The Adventures of Kori Wawa

Bus ticket and toilet paper: (essentials for the skimmers)

• Training is over! I passed all my tests!*
• All 5 Yenes in training were baptized!
• Up 'til the end of training we were continuing with classes on the Biblical church and learning stories.
• The Xtreme Team just got 4 new missionaries: Graham (2 yr. Journeyman), Amanda (same), Kyle (summer volunteer), and Drew (same, but also my partner 'til the end of July)
• We learned how to make hammocks because many of the the trainees need a means of support as their church are often unable or unwilling to support them.
• Sadly, the 5 Yenes ended up directly disobeying Jeremy and lying to the rest of us in a severe situation. This resulted in them almost getting sent home early, but they asked forgiveness and were welcomed back. Praise the Lord, most really had changed for the good afterwards, but one stole money from a teammate and was kicked out of the training.
• My health is wonderful. PTL!
• Drew and i are going to the Tigre River next week to meet the Tigre Quichua people!

*(Kori wawa is the king of the graduations everywhere... ok, maybe not.)

Fubu jacket: (extras for the non-skimmers)

Dear fam,

For those of you who don't know, my mom calls me "the golden child" and ironically enough the Quechua phrase for this is kori wawa. Kori... corey... sounds strangely the same. It's my nick name down here. Enjoy.
This past Tuesday, May 15, we celebrated our graduation from the XT training. It feels so great to be out and free for a few days. Our gradation was proceeded by a written test, oral story test, and physical test. If i may, here's a quick overview of the last weeks of training.
I had the privilege to baptize my brother Edgar, the Yene, in the training, and in turn he baptized a couple others and those baptized two more. In all, 5 trainees who had never been baptized with a right attitude were done so! Praise God!

With details that i won't go into for now, the 5 Yenes disobeyed Jeremy and lied to the rest of us, breaking several other rules in the process, which eventually led to the all being put before the church as described in Matthew 18. They confessed and asked forgiveness of us, saying they would changed. Praise God, i saw huge improvement in some of them in areas of humility and servanthood --attitudes i hadn't seen in them up to this point. However Lucio had not meant any of his confession, as he told us later, and with one day to go in the training stole some money from Levi's wallet. It hurts to think that you can't leave material objects sitting around among a tight group of brothers in Christ, but it happened. Lucio was kicked out of the church (according to Scripture) and training. Do pray for him to be broken.

Ok, here's the skinny for the next couple of months. Next week, Drew and i will be heading toward Intuto, the largest town on the Tigre River. There we'll be trying to collect all the info we can on their culture and worldview in order to prepare a Bible story list that is relevant to them. For example, if they like to fish a lot, we're going to include many stories and parables from the Bible about fishing. I understand they are very animistic. Also, i'll be studying their language intensely with the help of study materials, courtesy of Wycliffe. We plan to return to Pto. Maldonado a week before August, so i won't be able to receive snail mail until then

Visit to Chile

An update from a handwritten letter of Brother Kori Wawa dated 4/20/07...



Gasoline & sunflower seeds: (essentials for the skimmers)

* Classes are going well as we learn about Biblical, primitive church

* Jeff & i went to Chile to renew our visas.

* The skin infection has cleared up, but i've been very sick lately.

* Prayer requests below.

A change of clothes for the road trip: (non-essentials)

Dear missionaries in the USA,

I wish i could tell you all the interesting things we are studying in our classes. Alas, there is too much, & i'm afraid too many would take offense to an explanation contrasting the 1st century churches and our modern day churches. The cool thing is, we have the opportunity to plant Biblical, primitive like churches among the indigenous people groups. Since we'll be going to communities that have never heard the Gospel or seen churches, they won't have to worry about what unbiblical church traditions saying, "we want this thing because that church down the street has one!"



Jeff Hill, the other missionary from the US in our training, and i paid a visit to Chile this week. I confess, when we heard we'd be leaving the jungle to renew our visas in Chile, we pondered about all the hot showers & fine dining we'd be doing for days in a big Chilean city like the capitol. It was not so glamorous, though a nice change of scenery, nonetheless. We flew from Puerto Maldonado to Cuzco, rode a bus 17 hours to the border town of Tacna, crossed over into Chile for an hour to get our documents stamped, flew to the Peruvian capitol of Lima to do some more paper work, and finally flew back to Puerto Maldonado. The highlight of the trip for me was a lunch at Chili's in Lima. It was a wonderful contrast to our usual open-fire-cooked rice and/or noodles with potatoes.



In other news, i've been quite sick as of late. Since the 6th of April, i've had severe headaches that come & go, fevers of up to 103.8 degrees F that come and go, vomiting once, often losing appetite, and cold shivers sometimes. It's made memorizing stories & devoting full attention in classes impossible at times and has made my life in general, miserable. However, i can see the Lord using it for His glory. In the past, several of my relationships with the other trainees has been less than brotherly. My teammates can tell i'm very sick, and i've not failed to do any of my work or physical exercise. I believe several have a new found respect for me, & a few have voiced their respect. Glory to God! Now we can act as brothers in Christ, perhaps, and all it took was being sick. I did see a doctor in Tacna and got some medicines that are helping a lot. Hopefully, they will clear things up for good.



Prayer Requests:

* Pray that i would give everything i have to the Lord each day, sick or healthy and that He would be glorified in my thoughts & actions.

* Pray for the Tigre Quichua people to have prepared hearts, & the Father would be calling them. Pray i will present the right stories from the Bible so they connect & understand the Gospel. I hear they are skeptical of outsiders so pray that Satan would not use this part of their culture to confound the Gospel.

That's all for now. I love yuns!

†il the whole world hears,

corey reid pendergrass

A note from Kori's fellow trainee, Edgar

Hello brothers,

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope y'all are well. My name is Edgar Sabastian. I'm in training for missions. I thank our God that He called me to this training. And, I thank God for changing my life and letting me know I was lost. For this, now I feel content with my God. I ask y'all to pray for me and my group to keep learning more of the Word of God. Pray that I keep doing missions to reach those who don't know the Word of God. Also, pray for my studies that I want to keep studying and to carry far the Word of God. This is the biggest desire of my life. The truth is I would like to know ya'll in person. I have 28 little years, as of the 6th of April. (And I like Peruvian football a lot.) I hope y'all can read this little letter.

Salutations in the Name of our Lord,

I send y'all a strong hug,

Bye,

Edgar