The Long Weekend

My weekend began at 4:00am Saturday morning. A fellow missionary here in Yurimaguas has started a Bible institute that meets every other Saturday.  The institute is located in a town called Santiago De Borja. The town is accessible by road but the travel is complicated. We left early to go to the taxi company on the other side of town. We then caught a taxi to Pongo, a town an hour and half away. From there we waited by the side of the road for a pickup carrying cargo to Santiago De Borja, basically it is hitch hiking. We had to go early because the road is under construction and closes at 7:00 am. It then is open for an hour at a time at 10:30, 12:30, and 2:30. We climbed into the back of a pickup and headed down the jungle road for another hour, through the early morning mist. It was a cold ride, but beautiful passing rivers and mountains and through fields and towns. 

We arrived in town about 7:30 and ate breakfast at a local restaurant (tables in front of someone’s house). The house next door had this cow looking for breakfast.

The institute started around 9:00 and went till 1:30. Twenty eager believers gathered together to study about prayer. 

My companion is a gifted teacher and maintained their attention the whole time. At 1:30 we left to return to Yurimaguas with a donation of plantains. The road wasn’t open and we had to wait for a while to pass through. Once through we again attempted to hitch a ride from Pongo back to Yurimaguas, but none were available. After an hour and half in the hot sun we finally found a pick up with seats in the cab, a gift from God. We returned to Yurimaguas about 5:30. After a shower and supper we were back in a local church by 7:30 to preach. I preached about the great commission and how we are all called to be missionaries. After service we talked with fellow believers and finally I returned home by 10:30, exhausted. 

But at 6:00am Sunday I was back up, loading the family in the furgon. This week there is a pastor’s conference here in Yurimaguas. Shawi pastors come to town for the week to study the word of God and they need to eat. At the farm we had some goats but they don’t like our fences and when we planted the yuca they enjoyed eating it. As a result, we hauled them to a Shawi village called Nueva Yurimaguas. The goal Sunday was to head to the village to get a goat and butcher it for the pastor’s conference. But God had other plans. First we went to the farm to pick up one of the workers, Devincen and his family. Then we drove another hour down bumpy rutted dirt roads to Nueva Yurimaguas in time for church at 9:00am. To get to the village we had to cross the Aramanyacu river. 

The kids loved the little raft which was nothing more than four logs tied together. After greeting everyone we sat down on wood benches on the dirt floor. The church has no walls but it does have a roof to keep the sun and rain off. 

When it came time for the message the pastor got up and in front of the whole church asked if I would preach. Luckily I was ready from the night before and preached a similar message. After church we enjoyed the fellowship at the pastor's house.

 Maggie enjoyed talking on her watermelon phone.

A woman approached Jennifer with a new born baby. The baby was only four days old and not eating. As Jennifer held the baby he went into convulsions and we knew this was an urgent situation. We talked them into coming with us to Yurimaguas and to the hospital.  The problem is the mother is mute so the grandma was coming to talk for her, but the grandma only speaks Shawi. I don’t know how it happened but soon we were headed back to Yurimaguas with fifteen people in the furgon, our family, Devincen and his family, three Shawi woman, three Shawi babies, and no goat.

Our intent was only to get a goat but God had other plans, we were able to share His word and save a baby’s life! He can change my plans anytime. But this was only the beginning for Jennifer. After returning to the Hogar we sent Jesusa, the woman on duty at the Hogar, to the hospital with the Shawi women because she speaks Shawi. That left us alone at the Hogar. Jennifer cooked supper for 15+ people, bathed the kids, cleaned, dispersed meds and more. When Jesusa returned from the hospital they still had not admitted the baby so Jennifer went to the hospital. The health care here is rough even if you speak Spanish and worse for minorities like the Shawi. The hospital wanted to take the babies temperature but that requires a thermometer and of course they don’t supply that. So Jennifer had to go to the hospital pharmacy to buy a thermometer, but they were out of thermometers. So she asked the guard where to buy one and he said, “it is Sunday night, there are no pharmacies open, but there is one on the other side of town where the owners live beside the store and if you bang on their door they can open up and help you.” That is healthcare in Yurimaguas.

The poor Shawi women were in culture shock. Jennifer had to teach them how to turn on a faucet because they had never seen one. And to translate she called Jesusa and handed the phone to them, but they had no idea what to do with a cellphone. 

The baby had bruises on his belly and through translation we found out that they had taken the baby to a local witch doctor. The witch doctor said the baby was cursed and had a bad spirit. He tried to remove it by sucking it out his stomach, hence the bruises. 

The baby does not have a government ID to receive free health care so Jennifer had to pay for him, it cost $2.50.  Finally, they admitted the baby and Jennifer returned home around 11:00pm. And that was our weekend. We had trouble getting out of bed Monday morning, but there still is a goat to butcher and he is two hours away and across a river. 

Please pray today for this baby in the hospital and for the Shawi people. Please pray for the pastor’s conference this week. These men are being trained to bring light and truth to the dark corners of the jungle. They are workers being sent out into the harvest.

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest fields.”

Matthew 9:35-38