Legends of the "Face-Peelers"

Mosquito nets: (essentials for the skimmers)

• I'm including GPS coordinates so those of you with Google Earth or a similar program may see satellite photos of these places. Let me know what yall find!
• I'm finally on the Tigre River! I've been waiting to get to this people group for over 4 years. PTL!
• Avast, we were robbed and have endured several other trials. Like i said, Satan isn't going to let us come without a fight.
• Language is going slow but we're in the best place in the world to study Tigre Quichua with the best resources.
• We're in to 28 de Julio (S 03°28.503', W 074°48245'), a Quichua village, just upriver, since Monday and should stay a couple weeks.

Masato: (extras for the non-skimmers)

Dear "Rosie the Riveters,"

I use that title as most of you who get this are the behind-the-scenes support that keeps soldiers of Christ fighting on the front-lines through your prayer, encouragement, and donations.

Let's see if i can remember all gut-checks so far (My wonderful mother has already posted some of this info from our phone conversation one Friday night on the blog.): Leaving from Iquitos via the the mighty Cuco, a rusty 2-story barge, traveling up the Marañon River and on to the winding Tigre River, 3 days, 2 nights. The first night, as we slumbered in our hammocks like most people, someone decided to make my compression sack, complete with my sleeping bag and mosquito net, and a bag of cookies theirs. I saw some cookie wrappers laying around and thus questioned several of the crew and travelers if they'd seen anyone eating them and got nowhere. As we neared Intuto on the last night, about "dark:30" (as my dad says), i decided to walk back to my hammock in the dark. On the cargo level i was feeling around in the dark when i fell down into the hull of the boat, a good 8-foot plunge, headfirst. Don't worry, i landed on crates of glass beer and coke bottles. My foot only bled a little bit.

When i first set foot on Tigre soil in Intuto (S 03°29.313', W 074°46.802'), the satisfaction was incredible. The sorrows of my gear and blood loss faded in the night. I've been waiting for over 4 years to get to these people that the Lord has sent me to, even though i've only known their name since February. I was worshipping on the inside. A man invited us into his home, where we stayed one night. The following morning he introduced us to Mario Tapui, fluent in Quichua dialect and blood, president of the people group, and down-to-earth, kindhearted, senile, old man.

Mario has been and should continue to be a valuable help in reaching his people group. He organized for us to stay in the school in Alfonso Ugarte (S 03°29.157', W 074°47.371') for the week. He kindly offered me his extra mosquito net, though it's shaped for a bed and is useless with my hammock and is made with coarse netting which allows all the smaller blood sucking insects in. No worries, i found another in town and modified it to fit my hammock. Before then, i used a Thermarest (inflatable mattress) that Drew brought, but it has 3 holes that the best glue in Intuto won't fix. Nevertheless, it beats the concrete floor.

Mario's wife is not a believer. I've come to affectionately call her (behind her back) the Masato Nazi. Masato is a extremely common drink in these parts, made from yuca roots. The locals chew the roots and spit them out, making a concoction and allowing it to ferment! Though most of the drinking is for "strength" (as many have sold their food in order to buy more masato), drunkenness is a horrible problem in every place we've been to on the river. It seems we are constantly offered masato by Mario's wife and many other homes, and it's hard not to be rude when they are so insistent. Even the Tigre Quichua church goers of 28 de Julio were intoxicated to the point they forgot to feed us supper last night.

As i said before, the Tigre Quichua are very suspicious of outsiders of lighter shades of skin. Evidently at some point in "conquistador" history some natives had their faces peeled off by white people. Rumors hundreds of years old still linger. Evidently all white people are out to peel the indigenous' faces off! Who knew? Last week, one evening we purchased new machetes in a corner store in Intuto to be able to work with the people in their fields. We were see walking around with machetes and were reported to be "dangerous" to the town officials. The town had a meeting about us which very few people attended because of the rain, including us (the accusers failed to show), and cleared up misunderstandings with town officials. We have made influential friends like Mario and are thankful. Last night police came from Intuto to 28 de Julio because there was a report from a civilian in Intuto that us "gringos" (white people) had murdered a man in 28 de Julio, peeling his face off with our machetes! Our "man of peace," Samuel, with who we are living in 28 de Julio vouched for us and nothing has come of it...yet. My greatest fear is that rumors like these will quickly travel up river via radio and the people of the upper Tigre will reject our requests for us to stay in with them in their towns to share the Word of God with them. Rumors like these can be reversed, but trust is hard earned and can be lost in a moment. These things can cost valuable time and money.

There seems to be few people in the middle ground. Either they are scared to death of us or are happy to see us. Many of the latter try to accommodate us by using their "English." The problem is there are several English words for the Spanish word señor: sir, mister, lord, senor, etc. They call to us in their Peruvian accents, "Mee-stair! Mee-stair! Gude mornink!" I check the time: 2pm. I explain to them it's the afternoon in Spanish and they reply, "Ah! Gude eevenink!" I give them the thumbs-up. There's no point in correcting them, "Sorry, but we don't call each other 'mister' in English. It's 'sir'" I just wish they'd treat us like people that have come to work with them instead of rich tourists or face-peelers.

PrayeRequests:

• PTL! We have had a surprising blessing of NO BOWEL COMPLAINTS. Coming into a new area with different bugs, we were almost certain to get diarrhea and have not had a bit!
• Drew and i are entering a region that has belonged to Satan for thousands of years. He's secured those souls for Hell and doesn't plan on giving up the present and future Tigre Quichua people without a fight. We expect much more spiritual warfare.
• As we study the culture and worldview we will be forming a Bible story track that will be relevant to their culture. As we can't share every story from the Bible, pray we would select the stories God wants to use to reach this people to help them understand His Message.
• Quichua studies
• Levi is still in Ecuador trying to gather funds and support from friends and his church to be able to come back ASAP.

"I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no powers, no wisdom
But i will boast in Jesus Christ,
His death, and resurrection!"

love yuns,
†il the whole world hears,
corey reid pendergrass

Update from corey

I was able to speak with corey today by phone. He has arrived in Intuto, the destination he referred to earlier. He has had several struggles. He had his misquito net and sleeping bag stolen while he was traveling on the river boat between Iquito and Intuto. He is covered in bites from what sound like some kind of turbo charged misquitos, having to sleep in a hammock without an effective net. (Someone did give him a net that has holes so big most of the misquitos fly through them.) He specifically said he needed prayer that he would not "get down" in the midst of these struggles. He also requested we remember to pray for the ability to speak the language of the Quichea people clearly enough to share the gospel. We know this: God's plan will be accomplished. He will see it through, regardless of our weaknesses or struggles. He is allowing us opportunities to serve Him and serve others wherever He has placed us. I truly appreciate those of you who have prayed for corey thus far. ......momma jenn

Destination: Intuto

Clean drinking water: (essentials for the skimmers)

• We made it to Iquitos! We've been on the road/river 12 days and lack 2 more 'til we reach Intuto and the Tigre Quichua.
• We picked up some very helpful language books from Wycliffe (SIL).
• We will likely be out of contact for the next two months.

Clean public restrooms: (extras for the non-skimmers)

Dear praying folks, From Puerto Maldonado to Cuzco to Lima to Pucallpa to Saman to Iquitos to Intuto. Those are the cities i've seen thus far (minus Intuto) on this voyage from one end of Peru to the other. The buses are no fun. They try to spice it up with a bootlegged movie or two in Spanish dub. In Lima we visited the Wycliffe office where we picked up a Quechua Pastaza (basically same as Tigre Quichua)-Spanish dictionary and grammar book as well as a Quechua Pastaza - Spanish parallel folklore book. Both have been priceless in the language and culture study thus far. Jeff and Graham split from us to go to Yurimaguas and on to Nueva Vida, home of the Chiuhuita people. Drew and i, as you know, went east to Pucallapa via bus where we met some more Wycliffe people who hooked us up with a couple of Quechua Pastaza New Testaments. They explained that the people where we were headed were Quechua (KAY-CHOO-AH), not Quichua (KEE-CHOO-AH), which is of the same language family but often uses different vowels and has a longer alphabet. It's hard to say who's correct because the people themselves might argue they are Quichua but are officially Quechua as far as the academic world is concerned, or they could fall the vast gray area between Quechua and Quichua. From Pucallpa we caught a three story barge headed down (north) the Ucayali River to Saman. In the tiny town of Saman, we were welcomed by the local believers who have a long standing relationship with the Xtreme Team. Two of them, Javier and Mauro, completed the Xtreme training with Bobby last Fall. We invited them to come with us to go to the Tigre Quichua and they were unsure if they could come due to the cost of travel. They still may come late if they can find the support. The following morning we barely caught the next barge headed downriver to Iquitos, where we currently are. On these boats, passengers live and sleep in a large open space with hammocks strung in rows. Privacy is nonexistent and theft was always a concern. I did loose my yogurts to a thief one night, dangit! The boats are MUCH better for travel than the buses as there is always a nice breeze and you can move around a lot and always return to your trusty hammock. Be sure time is on your side though; we averaged 12 mph for 4 days. We have heard of river pirates and one of our boats had a large sign painted on the side saying "PROHIBIDO ABORDAR" which means "BOARDING PROHIBITED" with a pirate skull and cross bones underneath. Basically it was a "NO PIRATES ALLOWED" sign. Drew and i had a good laugh as we imagined the pirates approaching, arms in hand, ready to take us for all we were worth. Thank God for that sign! The pirates would see it and realize that attacking us was against company policy. They would have leave, frustrated and empty handed, all because someone thought to use a little paint. This afternoon we leave for the final leg of the trip at "6:30," according to the people running the boat. That means we won't leave before 8pm. Welcome to Peru. Once in Intuto our language and cultural study should really pick up. It will be our home for the next month before we start back home around the 10th of July. I'm not sure how much we will travel up and down the Tigre River to indigenous comunities, but i hope to see a fair amount of the upper Tigre, where no churches exist. Some evangelical work has been done by Peruvians, but never in the Quichua language, always in Spanish. The people must hear the Gospel in their heart language if they are to make a decision of the heart. God help us!

PrayeRequests:

• Drew and i are entering a region that has belonged to Satan for thousands of years. He's secured those souls for Hell and doesn't plan on giving up the present and future Tigre Quichua people without a fight. We expect much spiritual warfare. We both are currently coming off the heals of a sinus infection that i believe was the initial attack. Sword (Bible) in hand, here we go!
• As we study the culture and worldview we will be forming a Bible story track that will be relevant to their culture. As we can't share every story from the Bible, pray we would select the stories God wants to use to reach this people to help them understand His Message.
• The brothers, Mauro and Javier, are still deciding if they can meet us in Intuto later to join in the work.
• We are studying Quichua/Quechua. Pray we are studying the right language. Non Latin-based languages = hard.
• Levi is still in Ecuador trying to gather funds and support from friends and his church to be able to come back ASAP.

"It was my sin that held Him there

Until it was accomplished.

His dying breath has brought me life.

I know that it is finished!"

love yall,

†il the whole world hears,

corey reid pendergrass