Simon and Lavonne Challinor Serving the Lord in Panama among the Naso people After waiting 4 years in Panama to enjoy a white Christmas here in Canada, the boys were disappointed when December 25th arrived and there wasn’t any snow on the ground or even in the forecast. It was extremely mild for that time of year, or so we have been told. Despite the green Christmas, we had a wonderful time celebrating the holiday season with family here in Canada. The boys had three weeks off of school so we spent the first two weeks in Ontario with Simon’s parents, sister, brother and family. We enjoyed bowling, playing table games, indoor hockey, soccer, and, of course, the lovely Christmas dinner that Mum Challinor cooked for everybody.
December 28th (which happened to be our 15th wedding anniversary) found us traveling to Wisconsin to visit Simon’s brother and wife in the southern part of the state and then Lavonne’s relatives in the northern part of the state. We had great weather for traveling which was such a blessing for that time of year. A highlight of the trip was sharing New Year’s Day dinner with Lavonne’s 89 year old grandpa as well as other family members. Her grandpa is such an example of steadfastness in trials and faithfulness to the Lord.
The boys are back in school for the second semester. They would rather not be in school these days because we finally got some snow. They love it and play in it whenever they get a chance. They love playing tackle football with Simon in the snow. As soon as they get home from school and finish their home work, they head outdoors and play until it is dark or they are called in for supper. Lavonne’s challenge is trying to keep track of all the scarves, mittens, and toques (bob hats for Americans) that seem to get left all over Durham.
We are rejoicing with Andy and Lori Keener (our Wycliffe co-workers) for the completion of the first draft of the Naso/Teribe translation last month. It represents many years of hard work and faithfulness to see it to this point. There are still consultant checks that will take place this year before it can be printed, but a definite milestone has been passed in the road. Please continue to pray for Andy and Lori as they continue working to see the translation to final completion.
Last summer we had planned to travel to CA to attend Simon’s sister’s wedding. The wedding was unexpectedly cancelled when Sarah could not cross the US border because she did not have the required fiancé visa. Apparently this law had been recently changed, and she was unaware that she needed a fiancé visa (Simon nor any of his brothers needed this) to marry a US citizen. During the past several months, the paperwork has been being processed for her fiancé visa. She recently received an appointment date for an interview at the US embassy in the London as part of the procedure to procure the visa. Please pray that this will go well and the visa will be granted. Her interview is scheduled for January 30, 2007.
As always, we often think of and pray for the Naso people. It just takes a small incident here and our minds travel hundreds of miles to where they are in Panama, and we wonder how our friends our doing. As we drove home yesterday along slippery, icy roads we wondered what the Naso would think of all the snow. Recently, we drove by a Bass Pro Shop and instantly we thought of the Naso and what their reaction would be to all the equipment available for outdoor living. Their standard gear for jungle living is a machete. We are thankful that one of our mission leaders in Panama is traveling this week upriver to visit the people, primarily to encourage the believers. We have been able to e-mail letters to him, and he can print them and take them along to pass out .
We trust each of you had a very special Christmas as we remembered the birth of our Savior. Our prayer for you is that you will find God’s abundant grace sufficient for whatever situations you may find yourself in during 2007 and that you will enjoy all that we have in Christ.
God Bless,
Simon, Lavonne and boys
