Last week Amy and I headed down river with five of our kids, four american girls and seven Peruvians. As we navigated the muddy waters of the Huallaga river we cruised through a torrential downpour and then into a furnace of thick humidity. Our river cuts through one of the eastern ranges of the Andes mountains and then flows into the lower Amazon basin. The scenery is breathtaking! Along the way it was as if God was unfolding a stunning canvas of His art-work with rainbow’s, waterfalls and vibrantly green foliage covering mountains that were shrouded in fog. All of creation screams of our God’s greatness!
That afternoon we finally arrived in the port of one of my favorite villages: “Callanayacu”. Immediately we were greeted by a small crowd of excited brothers and sisters. They had not received the message that we were coming and yet there was plenty of joyful backslapping, vigorous handshakes and bone crushing hugs. Before we knew it, one of the brothers was leading us down a beautiful jungle path so we could see an epic waterfall and enjoy a nice swim in one of the many hidden lakes in that area. It all looked like a stunning scene from the garden of Eden.
After an unforgettable afternoon in paradise we hiked back to the village square where there was a town meeting in process. The whole village was assembled and after they were done making some decisions about buying paint for the communal house I stood up and congratulated everyone on their village unity and work ethic….. from there I opened up the scriptures and I pointed to Christ as the only One that can give true and lasting unity. It was a really unique open door that the Lord provided. Many people were there that would never have come to our planned open air preaching (which we did a few hours later) nevertheless, everyone was “all-ears” for about 30 minutes and it resulted in several good one on one conversations.
After we had eaten dinner (coconuts and chicken and rice) everyone gathered, once again, in the main square and I preached on Malachi 3:16. Just as I began the electricity went out and it was immediately really dark, and really quiet…. No microphone, no lights, no moon, just a billion stars that were looking down on us from the heavens. As I preached into the darkness it seemed that my voice echoed out of the village and off into the jungle. You could see the faint silhouettes of men, women and children listening. Some were near, some were far, some were in the doorways of their houses and some stood on the edge of town. But all seemed to be listening intently and looking into the heavens as they considered the spiritual state of their soul.
We had a rather uncomfortable night of sleep in our tents which we set up on the boarded floor of the church building. Nevertheless, we were up early and began our new day with personal prayer and bible. Stephany, Gretty and Cesia are awesome with the village kids. Our young men, Javen, Eber and Fernando, are leading music and helping me preach. Jorge and Yuri are tending to the boat and do all the heavy lifting while Amy and Bria are translating for the american girls who are eager to help with evangelism and really anything they can do.
On this trip I preached three to five times a day and as a result I shredded my vocal chords. I need to always be careful to not lose my voice but it’s hard to hold back when you see lost and desperate souls sitting all around the main square hanging on every word of the message being preached. Most of the open air meetings on this trip left the listeners kinda stunned and contemplating their spiritual state. Praise the Lord for His work of conviction!
On the way the way to the next village we stopped at our favorite thermal hot springs for a scalding hot shower! Boiling water comes right out of the ground and then splits into two waterfalls. It’s a great place to rest, and refocus.... and get burned if you're not careful :/ Everyone loved the experience and the recharge it brought.
