does it make you smart, strong, or fat? Fat, Nathan replied, as he didn't know how to answer the question. We laughed. He also asked where Texas was. In North America, close to Mexico. How long does it take to get there in an airplane? 6 hours. How long does it take to drive there? About a month, maybe. How long does it take to walk there? Good question!!!! As they communicated in Spanish, I was starting to doze off. Tommy then looked at me and asked a question. Nathan translated. The question was wonderfully worded, "Is sleepiness grabbing you?"
Shortly after that, we ate a delicious snack consisting of fried bananas, yuca, and a fried egg accompanied by a very tasty cup of coffee. The coffee beans were most likely straight from their farms. We ate our meal with 2 couples from Lima who were staying in the village that night as tourists. When the meal was finished, the Ashaninka people made two campfires. One for the tourists and one for Nathan and I. They played music and danced a few of their traditional dances. Occasionally they would take our hands and ask us to join them in dancing around the fire. In the fire were bamboo rods that would explode causing everyone to yell. It was a great experience!
When the fires died down, the festivities ended and off to our mosquito nets we went. The next morning Mechi greeted us. She said that the medicine had helped and that she was feeling much better as she joyfully conversed with us. After breakfast, Luis had appointed our next helper. His name is Iroviri, (Robert). Nathan again asked him how to pronounce a few words in order to determine his dialect. He passed the test. We greeted him and went off to gather our things. Robert did the same. Before packing our things Nathan and I spent some time in prayer. During the prayer time, Schuna walked through the door and started talking and asked what we were doing. Nathan told her that we were praying and she said that she wanted to pray too. She hopped up on one of the beds with a huge smile and bowed her head mimicking us. It was like the Lord was putting a prayer request right in front of our faces. We prayed in English that Schuna and her entire family would one day come to know the Lord in truth. We prayed that they would know the true reason why they danced the Christmas dance the night before. We prayed that God would reach others through them for His Name and His Glory. We also prayed that they would have the scriptures in their own language and be able to know the Lord in a depth that has yet to hit the Perenè Ashaninka who cannot read or comprehend God's Word in Spanish. When we finished praying we noticed that the huge smile that was there before was not as brilliant. Her eyes were watering as tears were on the verge of pouring out.
When finished packing we met up with Luis and the chief of the village. He wrote up two papers giving Robert and Marishúri permission to leave. The Lord had clearly gone before us. Robert and Marishúri were able to leave with two complete strangers, to go to a place that they had never been before, all within one day's notice. He also brought the paper-signing guy to us which prevented us from having to search for him in what could have taken days or weeks. They said their good-byes and we were off. We all hiked down to the bottom of the mountain. What Robert and Marishúri packed for two weeks weighed about 30-50lbs less than what Nathan and I had collected for the journey, so we let them carry our heavy backpacks down the mountain since they were used to the walk. (just kidding on everything after that last comma, did I get ya?)
We bought our bus tickets that morning to venture back out to Yarina so that Nathan could begin language work. The bus was not to leave until about 9:30 that night. We had time to kill. Marishúri mentioned that there was a swimming pool in town. Nathan and I took the two of them to the swimming pool. Robert was afraid to go down the water slide. After swimming for most of the day we headed back to the bus station, waited for a while, and then boarded the bus. The bus was to travel all night until about 7 or 8 the next morning. Late that night Nathan and I decided to take Robert and Marishúri some dried fruit and beef jerky to snack on. Like just about everyone else on the bus, Marishúri was sound asleep. Robert said "Paasonki" which is P. Asheninka for "thank you." About 10 minutes later we heard both Robert and Marishúri wail in laughter. Nathan and I had a hard time containing ourselves as we tried to imagine what on earth they were cracking up about. We thought they would wake the entire bus. The next morning Marishúri told us that Robert had liked the dried fruit so much that he woke her up to eat some of it. (A day later, when Nathan was working on the language with them, they fessed up and Marishúri said that Robert thought that the dried fruit was the most disgusting food he had ever put in his mouth. She said that he threw it all out the window and gave Nathan the empty bag pretending to like the fruit so much that he ate it all! We laughed again!)
After spending 20 plus hours on a bus, we arrived back in Yarina where I surprised the people who have been my family for the past three months. We had a great dinner and celebrated the ways that the Lord had provided for us and rejoiced in the work that He's going to do through our new guests. Robert, Marishúri, and Nathan joined us at the Muñoz's for breakfast the next morning. When asked if they had a good night sleep, Robert replied with a negative. He mentioned that he heard an owl screech that night. There is a beautiful whitish looking owl that perches on a phone post every night in between the house where I'm staying and the house that he is staying in. Whenever they hear an owl screech it is considered to be an extremely bad omen. If the owl makes a sound like a baby crying then that means someone is going to die. Marishúri's dad has ordered that all owls were to be killed in the villages. Robert also mentioned that during the night his spirit left and went back to his village and that he had to go outside during the morning to get it back.
Today is October 11, 2002. Nathan has worked for the last two days with Marishúri and Robert. He stated that Robert has been a great help with getting a dictionary together. Marishúri from what I have gathered from Nathan has had quite a bit of Ashaninka influence outside of the P. Asheninka dialect. She used to travel from village to village teaching schools in Asheninka. This and her short attention span have made things a little less than ideal working conditions for Nathan. Does this mean that God made a mistake by sending her with us? No chance!!! Last night, Marishúri, Robert, and I all attended a church where Gil Muñoz is working with the youth group. He's been going through a study called the essentials of discipleship with the entire church body as well as the youth group. Last night the study was perfect! With the entire congregation he hit the true identity of Christ. Was this guy just a man, was He more than a man, or was He who He claimed to beGod??? He also posed the question? If He is who He claimed to be, then what do you do with Him. Do you reject or accept Him? With the youth group he went over salvation and showed from the scriptures that salvation is only by faith in Jesus and the work that He did for us to save us. About 20 minutes ago a friend here on the center just mentioned that she saw Marishúri down by the lake. She talked with her for a minute and Marishúri said that she was just thinking about God. The Lord is definitely pursuing her!!!!!
October 11, evening report. Nathan and the crew worked on some actual translation today instead of the dictionary. Nathan's dad mentioned that Marishúri's previous attention span problem was only while working through dictionary issues which can be extremely boring. Nathan's report: "Work has been great. Once we got started reading in their language, their eyes lit up. They were very interested and wanted to know more."
Now back to seeing God as the blood-thirsty lion that we started with because His Name was being profaned: treated commonly. The reason I mentioned that is because here, when you ask someone if they are a Christian, their answer 90% of the time is, "yes" I'm _____ , and they give the name of their denomination. They believe that if they attend church then they have nothing to worry about. You see pictures of Christ in all of the taxis and cars. You see shrines all along the road and cut into the mountainsides. You have churches in villages like the one we saw on top of the mountain and yet the people have no idea as to who this Jesus Christ is. He's just a common picture. In the passage in Ezekiel, the most amazing, mind-boggling thing is how the Lord reacts in what appears to be a raging fury of guaranteed judgment to come. We would expect him to unleash his fierce anger on the people, but He doesn't. Verse 24 continues.
"For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. "You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God. "Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. "I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. "Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. "I am not doing this for your sake," declares the Lord GOD, "let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!" 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities. Ezekiel 36:24-33
God, instead of destroying the people, made a promise to forgive the people, to remember their evil ways no more, to give them a new heart, to put His Spirit within them and cause them to walk in his statutes. God does everything in the above passage. He's the acting party. Man is not working for these things; neither is man receiving the wrath of these. Just because God made promises of forgiveness instead of annihilating the people does not mean He failed to act in anger. He just displaced that anger on His only Son whose blood was poured out freely directly before and during his time on the cross. This along with the resurrection of Christ from the dead allowed these promises to come into play for every person who believes in Him, regardless of language, tribe, nation, how much they could ever perform, or how much they missed the mark in the past. God's displayed anger results in unfathomable, underserved forgiveness and blessing for all who believe.
Prayer Requests:
- That God's Name will no longer be treated commonly, but adorned and exalted above every other name throughout this land, Peru.
- That God will give new hearts to the Ashaninka and that those hearts will overrun with the person of Christ and infect other nations for generations to come to God's greatest pleasure.
- That Marishúri and Robert will become believers soon.
- That the Lord will give Nathan wisdom and patience in working with Marishúri and Robert.
- That there will be a New Testament in the language of Perenè Asheninka soon!!!
- That these people will lose their bondage of fear because of freedom in Christ.
But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone....Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage. Heb. 2:9,14-15
November 13th
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. John 1:17
Things are going well here in Peru. My name has officially been changed from everybodys favorite, George of the Jungle to my new name, George, What Did You Do To My Computer.Again. (just kidding and being a big dork at the same time.) I've currently been in Lima for a little over 3 weeks and am greatly enjoying Pizza Hut pizza and McDonald's quarter pounders with cheese gasping for air in Big Mac sauce. (the messier, the better.) I'm helping Doug McMahon in the computer office. The work mostly consists of building computers, fixing hardware problems, loading software, and taking care of anything else that may come along. Doug has been a patient and gracious teacher and together we've pieced together about a dozen computers that will be used by translators or others involved in the administration/technical work that makes Bible translation possible. According to the meeting yesterday, there will be 16 Bible dedications here in Peru in the next five years. (That's were the people receive the written Word in their language.) Awesome!!!
Many people have asked about my plans for returning to the U.S. On December 20th, they are kicking me out of the country for taking the high school youth group llama tipping last Friday night. Well, not really, thats just when the tourist visa ends.
A couple of weeks ago i was invited to take in some of the sites in Lima. We visited the presidential palace, watched the changing of the guard, and then visited a museum that used to be an active church. The church was larger than the presidential palace. Our tour guide had really done her homework and filled us in on a lot of Peruvian history, a history that i would like to forget. A few hundred years ago, some people came to Peru on a mission. These missionaries claimed to bring the message of Christ; but in truth their message had absolutely nothing to do with Him.
Scripture says by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His(Gods) sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. God gave us rules(Law) to show us how set apart or Holy He is, to show us how much we fall short, and to be a tutor to lead us to Christ. Keeping the rules of the Law never bought anyone a ticket into heaven. These missionaries on the other hand taught and thought that by trying to be good, going to church, being baptized, being buried under the church, and participating in certain ceremonies would equate eternal favor with God and buy them a ticket into heaven. We were told that they murdered all who rejected. The hundred-year-old paintings matched the stories.
These missionaries missed the mark. First of all, they disregarded Gods entirely free yet priceless gift. That gift is complete forgiveness of all sin that comes only by trusting in Christs death for our sins. We do not receive this gift by just being not as bad as the next guy, and we cannot earn, work for, or buy this gift. We can only receive it. If are not sure that if you died right now that you would spend eternity in heaven, I would like to invite you right now just to say as best as you know how, Thank you Jesus for dying and paying the price for my sin. If you have done that, Welcome to the family! and please tell somebody or me about it. I would love to hear about it!
Hearing that the Truth was maligned shattered my heart deeply. Seeing the actual human bones of approximately 1,200 people piled in the catacombs didnt help either. They were people who were either murdered or thought that the burial ground was the way into the presence of God.
Prayer Requests:
- That the recipients of these updates that do not know the Lord will come to know Him in truth, wisdom, and understanding in order that may be able to worship and adore Him and bring Him tons of Glory.
- Pray also that they will find a church that teaches sound doctrine and that they will be loved and discipled well.
- Pray for Elizabeth Wyss and Christa T., two German linguists taking a 3 day trip up the Napo River in a little boat in order to do language survey.
- For the Faienap translators: (Faienap is a group of nationals translating the Old Testament into their own language 6 different languages)
Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:37
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Col. 2:13-14
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Eph. 2:8-9
Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Rom. 11:33
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory Eph. 1:13-14
You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:11
but He (Christ) whom God raised did not undergo decay. "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through Him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and through Him everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. Acts 13:37-39
Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Phil. 4:6
I wanted to write a quick little note to all of you back home to say thanks. Your love, prayers, and encouragement make my heart glad! Namely that your prayers delight the Lord (Prov. 15:8). Im so thankful that we have a God who is big enough to hear each one of our prayers and is faithful to answer them to His greatest glory. Im also thankful that He cares for us and desires that we cast our cares upon Him.
Nothing is too small.
July 2, 2002 was the date that I send out the very first Peru update. The very first prayer request was as follows.
Prayer Requests
1. To be able to pull a medical update off of the internet and load it onto a special palm pilot. Right now there are hardware problems on getting a computer set up to do that. Merrilee is a physician/translator that is going out to the tribe for a couple of months in order to attend to their medical needs and finish translation work. Having all of that information readily available on her hand held will keep her from having to take a volume of medical journals.
Sounds like a pretty insignificant prayer request. To be able to load information on a palm pilot??? What kind of prayer request is that??? Im so thankful that this request was taken to the Lord by you guys. I just received a letter from Merrilee who has been out with the Yoras for about 4 months. Here it is.
George,
We're back at the center now. I wanted to let you know that the trick of reloading ePocrates from the backup chip to keep it from expiring worked great! After I did so, while we were still in Sta. Rosa and Ivagene was in San Pablo, she consulted me about a Yaminahua baby who seemed to be dying of overwhelming infection. Her around-the-clock care of the baby and prayer pulled him through. She said he would not have made it without the advice I gave her, a lot of which came from ePocrates. So you helped save his life!
Blessings,
Merrilee
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever! Eph. 3:20-21 |
