Security Worship

We are blessed to have a house to live in while in the jungle. The owners are a sweet older couple.  The woman we call Asacha, which means aunt in Shawi and is often used as a sign of respect for elderly women. When we arrived back in Santa Clara after a two-week hiatus, Asacha was sitting in her house.  I have never seen her sit in her house during the day. She is a non-stop, hard working woman of many talents.  She is four foot six, weights 80 pounds and could work me into the ground everyday of the week and twice on Sunday. She works in the fields cultivating and planting, spins cotton into yarn and makes clay bowls by hand and that is when she is not cooking or doing laundry or taking care of the chickens or watching grandkids or… You get the idea. So when I saw here sitting in the house I asked what was wrong and he husband told me she had malaria.

Malaria is a common enough occurrence that unlike my bout with malaria she knew right away what it was and started receiving treatment. Within a couple of days, she was back on her feet and as good as new.

Another day Jennifer was talking with Asacha. Sort of. Asacha does not speak Spanish so we speak to her in broken Shawi or through her daughter as a translator. Jennifer asked how old she was and she said 48. Truth is that 48 is an estimate. Asacha has a younger sister and when we asked how old she was they told us 24, then when Jennifer asked her directly she said 39. That is a big discrepancy so we asked more about it only to find out no one knows her real age. Her ID says she is 24 but she is probably mid 30’s.  It is common among the Shawi to not know a person's actual age.

So Asacha is around 48 years old and for our culture that is young but in the Shawi culture 48 is old. She is one of the older women in the community. She has 5 children and 11 grandchildren.  That is why when Jennifer said that her mom was 63 they were shocked. “Can she still walk?” they asked. They could not believe that she was still alive. Then Jennifer really blew their minds when she said that her grandmother is still alive and almost 90.

It made me think. We live in a culture that values longevity of life. We put a high priority on safety. We want the best healthcare and a fat retirement account. Those things are not in and of themselves bad things. In fact, they are good things. The problem comes when we over-value those things.

We tend to worship security. We look for safe jobs, schools, cars and houses. Usually it is the first thing we evaluate when making a decision. Is it safe? We want our children to be safe. We need good insurance. It is necessary to have a reserve in the bank. Security is our idol.

In the Shawi culture there is no such thing as security. Especially food security. If they have food they eat it all. If someone has a good day fishing and has more fish then he needs, he invites all his friends over and everyone enjoys the feast. Then the next day they go hungry. I don’t understand this part of the culture. But what if friends are more important than food and people are more important than security?

And can anyone really guard their life? I am suddenly reminded of the parable of the rich fool from Luke 12:15-21.  
"Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
Please read it here.

Some people call me crazy for taking my family to live in the jungle because it is dangerous. It is contrary to our protective priority. But what if there is more to life than security? What if storing up earthly treasures is a waste of time? What if taking my family to the jungle is the best thing I can do for them? I have learned a lot from living with the Shawi. Probably the most important thing I have learned is that life is fragile so make the most of it. I would rather live 50 years full of generosity and love then 100 years full of fear and greed.

I hope no one reads this as a criticism of other people. It is more for myself. I would like to be more like the Shawi. I do not want to idolize security. But I fail. I still sleep better knowing we have some canned meat and rice for tomorrow. I still worry that my family gets enough to eat before giving away the extra. I still want a retirement account and good healthcare. I would love to live to the age of 80. But I am praying for God to change me. Relationships are more important than my security. Love is more important than a longevity.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Matthew 16:25

Village Life

Update Note:  This was written when we arrived back in town a week and a half ago but we didn't post because we were waiting to add another video.  Our internet is not the fastest and we have not been able to upload it.  After our time in Yuri of rest and rejuvination, we are headed back out the the village today for another 2 weeks.  Thank you for your continued thoughts and prayers.

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We are back in Yurimaguas after a three-week stint in a village. We are here for about ten days before we return for another month; ten days to restock, recuperate and rethink.

Honestly, it was a tough three weeks. I (Josh) have visited villages over 50 times since moving here, but was still not prepared for the culture shock. Everything is different. Language, culture, way of thinking, worldview, social activities and the food are all so different that most days Jennifer and I just looked at each other and said, “What just happened?”

The challenges are too many to list. There is no internet, cell phone or electricity. As a result, we go to bed at 7:00pm most nights. There is no refrigerator so we eat rice and beans everyday. The bathroom is a hole in the ground that is difficult to use so Maggie decided to un-potty train. Henry struggled with the change and got shot in the eye with a slingshot. Jennifer had to wash clothes in the river daily. We all had to walk a half mile to the river to bathe every evening along side other people. The bugs are relentless. It is always muddy.

But those are the physical challenges and we can get over those but even harder is the cultural challenge. Most of the time I don’t understand what is happening. When someone kills a monkey or jungle rat they invite all their neighbors over to enjoy the feast. They sit around one pot and eat with their hands while the successful hunter tells the story of the kill. Whenever you go somewhere you announce it to everyone you pass. For example, when going to bathe I walk past 8-10 houses and each one I say, “I am going to bathe.” After the bath on the way home I then say, “I already took a bath and I am going home.”

Also in communal living there is no privacy. Everyone knows everyone else’s business. There are always children just sitting in our house. Food is almost always shared. They love to laugh at other people’s misfortune. It is not offensive to make fun of someone for falling in the mud or getting hurt.

Despite the challenges, it was a successful few weeks. Our goal going in was to learn language and culture; and that is what we are doing.  There were things we really enjoyed. We ate monkey, wild boar and jungle rat. There are some small monkeys that we often saw in the trees near our house. We found a boa constrictor. At night we could see the southern cross and the big dipper at the same time, although the big dipper is upside down. Lucy made some new friends. Henry loved climbing trees and swimming in the river. Maggie loved the boiled corn drink. I got to help the men work in their fields. Jennifer enjoyed homeschool al fresco.

Jennifer also brought some basic medical supplies and I am glad she did. She was able to help a malnourished baby get to Yurimaguas for recovery. She helped a man with boils on his legs. Another man fell out of his boat while driving and the propeller cut his leg in five places. At the local heath outpost, 25 minutes away, they stitched up two of the cuts without any pain meds and sent him home. Jennifer was able to help him clean and bandage his cuts as well as give him some pain meds. After a couple of days, he was back up walking and working in his fields again. 

While there, we took four days and went farther upriver to visit another community, San Juan de Paranapura. There we did vacation Bible school for the children. They told us there would be 60-70 children and over 100 showed up. It was just Jennifer and I and a translator. It was very difficult but worth the effort as there are only a handful of believers in the community. We had to stretch supplies for the crafts and stretch the food but it worked. We also showed the Jesus film twice, one time to over 50 adults.

We praise God for his provisions and protection during our time. We thank you for your continued prayers and support.  Please pray for us as next week we plan to head back out for another month.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

-Ephesians 3:20-21

Attached are some videos of our time in the village or you can check out our You Tube channel by clicking here.