Calleria: Up the Amazon River.

(If you missed part one and two... CLICK HERE!!!)

 To get to Calleria, you have to navigate all sorts of small streams, and open river water.  Since it is the rainy season the trip takes between three and five hours.  If it is dry season, the trip starts at seven hours and goes up.  It was surreal to be on the boat, talking and laughing, even singing some praise songs while we took in the newness of God’s creation around us.

(Photo by Anna Burgess)

 As we floated along the river, we saw pockets of mestizos (which means mixed people), and Shipibo communities that randomly pop up out of nowhere.  At one point I turned on the GPS for my phone to see where we were.  The river was so flooded, to the satellite I looked like I was in the middle of the jungle vegetation.  I have never been off the map before.

 

As we arrived, there was no grand welcome.  We just pulled up the boat, got the stuff off, talked with the Church leaders, and then we started pitching our tents. 

Mistake one: never go to a jungle community that lives beside the river during the rainy season.The mosquitos are horrendous. 

As the sun began to set we were told that it would be smart for us to get ready for bed and into our tents as quickly as possible, so we would still have some blood left before morning time.  As we had just jumped into our tents, all sweaty and tired, we got a knock on our door. 

“They are having a church service tonight to welcome you.  It starts at 7:30.”

That was in 10 minutes.

WTP.  Welcome to Peru.

After waiting a while for the service to start, (we were on jungle time), Amanda went back to the tent for a little bit to put on long pants. Upon her return to the church she looked like she had just seen something horrible.  She had.  A tarantula was under our bag.  What made the moment even better is that as we were worshipping, another tarantula was in the banisters right above the women.  Amanda jumped and screamed a little.  All the people got a kick out of that, as she grabbed me and made me switch places. 

Our worship time was lively on our part.  Not so much because the Spirit was moving, but more because we realized clapping our hands and stomping our feet keeps the mosquitos off.  (We were slightly distracted).  Although the Shipibo worship is very monotone, they do love to keep beat with a drum, so we didn’t look too crazy.  (For the record: it is a very emotional experience to hear a people group worship in a language that you have never really heard before.  We would completely recommend that experience). 

After the service ended, and our welcome from the spiders and the people were completed, we jumped back into our tents.  Literally.  The mosquitos were blanketing us.  We spent the next 20 minutes killing all of those that had snuck into our tent.  Then as we dozed off were were greeted by the sound of four bats and a rat.  Amanda did not sleep well at all.  Through the fits of my laughter, I dozed in and out, but all hope was lost for a good nights rest.

The next day after moving our tent and using the hole in the ground, we began our day.

Life is so simple there, and apart from the mosquitos, there is something very wonderful about the feeling of the community.  It feels close knit and safe.  The men were out working and fishing, and the women took care of the children, and made homemade crafts.  I went exploring for a bit, and go to know some of the people.

In our time there we did do some teaching and encouragement, and we did get to relax a bit.  However the highlight moments were the conversation time with the elders, the ministry times, and the medical campaign.

One of the things we learned from our time in San Juan was how to ask questions and explain things in a way that the Shipibo think and understanding.  Words like “feelings” are actually translated more like “thoughts.”  So when saying something like “what are you feeling inside?”  It is translated into “what are you thinking inside?”  So when we learned some of the nuances, it really helped us when we talked to the pastors and elders.  Apart from that, Marcial, a Shipibo man that lives in Lima, traveled with us to help translate the entire trip.  He was amazing. 

(Photo by Anna Burgess)

Our time with the pastor and elders was so satisfying.  We had an extremely productive conversation that was very clear and encouraging.  It started off awkwardly because they kept asking us, “is this the last time we will see you?”  They were really concerned.  We thought maybe we were complaining too much about the bugs but what we had come to find out is that the Church was used to people coming and going.  

 

The original church was planted about 60-80 years ago by American missionaries.  We don’t know what happened or why they left, but after they were gone, the Church was run by the locals.  Ideally this is great, but it ended up hurting instead of helping.  Unfortunately when the community was on its’ own, they had not been trained on how to encourage and grow a Church body.  What they explained to us is that slowly the entire community, 90% of which were once Christians, is now down to only a third of the people as believers in Jesus.  

The last pastor was very honest with us, and told us how burnt out he was.  They did not really know where to go with the community, or the church.  They weren’t sure what to do as individual leaders or as a team.  However, God had given them passion and a vision.  They were not sure how to get the results they could imagine in their minds.

We found out that almost the entire community can read at a relatively high level.  The women speak and understand Spanish and Shipibo.  The kids receive a secondary level education as of the past 10-20 years. 

After talking with several people, we have discovered that this is a jungle anomaly.  From our understanding communities like these suffer a great deal from illiteracy and language deficiencies.  So what we were seeing is that with the right resources and discipleship these people are primed to reach out to tribes even further down the river which would be unreachable for us.

I mentioned resources.  We also found out that only 30% of the Christians in the Church have Bibles.

Those that do have Bibles are currently using the Reina-Valera edition, which uses a type of spanish that most Peruvians don’t even use.  So for a community that uses Spanish as a secondary language it can cause some difficulty when they try and read and study their Bibles.

God put a conviction on our hearts after that conversation, and we are exploring how we  help them with discipleship, equip them, and get Bibles that they can read and study, into their hands.

During the ministry times, we were able to pray for the people as they responded to the teachings.  During that time we laid hands on people and prayed for the things that the Holy Spirit convicted us to pray.  This was especially necessary because although most people can speak Spanish, they are shy and self-conscious about their ability to speak, (we can relate to that), so they rarely talked.  

If God put anything on our hearts for people, we shared that with them, whether it was a verse, or images, or words of encouragement.

As I prayed for one woman, suddenly an image of a beautiful tree popped into my mind.  It was right by a river flowing.  It looked like the tree was supposed to be bearing fruits but it wasn’t.  However, it was really close to doing so.  The tree just needed a couple of things to make it fruitful.  I shared the picture I had in my mind, not knowing if God might be trying to share something with her.  Then later I found out that Mark also prayed for her, and God put on his heart to encourage her in her walk, to put aside the things of before, and to worship God with all of her heart.  Those things would yield fruitfulness, and would be example to the people around her.

Later we found out that the woman was the Pastor’s wife.  They just recently took on the role of leaders for the church, and it has been a real struggle for them to find the balance between work, ministry, and their personal lives with God.  That was definitely encouraging to see how God was using us to encourage them.

One other experience I had was when I prayed for an elderly man.  When I first saw him he  reminded me of the cartoon man from the movie “UP.”  Aside for the soft place I had in my heart for him, in my prayer time I was really drawn to him as well.  So I went over to pray for him.  As I prayed for him, I felt so drawn into the presence of God, I was humbled.  From head to toe, I just felt electrifying peace.  It was for a few moments and then left as I closed in prayer, but I felt like that man had been used to minister to me, more than I had to him.  (It had been a trying trip between tiredness, the heat, the planning, etc.)

We closed our time with a small medical outreach.  Haseena, one of the interns, came to Peru to love people, improve her language skills, and use her doctoral knowledge to serve.  Since she is a doctor, it is always helpful to set something up to encourage and edify the community.  We were able to pray for every patient, hug them, teach them about parasites, and meet any other needs with treatments that we could provide.  

Everyone on the team helped, even Anna who was watching the boys.  She was killing chickens and cooking for us (with the help of some other people).  She even got to spend some time teaching the women, which was a treat for them. 

Our time came to a quick close and before we knew it they were giving us a goodbye service.   They danced for us and sang, we sang for them, then we danced with them, and then we received a hug/kiss from every person in the building.

Then they opened up a mini-market for us, so we could buy some crafts if we saw something that caught our eye.   In minutes the market seemingly materialized out of thin air.  I wanted to buy all the crafts to help them, because it is their only source of income, but it was not possible for me or Amanda to do so.

The next morning we woke up at 5am, got all the stuff packed up and head back down the river.  We saw birds, wild monkeys, biting ants, oh and dolphins.  Actually we saw dolphins mostly on the way there, but I think one person saw one on the way back.

After our arrival back to the hotel we had our last team lunch together. In the evening we crashed, ate something, and then crashed again.  It had been a few days since a shower, and a good sleep.  It was a simple life, but one we were not used to.  Although I do miss drinking fresh coconut milk in the hot sun.

So where do we go from here? 

We are praying for that in 2012.  Both communities in San Juan, and in Calleria, are asking for us to encourage them and teach them about discipleship and  leadership.  What we are praying about is for Marcial to come back to Pulcallpa, and be our eyes, ears, and mouth.  We are praying that somehow we can raise enough support for him and his family to cover what he makes as a teacher, and get him doing what these people need, and what he loves to do. 

We are also looking into getting Bibles in both communities.  Audio Bibles, Spanish Bibles, Shipibo Bibles, and study resources will all go very far towards training these people up.

Finally, we are hoping to do at least one seminar a year, plus take a short term team there from America or the UK to help them build things a bit faster, and help equip the Body to go out and be Light. 

We are praying to stay in the Lord’s will, because we understand that “new” is always fun.  We just want to do what He wants, and we know if we do that, all the things we need will be provided for us!

Day Off Adventures.

(If you missed part one Pucallpa- A Simple Life... CLICK HERE)

After we wrapped up that time in San Juan, a desperately needed two days off had finally

arrived. Between the heat, and the ministry time we were worn out. So what did we

do? We fished.

One of my bucket list desires has been to fish in places like the Amazon. Why not

right? Not many people get that opportunity. So a bunch of us went along the river with

homemade fishing rods. We used some chicken guts, put them on a hook, got knee

deep in the murky water and put our lines in.

First fish- piranha.

I was hooked. We fished for a couple of hours, catching two different types of catfish,

and two types of piranhas. We saw leaf cutter ants, and a dead sloth. We also saw a

monstrous dead iguana that was being eaten in the water by the piranhas. Obviously it

is ideal to see these animals alive... but it was still cool to think that there could be a

sloth taking a nap in the tree right above us.

The second day we went to the zoo and held hands with monkeys. We then went over

to the jaguar cage, and Amanda somehow insulted a male jaguar which proceeded to

lunge at her through the cage. That was one of the coolest, scary moments in my life.

We are very thankful for the cage, otherwise I would have had to rip a jaguar in half and

pay the zoo for their loses. Ha!

their loses. Ha!

 

After our days off we prepared to check out of our hotel, and get on a boat. Where were we going? Up the Ucayali river, a tributary to the Amazon, to vist with a Shipibo community...

click HERE for part three...

Pucallpa- A Simple Life.

In the hustle and bustle of a city the size of Lima, it is very easy to get bogged down

with the day to day. Like most major cities, it has its trappings, distractions, poor air,

and smells. We are grateful that God has called us here for many reasons, but when

He calls us to the jungle, it is a special (and welcomed) treat.

A couple of months earlier we began talking to the leaders of a local church about the

potential of coming to visit them again to see what God is saying in terms of a

relationship. After a couple of years of outreach and communication by Mark and Anna,

we felt like it was time to see if God was calling us to invest in the people over the long

term, or if it was time to let them grow in their own fields, self-sufficiently.

In order to do that we needed to spend quality time with them, getting to know the

people. Obviously, the best way to do that is face to face, so we decided to spend two

weeks devoted to getting to know the people in Pucallpa.

The experience was eye opening.

We had two community focuses. The first is a community outside the city of Pulcallpa,

called San Juan. It is a small church community where they mostly farm and work in

wood factories. Our original thought was to spend time with them, let them ask

questions, we would ask questions, and then see if there were some areas that God

was telling us to help them. Letʼs just say it didnʼt start with a *bang*.

We found out that the Church was really struggling. People werenʼt happy. The Pastor

had disappeared, (which is not uncommon for church leaders it seems). Hardly anyone

was coming to the services and there was no discipleship going on.

That took almost three days of questions and teachings to find that out from the leaders.

Were we asking the wrong questions? No. Was it a cultural or language barrier? In

some ways, yes, because their first language is not Spanish, itʼs Shipibo, a jungle

language. However the real reason for the problems resulted in their lack of training in

ministry, and in communication.

No one had really taken the time to sit down with any of these leaders and explain to

them about ministry and leadership, and what a healthy church body looks like.

Discipleship, and what that entailed, had never even occurred to them. They were

obedient to God by planting a church, they just did not know what to do from there.

Once we realized their struggles, it gave us a ton of motivation to love on them more

and spend some time getting to know them and in order to make their ministry more

fruitful!

We had split up into four groups: leaders, women, youth and children. The youth time went

well, and we saw a drive and excitement as they kids sang songs and learned about

having a relationship with God.

The womenʼs work was altogether difficult. Many of the

women did not speak or understand Spanish. Some could not read or write, and they

had medical ailments that were bothering them. Yet Anna, Amanda, and Rosa worked it

out, teaching them about spending time with God, and listening to Him in their lives.

This is what they did (from Amanda):

"We used a seed to define our relationship with God. When a seed is

planted, it starts to grow roots. The roots signify the depth of our

relationship. But sometimes we come across "stones" or obstacles. One

day we focused on the obstacles. Each of the women took a paper "stone"

and drew what their obstacles were. We talked about how to overcome

those obstacles in order to continue growing deep. The next day we talked

about the "fruit" of our relationship. Each woman took a paper "fruit" and

drew about the good fruits that are grown from a healthy relationship

with God. It sounds very simple, but the women really connected with it!"

 

 

In terms of the teaching time for leaders, we spent a couple of days throwing things at

them, and we were hitting real walls. Nothing was sticking, and you could see it all over

their faces. Then one day God did something.

We were sitting on the porch of a shack because it had been pouring rain, and we

began teaching. We were teaching about church leadership, and what that looks like.

The men were really focused, and taking notes like crazy, which is not a cultural norm

with the Shipibo people, as we learned from previous experiences. The real spiritual

breakthrough could be seen because people from the community suddenly began to

arrive as we talked about what God calls the church to be. As we wrote on paper held

up by gum, people began gathering to see what these gringos were teaching. It was

encouraging to see the local ice cream man stop working so he could hear a bit more

about the Body of Christ.

We finished out two days with worship. In one of those days, Amanda and Ronald

began to sing, and the skies opened up and God let it rain. It poured and poured. As

the water hit the roof, it created a time of beholding Godʼs majesty, as we thanked Him

for salvation through worship. We prayed for people, laying hands on the sick, asking

for Godʼs healing.

To be honest, it was difficult, because this Church is fighting so much right now. There

is a lot of oppression amongst the people and the leaders. So whenever there seemed

like people might let their wall down, something would creep up, and the door would

shut.

However, there was one moment for me, as I was praying for one of the men whose

church title would probably be “Director.” He has a hard time reading his Bible because

of his poor eyesight. He is thirsty for the word of God, but sells himself short because

he is not “trained.” Yet, half the witch doctors in the area know him and his love for

Jesus. So as Amanda was singing, and Ronald was playing to God, I walked over

behind them, where he stood in prayer.

I began praying for God to put a fire in his heart. I donʼt know why completely, it was

just something that God convicted me to pray for. In my mind I figured it was because

he has so much contact with people that are living dark spiritual lives. Godʼs fire can

burn through that stuff like fatwood. At that moment, he started praying fervently to

God. I looked down at his crossed arms and I heard that small voice saying to

me to uncross this manʼs arms, and help him lift them up to praise before God. So I did.

Those moments of seeing him give his heart to God in real, authentic worship. I donʼt

have words for that...

click HERE for part two...

San Genaro Dos Results

The Prep When we originally planned this event with the people in Pacifico, we knew it was going to take a pretty large sum of work and finances to make it happen.  In a matter of a couple of weeks, so many people from the US and UK donated that we were able to go above and beyond any of our expectations.   To prep the event we were able to get a t-shirt, candy, cereal, toys, hot chocolate, and panetone for every single child that came to the event.  The final number was over 730 children.  On top of the presents, we were able to purchase 50 various gifts for moms and dads.  These gifts ranged from diapers to food boxes to a huge gift basket as the grand prize.

The Arrival When we arrived to the site, we were so surprised by a number of things.  First, the dirt "soccer field" we were supposed to have the stage on was being used for an all day soccer tournament.  "Where were we going to do the event now?"Miscommunication... Right before we arrived, a car full of wealthy people showed up and started passing out random gifts to people.  This caused complete disorder, and definitely had me concerned because of the amount of begging and "mob" attitude that began to take place.  Scary... Then I looked over to a downed concrete post and I did a little jig on the inside.  The post was lined with people from the Pacifico community, waiting for us, ON TIME, ready to help out.  People that I did not expect.  People that had never done any sort of outreach before.  These were people that had become Christians within the past year or so, and they were highly motivated.  Exhilarating...

The Event After having several moments to plan things out with the group, and put on our Christmas hats we were ready to go.  The show started and we began organizing the communities that we were going to reach out to.  As we called the people for each community, it was breathtaking to see leadership qualities begin to come out of these people in Pacifico.  We have always said that they have so much potential, but it has been hidden under generations of being shown and told that they are "less than" their neighbor. At points, because it started to get a little warm, some people in the crowd started to get a bit cranky.  It happens.  However, right when those moments would begin to occur, God's grace would shine through, and a skit would start, or we would do one of the giveaways. As each community was grouped together, we walked around and gave all the mom's and dad's blue tickets which would enter them into the "Blessing Raffle."  As per usual, some people decided to be a bit sneaky, and they were able to get several tickets.  If we chose to focus on it, that could have been a game ruiner.  Yet again, God's grace lit up the day! When we did the drawing for diapers, guess who got the prize?  A mom with a newborn baby.  (The diapers were for a new born).  To fast forward to the grand prize of the day... it was a 45 lb. basket full of food, drinks, etc.  The kind of stuffthat most of these people would have to save several weeks worth of income in order to buy.  We called out the number, we looked around, and one of the ladies from Pacifico started jumping up and down screaming "we won, we won!!!!"  In ourheads we are thinking, "Ok... remember guys, this raffle isn't for you."   Then she moved out of the way and began holding the hand of an elderly woman.  She was by far the oldest lady in the entire crowd.  (The picture you see here was the second oldest Señora in the crowd.) When the crowd saw who won, they started screaming for joy.  All these people that had "lost" began clapping and screaming words of joy for this elderly woman that so clearly needed this basket.  I can't express to you the feeling of knowing what God had just done in that moment.

The Moment Before we began to handout the hot chocolate, panetone, and gifts, Lili stepped up on the stage which was provided for us, for free, by the district mayor.  She picked up the mic hooked up to the sound equipment, also free.  She had drawn up huge posters, with the following symbols: She went through each symbol explaining God's love for us, our sin, Christ coming (the reason for Christmas), His death on the cross, the tomb that could not hold Him because He was resurrected, and the question that each person might have in their hearts and minds. As we have expressed many times before, we are not interested in saying a prayer, patting someone on the back, and saying have a nice life.  So we all stood inanticipation over what God might do in that moment.  This moment, for many of the leaders, would show us exactly what God might have for San Genaro Dos in 2012. There is no other words to describe the moment of prayer, other than to say God's presence fell.  That expression has become quite common, even cliche, in the Church, but for us it was real.  Mark actually stepped a couple of steps back.  God was doing something.  People were loudly crying out to God, unashamed, ready to give their lives to Jesus. Of course there were several people that were more interested in the soccer game or the gift they had just won.  And if you looked at those faces, a moment of doubt or a "why" could creep into our minds.  But then again, all we had to do was look at those innocent little faces of the children, the moms, and the dads that were praying with voices high, asking God to reveal Himself to them as they made the decision to follow Him.

The Giving After each child received their gifts, we were able to give the extras to those that were not a part of the community lists that we had received.  We then packed up everything, and started heading home.  Then a little girl came up to me.  I want to sum up the day with our short conversation. As I waited for Mark to come back to pick me up, I began to watch the heated soccer game taking place.  It had been a good day.  A day that would require a ton of reflection.  As I stared off into the clouds, I noticed a little girl standing in front of me.  She had long hair, light brown skin, a white Peru shirt on, and some gifts in her hands. I smiled at her because she was already wearing the shirt we gave her, which matched her cute little white glasses. She turned her head a little bit and then she said to me, "you know, this year I have double the presents of any Christmas I have had before?" "Really?" I said to her, as I continued to smile. Her head straightened, and her little brown eyes looked straight into my eyes. They were full of thankfulness.  "I just want to thank Jesus for you guys because you came and did this for us." I was so dumbfounded, I had to make sure my mouth wasn't wide open sucking in flies.  I didn't know what to say, for the first time in my life.  My eyes couldn't even tear up because I was so shocked with her words. "How old are you?"  Good.  I got something out of my mouth. "I am eight." Yup, my words were stuck in my throat. "Well, I am about to go now.  I just want to bless you." Then she walked up to me.  She kissed me on the cheek, and began to walk home.

As we sit back and look at "reports" like this, we always feel overwhelmed with the fact that we get to do this. We can not overlook that people like you are such a huge part of the investment that we are making here.  Because of your investment, whether it be through prayer, finances, words of encouragement, or even opening this email, we are able to do what we do.  That is truly not just a Christmas blessing, it is a blessing we cherish year round.

Update on the 2011 Christmas Outreach

This morning was the follow up meeting with the president of 18 little districts in San Genaro Dos.  (If you don’t know what I am talking about “click here.”)  We arrived, and parked our car on a dirt soccer field in which the right side of the field drops off on a steep decline.  We then called the president of the area and said “Hey!  We are here!!!”

“I’m so sorry! I got called into an emergency meeting with the mayor.  We are talking about getting running water!!!  I’m sorry.  But don’t worry, my wife knows everything, she can give all the details.”

So we walked to his house and discovered his wife was not there, so we walked up the rest of the 380 stairs and began to look around.  


Mark, Ronald, Angela and I talked, thought, planned, and then we prayed.  As we prayed, asking the Lord to give us vision, direction, provision, and hope, we saw three beautiful butterflies flying around.  Then, as I typed “butterfly” into my online Bible, knowing there was no such reference, the following verse came up.  It was the only verse that came up.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” -2 Corinthians 5:17

Wow, what encouragement!  This is exactly what we felt God was putting on our hearts for San Genaro Dos.  

So we went down the mountain and began speaking with the president’s daughter, his wife, and their assistant.  They began explaining to us about the area and the needs.  They wanted to know our intentions, and our heart behind our words.  (They had been burnt in the past by people that wanted to come and “help.”)

We started out slow, and explained our hearts and intentions.  We understood their reservations.  It was so good that Angela was there because they saw we aren’t three crazy guys.  (Angela is such a lover of people, you could literally see them forming bonds in a couple of minutes.  To the point of Angela referring to a lady by a nickname that is common in Peru which means “belly.”)

These lovely ladies just opened right up.

Since God was showing us that they really were people of peace, we continued our conversation because there is a ton of planning involved.  To bless 800 children we were going to need to do a ton of work to make the event happen.  We have been asking for miracles over all of this because to Westerners, this is last minute preparation for something that is huge.

Well, today we saw God work.

Today, three woman who didn’t know us at all, are so comfortable with us that they are asking to be involved.

They want to team up with the people from Pacifico and make the hot chocolate.  They want to help pass it out.  They want to make sure the kids are in order.  They want people to know about God.  They want to show us their little work spaces that we might be able to hold celebration services in the future.  

I can’t explain to you how different this experience is, in comparison to anything I have done in a non-Christian context here in Peru.  Very often, when you give something that people want, they want it all.  They are not interested in helping or giving, they are interested in receiving.  And honestly, based off of what we have seen here in Peru the past two years, it’s not a surprise.  “Get what you can get, while you can get it.”  

Not today.

After this meeting it appears we now have a place to hold the outreach, a place to cook the hot chocolate, people to cook the hot chocolate, leaders to help organize the children, a sound system, clean up crew, and fencing to keep the area secure.  Amazing right?

What do we still need?

Your support.

How can you support us?

Through prayer, and if you feel led, financial partnership.

At a minimum, it will cost approximately 9,000 soles ($3,400) to get 800 children a gift, hot chocolate, and bread.  They will hear the gospel this day, and they will laugh, and have their stomachs full of holiday food.  We know that.  God keeps showing us His plan.

What we are asking you, is if you feel like you can help be a part of that!!!  Can you help make an investment with the people of Pacifico, and Oikos Church?

If you are interesting in donating, click here, and then follow the links.  (Type in “Christmas” under the reference form.)  We know it takes a little bit of time, but it will be so completely worth it.

Thank you!