village by village in the Ecuadorian Jungle
village by village in the Ecuadorian Jungle
On Good Friday, one year ago, a desperate father named Bolivar and his daughter, Dominga, set out on a journey from the deepest corner of the Ecuadorian jungle. They were in a life & death search for a miracle. She was spitting up blood, her abdomen swollen, her body was battling a mysterious illness. They are Acshuar Indians. A remote, indigenous people who fiercely resist all advances of civilization. After three days on the trail trudging through dense jungle, up & over mountains, raging rivers, & knee high mud, they finally reached the Shuar village of Paantin. They had heard stories of a well-known witch doctor who lives there. He was their last hope. Surely, he could cure her with ancient chants and remedies; surely, he could break the curse that was stealing away her life. Although this village has no electricity, no roads, no stores, and certainly no hospital, it does have a church. The little wooden structure on the far end of a muddy...
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In 2008, while on a construction trip for the Hope House in Ecuador, Missionary Joil Marbut carefully aimed a question at me, “Matt, would you consider coming down here, I need your help, there are 600 Shuar villages that have never heard the gospel”? (the gospel is simply, the good news of God’s love) That question hit a bullseye deep in my heart. Yes, I felt the conviction and urgency, but how in the world does one take on that challenge?! While passing thru New Mexico two years later, God began orchestrating His plan in the form of a little solar powered box called a Proclaimer. It’s an audio New Testament produced by an amazing company called, “Faith Comes By Hearing”. We ‘just happened’ to meet and they ‘just happened’ to be working on the very language of the indigenous people we were going to work with! What’s the odds of that – 6,000 languages, Ecuador jungle, Albuquerque desert & the Shuar?! We joined arms with FCBH and now,...
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Part I precedes this, you may want to read that first – click here. … what seemed like my for sure ‘salvation’, was only a mirage. The guys continued to half drag & carry me up to the Police truck, but the crowd had quickly grown to about 50 and they were not just going to hand me over. When the police got out of their truck, they were quickly surrounded and afraid for their lives. They are Ecuadorians in Shuar territory with a long history of fear and distrust between them. Not long ago, four policemen showed up in a nearby village to quell a disturbance and were all shot. The young couple who I had lunch with earlier that day, Umberto & Georgina, rushed up on the scene. They both fought through the crowd to assure them that I was not there to cut-off any heads, nor to buy any, but with a mob, the truth doesn’t matter much. Georgina was 6 months pregnant, but even so,...
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