May 2006

Dear ones, A journey begins with the first step. The end of that journey seems a bit different, for we are now approaching the end of our almost six years as members of Mission to the World. This is our team, the men with whom we have spent almost all of the past five plus years, and leaving them was hard for us all. They have been part of the Lord's very clear confirmation to us that:

Dick and Sue Montag Waldemar    Tufi    Roberto

"The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God remains forever."  (Isaiah 40.8)

When we left Peru after our first 13 years as members of Wycliffe Bible Translators, the work with the Kashinawa was considered completed. There was a full school system, a health care provider, grammar and dictionaries completed, and most important, the New Testament and part of the Old Testament were in their hands. There were about 12 believers that we left with the 700 copies of the New Testament that were printed.

Then in 1999, two pastors, our dear co-translators Waldemar and Roberto, wrote to us asking that we return to work with them in revising their worn out New Testament. By God's wonderful grace, this was possible through Mission to the World, and we arrived back in Peru at the end of 2000. The story of God's faithfulness during these years would fill many books, but the important starting place is that when we returned to Peru, the 12 believers had multiplied to 700, and they were clear testimonies to the fact that "the word of our God remains forever."

Now the New Testament revision has been completed and presented to the Kashinawas of Peru, and a second edition with a very different alphabet has been completed and should soon arrive from printing in Korea for the "Kaxinawá" of Brazil. We have completed the translation of about 40% of the Old Testament in Selected Portions for two editions, one for the Peruvian Kashinawa and one for the Brazilian Kaxinawá. Even though they speak the same language, two editions are necessary due to the very different alphabets that are used on both sides of the border.

We have now bid farewell to our dear Kashinawa friends in Peru and have sent the Brazilian men who helped with their adaptation back on downriver for the five day trip to their villages. Then we bid farewell to our colleagues and friends in Pucallpa-Yarinacocha, and now we are in Lima for the final chapter.

The manuscript preparation is being done right here at the Wycliffe Center, with the very able help of the same computer specialist who did much of the preparation of our first New Testament, which was completed in 1980. Kind of a small world, isn't it? We have worked on getting the formatting completed, the maps prepared, and I am now proofreading. Oh, these things take a long time! And here and there we are interspersing the changes necessary for the Brazilian edition, to keep us at the most efficient level.

As this letter goes into the mail, I am almost done with the final proofreading of the Peruvian Kashinawa edition, and Kathy can soon place the pictures into the text. And then I will start the final proofreading of the Brazilian edition. Yes, the days are long and proofreading for weeks on end and looking for anything that we still may have missed is a tedious task. But the Lord's grace never fails and He alone gives us the strength to just keep on keeping on.

On June 17th, we are planning to leave Peru for the last time. We will leave with much joy for having seen these translations completed and soon to be in the hands of the Lord's church among our dear Kashinawa-Kaxinawá friends. These have been the best six years of our lives, and NEVER, NEVER would we want to have done anything but have answered the Lord's very clear call to come back to the Kashinawa.

As we soon bid farewell to our colleagues in Lima, we will begin a new chapter in the US. After spending the summer visiting as many of you as we can, Dick will begin teaching three courses at Chattanooga State Technical College in Dayton, TN, where he taught before. I have begun the process of finding a nursing job in the area.

We will be living in the apartment of a friend and our address will be:
      Mr. and Mrs. Richard Montag
      786 Market St., Apt. B
      Dayton, TN 37321-1473
Our email will be: montag@volstate.net

In the meantime, if you want to contact us, use the address at the top of the page or phone us at: 011-511-461-5880 or 011-511-461-9929. There is an English speaking receptionist on duty from 9-6 EST, and she can connect you with us in our room or my work cubicle.

How can you pray?

• That the Lord will help our co-translators Roberto and Waldemar see clearly how He wants them to serve Him now that they are no longer tied into our schedule. They had both been pastors when they started working with us, and having received a salary for over five years and then having that end is hard for them. Roberto is the director of the Kashinawa Bible Institute, which is moving ahead well, and will probably thrive even more under his very astute leadership and burden for the evangelization of his people. Waldemar might also work in this ministry. Ask the Lord to place the desire in the hearts of the Kashinawa believers to help financially and with their energies in the evangelization of their people.
• For Dick and me as we travel this summer, basically throughout the Northeast, sharing with friends, family and churches about our time with Mission to the World in Peru. We will leave the shorter trips in the TN area to when we actually settle in there. We plan to move our things out of storage into our apartment on June 22 but then will be gone for two months.

We thank you very sincerely for your loving and faithful prayers and your financial support for these years. Each of you is an important member of the Lord's team to the Kashinawas, and we are deeply grateful for your part. We are looking forward to seeing most of you soon.