Continue to pray for Ash language helpers!

We were able to get three language sessions in this week.  Laureano was around until Wed. morning so we had two more evening sessions with him.  After that, we were back to visiting different families here in the community trying to find a replacement for Laureano.  He had suggested a cousin of his that lives in this area.  She is living here with two of her sisters and a husband.  We kept trying to visit her but there never seemed like a good time to talk to her about being a language helper and we never met her husband.  We didn't like trying to set up this work with her at our house mainly with Brad without at least talking to her husband, so that is a no go so far. 

There is a family here that we have visited quite a bit and they are willing to come to our house now and again. The husband seems at least interested  in trying the work of language helper.  They actually all came Friday afternoon.  I visited with the wife and 4 kids while the husband had a language session with Brad in the office.  It went okay, but we can see that him bringing his whole family is going to discourage him from being regular.  Already he said that he would come yesterday and was a no show.  For some reason, the Ash see the language help as a whole family affair.  We ran into this in Brazil too. So, instead of just the dad coming when he can, the whole family has to get ready and come together...a much bigger task for them to obtain.  We won't give up on him yet, and hope to visit them at their house today to see how he would feel about coming without his family every time.  It's tough to push it too hard though as he works hard for the municipalidad out in the sun all morning and into the early afternoon, so by the time he is free to come for a two hour language session with Brad, he is pretty tired.  Also, that is the hottest part of the day in our house which makes it doubly hard to focus. 

So, it seems we need a young man who doesn't have a lot of commitments in other areas and who could maybe even come in the morning.  We know this is not a big issue for the Lord so we are putting it in His hands and trusting that God will bring the right language helper for us for the time that we are here in Puerto Breu.  Thanks for joining in with us praying about this.

-Rebecca
*the photo is of Brad and Laureano having a language session at our house

Pray for Good Language Helpers!

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

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

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

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

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

Two-week Trip to Brasil

As my brother Kris and his wife continue to plan and pray about joining us in ministry to the Ash people in Peru, we decided that we would make a point to spend a couple of weeks with them here in Brazil. It has been good to catch up with them and discuss what ministry might look like for them in Peru.

Another reason for a Brazil trip was for Rebecca to be able to renew her Brazilian permanent visa (similar to the green card in the USA).

We have been enjoying our visit here at the New Tribes school for missionary children and Koleman has been getting in lots of playing time with his cousins.

Please pray for Kris and Mary Jane. They have a year-long home assignment time in the USA starting this month and then, Lord willing, will be coming to Peru to join us in reaching the Ash people for Christ.

-Brad

*photo is of our jet that we took as we embarked on our journey from Peru to Brazil

A Visit From a Friend and Some Useful Instruction

Just completed a 4-day workshop on how to go about effectively learning a tribal language and culture. As we prepare to once again spend most of our time each year living among the Ash people in order to advance in our proficiency of their language and our knowledge of their culture, we look forward to putting into practice what we learned in this seminar.

The instructor is a lifelong friend of mine, including my best man in my wedding. So good to see him again and benefit from his knowledge in the area of linguistics and church planting!

Pray with us that in the next couple of years the Ash people would be able to begin to hear God's Word clearly taught in their own tongue. Pray that we as the missionaries would be faithful to apply ourselves to learning their language and culture so that we can effectively teach!

-Brad

Old Eyes

Well, I'm not sure if it was because the subject of my birthday being today would come up now and again or what, but we got a good chuckle out of Koleman last night during our Uno game together. I was complaining about the lighting in the room here and how I couldn't see the colors on the cards very well and Koleman, in all seriousness, attributed my problem to my "old eyes." There is some truth to that! Praise God for another year of life, a godly wife, and a son that tells it like it is!

-"Old Eyes" Brad

I kissed a stranger in the mall yesterday!

Happy belated Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.  I'm so thankful that God has allowed me to be a mom.  Also, I'm so grateful for my own sweet mother who puts up with my ranting and raving on the phone so often.;)

So, yeah, I had a new experience yesterday as we went to the mall here in Pucallpa to celebrate my existence...but really, it was celebrating my son's existence which makes me a mother.  We were going to celebrate by eating ice cream at Dulce Latte.  When I went up to the counter, I was so happy to see that once again they had my favorite coffee flavored ice cream with real coffee beans mixed in.  The mall was the most crowded we have ever seen, so as I was deciding how I wanted my coffee ice cream, I accidentally bumped a lady who was obviously another mother trying to pay for her treat.  So, after saying excuse me, I decided to be a little extra brave with my Spanish and added, "Happy Mother's Day."  Not only did she forgive me the bump, but drew me in for that Peruvian right cheek to right cheek kiss.  Wow! that was a little unexpected.  In my one year of limited Peruvian experience, I've only been kissed by people who have been introduced by name.  No introductions this time, just the kiss.  It really made my day!  I felt like I did something culturally appropriate and was rewarded for it.  Thank you, Peruvian mother.  Hope you enjoyed your milkshake.

-Rebecca

Back to Town

Well, we are back out in town! There had been so much rain the day before we left Breu that we were wondering how the flight would go, etc. Joy, the missionary pilot, did wait until around noon to get to Breu as the airstrip there was so wet and mushy that she wanted to give it some time to dry out a little. Noon came quickly, though, and before we knew it we were out at the airstrip and loading ourselves into the airplane.

Joy was able to get our broken down washing machine into the airplane with our other items and our dog Blackie was positioned right behind Koleman and I in the second row of seats. Perfect flying weather as everything was super calm. The only unfortunate thing that happened is that about 15 minutes out of Pucallpa Blackie couldn't hold his bowel anymore and stunk up the entire airplane. We had noticed that he had a bit of diarrhea before so I guess that was part of the problem. We were all coughing and hacking and were about ready to puke it all up because of the stench. As soon as we landed here, Joy and Rebecca took Blackie over to a hose and hosed him down. I think Blackie was glad to be out of that airplane, though, as he just raced around there at the hangar once he was all cleaned up.

We praise the Lord for bringing us safely to town and we are already busy getting some buying done for our next stint out in Breu. Thank you for praying!

-Brad

p.s. The photo above is our lovely house in Breu! We are thankful for all the work we were able to get done on the house this past month.

A Baby Shower, Jungle Style!

I did have one cultural event this week that I hadn't experienced yet in Peru, a baby shower. Yes,
I was invited to a baby shower for the daughter of one of our Brazilian friends from Brazil who is
now living here. I showed up on time and no one was there. I came an hour later and they
encouraged me to stay although I was the first to arrive. Finally, about two hours after the time
on the invitation, the party started.

We were MC'd by a lady who seemed to know all about baby showers and was educating the other ladies
about one as we went along. The first thing we did besides snack and drink juice and masato (potato
beer) was go around and give the expectant mother a small speech on how wonderful it is to be a
mother and what she can expect with her new baby. I was second to go. They were all gracious with
my Spanish and gave me the same applause as everyone else. Most of the women there were indigenous
and too embarrassed to get up and talk about being a mom even though some of them had brought 3 or 4
kids of their own. The MC lady was merciless, though, and put the pressure on BIG TIME to get these
ladies to stand and give their speech.

We then started the games of which I only got to play one because by this time it was getting dark
and I hadn't brought a flashlight. They passed around a big doll with bright pink hair. We were
supposed to kiss the doll on her body somewhere were we wanted to "bless" the new baby. That was
just weird, all of us passing this silly doll around and kissing it. Finally, the MC lady then told
us we were going to go around again and kiss the expectant mother in the same location as we had
kissed the doll. I had kissed the feet, so that was a little humbling to get down and kiss her
feet, but it was entertaining for the others too. There was lots of nervous laughter and jokes
about needing more masato to "loosen" everyone up. Thankfully, I was able to make my exit then.

So, I was glad to be included and hopefully the more we get out and do things like that, the more
people will feel like they know us. I still need to go up and talk to the doctor again. Our house
work has been pretty demanding, but I think we're at a point where we can at least go for walks in
the late afternoon. There is a huge plaza here made of cement. It's hilarious as there are so few
people, but they have their nice plaza. It will be a place where Koleman can take his bike or
scooter and ride.

-Rebecca

I did mouth to mouth recessitation on a corpse yesterday

Yes, it was a pretty routine day for us around here working on getting our house set up. I was in
the middle of helping Brad take apart our washing machine to try and figure out why it's not working
properly when our friend, Jose Maia called us (yes, it is incredible, we actually have cell phone
coverage out here!) He said there was an emergency involving an Ash lady up at the clinic. Would I
like to go? I decided that sure, I was interested, so he came by with his four-wheeler to take me
to the clinic.

When we arrived, there was a crowd of Ash ladies outside one of the clinic windows. We went inside
and then after a quick introduction to the lady doctor, she asked for my help. She and another man
were there trying to do CPR on an Ash lady that apparently had drowned. Sometimes a drowning victim
can be revived by CPR so we worked hard. The medical man did chest compressions and I gave breaths.
We worked until the lady doctor was able to give some medicine to see if we could get the drowned
lady's heart going again. Unfortunately, nothing changed and after a little while the doctor called
a stop. We stepped back explaining how there really was no hope, but the family members present
didn't want to give up. Different one's on the other side of the window kept encouraging the family
members present to look for warm spots on the dead woman's body. They worked hard, but the doctor
had called it correctly and the woman was dead. How very sad! I hurt watching her husband and in
laws as they grappled with the fact that she was indeed gone.

Brad and I hung around with the family some that evening and then when we were told that they
wouldn't bury her until today, we said good night. We had understood that the burial would be this
afternoon, but unfortunately, we missed it as they burried her sooner than we expected. If you
think of this grieving family today, please pray that God would use the incident to draw them to
Himself.

-Rebecca

How We Send Email From the Village

Thanks to a technology called BGAN (no, I don't know what that stands for) we are able to send and
receive email from here in the Peruvian jungle. Every evening when we start our generator to run for
about an hour, we put the satellite modem in the window facing the West, hook up our laptop, and
then we are able to do email! We are thankful to the Lord for this technology that allows us to stay
in touch with the outside world, even from here in Ash-land!

-Brad

Our friend and brother, Laureano

Somthing that really attracted us to the idea of working in Peru was a someone. His name is
Laureano. He and his family are the only believers that we know of here on the Jurua with a firm
testimony. Laureano has invited us to live in his village so he can help us learn his language
better and so that Brad can disciple him in his faith. We are so encouraged by this open door.

The timing of our arrival here in Puerto Breu coincided with a visit from Laureano and his entire
family. We have been blessed by their presence and have enjoyed starting to get to know them
better. Laureano even helped with some of the hard work of digging our septic hole and then
covering it up. While he and Brad worked, they were able to converse about many things. Brad was
especially excited to see how interested Laureano is in the things of the Lord.

Probably at the end of next week, Brad will be traveling upriver with Laureano and his family to
visit Nueva Luz, Laureano's village. Please pray that we would have wisdom about whether or not we
should try to live there for the next several years to help us learn their language.

-Rebecca

Adjusting to Life in the Village

Tonight we will have a light as we finally found one of our 110V light bulbs in our stack of stuff.
We have been using candles at night but it will be good to at least run the generator for an hour
with an electric light! The running of the generator allows us to charge all of our electronic
devices, too. :)

Things are beginning to come together here in the house but still A LOT of work to be done. I've
spent a good part of today working on screens. Will do that some more once I have this email written.

Yesterday I tested out our washing machine that has been sitting around forever. Everything looked
great and I was trying to run it through a cycle with just soapy water. Well, I got to the spin
phase and all of a sudden a big rat leaped out from around the tub and into the water! Then right
away the spin slowed down and grinded to a halt. I shut everything off and was convinced that
something in the washing machine squished another rat and that was what stopped the machine from
spinning. I was able to take a cover piece off and peer down inside around the tub of the
washer...and there he was, another rat peering up at me. He didn't look hurt at all. To make a long
story shorter, in the end we just put enough water in the tub so that the rat had to be closer to us
in order to breathe. I let him just sit there and chill in the water, hoping that would weaken him.
Finally, Reb helped me get the critter. I had to put two sticks down and kind of pinch him and then
pull him up. It wasn't easy as he was still full of life! We've killed three rats in the house here
so far. I think all three were transported down here unknowingly in our stuff when we had the men
haul all of our things down here. It was all quiet last night so I think we got all the ones that
were in here. Of course, without screens in the windows any number of critters can climb in here
during the night if they wanted to!

We're all doing well. We've had Ash come here to the house already a couple of times. One family is
a family we know from Brazil.

Thanks for praying!

-Brad

Out to Ash-land

This coming Monday we are finally making our move out to be among the Ash people. SAM Air will fly us on the one-hour flight out to the Yuruá River. It has been nearly a year since we first arrived in Peru and much has happened these past 12 months. God has answered prayer regarding Spanish learning and document work. There is still work to be done on Koleman's documents but plans are in place to take care of that when we come back out to town toward the end of April.

Our newly built house on the Yuruá still has lots of work to be done on it. So, we will hit the ground running next week. No screens in the windows (think lots of bugs!), no wiring done, yet (think very dark nights!), and our septic hole in the yard still needs a covering (think jungle trail to do your necessities!). So, we would appreciate your prayers for us as we spend these next weeks working on our house.

As we make this next step in our ministry to the Ash people here in Peru, we do plan to be more faithful in posting to this blog! We know that it has been neglected for much of the time this past year.

Thank you for your partnership!

-Brad