Carnival on the Shishinahua River

People celebrating Carnival by dancing around the "tree"
while playing musical instruments.

             Our last trip to visit the communities of the Shishinahua River proved to be a very interesting one.  It seems that we arrived just in time to see some of the families celebrate a national holiday called Carnival.  This holiday is celebrated not only in Peru but in all of Latin America and has its roots in Catholicism mixed with each area’s pagan traditions.  It is typically a party lasting several days but accentuated with the costumes, traditional dancing and musical instruments of the local indigenous groups.  Common to all celebrations is the Yunsa or Unsha, which is a tree planted or set up with presents on it.  People would dance around it while playing musical instruments (usually drums and flutes) until the last day of the celebration where the tree would be knocked down and the presents snatched by the participants of the celebration.

The Yunsa or Unsha tree decorated with gifts

Antonio and his wife Magnolia dressed in their traditional outfits
to celebrate Carnival.  They are painted with red and black dye
as part of the tradition.  Antonio is the steward or organizer of the event.

            In the village of San Francisco where our first church plant is, five of the seven families are Christian and so did not participate in the celebrations but two of the families, who are not Christian, did.  The celebration is intended to be the last hurray before Lent and is basically the Mardi Gras of Latin America.

             Usually when this or any other event is celebrated in a community it is not without fermented yucca which is a root plant that is boiled, mashed and let to sit for 3 days until it is fermented equal to alcohol.  Often when the whole village participates in getting drunk on the yucca there is clearly a very dark presence and someone inevitability starts a fight sometimes causing a lasting feud between families.

              During this event however, none of the Christian families participated in the celebration and Magnolia, Antonio's wife, actually commented to Nilton, who one of the church leaders, about it.  She noticed that none of the Christian families seemed to get sick like the non-Christian families do nor do any of them drink or get into fights.  Nilton had the opportunity to then explain why this was so and told her about the saving power of Jesus Christ!  Later, Nilton's brother and I went to Magnolia's house and shared the salvation message with her and her children starting with Adam and Eve which later led her to pray with us to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.  While she had prayed with us before to do this something in this presentation of the Gospel seemed to "click" which is why she wanted to pray again.  I am so overjoyed that the witness of these Christian families is so obvious that the non-Christian families of this and other communities could not help but take notice.  
This is such a powerful testimony of the work of the Holy Spirit that transforms whole communities.  Our prayer has been that these families and communities will also experience the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ and live in harmony with each other and in the fullness of the Lord.
_________________________________________________________________________________

Adult Literacy for Two Communities!

 

Sharon teaching two of the students their letters

Adult literacy class learning to write their letters

                 Another great thing that happened on this trip was the start of adult literacy classes in the villages of San Francisco and New Jerusalem.  This is so very important so that they are able to read and understand things when they come into Yurimaguas but mostly so that they can read and understand the Bible.  The Word can be opened to them in a powerful way if they are able to read it themselves and allow the Holy Spirit to touch their lives through the written Word of God.
                 Would you pray with me for these precious ones that are learning to come into the world of literacy that they will have a passion for it and set their minds to grasp and use what is learned.  
                 Also, would you stand with me in intercession for the village of San Francisco so that they would hold fast to their profession of faith and walk firmly and boldly in what the Lord has given them.  There are many temptations in the villages and many, many opportunities to be the victim of malicious rumors that could tear down a Godly witness and destroy someone's character.  Let's stand in agreement with our brothers and sisters for protection at every level and that they will recognize and yield to the gentle correction of the Holy Spirit when needed.
                    May the Lord bless you in all that you are doing for the Kingdom and thank you so very much for all the ways you support this work.  God sees and takes note!

Together in The Harvest,
Sharon Malcolm
Missionary to Peru with 
Go To Nations since 1998