June 2005

Dear praying and loving friends,

In only one more year we expect to be finishing the translation of "Selected Old Testament Portions" for the Kashinawas, which will be the equivalent of about 40% of the Old Testament, or in pages, it will be about equal to the length of the New Testament. There is still quite a lot of translation to complete and then have checked by our translation consultant. And I will refrain from thinking how many round trips between Nueva Luz-Esperanza-Pucallpa-Lima there are still ahead for our co-translators and us in order to work with our translation consultant in Lima.

The Kashinawas live in an area which encompasses the frontier of Peru and Brazil. There are great differences in the alphabets and the spelling of proper nouns for the two groups, due to the influence of the national languages, Spanish in Peru and Portuguese in Brazil. There are also some dialectical differences to be made as we adapt the Peruvian edition for the Brazilian "Kaxinawá".

These two editions will be published under the auspices of the World Bible League, and in the future, probably a year from now, they will be sending out a letter requesting gifts for the funding of these two editions of "Selected Old Testament Portions". We are, however, responsible for obtaining 50% of the total cost. We have not been officially told how much our part will be but I will estimate it to be about $20,000 for the two editions. (We will be advised of the exact account when we know how many pages it will actually be.) Multiplying costs X 2 is a bit of a challenge, as it recently was in publishing the two editions of the New Testament.

I would like to ask you to consider sending a gift or a pledge soon to help with our portion and maybe you could help again if/when the. World Bible League contacts you. This is a lot of money for us to raise and we have no personal funds to draw upon. It will be only as the Lord touches people like you that these publications of God's Word can become a reality. If you are able to help with the portion we are personally responsible for, you might want to use the clip-off section at the end of this letter to mail with your gift to the office in Dallas that will manage this account for us. They will send you a tax deductible receipt for your gift, and we send you our very sincere thanks right now.

May the Lord bless you as you consider what you can do to make the Kashinawa/Kaxinawá "Selected Old Testament Portions" a reality for the Kashinawas of Peru and Brazil.

A few months ago, we translated Psalm 37, and a short time ago a young Peruvian missionary gave me a book mark with part of that Psalm on it:
      "Delight yourself in the Lord,
      And He will give you the desires of your heart. "(Psalm 37:4)
Our hearts are delighting in the Lord and we are pouring out all the energy we have to complete this Old Testament translation work. Please do share in this wonderful opportunity to bring more of God's precious Word to the growing Kashinawa church.

Yours because of Christ,
Sue for Dick and Sue Montag

I would like to help in the support of the publication of Richard and Susan Montags' "Selected Old Testament Portions" for the Kashinawa in Peru and the Kaxinawá in Brazil:
___ With a gift of $_____.
___ I will pray for them regularly.
___ My name and address:
___________________________
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I understand that I will receive a tax deductible receipt for my gift(s) from SIL International for my gift.

Signed: ______________________________

The check should be made out in US dollars to "SIL International" and sent to:

International Publishing Services Coordinator
7500 West Camp Wisdom Rd.
Dallas, TX 75236