Native to the rainforests and jungles of Peru and Brazil, there are hundreds of villages/communities consisting of the indian tribe called the Ahaninka in Peru. Their main language is Ashaninka, but some do speak Spanish as well. Their typical dress is a long brown robe/dress, but many have exchanged that for western clothes. They are very clannish and make their living from working in fruit orchards and hunting. Most children living near a town will at least finish elementary school.
Just outside of Pichanaki, there are many small communities of Ashaninka families and God has opened the door wide for us to be able to share the gospel and minister to some of them. A friend in Lima gave Brent a list of the names of five families who he had shared the gospel with at some time. The seed has already been planted here. After a little searching, Brent found two of the families and they were happy and willing for him to go regularly to their community to teach the Bible.
None of us knew what to expect yesterday at our first meeting. We were welcomed with open arms and lots of coconuts! In anticipation of our arrival, one lady had gotten some coconuts down from her tree, peeled off the outer shell, cleaned them and had them ready for us. She cut into them with a sharp knife, coconut meat flying everywhere, and made holes for us to drink from. Coconut is one of the few things I sincerely dislike, but what are ya gonna do? I drank. She thought of an even better idea - straws! So she sent one of her five children to run and get us some bamboo straws so we could drink all of the coconut water. I pretended to drink.
When it was time to start, there were about 10 kids, one teenage girl, and two mothers. There was a crude wooden bench that someone had brought outside and......the dirt ground. One lady covered part of the dirt with a burlap bag of sorts and we all huddled together on that, ants and mosquitos having a feast. We realized they had brought out the bench for Brent! Brent grabbed a small stump/stool and sat on that instead, and began explaining what the Bible is. I loved how he used a globe to show where the Bible was written and how through all these years, it has made it all the way around to Peru! They all said they did not have a Bible. We plan to fix that next week.
Pray with us for these precious people who Jesus died for. May He lead the way and continue to open doors.
For every aspect of Ashaninka culture you seek to change, promise to protect two more. And imagine the respect you would demand of them if they arrived to your doorstep preaching their way to you.
ReplyDeleteDavid, I'm not sure who you are, but we are not seeking to change one single aspect of Ahaninka culture, no worries. We only want to share Jesus with them.
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