Traveling the rivers to minister to the Shawi Indian communities
I want to thank all of you so very much who prayed for us during this last river trip. I am very happy to report that there were no mishaps, near accidents or low water that would have made travel more difficult. This was actually quite a relaxing 10 hour trip going up and an 8 hour trip coming back. Praise be to our God! Although this river, called the Yanuyacu, has many curves and can be very difficult to navigate a 2-ton boat that is more than 30 feet long the boat drivers did an excellent job of getting us there and back safely and soundly.
Our 3-day training on the Authority of the Believer went very well also. The village where we ministered is called Nueva Papaplaya and it is mostly a Spanish village. It has a strong church and the pastor is a friend of mine and so we’ve done several projects of water filters and wood burning chimney stoves for his people. However, in this village there are also seven Shawi Indian families that we wanted to target along with ministering to the village church since not all of them speak Spanish and so cannot take advantage of the preaching of the Word. I asked Marcos, who is the leader of these families, to teach the material in the Shawi language which he was very glad to do so.
Marcos is a key person in working with these families because he not only speaks and reads Spanish and Shawi very well but also has a strong burden to see his people grow in their faith and understanding of the Word. I have been praying for more people like him that can lead their people into a strong, viable relationship with the Lord and so I am doing everything possible to train him, give him material to share with his families and opportunities to share in our trainings. The village church also allows them to have their own service each week on Wednesday nights where Marcos shares and of course the families are very welcomed to join in the rest of the services the church has during the week as well.
Marcos teaching on the Authority of the Believer to his people
We will be having another 3-day training in August for the villages that we work with on the Shishinahua River and, as before, I have invited Marcos and the other Shawi families to join us. He will be sharing the same material he did with his people but now he will also share it with all those who attend our training as well.
While I was with Shawis during this trip I had the chance to talk at length to Marcos and the rest about our call to fulfill the Great Commission and how they can do this starting from right where they are. I was encouraged to see Marcos’ interest and the others at least sincerely thinking about it. It is a new concept for most of them and so the how, when and where needs to be worked out but I believe we can do this very well and very soon. We also want to concentrate on the villages where Maria lives (she is the Shawi YWAM missionary that has been traveling with me for about 5 years) so that more and more people are mobilized to share the Gospel. When Maria is not traveling with me she helps pastor a church in her village. Her people have had much more exposure to the things of God and are very accustomed to “church” therefore it should be much easier to explain the call of evangelism and help set up a strategy to reach out to those who have not yet heard.
We are continuing to work diligently to train and encourage our villages on the Shishinahua River to become advocates for the Gospel as well. This is a bit more challenging because most of them did not have any previous point of reference for the things of God and so do not yet understand the need to share about it. However, I have seen the Lord move so mightily in these villages to bring to clear light His Truth that in no time they will be evangelizing their neighboring villages as well.
I will be sharing more about this endeavor soon but in the meantime as the Lord lays these plans on your heart would you pray in agreement with us? I am becoming so very aware of urgency of the times and so it is vital that all of us move forward aggressively to complete what the Lord has given us to do on the earth. God bless you all and thank you so very much for joining with us in prayer by standing in the gap for our Shawi brothers and sisters.
Together With you in Christ,
Sharon Malcolm
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