February 15, 2004

To all of you dear folks who are meeting our needs
      with your prayers
      with your financial gifts
      and with your loving concern,

I feel like I want to tell each one of you personally how much you mean to us, however the time constraints on our lives seem to keep me working most of the time. Between our 8-5 office work, I have a great deal of work related correspondence and other projects that I am working on in the evenings and we often play dominos with the Kashinawas. Can you remember when YOU played dominos last? And it was fun, wasn't it! The Kashinawas of all ages are absolutely addicted and play as often as they can, from the 6 year old to the 15 year old and their parents. We have two families with us, one in our small extra bedroom and another in an open gazebo across the driveway, very cozy. So they come and go all the time, and each one is very dear to us.

Yesterday Roberto took his family to the zoo in Pucallpa, where I had taken him and Waldemar and some of Waldemar's relatives some months ago. They had a wonderful time! Imagine never having seen a zoo before, and seeing all the animals that you eat, or could eat you daily, right in front of you in cages for the first time! They probably enjoyed it more than most of us because these things are so everyday to us. They had quite a time!

** Our New Testament revision is almost completed. We will start reading Titus tomorrow, so that is pretty close to the end. Please do keep us in your prayers, that we will correct anything we have so far missed and please our Lord with our desire to work to His glory.

** Dick has been sick for two weeks with the flu and has hardly left the house, and if he does, he goes right back to bed. Ask the Lord to heal him.

** The Kashinawas having finally received a date to have a civil marriage ceremony in the city hall in Pucallpa, February 27. And this is to be followed by a church wedding in the evening. Both couples have really wanted to do this. Roberto and Margarita had been married civilly many years ago but both couples also want the church wedding. And then we hope that their flight home will be the next day. Pray with us that the marriages can take place before their flight, for the preparation has been considerable to get all the paper work done, and it would be a big disappointment to them to have to forgo the ceremonies. Unfortunately the flights to Esperanza are only every 15 days, and we want them to be on their way before we have to leave ourselves for Bolivia.

** We plan to leave Pucallpa for Lima about March 8, and fly from Lima to Cochabamba, Bolivia on March 12. We will begin manuscript work with the Bolivian Bible Society on the 15th. So many thing to finish up first, for we need to be ready to head right out to the Kashinawa village when we return from Bolivia. Do ask the Lord to give us daily strength and grace to do the important things and let the non-important things just wait.

May the Lord bless each of you and guide you in His ways and love, and help you to dedicate yourselves more and more to be conformed to Him and His desires for you. We are deeply grateful for your part in our being here.