Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The other day a brother and I decided we would celebrate the Christmas season by giving away some 2012 calender-tracts in the main square. After giving away about fifty or so calenders I stopped and shared some Christmas verses with a couple that was seated on one of the benches. Soon the people from the next bench over came to see what was going on and then, much to my delight, a few passer-by's stopped to listen also.
A crowd draws a crowd and we had a open air meeting in the making! After preaching for about a half of an hour to an ever-growing group we gave out a bunch of New Testaments and the last of our tracts. There were a lot of interested people with sincere questions and a desire to hear more about the "reason for the season". We praise God for this Christmas evangelism opportunity. Please pray for those that heard the message.
The quote for the day is: "Wise men still seek Him"
I don't know who originally said it but I learned it from a friend and brother, Luke Goff, from Seattle Washington who wrote it on the nativity scene that their family has put out this year.
Merry Christmas!
-Micah for the Tuttle's
Missions involves a lot of different things: it's preaching the gospel, it's making disciples, it's planting churches, it's strengthening the churches, it's helping the needy, and it's, above all things: MAKING GOD'S NAME GREAT AMONG THE NATIONS.
Missions last week, was leaving home at 3:00 a.m. It was preaching on the radio, it was visiting several remote villages , it was discipling three young men along the way, it was handing out tracts and giving away New Testaments, it was preaching in church buildings and it was preaching in the open air. It was defending the brothers from false doctrine and it was reading the Bible out loud for hours.
Missions last week was hunting a jungle pheasant for lunch. It was showering in a hot water spring, it was hiking for hours through the muggy jungle, it was eating smoked ocelot meat, it was using filthy outhouses, it was getting soaked in a torrential thunderstorm and it was sleeping on hard dirt floors.
Missions last week was praying with the believers, it was singing hymns in the canoe, it was having meetings with the elders until 1am, it was giving council to broken marriages, it was being mocked by a group of drunken men, it was giving out anti-parasite pills, it was preaching in schools and it was putting on evangelistic films by generator.
Missions last week was helping make bread in a mud oven. It was playing volleyball with a bunch of high-schoolers, it was living one whole day on just coconut milk, it was hearing stories of 30 meter long anacondas, it was watching incredible sunrises and sunsets, and it was a dusty, bumpy 5 hour drive back to town.
Missions last week was hearing squeals of joy when I knocked on the door, it was hugging my wife and my kids when I walked in the house. It was thanking God for His love and protection. It was MAKING GOD'S NAME GREAT IN OUR HOME.
Micah for the Tuttle's
Click the link below to see the photo album of highlights from the trip!
 |
| October. 2010 |
Wednesday September 22
This morning I baptized the four people that placed their faith in Christ yesterday. Most of the village gathered around to watch and listen as I preached in the river. It was another good opportunity to preach the gospel. After the baptism we went back to the hut where we were staying and I preached from 1 John on four proofs of genuine Christianity. The believers were very attentive and we had a great question and answer time. Four of the men here bought the Emmaus correspondence courses that I've been pushing everywhere I go. They are showing a real desire to study and prepare themselves to lead this new work!
Three interesting things in this village are:
- Good hunting: last night one of the men checked his “trampero” (Shotgun set up on a trip-wire) and found that he had shot a wild boar so we've been eating smoked “Sahino” meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Yum!
- Interminable salt mines (click here, or see video below): The people harvest tons of salt and sell it down river in the “big cities”
- A pristine, crystal clear creek: the water cascades down a natural waterslide rock formation into a beautiful pool (just how I imagine the garden of Eden).
At about 3:00 p.m two of the brothers took us down river in their small paddle canoe. They guided us through a few difficult white water spots while Eber and I bailed the water that kept pouring in over the sides. After about an hour of sopping wet excitement we arrived in the next village (Ricardo Palma) where the believers were surprised, but, elated to see us. The message hadn't gotten through to them that we were coming but all the same they stopped everything to receive us. One brother went out to catch some fish for dinner, another went to mill some dried chocolate beans, the sisters got to work boiling plantains and cooking rice and the rest just gathered around as Eber and I sang hymns and read the Bible out loud. Praise the Lord for this opportunity to serve HIM.
"Wild boar brains, eyeballs, toucan meat, and yucca spit juice were just a few of the delicacies on the menu as brother Eber and I visited several villages last week."Um, yeah. So how's that for an intro? Does it whet your appetite to read more?! Awesome!
- Micah Tuttle
Well, we have another series of posts coming up this week from Micah's journal over the last week while he was out on the river going village to village. The dates of his trip were Tuesday 9/21 - Saturday 9/25. So without further ado...
Tuesday, September 21
We left Tarapoto at 3:30 this morning and about three hours later arrived in Chazuta where we immediately went to the radio station and preached on the air waves. The only communication access that the surrounding villages have is by radio and so it was a great opportunity to get the gospel to a lot of isolated people (it encouraged us when in each village people commented that they had heard the radio message). After breakfast with the believers we got the next boat down river and within an hour we were in the small village of Callanayacu.
This was an extremely exciting visit for me because just six months ago there were no believers in this village and now there are fourteen! In June two men from Callanayacu happened to be in another village where they heard me preaching open air. Both made professions of faith on that day and when they returned home they started sharing the gospel with everyone in Callanayacu. In three months eight more people have made professions of faith. Today Eber and I went door to door and then preached open air. Praise the Lord, four more came forward tonight to place their faith in Christ! Pray that this new infant work would produce fruit that will last!
- Micah Tuttle
Micah left this morning for the river with 3 of the guys... you can pray for us. As always ;)
He'll be gone 'til Saturday.
He'll be visiting churches, encouraging believers, meeting with elders, and preaching open air.
Thanks for praying.
Amy for all.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
All 60 members of the church here in Santa Rocio showed up at the 4 a.m meeting today. This church is by far the most mature and thriving. I taught on the gifts of the Spirit and miracles (there is much confusion over this topic everywhere). After a good question & answer time, I asked to have a meeting with the elders. I tried to encourage them in what they are doing. After breakfast we read Galatians and Ephesians and then went out to visit some of the houses in the surrounding countryside. We gave out tracts and shared the gospel with many. We ate fariña* and dried deer meat for lunch. On the way back to the village, we got caught on the trail in a torrential downpour and ended up soaked to the bone. Later, we ate doncella (fish) for dinner. We then went to pray for two sick ladies (they were moaning and wailing in pain). I wished I had a doctor with me. When we set up to preach that night there were not as many people gathered because on the other side of the village there was a big fiesta going on (competition with God's word). Once I began to preach, everyone left the fiesta running over to hear the sermon. My sermon was on the first questions of the Old and New Testaments. The people were very attentive. When I gave an opportunity to repent, Damian our peke peke canoe driver came forward. I had hired him on Monday back in Yarina when he was half drunk. In tears, he told how he had now listened to 11 sermons in 6 days and how he had heard us reading the Bible in every spare moment. He said that now he wanted to experience the forgiveness and peace that Jesus gives to those who repent and trust in Him... I am so overjoyed!
*Yucca left to soak, then ground and toasted (dehydrated yucca). Mix it with water and it sort of expands like cream of wheat. Many people on the rivers take a bunch of this on their treks and it serves for a simple meal.
Another of Micah's journal entries:
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
We were up before dawn at 4:00 a.m for a meeting for the believers, I shared Hebrews 11 with them before they had to make the long walk back to their respective villages to work in their fields. We went hut to hut with tracts and the evangecube. The school director heartily allowed us into the colegio [school] and we shared the gospel with the entire student-body (all 20 kids!). Afterward, I spent 2 hours with Julio underlining a good Bible base for starting a church there... Around noon we were back in the boat and back to the 'Book' (today we read out loud the first 24 chapters of Acts). Arrived in Santa Martha at about 2:30 p.m. The brothers received us with much joy and love. Big lunch: chicken, majàz, rice, bananas, noodles, chicha. We had a meeting for the believers in the church at 7:00 p.m, I preached Jude 20-21. Afterwards, we went to the wake (funeral) of a three year old boy whose parents had abandoned him and was living from house to house. Some said that he had died of tristeza (sadness). The little body was a sorry sight on that table with candles all around his body. There were about 100 people gathered and they asked me to preach. I shared “three Bible trees”. Many seemed to be shaken. One made a profession of faith. Went to bed at about 2:00 a.m. We have to wake up in two hours.
Micah has worked hard this last week and we'd like to share with you a video he made live from the river (literally)...
We're thinking to post a journal entry a day for the next several days. We hope you enjoy them and can be inspired to do the work the Lord is calling you to do today in your own sphere of life.
Here's the first page in his journal:
Monday, April 19 2010
Left for the Chipurana valley today with Samuel and Edinson (Edy is becoming a very good preacher). We drove to Yarina and found la hermana Neser very, very sick. Prayed for her and read Psalm 91. Took off after lunch in the 'peke peke' [peh'-keh, peh'-keh: canoe with a motor] and traveled three hours to the mouth of the Chipurana River and another hour more up river to the first village “Dos de Mayo”. Only one believer in this village of about 100 people, and Julio's brand new with only 6 months in the faith. We went to encourage him. Some brothers and sisters from other nearby villages heard that we were coming and about 40 of them gathered on the shores to greet us. After a fine dinner of 'majaz' [mah has': paca, a large hopping rodent], hunted by Julio, we started the open air meeting. I preached Matthew 7:13-14. They hooked up loud speakers to a car battery (that's about all they use them for here) and no one escaped from hearing the message... Edinson, Samuel and I used every spare moment today (in the truck and then canoe) to read out loud the entire book of Luke. Tomorrow we'll get deeper into the jungle as we reach Santa Martha.
Micah is off down river again.. or is it up river? I'm sorry that I do NOT know the exact terms. I've got to become more informed of these technicalities!
Anyway, the team, consisting of my two eldest children {insert muffled sob}, 4 believers from Trujillo (including one fabulous doctor), 1 American boy (volunteer at the orphanage in Trujillo), a Tarapotino boy and Micah, left this morning by car. They arrived early in Chazuta and will have by this time already taken to the river from there making a stop in one village each day for the next 5 days. They've planned evangelistic meetings, doctor visits, children's meetings and general visitation/encouragement of the saints. Lord willing, they'll end up in Yurimaguas Friday night, and take a car back here Saturday morning. I miss them already!
Please pray for...
Safety {in particular for my little chicks}
The Lord to work mightily in and through the different team members, we know He wants to!
Health
Smooth travels and the working out of all the small details involved
Thanks so much!
Amy
PS. I've written another thankful post about their departure, with a few pictures, on my personal blog, you can read that HERE.
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
"Too often we are content to be keepers of the aquarium
and never go out to be fishers of men."
With those words in mind I try to make a conscious effort to get out there and evangelize as possible. The last few weeks I have been given several opportunities for both one on one and open-air evangelism. The devil doesn't like it when we engage in serious soul fishing and for that reason he sometimes sends opposition.
While open air preaching in the last few weeks the opposition has come in different ways. Once it was an angry drunk yelling that we all must keep the Sabbath. On another occasion a man did us a great service by telling me to shut up and then threatened me with his big boa constrictor (that made the crowd double in size instantly). There was also an American tourist who began cursing me in English, but when I asked him to explain, in Spanish, why he was so upset he promptly went away.
My favorite opposition of the week was a man who turned a one on one conversation into a full on open-air meeting without even realizing he was doing it… I was sharing with one man who was seated on a bench in the plaza when another man came over to listen for a while. After about five minutes he called out to a group of people nearby and said, "Hey, come listen to this lying gringo, he is fooling everyone into believing the Bible." Immediately a crowd began to gather and for the next half hour that same man kept going around telling everyone to come listen the liar gringo. It was great! I preached the law, righteousness, judgment to come, repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ and the entire time the crowd grew bigger and bigger. Please pray that the gospel would bear fruit.
-Micah for the Tuttle's
PS. We've had at least 4 people (that we know of) in the last month show up for church on a Sunday, who have come
as a result of our invitation at the plaza. Praise the Lord! Pray that He would continue to bring them
and that they would recognize their need of a Savior.
A Merry Thanks for the New Year... got to cover all the bases :)
0 comments Posted by the tuttle tribe at 12/04/2008Dear Friends and Family,
Peruvian Food
Giant toasted ants taste a lot like bacon-flavored popcorn. Quite good. Much better than criadillas (sheep testicles) or mazato (chewed up yucca spit juice). Of course nothing beats ending the day with a good hot cup of coca tea (not "cocaine", but both do come from the coca leaf). Please pray that we* continue to not get sick from any of the strange things we* eat. J
*editor's note: should say, "...pray that Micah continues to not get sick from the strange things Micah eats"*
Family
I love my wife! Amy and I celebrated 12 years of marriage last Saturday and in that time God has blessed us with 5 wonderful kids and given us an exciting life of ministry in Peru. Amy is a really amazing woman. First of all she walks with God and is truly a virtuous woman (an exact fit to Proverbs 31). Secondly, she not only puts up with me, she loves me too! Thirdly, she is the ultimate mom! I mean, I just really lucked out** when I married her! That's why we got married so young. I knew that I had to get the gold before someone else did. Please thank the Lord with me for my wonderful wife J
**editor's note: we don't believe in luck, but if we did, I (Amy) would be the lucky duck. And though I'm flattered, I fall far short of the ideal, that is Christ... perfection IS my goal through HIM though :) **
Ministry
We just wrapped up a crazy 6 weeks of, maybe, too much ministry.*** Upon returning from a "spy out the land" trip to the jungle, we had an intensive month of training at the Bible Institute here. I taught Paul's missionary journeys and Bibliology. It has been great to invest in these Peruvian preachers, evangelists and missionaries. Please pray that God would continue to use them to His glory.
***editor's note: Despite being super busy, we did end the month wishing we had could have done more. It is an ever-changing process to learn how to best use our time to glorify HIM. So many things we could do at any given moment!***
This month I was also able to do a lot of one-on-one evangelism and open air preaching (this is extremely exciting and will infuse the Christian with all kinds of energy). This energy (God's fuel) has helped me to continue preaching in the jail, the drug rehab center and in several of the local churches. Altogether, I was able to preach or teach about 70 times last month. Please pray with us for my throat/vocal chords,as with all this usage, I've been struggling with throat/voice issues lately.
We thank all of you who pray for us and support us financially.
Please pray specifically that God would continue to provide for our needs in these uncertain times.
Micah for the Tuttle's
****final editor's note: See photos from this last month's trip to the jungle here:
http://tuttlekids.com/Gallery/Tarapoto_2008
These are the believers that are gathering in Tarapoto where we are considering moving to. We are standing in front of the property they've purchased to build a church on. The building will have to be demolished, it was severely damaged in an earthquake.
| We have some exciting news, Friends and Family! PS. If you'd like to receive our news/prayer letter about once a month, you can click the link to subscribe in my sidebar :) |
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 - Untitled Comment |
| Posted by momanna98 (68.251.78.36) |
| Wait a minute. Baby??? Did I miss something?? |
| Micah and I are going to Mexico!
I'm very excited, we've never been to Mexico. We know TONS of people from Mexico, and have always wanted to go. We are chaperones for a mission trip with students from Emmaus Bible College over Spring Break. There will be 16 of us all together. Micah will be speaking at a youth conference and doing a workshop on evangelism. My mom is coming to be with the kiddos! So, Micah tells me it will be like a second honeymoon. You can pray for safety, health and that the Gospel would become more well known.
|
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 - Hiya Amy! |
| Posted by deedeeuk (81.179.70.44) |
| What fun! Will be praying that you have a great time and get a bit of that 'second honeymoon' time too!! I've joined the EBC alumni blog and am having a great time trying to catch up with everyone and everything that has been going on there for the past 14 years since I left! (yeah right!) Anyway, feeling a bit closer to Emmaus lately, say hi to the marble chapel for me? Lots of special God times in there long ago! |
Thursday, March 8, 2007 - Untitled Comment |
| Posted by drewsfamilytx (64.234.0.103) |
| Hola Amy! What a great combo-- spreading the gospel, visiting a new place AND spending time with hubby sans kids-- well, at least LITTLE kids! :-) Love, Marsha |
Thursday, March 8, 2007 - Untitled Comment |
| Posted by SandBetweenMyToes (24.158.202.154) |
| I hope you have a terrific time in Mexico, and that much is accomplished for the gospel. My husband and oldest daughter will be headed to Guatemala in June. I'd love to go, but it's not meant to be this year. Your little girl is adorable. Letitia |
Sunday, March 11, 2007 - mexico |
| Posted by luvmy2mks (80.80.168.86) |
| blessings on your trip! hope the 2nd honeymoon gets to happen, too :-) mary |
Friday, April 20, 2007 - Mexico |
| Posted by momofsix (24.182.227.62) |
| Come back with lots of pictures. I look forward to seeing them. |
**Originally posted on Manifold Musings of a Missionary Mom blog which has been moved here: A Pilgrim's Project My husband is very cool. He is a missionary. He knows Jesus. He LOVES to share. Micah is an evangelist.
Every couple of months Micah rounds up several young guys to accompany him, they load up the Tuttle Trooper, and drive several miles out into the Andes mountains of Peru. We're talking about some pretty isolated places, while some places you can get to with a 4x4 vehicle, others you could only arrive at by donkey. Out there in these places he finds a regular sized group gathered of poor campesino people who want to know more about following Jesus. These gatherings are planned ahead of time to take place several times a year in different places. Many of them are the leaders of their small isolated churches, while others are just people who are hungry for more truth from God's Word.
Once at the "conferences", they usually stay 2-3 days depending on how long it takes to get there. The sleeping arrangements are "roughing it" to say the least, and the food is quite simple. Sometimes they sleep on benches, other times on the dirt floor, or just outside. But every time Micah comes back, he is very encouraged by the men's response to what they've learned. What fun to see people excited to hear God's truth!
This time around, Micah told us about the plates and plates of rice and lentils they gave him. Just when he managed to down one plate... they gave him another. Their feelings would be hurt if he turned them down, so on he trudged. Let me vouch for him here, it isn't that the food is bad, it is just SO plain. No meat, no sauce, no salt, no lime, no flavor. Just rice, just lentils. He is so brave! As usual, he was astounded at these campesino men. They are much smaller than he is, and yet they eat WAY more!
Another interesting thing he told us was, while he was sitting next to one of the guys he took with him, his buddy found a scorpion in his stuff!! Yikes. The campesinos went on to tell him the scorpion's sting is about 5x worse than a severe bee-sting! Does not sound pleasant. After asking around, just about everyone who had come to the conference could attest to being stung by one of these scorpions. This news somewhat dissuaded my kids from wanting to go "next time".
This is just a little bit of what my husband does as a missionary, for those of you who are interested.
Amy
PS- our website: www.thetuttletribe.blogspot.com |
Monday, May 1, 2006 - Untitled Comment |
| Posted by Anonymous (67.133.162.80) |
| Yikes! Scorpions in the food! Here in Colorado we have scorpions too but never in the food--just one on the kitchen floor last summer! |
Monday, May 1, 2006 - Untitled Comment |
| Posted by nsremom (71.32.254.253) |
| I loved hearing about the every day workings of a missionary. That's something I obviously don't do but love hearing about....That sounds corny, but I'm inspired by stories of people doing the everyday things while all the while...those things are extraordinary if you dwell on them. Cool guy you've got. |
Wednesday, May 3, 2006 - Thanks for the enlightenment! |
| Posted by EEEEMommy (69.175.131.81) |
| I do appreciate hearing how mission work is actually accomplished! |
Thursday, May 4, 2006 - Untitled Comment |
| Posted by CTdittmar (24.145.215.42) |
| Really enjoyed hearing all of this. It's wonderful to have brave and adventurous men who love to serve the Lord Jesus. What a gift to have a husband who is surrendured to Christ! How exciting to support him in his endeavors! |
Friday, May 5, 2006 - eating |
| Posted by Jimmie (222.210.199.121) |
| Yeah, how do they do that? Chinese folks are the same. Tiny, tiny, but man can they eat! And the whole forcing you to eat more. OH, man! I'm about to explode and they just keep piling it on. Here they will use their own chopsticks go chose food and put it in MY bowl. I'm used to it now. |
