January 5, 2005
Dear Brethren,
Before I get into the news let me take a few lines to thank all of you who have given so generously to the boat and motor fund. Way back in June, Jonathan Turner and the Elmridge Baptist Church got the ball rolling with a big initial offering. Then all kinds of churches and individuals gave from all over, starting down there in Alabama, right up through Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, all the way up through Ohio and Michigan. What about those Vacation Bible School kids down there in Mississippi? Thanks to all of you. It is wonderful to know that you have followed the letters in the Mission Sheets and came through on this need. Obviously you were all led by our great God. The list of givers is long and you all know who you are. Thanks. Most importantly the Lord knows who you are and your reward is sure. This letter will be about the first trip with the new boat and motor. Part of your reward is already evident.
The first trip with the new equipment was all the way up the Jurua River and on into Peru. My son-in-law Dauro went with me. Our first stop was at Thaumaturgo, where we held a weekend meeting. The building was more than packed for all services. The young people politely gave up their seats for the visitors. It was neat to see this bunch of teens (over 30) standing out front facing the front of the building and singing their hearts out. I was out there too until time to go to the pulpit. It was quite unusual to see how well behaved they were. There were 2 people saved and after services on Sunday morning we went down to the river and I baptized 20. Our missionaries Emerson and Flavia are doing a really great job. This summer they will start putting up a new and bigger building.
On Monday morning we continued up river to Foz do Breu on the Peruvian border. We spent 2 days with our missionaries Aesio and Angela. While there we celebrated their fifth anniversary in the field.
Wednesday we went to the Peruvian military post to get our permit to go on into Peru to visit the missions at Tipisca and Dulce Gloria. One of our newest missionaries, Brother Hudson, had caught up with us and came along. We also had Aesio and one of his helpers, Antonio, along for this part of the trip. We made a brief stop at Tipisca (small town of 300) to get things ready for services on our return. After a few minutes with the native pastor, Brother Tito, we headed on up to Dulce Gloria.
Dulce Gloria is also about 300 people, but these are all Indians of the Asheninka tribe. There are no other villages further up the Jurua River. There are only a few uncontacted and unidentified Indians, according to reports, beyond this point. Back in March some of these Indians killed a woman and wounded her husband and 2 children while the family was out hunting. The Asheninkas sent out some 50 warriors. They came back with a bunch of weapons taken from their victims. We know there was a slaughter, but they are not saying how many they killed. This is a pretty remote and wild part of the world.
When we were just about 50 yards from the place where we usually tie up and unload, there was a big band of Indians waving frantically for us to stop right there, so we pulled over. We left all of our things in the boat and climbed the steep 100 foot bank. I led our party up the bank. In case you haven't guessed, I am our "chief". Some 50 Indian men were waiting on us. They were all dressed in their official outfits, the cusman, a long robe which the Indian women make and dye. They were also holding their bows. Each had a pack of 5 to 20 arrows. They were also all painted with the red urucu. I shook the chief's hand and everybody else's and chatted for a minute. Once that formality was taken care of the head honcho informed me that we were now free to go on up to our usual place and settle in. Is there any place in the world where one can get away from red tape? I don't think so! We went back down the bank, into the boat, up river just another 150 feet, then climbed the 100 foot bank again with all of our gear.
Then I found out that our Indian pastor, Brother Alfredo, and family were off on a hunting trip and wouldn't be back for 3 days. I really needed to talk to him. One of our young Christians said he knew where he was hunting and could take me there. The Indian, Antonio, and I headed up the Huacapistesia River. We were over 5 miles in a straight line into the jungle when we had to take off into another little creek. If you are wondering how far in we were, I always carry a hand held GPS. If you don't know what that is, someone out there help me out and explain it, please, because I can't take time here. The point is that we were a long way from home.
We got to a place where a tree had fallen across the creek and it was impossible to continue. The Indian said that Alfredo and family were not far from there. He jumped out of the canoe, said, "Wait here, I'll be back soon", and disappeared into the jungle. Now this was an interesting situation. A million miles from nowhere, tired from a long day's journey, hadn't eaten since yesterday, and no weapon other than my pocket knife. What is the best thing to do? Trust the Lord and take a nap. I stretched out in the canoe and did just that. Over an hour later at dusk, here comes our guide, Alfredo, and family. One of Alfredo's daughters was carrying two charred limbs, one on each shoulder. I thought, "Are they going to build a fire here and camp on this little beach?" Once they got a little closer, I saw that the girl was indeed carrying 2 limbs: monkey limbs! She had brought two roasted monkey limbs (complete with skin, fingers, you get the picture) for us to eat. For some reason I still wasn't terribly hungry. After a short conversation, in poor Spanish, with Alfredo we headed back to the village. My buddies back at the village were just a little bit worried about me. Shame on them.
The rest of our visit was wonderful. The next morning we put together the motor that we took to present to our Indian missionaries who will be taking the gospel to 4 other villages on the Huacapisteia River. Some of the motor money you sent to me was used to buy this motor for the Indians. Needless to say, they were excited. In fact, during the morning service, there were Indians scurrying all over the village looking for a prop nut that had been lost during the trip. Sure enough, they found one. We had over 100 present in all services. This time I took my keyboard. They had begged me to sing to them on my first trip. This time around I had decided that I had better have some other noise to cover up with. They are very interested in sounds, so the keyboard was a real fun thing for them. This time we were able to sing them some "specials". They sang some of their songs accompanied with the guitar we had donated and a homemade drum.
I might as well tell you about breakfast. The Indians brought us some bananas and boiled fish. The fish was boiled whole, scales and all. My son-in-law smelled the fish and decided that bananas were all he needed. He was mildly shocked when he saw me working over the pot of fish and a piece of boiled manioc. That fish really sticks to you, especially the smell.
Our visit at Tipisca, on the way back down stream, was great. We had about 80 people in services. There were 6 professions of faith. Pastor Tito is dirt poor and has no support and yet continues to serve faithfully in this isolated village. He led the singing and played the guitar. I played along on the keyboard. They sang no telling how many medleys of good old Peruvian/Indian music. If you can play 3 or 4 chords you can accompany every song that has ever been composed over there! It was fun.
Well this letter is so long that the editor will probably have to dish it out in chapters. The new boat and motor you purchased for the work did a marvelous job. The motor is much more economical. The new aluminum boat (Andrew and I built it) is much more stable than the old one and faster, too. THANKS. May God bless you.
In Christ,
Mike Creiglow