We have had a good full week of Ash language help from Laureano, an Ash believer that has been spending a few weeks here in our community. Laureano actually lives a ways upriver from here. We are thankful his help with the language and sure do wish that he lived here as he is such a good language helper!
We did go out yesterday afternoon to track down the three daughters of a Pedro Ash that Laureano recommended to us as possible language helpers. He actually specifically recommended the oldest daughter. Well, we found them with some other women and few guys all drinking the local fermented, manioc drink at a lady's house. Nobody was super inebriated but we could tell that at least one of the daughters was getting there. We sat and visited some but didn't end up bringing up the subject of language help.
We then went into the little neighborhood where a lot of the Ash have settled that have moved here from Sawawo village, an Ash village on another river. It was mostly women in the houses. Not sure where all the men were. Being that the day before was the big Peruvian Independence Day and all the partying that went with that, everyone was kind of in recovery mode, I think. Today we want to go back to a couple that we have visited a couple of times before that are also from Sawawo and if the husband is there, I would like to talk to him some more to get a better feel for his Spanish or Portuguese skills as well as his interest in being a language helper. When I last saw him he had mentioned going back to Sawawo after Independence Day, so maybe they have left already. Continue to pray for good language helpers for us, that God would direct us to the right individuals here in the area.
-Brad
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Now we have a rooster!
Yes, we somehow found ourselves the new owners of a rooster yesterday. How did we end up with a
rooster, you ask? There has been increased activity of people coming to borrow our sat phone and
someone yesterday paid for their sat phone call with a rooster! Old world meets new world. ha. They
gave us the bird in a bag and then we had to figure out what we were going to do with it.
Thankfully, I had a roll of chicken wire here in the house so Koleman and I went out and wrapped
some around the water tank stand and, we had ourselves a little chicken pen. We then let the rooster
out of the bag inside the pen and he was OK, but Blackie just couldn't seem to stay away from that
pen and then the bird would hop out. Thankfully, he is somewhat tame and not too hard to catch when
he gets out. Last night we did fully enclose his pen so that he cannot get out of there. We really
know nothing about raising chickens (I am considering the fact that our two chicks are still alive a
flat-out miracle!) so I was grilling Laureano on what would be the best thing to do for our rooster.
He said that you keep them penned up for 3 weeks, then you can let him roam and he will come back to
his pen at dusk to roost. If you let him wander too early on, he might not come back to roost in the
evening. Alright, we will give that a go. So now we have one dog, two cats, and three chickens!
-Brad
rooster, you ask? There has been increased activity of people coming to borrow our sat phone and
someone yesterday paid for their sat phone call with a rooster! Old world meets new world. ha. They
gave us the bird in a bag and then we had to figure out what we were going to do with it.
Thankfully, I had a roll of chicken wire here in the house so Koleman and I went out and wrapped
some around the water tank stand and, we had ourselves a little chicken pen. We then let the rooster
out of the bag inside the pen and he was OK, but Blackie just couldn't seem to stay away from that
pen and then the bird would hop out. Thankfully, he is somewhat tame and not too hard to catch when
he gets out. Last night we did fully enclose his pen so that he cannot get out of there. We really
know nothing about raising chickens (I am considering the fact that our two chicks are still alive a
flat-out miracle!) so I was grilling Laureano on what would be the best thing to do for our rooster.
He said that you keep them penned up for 3 weeks, then you can let him roam and he will come back to
his pen at dusk to roost. If you let him wander too early on, he might not come back to roost in the
evening. Alright, we will give that a go. So now we have one dog, two cats, and three chickens!
-Brad
Official first language session in Puerto Breu
Our language session with Laureano and Eloy went really well last night. Just from this first time
it seems that Laureano will make a good language helper. Eloy is a bit more timid and unsure of
himself but part of that might have to do with his dad being there beside him. I went through the
material first and then Reb and Koleman did some of the TPR (total physical response) stuff with
Laureano and Eloy. This is where the helper says in the language something like "Show me the dog."
and you point at the photo of the dog. This was the first lesson of the BEC so really it was all
vocab that we already knew more or less. I figured it would be good, though, starting from the
beginning as this way it allows it to be easier for us and we can focus more on helping train the
language helper with what exactly we are wanting him to do. Laureano and Eloy plan to come back
again this evening for another session. Eventually, I will just have one language helper at a time,
but having them both here at the same time does seem to help them figure things out together as they
learn what the expectations are.
-Brad
it seems that Laureano will make a good language helper. Eloy is a bit more timid and unsure of
himself but part of that might have to do with his dad being there beside him. I went through the
material first and then Reb and Koleman did some of the TPR (total physical response) stuff with
Laureano and Eloy. This is where the helper says in the language something like "Show me the dog."
and you point at the photo of the dog. This was the first lesson of the BEC so really it was all
vocab that we already knew more or less. I figured it would be good, though, starting from the
beginning as this way it allows it to be easier for us and we can focus more on helping train the
language helper with what exactly we are wanting him to do. Laureano and Eloy plan to come back
again this evening for another session. Eventually, I will just have one language helper at a time,
but having them both here at the same time does seem to help them figure things out together as they
learn what the expectations are.
-Brad
Monday, July 13, 2015
An Opportunity to be Salt and Light
We've had an interesting visitor the first two days we've been out here in the community. He is a
Quechua man who is here right now. He is some kind of helper to anthropologists and has this work
of trying to help the indigenous people keep their old customs, etc. He came over to our house to
basically try to convince Brad how wrong the Bible is. He also told Brad that he doesn't like Bible
believing Christians or Americans. When Brad told him that he is a Bible believing Christian, the
man was trying to nicely say that even so, we can work together. Brad wasn't sure what he wanted to
do together, though. The Quechua man knew some Portuguese so he was conversing in a mix of Spanish
and Portuguese with Brad because he assumed Brad was only Brazilian. Brad did tell him that I was
American, so I figure that is why he barely gave me the time of day when I would greet him or say
good-bye. ;)
-Rebecca
Quechua man who is here right now. He is some kind of helper to anthropologists and has this work
of trying to help the indigenous people keep their old customs, etc. He came over to our house to
basically try to convince Brad how wrong the Bible is. He also told Brad that he doesn't like Bible
believing Christians or Americans. When Brad told him that he is a Bible believing Christian, the
man was trying to nicely say that even so, we can work together. Brad wasn't sure what he wanted to
do together, though. The Quechua man knew some Portuguese so he was conversing in a mix of Spanish
and Portuguese with Brad because he assumed Brad was only Brazilian. Brad did tell him that I was
American, so I figure that is why he barely gave me the time of day when I would greet him or say
good-bye. ;)
-Rebecca
Wild Game Running Past Our House
One of the big excitements yesterday was seeing a deer that came running right up to our house here
in the community. In the middle of the afternoon Koleman and I happened to be standing on the steps
right outside our house when we heard this animal kind of snorting and running down the trail toward
our house. I thought at first it was a pig and kept looking and then all of a sudden this very
exhausted-looking deer appeared on the trail and came right up close to our house and stopped.
It was obviously very tired and even though Blackie, our dog, was right there, it didn't seem to
care. Blackie did then start to bark a bit and chased it and the deer ran up toward our neighbor's.
Koleman and I ran after it as well. I kept wondering if this really was a wild deer or maybe
somebody's pet. Well, we ended up going up toward Eduardo's and here he came running out of his
house with his shotgun asking us in which direction the deer went. I told him and he went after it.
He actually almost had a shot and raised his gun but then the deer jumped down an embankment and
disappeared into the jungle. We came back to our house and saw more men heading out down the trail
with guns to try to get the critter. I don't think anybody did, though, so that deer escaped death
yesterday. Venison is a prized meat here and can provide food for a family for many days. Goodness,
if I had had my gun here in the house it would have been one of the easier shots ever taken. ha.
-Brad
in the community. In the middle of the afternoon Koleman and I happened to be standing on the steps
right outside our house when we heard this animal kind of snorting and running down the trail toward
our house. I thought at first it was a pig and kept looking and then all of a sudden this very
exhausted-looking deer appeared on the trail and came right up close to our house and stopped.
It was obviously very tired and even though Blackie, our dog, was right there, it didn't seem to
care. Blackie did then start to bark a bit and chased it and the deer ran up toward our neighbor's.
Koleman and I ran after it as well. I kept wondering if this really was a wild deer or maybe
somebody's pet. Well, we ended up going up toward Eduardo's and here he came running out of his
house with his shotgun asking us in which direction the deer went. I told him and he went after it.
He actually almost had a shot and raised his gun but then the deer jumped down an embankment and
disappeared into the jungle. We came back to our house and saw more men heading out down the trail
with guns to try to get the critter. I don't think anybody did, though, so that deer escaped death
yesterday. Venison is a prized meat here and can provide food for a family for many days. Goodness,
if I had had my gun here in the house it would have been one of the easier shots ever taken. ha.
-Brad
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