While it was still dark this morning, at 4:45am, the team, sardined into the van with LOTS of packs, headed for the river.

They left almost a day later than planned because one of the team members' bus had been delayed because of bad road conditions. The roads were pretty bad, rather dangerous even. There had been some significant landslides recently. But most of the delay was due to the fact the workers (big machine drivers, flaggers, etc) had the holiday weekend off.

In order to make all the boat connections, they were thinking they may have to leave her behind. Thankfully, the cell phone signal finally got through. Just in time, too, as the van was burdened with stuff and the team was only bathroom breaks away from loading up. But, she was still nine hours away!

We decided to wait.

At 7am this morning, Micah called. I could hear a roaring motor in the background. Forgetting that I could hear him just fine, he shouted, 'We're in the boat! We made it. There were some landslides on the way, but it wasn't too bad. We're just about to pass out of cell phone range, so I wanted to let you know, they're saying that the rains from yesterday might have been just enough to raise the Chipporana enough that we won't have to do the LONG walk."

I smiled and said, "Of course. Because God IS good like that."

It could be that the delay was just what God wanted to bless them with. It hadn't rained for more than a week and the extra fourteen hours may have been enough to fill that little river. Let's pray that they remain sensitive to the Lord's leading and that everything continues to go well with them.

You may have heard me mention mazato. I had to drink some the other day. Mazato is the famous fermented yucca spit juice that many of the jungle peoples of Peru drink. The villagers may be quite offended if you refuse their prized beverage. So I recommend taking at least a small swig.

Yucca, manioc in English, is a root grown and eaten all over Peru. Its texture is somewhat like a big potato. Most people boil it but we prefer it fried. In the jungle villages, the preferred yucca preparation is chewing it up and spitting it into a batán (a wooden canoe-shaped trough). There it sits for a few days and ferments into a powerful mash of manioc madness. When it's good and frothy, just add a little water and then guzzle it down.

Many of the villagers drink it as if it was Red Bull or some kind of energy drink. You don't have to get drunk on this stuff, but sadly, many do. Drunkenness has destroyed many, many lives in the villages along the Huallaga river. I often quote Proverbs 23:29-30, "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has redness of eyes? ...He who drinks [mazato in excess]". (MTT-Micah Tuttle Translation).

Here is a video of a woman preparing the mazato mash. Notice how she chews it and spits quite nicely. Only minimal saliva. It's not so bad. :)

Missions quote of the day by Robert C. Shannon:

"Never pity missionaries; envy them. They are where the action is — where life and death, sin and grace, Heaven and Hell converge."

Micah for the Tuttles

The princess baby Ellia and Queen Amy are doing great! The two other beautiful princesses, Bria and Mya are great helpers, and Amy's mom has also come to be a help for a couple of weeks. With things settled at home, I figured the time had come for the warriors of the family to go out and slay dragons.

Last week, Javen, Cullen, Josiah and I with a few other young men from the church set out on a long and dangerous jungle trek. We walked for 7 hours slogging through the mud, crossing streams, traversing mountains to arrive at the lake 25 kilometers on the other side. It was hot and it was humid. Lots of sweat. Lots of blisters. Lots of perseverance. We ran out of water. We ran out of food. We ran out of energy. But we toughed it out. This was a "man trip". We were out to conquer the jungle - to do hard things - and we were victorious.

When David heard the words: "Give me a man," (1 Sam 17:10) he RAN to fight the giant. (17:51)

Please pray for us as God helps us to raise boys who will become men who RUN to the Lord's battles, slay today's dragons, and through Christ are victorious!

Micah for the Tuttles

Preaching, teaching, praying, boating and trekking were the main events for 15 bible students and I last week.  On Sunday afternoon a few brothers and I took off in the Lord's boat (El Chasqui Del Rey) and picked up students from several different villages along the river.  These students are all preachers, teachers, and evangelists in their respective pueblos and are very key men who want and need biblical training.

During the course of the week we visited six villages where we did everything possible to get the gospel out to the people.  Every afternoon we did "hut to hut" evangelism while passing out tracts, praying for the people and sharing Christ with them.  In the evenings we held evangelistic open air meetings and then counseled interested souls.

Every day began with Bible reading and prayer and then we spent 5 hours between breakfast and lunch going through a course on Ecclesiology (study of the church).  We went through the whole book of Acts and several key passages in the pastoral epistles.  This was an extremely valuable time and great opportunity to pour into these men that God is using for His glory along the Huallaga river.  Please pray for them!

Missions quote for the day from William Booth:

“Not called!' did you say?

'Not heard the call,' I think you should say.

Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. Then look Christ in the face — whose mercy you have professed to obey — and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world.” 

Micah for the Tuttle's

What fun we've had over the last few days! Planning and scheming about how to love and serve Christ by sending food for the believers in Papa Playa, many of whom have lost whole crops in the recent flooding, has occupied much of our attention.


As we've worked out, we're hoping that the food in this truck is enough to sustain 50 families of four (complemented by their daily catch of fish) for at least a couple of weeks. There are about that many families represented at the village church, and we're making a gift of beans, oil and pasta for each family. Plus, the store where we bought most of the things was inspired and donated 10 boxes of panetones free of charge! Now, that doesn't happen every day!

Of course we couldn't take enough on this trip to give a gift to everyone in the village. But we have some really cool ideas for ways to use this opportunity to bring glory to God and hopefully the gospel to people, if we're able to send more later on this month. We're looking forward to it.


Our visitors, David and Joana, arrived yesterday from France, today assisted in loaded the truck, and will be with Micah until tomorrow finishing off the food drop; along with Miss Mya who is making her first river trip with Daddy!

Please pray that above all things the Lord would receive much glory from every aspect of this project: from how the items and the gospel are presented, to how the people receive them. Pray also that the people would see Christ and that the eyes of their hearts would be opened to His word and to His Spirit's working.


We are figuring on taking a truckload of rice within the next couple of weeks. But, I think we'll have to take a bigger truck! It is exciting it is to be part of a rescue project! Several of you have offered to send money to help. We consider ourselves lucky that we're the ones who actually get to deliver Christ's love into their kitchens. They are going to be SO excited! Oh, and those of you who have joined with us on this project by praying or sending, we too, want to THANK YOU!

May the Lord bless you as you continue to seek and serve Him.
Amy on behalf of the whole tribe.

The weekend before last, I was able to visit with and encourage the brethren in Tarapoto. Praise the Lord, the church is doing well! We had meetings to talk about the transitioning leadership (the brother the Lord sent to take our place last year will return to his hometown and our young men will be taking over), we discussed logistics of the youth meeting, and we broke bread together on Sunday.

The following Monday, myself and 3 young men headed out on a river trip to visit several different villages. The believers in each village were very excited to see us as our visit was unplanned and quite a surprise to all. It's been about nine months since I last visited these churches, so it was a real blessing to see these precious brothers and sisters and to note their growth in the Lord.

Ministry included dealing with church problems, doing lots of evangelism, preaching open air and taking medicine to the sick. The menu included broiled fish, corn on the cob, plantains cooked in the ashes and the famous jungle drink "mazato" (manioc spit juice). The motive was God's glory, including man's salvation and the church's edification.

Please pray for Jilmer, Delmith, Martha and Jaquelin who knelt and made professions of faith in the wet grass of Achinamisa, late Monday night after the open air meeting. It was exciting to preach and watch the Holy Spirit working on people's hearts, convicting them of sin and driving them to the Savior.   

-Micah for the Tuttle's


Missionary quote for the day:   

"It will not do to say that you have no "special call" to go.  With the facts before you and the command of our Lord Jesus, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a "special call" to stay at home."  -Hudson Taylor

Dear friends and family:

We were up and on the boat at 5 a.m. It was an awesome display of God´s workmanship as the sky began to light up with mist rising off the river´s surface and lingering around the lush vegetation that carpets these majestic mountains. Praise God who made it all!



When we arrived in Yarina, we were warned that the day before 9 trucks were assaulted along the dirt road that leads to the next village. Myself and the three brothers with me had to get back to Tarapoto so we decided to "go for it" and took the only 4x4 that was willing to try the trip. God is good, he protected us and we made it to the next village (Pongo), escaping all thieves.

Things really got exciting from Pongo on. We'd experienced torrential rains for about 4 days in a row and village after village was flooded. There were landslides everywhere. They told us that the highway to Tarapoto would be closed for at least a week. Once again we decided to "go for it" and attempt to walk to where we might be able to catch a car to Tarapoto. 








Finally, when we got to the last and biggest landslide, a front-loader was there working to make a way through. We had to sit and wait in the dark for about 3 hours until they let us cross. It was a nice rest since we were completely exausted, very dirty, sweaty and hungry. On the other side there was a car to take us to Tarapoto and best of all.. hot bread to eat.. (we hadn't eaten for about 23 hours). Bread never tasted so good!!

Tomorrow marks one week since Micah left to teach in a Bible capacitation program in the jungle (Yurimaguas). We talked briefly on the phone tonight as he's got quite a pile of papers and tests to grade, but he's happy to be finished with the teaching part. He's had a grueling week teaching 6-8 hours each day, and then sleeping in a tent in the same room as the students, who stayed up 'til the wee hours every night studying for his classes :)

Micah has been looking forward to traveling to Tarapoto tomorrow (where we've been for the last 2yrs). He'll spend two days with the church there before heading out of town for a week long river trip. I honestly can't remember which of the villages he'll be visiting, but then again, I'd venture that most of you wouldn't recognize them even if I did mention names, so I suppose it'll all be alright either way. :) Thankfully, the Lord is far more informed than we are, going before, working presently as well as following up afterward. Please pray that He would work mightily in hearts and that He would find Micah a useful instrument.

Please also specifically keep Micah and all the brothers who are still gathered there in Yurimaguas for another week of classes in your prayers as there has been an outbreak of dengue fever in the area. River trips always carry their own special risks as well, so please do pray for health and safety for the trip. Micah is excited because a friend/fellow missionary/adventurer will be joining him. You can also pray that the Lord would grant sweet fellowship and genuine encouragement for them both.

The kids and I are enjoying the time we've been in Trujillo, where we've had ample opportunity to catch up with friends and missionary family. What a neat blessing it's been to have some time here before we travel back to the States in mid-March.

Speaking of travel to the US... we do have a few dates set, but we'll be working feverishly on our itinerary plans just as soon as Micah gets back. We'll do our best to let you know where we'll be and when just as soon as we can. :)

Please accept my humble apologies for the lack of communication, as I had to leave the apartment for an internet connection until earlier this week, which for a multitude of reasons isn't as easy as it may seem at first glance:) Thank you all for continuing to pray regardless!


In Him,

Amy, on behalf of the rest of the Tuttle tribe

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

At 3:30 am this morning, Micah met up with the guys who were to accompany him on this current river trip starting today (10/12) until Saturday (10/16).  They had to wait while the car filled up with other passengers who will also go to the town near the river (Chazuta), where they will take a motorboat (way faster!) to the first village.  The plan is to visit another 4 villages before returning Saturday night. 

Please join us in prayer for this trip! 

We are praying:

• that many brothers and sisters from the villages would be challenged to be reconciled to God or continue on in faith (as the case may be).  
• that those who purchase and commit to study the Emmaus courses would grow by leaps and bounds in their knowledge of Christ - and that this would be contagious!
• that the time Micah spends with the young guys from our assembly would be extremely profitable (this is one of the main focuses of these trips - mentoring these young guys).

Thank you for your prayers!

 preaching in Pucalpillo

Friday Sept 25, 2010
A big, bright, beautiful moon this morning at 4:45 a.m. Read Acts 1-7 until the sun fully came up. People started to come to the hut at about 6:30 so we started singing and then I preached on Joshua 1. Three people that had been convicted by the message last night made professions of faith this morning and we all rejoiced with them. We must pray that this fruit will be lasting. Two of the new believers and a few of the others were eager to start on the Emmaus discipleship courses. I'm really hoping that these courses will help establish the faith of the brothers in these villages.

After breakfast we packed out the house by putting on the movie Fireproof. This movie is great in these villages because fornication, unfaithfulness and broken relationships are rampant everywhere. Almost no one gets married and trading sex partners is commonplace. This is always the first area that we have to work on when someone comes to Christ. After lunch we played soccer with the men of the village (very rough) and then walked 45 minutes through the jungle to the next village.

When we arrived in Pucalpillo everyone was weaving palm leaves (Krisneja) for their roofs. They said that one week ago a “Huracán” came through, destroying many of the houses and ripping off their roofs (there were plenty of demolished homes). We tried to help one family with the palm weaving but we were doing more damage than good so we decided to go door to door and hand out tracts. It was encouraging to backtrack through the village an hour later and see that many small groups of 5 or 6 people had formed around someone with a tract who was reading it out loud to the others.

At the open air meeting I preached Mark 8:35-37. About 200 people gathered to listen as I preached at the top of my voice for an hour. It seemed that many were seriously reflecting on the state of their soul but in the end there was no outward sign of God working in anyone. Only time will tell. His word will not return void.



sunset over the Huallaga River

Thursday Sept 23, 2010
After praying with the brothers in Ricardo Palma we headed further down river this morning. We were able to catch a motor boat (11 year old driver) and we quickly made it to Achinamisa where about twenty brothers were eagerly awaiting our arrival. They had asked me to bring a keyboard, 35 hymnals and 10 Bibles. I was glad to finally get rid of all that weight and not have to worry about the keyboard getting stolen or lost or going overboard. We had hoped to just hand over the requested goods and continue on to the next village but it's soooo difficult when they tell you that they have prepared a special meal of fried tucan and yucca spit juice!

After our exciting lunch we continued on to Solterito where lunch #2 was waiting for us. The real problem with eating so much on these trips is that many of these villages (including Solterito) don't have outhouses. You just have to find a tree and then the pigs do the clean up work.


It just so happened that the village was celebrating their anniversary and they had brought in a generator and a set of loud speakers. We asked if we could use the sound system for one hour before the party and the authorities agreed. Not only did all of Solterito come out to listen but also many people from the nearby villages showed up too. I preached on Matthew 7:13-14 (2 doors, 2 ways, 2 classes, 2 destinies... which will you choose?). Everyone seemed shocked afterward and I think I ruined their party. Everyone had come to get wasted on sugarcane gin and ended up getting shaken by God's word and forced to choose which path they would take. God planned it. Glory to Him.

-Micah for the Tuttle's




baptism from the previous day

"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." 

 - Micah Tuttle

Um, yeah.  So how's that for an intro?  Does it whet your appetite to read more?!  Awesome!
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

This is some video taken on the last trip. [see previous post]
Micah took Bria for 5 days as he visited four of the villages on the Huallaga River.

On Monday morning Bria embarked on a four day trip with me down the Huallaga river to visit four different villages. It was her first time going on a trip like this and so she was extremely excited even while Amy and I were a bit nervous. Two Peruvian brothers accompanied us and were very careful to help me watch over Bria's every move. She had lots of fun being the jungle princess with her three knights in shining armor, they being ready to fight off the snakes, jaguars and tarantulas at any given moment.

There was quite a commotion in each village when they saw this white American princess enter into their forgotten corner of the world. Bria handed out tracts, showed the evange-cube to everyone and sang with me at the church meetings. Each night I preached open air and all kinds of people came out to listen (I'm not sure if they came out to listen to the gospel or to see Bria... :).



In one village there was some kind of an epidemic of eye infections, as lots of the kids had puss in their eyes. When Bria saw the disease, disorder and dirtiness in this village she was quite alarmed thinking that she too might get sick. It was a good opportunity for me to explain to her that we need to try to love the people, be willing to do hard things for the Lord, persevere in difficult moments and trust God that he will take care of us. After having prayed together she felt better and in the end we made it out of that village without any eye problems.



In all it was a great trip. We were able to preach the gospel and encourage the brethren in each village. Bria was able to experience what life is like in the amazonian villages and we thank the Lord that we came through relatively healthy. We are suffering from numerous bug bites and chiggers but I'm confident that we'll heal quickly. Thank you for your prayers.

Micah for the Tuttle's

How is it possible that these months have already happened?  Oh my. 

Well, we are alive (albeit barely) after two VERY amazingly busy months.  Thank you to those of you who have reminded us that we are completely out of touch by not posting for two whole months!  Perhaps you all will understand when I get finished with this update :) 

July.
Basically we were in Trujillo for the entire month.  We left Tarapoto on the 2nd (right on the tail end of a river trip that last week of June) and arrived back here the 29th.  During that time, Micah was IBEM for the third week of classes (doing devotional, class on Psalms, eating lunch with the students, practical studies and fun nights in the evenings).  No internet during all this time.  The following week, we hosted a very good friend and co-worker from the US for 10 wonderful days.  Only a few days after saying goodbye, we received Amy's mom on the 21st just in time to pack up for heading back to Tarapoto.  We made the LONG drive basically in one long haul this time because of it being Peru's Independence day and there being no room at any of the inns.  We made it without issue even with another passenger in our already too small vehicle. 

August.
The first weekend Micah traveled all the way back to the coast to participate as one of the key speakers in a national youth convention in Chiclayo.  He was back for a few days before leaving to speak again at the bilingual church in Sisa's 14th anniversary the next weekend.  It was VERY nice to have Amy's mom here during all that time.  The day after Micah got back, Amy traveled with her mom to spend a few days in Lima together before her mom flew home.  While at-home-daddy, Micah was also working full bore on installing the bathrooms in the church preparing for a young people's retreat coming up this coming weekend.  Today, Micah left for a 5-day river trip.  He took Bria with him and Lord willing they will be back on Friday.  Saturday, the young people from Yurimaguas arrive for a three day 'retreat', but we're both pretty sure they'll go home wanting nothing but rest after the packed schedule he's lined up for them!  And then August will be over.

Phew!  So you may now understand why you haven't heard from us!  :)

Please keep praying!  We have some important decisions to make in the very near future, we are looking to the future and are dependent on the Lord's guidance.  Pray that the Lord would bless the work of our hands.  Pray that we would stay tightly knit to Him as well as to each other!

Pictures coming soon!  stay tuned :)

Micah is in Huimbayoc for the bi-annual convention of the river churches. He called me this evening to let me know that he was relieved to be finished with all six of his talks and that he felt that they all went well. He'll be excited to tell you all when he gets back of having spent time with a young man who trusted Christ at an open air meeting on one of his latest river trips.  We know that the Lord is under no obligation to make us aware of this fruit, but isn't it something that he chose to share it with us? What encouragement!

I also want to post a few pictures from Father's Day. After church in the morning, we ate our own chickens in inchicapi soup (peanut chicken soup) and escaveche de pollo (onions with chicken on rice). Then at the night meeting we had well advertised that we would be showing the movie Fireproof. It was excellent and very well received. The electricity went out actually just as the meeting was set to begin, so Micah just preached until the lights came back on.  The lights came on just in time and the movie played all the way through (which is sometimes a concern ;).  It worked out rather nicely.

Our four fathers, eating at the table of honor! :)

and this is about half of the kids...

Thanks for praying!

Micah and Amy Tuttle

Micah got back on Saturday night, happy, tired and dirty. The trip was profitable... but I'll let him tell you all about it. I'll post a few pictures later tonight if I can... tonight IS date night though, so don't get your hopes up too high ;)

I did post a couple of pictures on my blog: HERE


amy for all

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.