NUEVA LUZ
January 21, 2006

Dear praying and loving friends,

Well, we're doing it again. Within this week we will again be leaving Nueva Luz for our river trip to Esperanza, and we pray that a plane will come when it is scheduled, for our flight to Pucallpa. Last time we flew out of Esperanza on an Antonav military transport plane. The cargo (mostly wood) was piled in the center under the wings and the passengers were in seats along the sides to the rear. The Lord has graciously guided us through many rough waters, over sandbars, wading through mud up to our knees, through rainstorms, and a whole lot more as we travel on the river. The flights are somewhat the same. And the 22-24 hours bus trips to Lima, which reaches an altitude of 16,000 feet, have all been part of a wonderful lesson that the Lord reinforces daily. He is the one who has brought us here and He is the one who will see us through. And there is nothing He, will not do to keep us going as long as he wants us here. Our God is a mighty God!

5 The Lord watches over you--      the Lord is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day,      nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all harm--      he will watch over your life; 8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going      both now and forever more.  Psalm 121: 5-8

Today is the beginning of a course at the Kashinawa Bible Institute that was built about 1 1/2 years ago at a site about 30 minutes downriver from Nueva Luz. Dick has recently installed a lighting system which will have our solar panel and battery when we leave Nueva Luz for the last time in April or May. They will then have lights in the three classrooms, which will be really helpful for their evening classes. One of the courses which they will be studying this session is from our recently translated book of Proverbs, with special emphasis on the last chapter, about the virtuous wife. It was a difficult book to translate but the 4 co-translators that worked on it with us really liked it, and each had asked for his own copy to study further.

The students for the course come from most of the 18 Kashinawa villages on the Curanja and Purús Rivers, and we hope that it won't be long before there are also students from Brazil. There is often a missionary or two from Pucallpa who help with the teaching, but the Kashinawas themselves are doing more and more of the teaching. When Roberto and Waldemar are no longer working full time with us, they will again be wonderful teachers. Being on the translation team for both the New Testament and then the Old Testament portions has been a joyful "seminary" education for them both.

The next step of our "journey" is back to Lima again, to begin on February 6 for our FINAL time of working with our translation consultant. This time we expect to check: the remaining portion of Proverbs (about 7 more chapters), Esther, Daniel (6 chapters), Joel, Amos, Micah, Habakkuk and Malachi. When they are approved, we will work with the computer programmer to make an additional adaptation into the alphabet used in Brazil, and then we will again be on our way back to Nueva Luz via Pucallpa and Esperanza.

While we are still in Lima, our co-translator Tufí travels downriver about four days to pick up two Brazilian "Kaxinawás" and their families and bring them back to meet us when we return. We plan to begin work with them in Nueva Luz on March 13. As we check the adaptation for Brazil, we will also be checking for clear understanding on the part of people who have never read the Old Testament, and also make some dialectical changes. And I am anticipating that the computer adaptation of the alphabet may still require quite a lot of careful checking and "cut and paste" to get all the words spelled as the Brazilian Kaxinawá alphabet does. This was the case with the New Testament adaptation.

PLEASE PRAY FOR US A LOT!

• For the joy of the Lord to be our strength! We have had very little time for rest.
• For carefulness and thoroughness on the part of all who work on the translation checking in Lima and then as we return to Nueva Luz to complete the Old Testament adaptation for the Brazilian "Kaxinawá".
• For good health for our translation team and their families. There have been many medical problems lately and Roberta's wife will be going to Pucallpa with us for medical care. I feel that these medical problems are attacks from Satan and we need to continually ask the Lord for His protection from Satan's fiery darts.
• For the Lord's heavenly hosts to fence us in from temptations, dangers and to keep us safe as we travel along the often dangerous roads, rivers with many underwater trees from flooding, and as we fly on the cargo planes between Esperanza and Pucallpa.

We sincerely thank you for your faithfulness to us in prayer and in your financial giving. May the Lord's grace and peace be with you and may you be always ready to give a testimony of your faith wherever you are.

Yours in Christ,
Sue for Dick and Sue Montag