Waiting …
no more!
… this is a historical day.
You’ve got the full counsel of God.~Keith Forster (translator who worked on the Kuna Scriptures)
The Kuna people, along with translators Keith and Wilma Forster, recently celebrated the dedication of the entire Bible into their San Blas dialect. Three Scripture dedications were held – two on the San Blas Islands and one in Panama City, Panama. We were privileged to be able to attend the dedication celebration on the mainland with a handful of other stateside Wycliffe members and staff.
As I glanced around at the many Kuna in attendance, I noticed a large number of women and children. Who could miss the women? They were beautifully dressed in their lovely traditional clothing made with hues of red, yellow, orange, black, and white – some with their intricate handiwork ‘molas’ sewn on. Many were also adorned with red head scarves and their delicately created bead bracelets on their arms and legs. These were the mothers, grandmothers, (and future mothers) who would prepare the next generation to know Him. Women who, although live in another culture and speak a different language from me, are similar to me in that they now have all of God’s Word readily available to them to read, memorize, teach from, share, and pass on to their children!
I found myself praying for the women and children surrounding me – that they would take the precious gift they have been given and use it, that their children would witness the change in their lives, and grow up knowing Jesus as their Lord and Savior. (A prayer I’d pray for myself and other moms I know as well.)
Yes, the Kuna now have the full counsel of God. May they (and we) pass it on to the next generation!
Here are a few highlights from the Bible Dedication.
The dedication began with worshipping Christ through singing!
(We, surprisingly, recognized many of the tunes. In Kuna, they sang ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’, ‘How Great Thou Art’, etc.)
Eagerness for the arrival and presentation of God’s Word…
(One Wycliffe attendee compared it to the anticipation felt by a groom awaiting to see his bride walk down the aisle.)
Silence being broken with the sounding of a shofar and Scripture carried forth…
Giving thanks to God and praying over His people and His Word…
Children reading from the Scriptures in the Kuna language!
The Kuna people now have access to ALL of Scripture in their own heart language!
Praising God for the Work of His Hand…
Keith and Wilma Forster
(Wycliffe missionaries who dedicated over 40 years in Panama
to revise an earlier New Testament translation and
to translate the Old Testament into the Kuna’s heart language!)
Keith’s thoughts on passing the torch to the Kuna and leaving it all in God’s powerful hands to work His Will…
… And I look around that crowd today and I see … the lives that have been touched and transformed by the Scriptures… And my prayer is ‘God, would You raise up sufficient leaders … shepherds to watch and minister to those flocks, to cause them to grow in Yourself, to keep them on track.’… My translation team – He who began a good work in them will complete it in their day. You know, and that’s the big thing …The point is this – that God has raised up this thing. We’ve given them tools. We’ve given them the leadership… And so, we’re looking to God to carry it on.
Wilma’s reflections…
I think, today, for me, what was really amazing… When we first came here in 1971, the Kuna church was very, very small and there was only one of them. And as I looked around that huge group of people… just to see how God has been at work …it feels like the time has come for the Kuna church to just explode.
Prayers of the Forsters as expressed in their update to partners:
Now the Kuna have God’s Word in its entirety. Please pray earnestly that the initial enthusiasm for the coming of the Word will not peter out. Pray that Kuna hearts will grow deep in their knowledge of the Word and of God’s claim on their lives.
Please continue to pray for the transforming power of the Word of God
in the lives of Kuna men, women, and children…
that pastors would use and handle Scripture correctly,
that hearts and minds would be changed,
that the next generation of Kuna would know Him,
and that God would be glorified!
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