You never know what
your going to encounter in the jungle. Last week I ate monkey, jungle rat,
armadillo and live ants. I prayed for a man that people are trying to kill
because he is a Christian. I visited a community with an abandoned church and
when they heard we were Christians five people asked for prayer, we were only
there 45 minutes. I taught a Sunday School class of 70 Shawi children, by
myself. But the craziest part was my visit to the community of Nueva Era.
To say that Nueva Era is
remote is an understatement. We traveled two days, almost as far up as you can
travel on the Paranapura river in boat, and from there we walked three and half
hours into the jungle. I don’t mean your everyday walk in the park, I’m talking
dense jungle with enormous trees, ducking vines, climbing downed trees,
crossing streams on logs and trudging through ankle deep mud. I thought I was
in good shape but by the time arrived I thought I was going to die.
After some monkey soup and
a little nap, I recovered and met with the pastor and leaders of the
community. I expected them to talk about
their community’s needs but was surprised.
The needs of Nueva Era are
great.
They are sick. In the last six months most
people in the community have had malaria, including every child, and many of
them have had it multiple times. Vomiting and diarrhea is an everyday
occurrence as they struggle with parasites and poor diet. Their diet consists
of plantains, yucca, and whatever jungle meat they can find. The nearest health
outpost is back on the river. They have to hike that same trail that almost
killed me every time they need healthcare. I can not imagine walking that trail
with vomiting, diarrhea, fever or with a machete cut that needs stitches.
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| Feeding the children after Sunday School |
They need clean water.
Their “well” consists of a six-foot hole in the middle of the community that
collects water in the rainy season. It is covered with a piece of metal and it
is full of mosquito larva and spiders. In the dry season they walk 15 minutes
one way to the nearby stream, which does not flow that time of year and becomes
stagnate.
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| The well |
They need a generator.
They work all day to cook and clean and provide food. Then after dark, about
three to four times a week, they meet at the church for service. They had
service every night I was there. They begin by looking around the room for
someone wearing shoes, which is hard to find. Then they ask them to take off
their shoe laces so they can use them to tie a flashlight to the ceiling over a
small wooden table which serves as the pulpit.
In spite of all these
needs, when I met with the leaders, they began talking about other communities.
They began to tell me about communities deeper in the jungle, only reachable by
walking 2 and 4 and 6 hours further in from Nueva Era. These communities are
unreached with the gospel and many of them pass through Nueva Era to reach the
river and healthcare or to travel. As they pass through they often spend the
night and attend church services, hearing the word of God for the first time.
I thought that upon
reaching Nueva Era I had come to the end of the world, only to learn that it
was on the frontier of a whole host of unreached communities.
Then they began to tell me
about the community of Naranjal, eight hours walk from Nueva Era. They
sometimes pass through Nueva Era and attend church, nude. Next time you want to
complain about someone’s church attire think of these people. One of the
pastors has visited the community and says that all the children are naked and
most of the adults. A few of the men have clothes but the clothes are in bad
shape. They desire clothes but are too poor and remote to do anything about it.
Over the next few hours we
talked and prayed and began to put together a plan to help Naranjal. Nueva Era
is having a church anniversary on May 10th. They have invited
all the surrounding communities including Naranjal. If somehow we can find
clothes for the approximately 125 people that live in Naranjal, and get the
clothes to Nueva Era by May 10th, we can bless this community with
the clothes to carry back. Also three pastors have committed to traveling with
them to help carry the clothes. Then they would spend up to a week in the
community blessing the clothes and sharing the gospel with the people. They
have asked me to go along but I doubt I can physically make it.
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| Traditional Shawi attire/Sunday best |
The logistics of the
situation are crazy. We want to provide a generator and some basic medicines
for Nueva Era. We want to provide clothes for 125 people and that is only a
guess. I don’t know how many adults or children or men or woman. I don’t know
how many sacks of clothes it takes and if it possible to carry them. And we
would like to do this by May 10th.
I do not even know how to
buy that amount of clothes or how much it will cost. On our two-day trip back home,
I had many hours in the canoe to think about it and I began to worry. But then
it got crazier. Upon returning home Jennifer showed me the report for donations
last month and we had some unexpected large donations from some generous
supporters. We already had the money to buy the clothes! Before I could ask,
before I even knew about the need God had already provided! Seeing the report
brought tears to my eyes. What a good God we serve!
Please pray for Naranjal.
That we can get the clothes there in time and that they come to the
anniversary. And please pray for Nueva Era. They are on the frontier of
unreached people. May God bless them and strengthen them as the continue in the
work.
For I was hungry and you
gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I
was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed
me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to
visit me. –Matthew 25:35-36
