Gonzalez – January – February 2010

22 Volunteers came from Georgia, Michigan, Texas, Colorado, Bogota Colombia, Iquitos Peru and Manaus Brazil to work together as part of a remarkable team, and the results were wonderful!! Each one of them came to participate on a different activity. We had scheduled a series of events, back to back, in several locations, all to be completed in 14 days; Bible school, Tikuna Youth Conference, water purification system installation, children’s ministry, Medical clinics, Etc.

The first week we were teaching at the Tikuna Bible School in Sabonete Brazil. Pastor David from Michigan, our missionary Joshua and missionary Adam from Iquitos and George, ministered to 74 students from 7 different tribes, who received a transforming experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit. It was not just a theological explanation of how God works; it was a hands-on experience, beyond language barriers!

When you minister to people coming from remote tribes, each speaking a different language, and you can barely communicate with them in Spanish or Portuguese, because they only know a few words of it, and you “see” how much they are “understanding” and how much God is moving in their hearts, it is just amazing!! Can’t find the right words to explain it! It is supernatural.

At the youth conference in Filadelfia Brazil they had a better understanding of Portuguese and it was easier to interact in teaching classes, sports and activities. Most participants made first time commitments to follow Christ and were baptized in the river.

Installing a new Water Purification System and enlarging an existing one took a lot less time and effort than prior locations. David, our son, is becoming an expert in the science of water purification!

FROM 3 to 0! Islandia Peru, population 3,500.

For several years they were having serious health problems. Every month one or two, sometimes three children would die due to diarrhea and intestinal infections. Then, four months ago we installed a WPS. Now enlarged to supply 12,000 litters a day. During the last three months the number of dead children went down to “0”! During our recent Medical clinic only two children had mild diarrhea!

God’s love in action is making the difference!

The local church we are working with used to be only 30 people last year, since the pastor became the provider of pure drinking water for the entire town; the congregation has grown to 90! One Sunday 120 people came to church. The old building sitting on 24 ft. high stilts almost went down! God has a plan for this town where most people belong to the “Israelites of the New Covenant” cult.

Both pure and Living Water are being served daily, some through the pipes and most from the pulpit!!

MEDICAL CLINICS.

The Medical Team from Georgia arrived and we took off to the Yavari valley on the Peruvian side. In four days we held 7 clinics with a total of 1,250 prescriptions. Everywhere we went we ministered and prayed for the sick.

In one of the villages a 4 year old girl was patiently waiting in line outside the building where the medical clinic was taking place. When she came inside she was holding her left hand behind her back, very shy and fearful. After some small talk with Edilma she pulled out her hand, there was a large open and infected wound about ¼” wide across her hand, Edilma could see the bones and nerves inside. It looked like a machete cut. Immediately Edilma took her to the front of the line for the doctor to see her. After the doctor cured her hand, Katherine and Anne gave her plenty of antibiotics and pain killers to take home. The girl never said how she got cut. We think she got hurt working at the families’ plot in the back of the jungle.

This 4 year old girl, without opportune medical attention and for the lack of a small amount of antibiotics could have lost the use of her hand to gangrene.

At another village we arrived on the boat and George went to make contact with the “Curaca” the village chief. After getting authorization to set up the clinic George met the man in charge of the local clinic. Proudly wearing his “Health Promoter” T- shirt. He was in the village because he couldn’t be working at his yucca plantation. Several days prior he had hurt his thumb with a machete. It was very large, swollen like a sausage wrapped in a piece of cloth. That was the entire cure he has been able to do on his wound.

This man being the “Health Promoter” for the village did not have even a Tylenol pill to reduce the pain on his hand. Much less to take care of anybody else who could have needed medical attention. You see, to be a “Health Promoter” on this remote jungle villages means you wear the T-shirt and you have the responsibility but you do not have the supplies or any means to do any good. That’s why when we come to these corners of the jungle and help them on the most painful and critical needs, they listen to our message! They are absolutely open to hear the gospel when they can “SEE IT” in action. Others have come to these villages before to preach, but preaching without compassion, without touching their lives with a solution to their pain, their thirst and hunger, only produces despondence and mistrust.

On this last medical clinic to the Yavari, the leaders of 4 different villages asked George to please, return and start a church in their villages. Oh, how much we would like to do that! If we only had enough finances to send at least 2 native pastors to visit the villages on the river side at least twice a month!!!

Plenty of needy and sick people all around and there were more villages to visit but we couldn’t go any longer, we run out of medicine and reading glasses!

After you do as much as you can, the only thing left to do is to believe that God will give us another opportunity to reach out to those left without. Yes, we pray we may return and give them a chance to hear of God’s love.

Could you help us to continue doing our work among the people in the Amazon jungle? Right now Edilma and I need the finances, of $3,500 to go on the next trip on March 11, with 22 people again, to minister to the children, to hold a Women’s in Ministry Conference in Leticia and to hold an evangelistic Art Festival for native youth at a remote village in Peru.

There is so much to do, so many great open doors for ministry. More and more villages asking for Pure Water, for medicine and for discipleship and preachers! We must increase our staff at the Amazon mission’s base but we need to raise funds to support them.

Our son David is in Leticia for three months, maintaining the water purification systems and the distribution of food for the children’s feeding project. He needs financial support, $750 each month.

Your generous mission’s offering will be greatly appreciated and will be used to advance the proclamation of God’s love among the native people of the Amazon Jungle.

The Bostics – January 2010

2 youth conferences, hundreds of miles apart in the Amazon… Yes we did!! What a busy time the last few weeks have been. First, some old friends came down from Texas. Michael, Nathan, and Stephen rented a fast boat, and we headed up the river. We presented the Gospel of Jesus Christ with individuals and taught powerful biblical principles to young people from dozens of towns and villages spread out through the mountains and jungles of Peru! A few days later I went hundreds of miles in the opposite direction down river. There I joined up with other members of the Amazon Xpeditions team to do a conference for indigenous young people. I helped by teaching about receiving the blessings of God, and leading exciting games for the first ever youth conference in the area! On the last night the electricity went out in the village, and everyone was discouraged about not getting to make a big finish. But God had a plan.

I led the way as we marched through the night, and found the church full of people sitting and singing in the dark, waiting on God to do something. And He did! I preached an energized message using only flashlights for illumination! The people responded enthusiastically to the ministry and were totally convinced that God could give them a great victory when the lights came back on the moment I finished preaching!! I also got to help baptize several believers from different people groups on the last day!

What a privilege! Amazon Xpeditions supervisor George Gonzalez invited me to participate with him in a once a year ministry training and Bible school for people from very remote areas. I was so excited! Training young people to take the Gospel to the farthest corners of the world has always been our passion. The legions of biting insects, the overwhelming heat, and the sticky humidity had no power to dampen my enthusiasm about teaching this next generation of pastors, teachers, and evangelists! We had our share of challenges with the language. My notes were in English, I taught in Spanish, an interpreter on my right spoke in the local language, and another interpreter on my left spoke in the most common indigenous language. We were all depending on the spirit of God for the message to be understood, and it was! The people drew close to God through tears of love and joy.

Dallen Drollette – January 2010

After arriving to the Amazon, the first event that I was able to help with was an annual bible-training seminar in Sabonete Brazil. The majority of the students were Tikuna youths from nearby areas. A handful of the individuals there had to travel as long as two weeks by canoe to arrive for these classes. This was exciting for me because on my very first trip to the Amazon in May of 2006 I helped construct the actual building for this purpose. I mixed the cement and stacked the bricks for the walls almost four years ago! As the older missionaries taught I helped purify rain water filled with debris so that the students would be able to have clean water for drinking and cooking.

During the second day of courses I was extended the opportunity to help a team of Brazilian medical personal in Filadelfia, Brazil. I spent the next two afternoons checking the blood pressure of older patients. This was useful because it freed up the Doctor from simple triage duties and made her work a little more time efficient. I benefited from it by being able to practice rudimentary medical skills, and the best part is that people mistakenly called me Doctor all afternoon!

The days following the Filadelfia medical clinic and the bible teaching at Sabonete were spent helping with a Youth conference in a Baptist Church in Filadelfia Brazil. I helped a wonderful lady from Colorado named Connie perform activities for the youth, she would explain games and different activities in English and then I would interpret to Spanish. They understood very well. Filadelfia is a Tikuna community where the majority of the population speaks Tikuna. This is their mother tongue learned in the home and then the children learn Portuguese when they go to school. So because Portuguese and Spanish are mutually intelligible I was able to explain the games for Connie and during times of ministry pray for individuals without miscommunication. The last night of the youth conference was almost cancelled because of a community wide power outage. After walking to the church to see if anyone would be there we found a rather lively group of people waiting for a service. Adam Bostic a missionary from Iquitos Peru preached a very relevant message that night. He used sword fighting as an illustration. He literally used machetes to convey the sword-fighting as described in the text he was teaching. He was illuminated by flashlight and as soon as we finished praying for the people at the conclusion of his message the power came back!

After the youth conference we left Filadelfia to meet up with a medical team from Savannah, Georgia. The medical team consisted of one doctor, a pediatrician, three nurses and then more than a dozen mixed short term and long term missionaries ready to help with anything they could.

The first medical clinic was located in Islandia Peru. The next set of communities we visited were located off of the Javari river on the Peruvian side. Our final medical clinic took place in a Colombian community called Santa Sofia. During these clinics I helped by distributing reading glasses and Christian literature, and praying for the sick. A highlight for me was seeing an active church in Buen Suceso Peru. This is the same community where I was able to participate with YWAM and be a part of their medical clinics during June of last year. At that time there was not an established church in Buen Suceso. Now there are enough believers in this community to meet together and worship corporately!

I am currently enrolled in a river navigation course in Leticia Colombia, upon completion of this program I will be certified motorist! Another major endeavor I will assist with will be to store the fortified rice we use for the children’s feeding program. A huge shipment will be arriving by boat from the States any day now.

Thank you for being a part of Gods plan for my life and enabling me to work with the people down here once again. Your prayers and support made this a reality for me! I still have a little over a month to be here! Please keep praying!

Dallen Drollette
DallenDrollette@yahoo.com

Joshua and Tania Turner – January 2010

This month has been packed with events!!

The request to teach at the indigenous seminary, that proved to be a successful step in making imperative relationships. As I see it we are in the right place, at the right time to have the opportunity to share Christ with those who want Him.

Through being at the seminary we made new friends with some leaders of the other tribes. They were interested in learning English and would like to exchange languages every Saturday. They came from the last town before you go up river to all the other tribes. This opportunity is both good to have their friendship with the different tribes and to learn their languages in exchange for English. It is also a great location to share the message of Christ.

My mission director George was in Leticia this month. We were planning on doing a medical trip together up the Javari River, but I got sick and it was better for me to sit that round out. The highlight of this month was being able to participate with the indigenous seminary.

During the end of the seminary the students experienced the Holy Spirit, like in the book of Acts. It is necessary to have that power as a believer to undergo what is to come. There is much more evangelizing and frontier mission work yet to be done in this region.

Remember, the missionary work here is project oriented work. There is always something going on whether it is serving with Clauber in Brazil or up river sharing Christ with tribes. We work through a facet of different ministries, feeding programs, language learning and teaching, Bible teaching, evangelization, medical programs, water purification systems etc… All to a means of getting the Gospel to the tribes that have still not heard over so much time. And to build up the indigenous brothers, sisters and youth that already are believers to send them out as well.

Sometimes it can be hard to understand and to communicate what is happening so many miles away in a foreign land.

Thank you for your prayers and support,

Joshua and Tania

Photo Gallery: The Amazon

From feeding programs to water purification systems, see what we are doing in the Amazon with your help!

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How far would you go…

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