KAVU

I also received this letter from Kori Wawa dated 3-4-07. Please print these off, read them, and pray for the Tigre Quichua people and the XTreme Team. ~Lena
Dear friends & foes,
There's too much good stuff to skim through. Please read. Wednesday, the 21st of February (i think), 12 men set out on a 16 mile hike with all the equipment they could carry to use for the next 3 months. They also carried a week's worth of food. Also, it was raining. I was among their number. We've been split up into 3 groups of 4 guys, mine named KAVU, an acronym of our names. (I spell my name with a "K" in Spanish.) Our destination: a plot of jungle left untamed thus far. It will be our home for the next 3 months as we are in this training period.
So far, we've been sleeping in tents & cooking by campfire. Living is simple but strenuous. By simple, i mean a group of 4 guys gets 50 soles of money to spend on food per week. That factors out to about $4.17 per person per week. Don't worry; food is super cheap down here. By strenuous, i mean hard on the body. Y'all already know about some of my injuries: a torn left ACL (which has given no trouble thanks to your prayers), a torn right rotator cuff (which doesn't hurt too often), & a broken right foot from years ago (which hurts daily). Add to your lists: a cut bottom right foot (thanks to a rock in the river while doing laundry), a cut bottom left foot (thanks to a nail in a board placed by mischievous children while doing laundry in another river), & countless cuts & blisters on my hands (thanks to my machete). One would think that camping out in the woods with 11 other guys, breathing testosterone, & swinging a machete all day would be every 10-year old boy's dream. But, then i remember these flying insects called mosquitoes that are so tough that half of them shake off & fly away after you smack them across your arm. I also had chiggers covering my legs for a few days. I usually wouldn't ask for prayers about cuts & bugs, but when you have nothing but a bottle of alcohol to treat them 'cause someone stole your first aid kit, healing is slow & painful. I am going to buy some stuff this week, Lord willing. But do not despair, Beloved. All is not lost! We got to go on a field trip, if you will, for 24 hours this week. We were sent out in groups of 2 to various communities. Alex, my partner & i went to Puerto Arturo. Lord willing, we'll return weekly to Arturo, a town of 30-some families on the Madre de Dios River, to share stories from the Bible we will memorize. With a Bible in one hand & a machete in the other, we arrived and announced, "We've come to do the Lord's bidding!" Just kidding! But we did carry a Bible and a machete (to work in their crops beside the people). We learned so much of their culture as we stayed with Señor Angél (pronounced On-hel) & his family of 11, including his grandchildren. They served us meat 3 times, something i had not tasted for two weeks! And they speak Quichua & Spanish. Since i'll be going in the future to the Tigre Quichua people, many of which speak Quichua only, i'll need to learn the language. Angél's family will be perfect for this. Praise God!
I love you,
†il the whole world hears,
corey reid pendergrass
(AKA. kori wawa)