Going Bush in Peru

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Neglected Tribes

A day on the bus took us from Lima, over the Andes (4,900 metres), through some magnificent scenery down the other side to the jungle. The next morning, after a short journey by taxi, we took to the river on river taxis for the 8 hour trip to the town of Atalaya.

Elda and Veronica, GRN recordists in Peru, had made this trip before. Several months ago they had come to Atalaya and journeyed on down the river to where several tribes live in small villages. They had spent time with the people, made some contacts and recorded Bible messages and stories to help the tribal people know the truth of Jesus Christ. We had come to help distribute those recordings, and encourage the pastors to reach out to the neglected tribes.

There were churches in Atalaya but most were Catholic and the few evangelical ones had experienced problems. There was no great concern for the tribal village people.

Elda and Veronica

While waiting for fuel to arrive (the water in the river was low and the supply barge was having trouble getting up river), we visited Assemblies of God and Christian and Missionary Alliance churches in the area, sharing with the pastors and believers. We saw God working in the lives of several pastors, healing old hurts and preparing them for further ministry.

Several days later, the fuel arrived so we hired a river taxi for a week and set off down the river, calling at villages along the way, telling the people we would be back in a few days.

A cool welcome

"Outsiders" have not always treated the local people well so they were somewhat reserved in their welcome. Thankfully, after we had been there a little while and given Gospel cassettes to the families, they realised we had not come to exploit or hurt them. They then became friendlier and urged us to return sometime. All too soon we had to move on to the next village.

Veronica shares the gospel with village children

We visited 18 villages. In each place Elda and Veronica went ahead to consult with the village chief and obtain permission for us to distribute and sell materials. We held meetings most nights and sometimes early in the morning before people went to work. Songs were sung, testimonies were shared and the Gospel preached - usually through an interpreter. The cassettes, picture materials and hand wind players were demonstrated and sample materials presented to the village chiefs. The communities made contributions towards the cost of the cassette players, as they were able.

Team members usually took the children outside and sang songs, told Bible stories and did activities with them.

When we visited the Yaminahua people, we found most of them in the town square weeding the garden. They were very excited when they heard the cassette in their own language.

Joshua with a macau

The spiritual needs of the people were obvious. In some places the pastors had fallen into sin and no one was coming to the church. In another place the people were all drunk on the local liquor but they were glad to receive the cassettes anyway!

Blessings all round!

An opportunity exists for you to bless the people of the Amazon Basin and be blessed through giving. The work there needs supplies of the "Good News" and "Look, Listen and Live" picture materials to accompany the recordings. More recording and distribution needs to be done as funds become available.

Alex & Sybil and the Team.