Unbuttoned and Leaving Shell - Part IV

The next day, we made our way to the Nate Saint School for the missionary children.  One more day of activities with them included games, Bible dramas, braceletes galore, baseball and
soccer games.

This part of our journey has really been a different experience for us.  In the past, we've interacted with individual missionary families but to get to interact with many at one time was super fun and inspirational!  Two things impressed us about these kids:  they spoke with Biblical authority and they were not impressed with themselves (although, they did impress us).  First, their Biblical knowledge was quite evident as we prepared the two dramas: Jesus Heals a Paralytic and The Good Samaritan.

They quickly volunteered for all the parts including artists who constructed the scene with chalk.  Once the stories were read, they took over and created the scenes...with authority.  How could they have done this unless with Biblical knowledge!  Secondly, they weren't impressed with their lifestyles, influences, surroundings or appointments.  Working with these kids was a lesson about life:  God first, everything else takes care care to fall into proper place.

It was time to leave Shell, but we'll never in our lifetime forget the people, places and experiences here. We have moved on now.  The Nazarene missionaries, Jon and Shirley Fischer, moved us to Quito on June 22 to complete our last week in Ecuador.  Our almost three months in Riobamba at the Nazarene School were enriching and rewarding.  We made friends there that we will always remember.  The faculty, staff, and students went to great lengths to accept us and make us feel comfortable.  The Nazarene School is shaping hearts and minds to know God and Serve  Him.  We feel privileged that our first assignment with Nazarene Mission Corps was to this school in Riobamba, Ecuador. 

We have learned so much more about God, community, and the value of church.   God has unbuttoned us, and we have learned a lot about ourselves, individually, and as a couple.  We want to stay unbuttoned and open to learn more. 

Where will our next steppingstone take us?  We don't know...but we are willing.

Keep Looking Up and we will, too. 
   Jim and Linda

 

 

 

 



























The Canoe Ride Back - Part III

Our canoe slid into the muddy embankment and we climbed up the river bank and slipped back into the jungle.  The children ran before us on the path, showing us the drier sides of the muddy holes.  "Okay," we said.  "Okay," they echoed each time we approached a dry spot.  The older woman stopped and pointed out an opened Bird of Paradise.  "Wow!" I said.   "Wow," she replied.  All along the path in front and behind us we heard, "wow" and "okay" repeated.  We smiled...English lessons on the Curaray River.  Cool!  The villagers escorted us all the way back to our plane. We exchanged "Dios Bendigo" and hugs.  "Mucho, mucho gracias para hoy," again and again we repeated.  In our broken Spanish we told them that our hearts were connected to their hearts.  They understood...we know, because they touched their hearts.

We climbed back into our warm plane, waved goodbye and Chad positioned the plane for take off.  We traveled a short, bumpy minute on a grassy runway and left their village behind.  Chad banked right, carrying us back over Palm Beach for one last look at the sandbar below.

We landed in Shell right before dark, just as it began to rain.  Did we get to meet Dayuma?  No.  The villagers told us that she was in Puyo, a small town less than 10 miles from Shell, living with her daughter.  In her 80's now, she is suffering from the "benefits" of old age.  They told us she would probably never travel back to her village again.

The next evening, we had the privilege of having dinner with a nurse who has been at the Shell Hospital for 30 years.  She nursed both Dayuma and Rachel Saint.  She answered our questions about these two "soldiers of the faith" who had translated the New Testament into Waorani so the Waorani tribes could be delivered from darkness into Light.  "For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord..." (Ephesians 5:8).  Rachel Saint went back to live with the Waorani tribe even though they had speared her brother, Nate.  She lived all her adult life in the Amazon jungle with the Waorani.  She was called by God and "...God's gifts and his call are irrevocable."  (Romans 11:29)

It's odd how people whom we've never met can influence us, whether they are still living or not.  We both recall hearing about these five missionary martyrs when we were only children, but we never believed we would walk with their converts.  This particular journey has convinced us that we can all leave footprints that others can follow and that glorify God.

Thanks for taking this jungle journey with us.  Keep looking up and we will, too!

"Journey into the Waorani Village" Part II

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." (Jim Elliot)


We had just finished lunch with a missionary family on Monday, June 18. We opened our guesthouse door to go for a walk on the HCJB compound when the wife of a missionary pilot with MAF (www.maf.org) greeted us, saying that she was coming to find us.  She informed us that her husband, Chad, had an open window to fly us into the Waorani village where the five missionaries were slain on January 8, 1956.  The weather was good.  He had an established relationship with this village tribe.  He spoke English, Spanish and some Waorani. But, we had to go now; there was no guarantee that he could take us in at a later date.   We grabbed our backpack, water, Off spray, Tivas, and passports and practically ran to the plane hangar just across the street.  We weighed, paid for the fuel, and boarded the single-engine, four-seat plane.  Chad fitted our headgear so we could communicate while flying and our seatbelts.  We took off, eventually following the same flight path that Nate Saint flew.   We couldn't believe that our persistent inquiries were finally paying off.  We flew 3,000 feet over the dense jungle below.  Maybe, at last, we could meet Dayuma!   Our plane landed on a short, grassy runway and taxied and turned for our takeoff later.  We stepped out of the plane into a humid heat and right into the path of many of the Waorani village people of Ecuador's Rainforest who had come to greet us.  Chad explained what we had come to see:  Palm Beach on the Curaray River where Jim Elliot, Peter Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint (pilot), and Roger Youderian were slain by this very tribe.   They motioned for us to follow them and we did! 

We went into the jungle and sludged along the muddy path.  Suddenly, one of the older women, turned and put her red finger up in my face.  I backed off to see that she was holding a small bulb from which the red paint came.  She painted red stripes down the sides of our cheeks and one stripe on our foreheads.  They made small bamboo crowns and placed them on our heads.  Now, we could continue our walk.  When we arrived at the river bank, we slid down a muddy slope into a 30-foot canoe.  We were really going to Palm Beach.  We landed 20 minutes later on the sandy beach where these five men had landed their plane, hoping to share the gospel with this vicious tribe. Instead,they were speared to death. 


The two older members of the tribe retold the story.  We told them in our broken Spanish that these men were now in heaven.  We asked them if they were Christians. Yes, the older woman replied, "Rachel Saint told me about Jesus when I was young."  Wow!   We were standing with the converts born out of a terrible tragedy.  We were standing on the sand with converts who had reached out and witnessed to other Waorani tribesmen in the jungle. 

The story doesn't end with deaths of these five missionaries. Read  Through Gates of Splendor,  The Dayuma Story, and watch The End of the Spear.   Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.  But if it dies, it produces many seeds." ( John 12:24)  


We gathered rocks from the beach, many of the tribe placing precious stones into a sunglass case that we had emptied. We were inspired to have stood on Palm Beach, to have listened to their story, to have hugged and shared that even though we may never see each other again on this soil, our Christian faith would reunite us in Heaven.  This is a journey we will forever be grateful to have taken.  Is there a steppingstone large enough on which to inscribe the honor of this trip down the Curaray River?  Is there a stone large enough to possibly write the words to describe the Presence that was there at that moment?   We have been on a  remarkable journey these last three months. 

It seemed like this part of our journey was not going to take place.  But God did indeed give us the desire of our hearts.(Psalms 37:4)

Is there more?  Yes, Part III 

Keep Looking Up! and we all will, too!    Jim and Linda

     

Why Shell, Ecuador? Part I

It all started in 1956 and seemed to be coming together on January 30, 2012 when we were assigned to serve for three months in Ecuador. It actually all came to fruition on June 18, 2012, 56 years later.  Let's begin with Good Friday, April 6, 2012.  We went to Shell, Ecuador with the Nazarene District Superintentdent for corporate Good Friday services uniting many churches in the jungle area. (See April 7, 2012 Post)  During our three hour stay, we met  Dr. Matt, his wife, Amy, and their three children on assignment at the Shell hospital through Samaritan's Purse.  They planted a small seed in our minds when they mentioned that the children of the American missionaries in that area attended the English-speaking Nate Saint School.

Six weeks before our assignment in Riobamba was to conclude, we began to make plans to travel to Shell during our last week in Riobamba. We made contacts for housing at the Shell Guesthouse, which offers temporary housing in return for voluntary service on the HCJB compound (www.hcjb.org)  We made contacts with a coordinator at the Nate Saint School to see if we could offer organized activities for the children of the missionaries. And, we made contact with MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) (www.maf.org), and anyone who knew an MAF pilot, hoping to arrange a flight into the jungle to the Waorani village to meet Dayuma who aided Rachel Saint in translating the Bible into the Waorani language after five missionaries with MAF were killed by the Waorani tribe 56 years ago in 1956.  We successfully arranged for accommodations at the guesthouse.  The school coordinator dispatched an email to all the missionary families informing them that we were going to hold organized activities on the mornings that we were there.  Everything fell into place except we hit a wall, again and again, regarding flight arrangements into the Waorani village.  MAF pilots have uncertain schedules, always on duty to fly medical personnel, evangelists, medicine, missionary teams or evacute patients in and out of the jungle.  Weather and fuel supplies are always a concern.  We soon discovered it wasn't like booking a flight from Dallas to St. Louis! 

But, we showed up!  With help from our elementary teachers in the states, we organized 6 hours of packed activities for the missionary children's program on the two days we had to interact with them.  About 30 came, ready for our competitive games, Bible dramas, arts/crafts and field sports.  They were awesome!  The older ones helped the younger ones.  There was the feel of community, but, of course, in such an isolated setting, independence is not a good idea.  We met multiple missionary families who serve in many different settings with many different denominations and with many different models to share the gospel.  God has His people in place!

We were encouraged as we interacted with these children.  It was easy to see they were grounded in faith.  They live a different lifestyle from their counterparts in the states and when asked if they liked their life, they all answered with a resounding, "Yes!"   What is it that we are supposed to do to serve others?  I Peter 4:10 says it best, " Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."  Can children do this for adults?  Yes, they can.  They did for us!  Can adults do this for children?  Yes.    The six-weeks of planning and making contacts paid off in invisible dividends called blessings.  Not for sale, can't be bought, bartered, traded, loaned or borrowed: blessings.

Oh, did we ever get into the Waorani village?  Part II.

Keep Looking Up and we will, too.    Jim and Linda

Father's Day at the Squatter's Community, Shell, Ecuador

At 4pm on Father's Day, a truck taxi picked us up at our hostal.  We had arrived in Shell, Ecuador in the Amazon Basin just that morning. Earlier at church, we re-connected with a young Dr. and his family who serve at the HCJB hospital (www.hcjb.org), and they asked us if we wanted to join a small group from the church and go to a Squatter's Community that afternoon and then join them for dinner that night in their home.   Of course, we did!  The Squatter's Community is just that - Indians who have come in from different areas of the jungle, settled on the land and built houses. They have come in to the edge of town either to work or to let their children attend the public school.  We wore our hiking boots.  Everyone else wore high rubber boots. We soon found out why.  We waded through strips of black, oily mud to reach a large covered, dirt-floor pavillion.  Children began to pour in and take their seats on the plank-like benches, joining those who had followed us along the muddy path, pointing out the most efficient way to walk a tree branches or the small planks that served as steppingstones.  They were bare-footed.  And dirty.  And smiling.  

The Dr. played the guitar and his wife, Amy, led the singing while a church member held up the paper with the Spanish words to the songs.  The children sang in unison.  We struggled to pronounce in Spanish, but finally, gave up and sang the choruses we knew so well in English:  "Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, Open the eyes of my heart, I want to see Jesus...."  Next, the Nazarene pastor's Mother, shared the story of the Prodigal Son.  She spoke with great expression and the children watched as she enthusiastically showed the prodigal's demands and, eventually, his return.

These children were engaged because someone cared to engage them.  The music and story had been planned, the activities and snacks were prepared ahead of time.  They sensed that someone cared, and that was all it took.  These children have nothing.  Their homes don't have running water or electricity.  The families wash their clothes, take their baths, and brush their teeth in a nearby stream. Their hands and feet and faces are smeared with mud from the days' activities.  They leaned into us, held our hands, and sandwiched us between them on the benches.  Our broken Spanish and their efforts at activities in English filled that pavillion with laughter and shouting.  They are little squatters, living a hard life, but the church faithfully brings a little light into their lives every Sunday afternoon by selfless members who lead very busy lives themselves.  

It was worth it.  The mud, the mosquitoes, the jungle heat.  Hearing the gospel is just one part of the harvest process.  "...It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."   We watched those with few earthly possessions hear the gospel that enriches with blessings that money can't buy anyway.  It was a good day - a good Father's Day!

Keep Looking Up and we will, too!  Jim and Linda          

Do This in Any Language

When:   January 30, 2012
What:    Teaching English/District Office work assignments
Where:  Riobamba, Ecuador
Who:     Nazareno School - grades K-12
Why:     This is how we want to spend our retirement
Going home:  June 30,2012

In between january 30-June 30, we met wonderful people,


 had fulfilling assignments,




toured God's creations,


struggled with a language,



 learned to be more flexible,








 experienced surprises,






developed Plan B's,






depended more on faith than sight,

received blessings galore,


think we can do this in any language.

IICorinthians 13:14 "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

Just Keep Pedaling!

Several weeks ago, we signed up for a biking trip through the Andes.  Forty-six kilometers didn't sound all that bad since we bike that far in the states. Besides, this was all downhill.  What's not to like?  Beautiful scenery and all downhill. About 5 miles into our ride, we discovered that downhill was right down the sides of mountains that drop thousands of feet into ravines.  Added to that, the road became slick with pouring down rain.  Our brakes got a work out!  One more terrifying surprise: on two occasions, we were chased by packs of wild dogs.  One pack of five and one pack of two LARGE dogs.  They were relentless.  Since this was new to us, we did not know what to do except just keep pedaling!   And pray!  And pray, we did!  We called aloud to Jesus for His protection.  We didn't panic (outwardly!); we stayed focused and pedaled really hard and really fast. Out-pedaling the hounds seemed to be the best idea.  They gave up.  We breathed again!  And, vowed to never do that again!
God rescued in a big way, clearly and obviously.  We have friends who are facing very difficult situations now.  Please, don't ever think God doesn't care. Don't ever think God doesn't see every spoke on our bicycles.

We've all been chased by hounds that interrupt, threaten, and hinder us.  As a Christian, watch for God's intervention.  Sometimes, He rescues quietly.  Only the person(s) rescued/relieved knows that it happened. It's so stealth, but it occurred, and they know Who did it.  It was small and indiscreet, but they know Who intervened.  Perhaps you've had that experience.

Sometimes God rescues on a grand scale, clearly obvious to us and those around us.  Remember the plot to murder Paul? (Acts 23:12)  God had no intention of allowing this because Paul's purpose was not completed.  He had an appointment to speak in Rome.  The grand-scale rescue? Deliver Paul to Caesarea.  How? With a detachment of 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen, and 200 spearmen (Acts 23:23+) ...And, give Paul a horse, too!  The calvary arrived and rescued. God did not leave him alone; He surrounded him with an army. Paul knew he was walking on the road toward his eventual death. But, he wasn't walking it alone.

Believe us when we say, we depended entirely on a strength that was not ours when those snarling, barking dogs chased us. One slip on the wet road or one wobble of the handle bars would have delivered us over the enbankment or into a nasty fight.  We believe we had an army with us that day. Whatever your hound is, persevere, stay focused, and just keep pedaling! Pedal hard!