Are You Praying?

I hope you are praying a lot for our Chayahuita brothers and sisters. There is a lot of spiritual opposition right now. The conference revived many spiritually and the enemy doesn’t like that at all.

We had heard in Palmiche about people being accused of being witches and then being killed. Elio Soliz was just at the house and was saying that is only getting worse. His former brother in law (from his deceased wife) was killed after being accused. Also there is a former pastor from Nueva Vida who had moved away and taken a second wife in another community that they are saying is a witch and even knows the chants, so there may be some truth in the accusation. Elio is also being accused of paying a witch for revenge for the death of his brother in law which is the furthest thing from the truth. He actually confronted the accuser recently. Pray for truth to prevail in all this chaos.

We also ask for you to pray for the Chayahuita pastors. They are going through some tough spiritual struggles. We have heard of at least 3 spiritual leaders that have fallen into a sinful behavior. One left the ministry altogether, one is being disciplined, and the other we just heard about and we are not sure what the future will hold for him.

On a more positive note, this year at the conference there were a few new villages that attended. One of the ones represented was Santa Maria. This was a catholic stronghold and they threatened evangelicals that stepped inside their community. A pastor, Dionisio Huazanga, felt that God was calling him to go there at any cost. He went and has led at least 5 people to the Lord. These attended and were baptized. He continues to visit and share the Gospel no matter what may happen to him.

Eternal summerland

While most of you are still in winter mode and alot of you with unheard of snow storms, we are enduring, well, loving our eternal summer weather here. We have had a few rain storms but they definitely aren't as frequent as they need to be. It's great when it does rain since it drops the temps from the 100s to the 80s. Nice for sleeping.

Next year Peru will elect a new president and so this year is going to be a noisy political one. Please pray for wisdom for those that vote. (By the way voting is obligatory here. If you don't vote you get fined). There are some extremists that would love to be put in charge of the country.

Continue to pray for us as we tie up loose ends here and say our farewells to friends and family. It is hard even though we will still be working with the Chayahuita we won't be with them daily. They have taught us so much in the last years.

Strike a Bust

Well, fortunately the strike turned into nothing more than a demonstration for 3 hours. There were probably about 500 people that turned up. Hopefully the government won't turn a deaf ear and cause another indefinite strike. We'll keep you posted. Pray, too, for all the indigenous in Peru. Rumor has it that the government may be taking away the bilingual education and make everyone learn in Spanish only. That is not a good thing for culture conservation for sure. This would mean eventually the written languages would die out.

Yurimaguas hasn’t changed much since we left in January. The rivers are up, which is a good thing.

It had been raining while we were gone, however since we returned it hasn’t. We had a 104 degree day yesterday and that was in the shade.

The grass is almost knee high in places with the rain and the fact that the lawnmower died. We had a mechanic look it over and bought the parts he said needed to be replaced. After replacing all the parts the engine just smokes and nothing more. That will need to be resolved as the yard looks like the house is abandoned which is not good around here with squatters just waiting to hop onto property.

The next couple of weeks will be spent visiting and preparing for the RELENAP (Peruvian Indigenous Network). We still aren’t sure how many groups will be represented nor how many people will show up. Looks like I (Terri) will be the cook for however many show up. Pray that the word gets around to many so the network can grow.

Strike Called for the 13th

Well, we hope this isn't a repeat of last year's strike. We don't have all the details yet. Pancho called from Yuri to tell us a strike will start on the 13th and wasn't sure if it was indefinite or not. He just wanted to make sure we got there before it started. Guess the first thing we'll do is buy lots of food to store just in case. Pancho didn't tell us what the strike is even about.

On a more positive note, Ken and I went to Lamas today to visit with the manager and trainers at Oro Verde. The next phase of the cacao production will start soon. There are so many possibilities open to the Chayahuita in this venture. One of the trainers told us that one of the Chayahuita has been staying there and working to learn all about the production of cacao from planting to harvest. Exciting times!!

Tarapoto We Are Here!

We are finally in Tarapoto. One more leg of the trip to get home. They have had some good rains and that sure adds up quickly. You can see the evidence in the photo above with the river spilling out of its banks.

Tomorrow we are off to Oro Verde to chat with the men that are training the Chayahuita. We will get all the info we need to let the guys know when the next training will be and when they can get seeds to plant in their now prepared land. We will also see if the new company is open that buys "Sacha Inchi" which is a jungle peanut with lots of good omega 3 oils.

Then we hope to arrive in Yurimaguas on Wednesday. Please pray for a safe trip across the mountains. We will be glad to get out of suitcases at least for 7 weeks.

Sacha Inchi Seeds

Blessings Abound!

First, thank you all for praying for our trip. The Brazilian Consulate gave us visas for 5 years! That is a true blessing.

After we got our visas we made reservations on a "speed boat" When I heard that I automatically thought of a ski type boat but maybe bigger. It was a wonderful surprise when we arrived at the port and saw that it was very much like a bus but for the water. There were padded reclining seats, windows with curtains and a dvd player (which we could've done just fine without). At breakfast we were given a roll with avocado on it and at lunch rice and chicken. It was fairly comfortable alot more so than a peque peque for sure!

Inside of boat Golfinho

We arrived in Santa Rosa, Peru (end of the line) and were met back a member of a church in Brasil who helped us across the Amazon to the Brazilian side. There we were met by the lead pastor and taken to the associate pastor's house. Leonidas and Edmeia were wonderful hosts. From the very beginning they felt like family. They have 2 sons: Samuel and Israel. We were shown around Tabatinga, Brazil and then we toured Leticia, Colombia. We had a great time with them.

We even got to go to youth night at their church. That was an experience! Lights and music Brazilian style praising God!

On Sunday, we took a boat into another town on the river and walked to an indian village. A conference was held by 20 chiefs of 5 different tribes. Many were invited to listen to their cries for help. They need medical help and training in many areas. Many are dying from Malaria and Hepatitis and yet the government has not provided any help to them. Without help soon their tribes could be extinguished. Please pray for the indigenous in this area that the government will listen and let help come in with humanitarian aide.