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