From the heart of kori wawa, a letter to you dated 3-28-07:
The Word of God (essentials for the skimmers):
- I’m learning so much about Biblical missions and jungle life.
- I bid farewell to Bobby Lane who is going to witness to the Yaminahua
- We search for options as the visits to Puerto Arturo haven’t been effective.
- Prayer requests.
Our Opinion (extras for the non-skimmers):
Dear people who talk with God on my behalf,
Its very humbling to think how many times i’ve witnessed to lost people with my opinion instead of the Word of God. In an effort to plant churches among the indigenous communities, we’re learning to share stories from the Bible, word-for-word, and encourage discussion among the people. The Word is sufficient. For instance, we might share the story of creation and then ask, “What is God like in the story?” One might say that God is good. Another indigenous person might say that He does whatever He wants. Another would say He’s powerful and creative. These are all right answers according to the story. The cool part is that i didn’t preach/teach a word of my opinion or what i think the story says. The Word is enough! And as such, the group will have taught themselves to study the Word and will not be reliant or dependent on me when i need to leave them. Also, since we are repeating the stories to the people until they memorize them, if they ever do accept Christ as their Savior, they’ll have already memorized hundreds of verses of Scripture!
This week we’re wrapping up our house to sleep in. It stands about 3 meters high, roofed in leaves, no walls, no nails, and held together by ropes made of tree bark orvines. It’s quite lovely.
Saturday, March 23rd, i bid farewell to my right-hand-man once again, Bobby Lane. He and his partner Efrain, headed north via bus to Pucalpa where they will continue by river to the Yaminahua people who have not heard the Good News. There is a Peruvian pastor who is sharing the Gospel with them and says they have showed much interest. He also reports that he is alone in reaching them as the harvest is so ripe. That’s where Bobby & Efrain come in. They will head up river as soon as theivr understanding of the language is enough. Most people in this people group do not speak Spanish.
Intermission of letter:
3-30-07 Our visits to Puerto Arturo have proved ineffective as almost all the men of the village have left to work in other towns, leaving their families behind for a couple of months. We don’t speak with the women alone since it is culturally inappropriate. Señor Angél is the only man consistently around but is loosing his mind and can’t unsterstand the stories unless they are in his heart language, Quichua, which we don’t speak yet. Therefore, Alex & i have decided it best to move to another site for our ventures. This week we tried Otilia, a community of about 400 people that’s closer to the city than Arturo and slightly more modern in that they have electricity and a water system (kind of). The vice president of the community and her husband rejected us saying they couldn’t help us. We left the house and prayed about it, asking that the Lord’s will be done, not failing to remind Him that if we couldn’t find a home we would not have a place to sleep nor food to eat. After being instructed to return to the same house, they welcomed us in! They are showing interest in the Bible stories & want their children to hear as well. Praise the Lord! Lord willing, we will return to Otilia next week.
Prayer Requests:
- That Bobby & Efrain would learn the language fast & reap abundantly. I will not see Bobby for several months.
- I have a skin infection that is not fun & harder to lose than anything i’ve had in 7 years of wrestling.
- That God would move in hearts of Otilia. Edgar & Selmira are the family we stayed with.
Thank y’all so much for the prayers and encouraging letters! I don’t know if y’all got the update i sent a month ago asking y’all to write encouraging letters to the other entrainees (Spanglish for other team members?), but they haven’t received any from y’all. I ask that you consider these South American missionaries as much a part of the Family of God as you do me. They are your brothers. Please write a letter if you haven’t to at least one of them. They are Vicente, Martin, Alex, Jesús, Lucio, Edgar, Caleb (the Peruvians), Levi (Ecuadroian), Marshal, Alex, and Jeff (US Americans).
Love y’all,
†il the whole world hears,
corey reid Pendergrass