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.

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!

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

Thursday, September 23

Since the moment we arrived here in Ricardo Palma we've been harrassed by a very annoying drunk that follows us around everywhere. He went door to door with us, ate with us, and continually interrupted our times of singing and bible reading. I tried to be patient with him but it was very clear that he wasn't going to sober up and had no intention to sincerely turn to the Lord. At the open air meeting he kept trying to come forward and “repent” (in a mock sense) but I told him to sit back down. One time I even had to take him by the arm back to his seat. It was a tremendous distraction to all, and in the end, this village was the least responsive to the gospel.  It reminded me of Acts 16:17-18 (except I didn't cast out any demons).

At the open air meeting I preached Ezekiel 7:8-9 and then we put on the Fireproof DVD (I always take a few evangelistic movies to use whenever a generator and a T.V can be found). At about midnight we had a piping hot cup of chocolate milled from their own cocoa beans and then we were off to bed.

At 5:00 a.m the believers began to show up at the church building where we had slept on the hard ground. Thankfully they didn't catch us snoring away, we were up and ready to go. Eber started playing his guitar to lead us in worship and when he finished I preached on 1Thes 4 and Rev 20. The believers seemed to be very encouraged and had many questions. We finished up around 9:00 a.m and then had a scrumptious banana breakfast with coconut juice to wash it down.

Before we left, the three main brothers expressed a desire to start the Emaus corespondence courses but they didn't have any money to buy them (less than a dollar for course #1). I always insist that they pay for them because otherwise they just don't value the opportunity. One of the brothers offered to pay with his coa coa beans and just like that we struck a deal. Now they are happily studying their Bible courses and I'm happily drinking hot chocolate every day.

-Micah for the Tuttle's

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:

1. 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! 
2. Interminable salt mines (click here, or see video below): The people harvest tons of salt and sell it down river in the “big cities” 
3. 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." 

 - 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

What's new: 

Here and there and everywhere... pastoral visits are like a sprinkling of sweet water in a parched place. After a busy July and August, Micah has concentrated his energies on visiting church members and leaders to help carry the weight of their burdens and give them some life-giving Scripture to soak in. Personal visits seriously encourage the downhearted, sick and the heavy-laden. We know it to be true.

By August, attendance at church was considerably down after two months of extreme busy-ness, but after only a week of visits, we had the highest attended mid-week Bible study meeting EVER! And has maintained. Praise the Lord! Micah's gifting is admittedly NOT in the pastoral realm, but when there is NO one else, the LORD glories in showing HIS power through our weaknesses. He continues to wow us in this. :)

This week, Micah is off again on a river trip to visit four different villages along the Huallaga River. His goal is to try and visit four villages each trip of 5-6 days, rotating which villages he visits each month. This is such an encouragement to the believers in this region.

Prayer Requests:

• River Trip - that it would bear MUCH fruit.

• There are two young men that are very dependable and carry much responsibility at church (when we are here, and ESPECIALLY when Micah is away). Both of them have spoken of traveling/moving to other parts of Peru (one of them plans to buy tickets next week! He is our music man). We ask the LORD what will happen to the work if there are no men apart from Micah to carry the load. Pray with us that the LORD would prove Himself faithful to His work by providing in some way for this huge need.

• Our landlord advised us that he has need of the house we are living in by January of the coming year. Pray with us that the LORD would continue to lead and confirm the direction of steps we ought to take.

• Solidarity in our family - growth in love, peace and joy.

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 :)

After 5 hours in the back of a 4x4 truck eating dust and getting burnt in the hot sun we finally arrived in Yarina where I promptly found tremendous relief by jumping into the river. Without delay our team of six believers headed down river in a canoe (two more hours) until we came to the village of Huimbayoc where our bi-anual convencion of river churches would take place for the next 4 days. About 350 brothers and sisters from 30 different villages showed up with great joy and anticipation (these conventions are a real highlight for the believers every six months).

Myself and two other expositors preached a total of 9 hours of meetings each day. It was an excellent time of fellowship and encouragement as everyone always comes with a real hunger to learn from God's word. I took with me 15 Bibles, 35 hymnals, 5 sistematic theology's, and 400 tracts to sell at a reduced prices and everything was sold out by the second day (the bretheren are always begging for Bibles, hymnals and any theological book that they can get their hands on).


At meal times we drank plenty of chicha and ate lots smoked majaz to go with our bananas that had been cooked in the ashes. On Sunday I had a great time preaching in the river and then baptizing 13 new believers. The whole time I was in the water there were schools of small piranas swarming me, all the while I could feel them nipping at my fingers and toes with their sharp teeth (if your not bleeding you have nothing to worry about, they just like to tickle you a bit). Thank you all who prayed for this event. It was a great time of learning and encouragement for all.

-Micah for the Tuttles


PS. Pray for us as we're leaving for our 2-day trip to Trujillo, right after I hit send! ;)

Micah returned Monday afternoon from June's river convention dirty and tired as is normal.  He got back early while the kids and I were out on one of our very rare outings, so he broke into our house and was able to get all cleaned and unpacked before we got back.  Surprise! 

I've put a slideshow up in the sidebar with a lot of pictures, but I thought I'd give you a link here to the pictures taken on this latest trip.  (Click here, or on the picture below to see the whole album.)

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

Early this morning, I read Psalms 1-30 with the guys.  We walked 2 miles to Pelejo, talking.  Once in Pelejo, visited the main church leader, who gave us breakfast of plantains with HOT chile sauce.  During the day we visited many houses, sharing the gospel and inviting them to the meeting in the night.  In the evening, the verdant greens faded, the sun set, the stars began to glow.  Preached Isaiah 55, in the dark to a good crowd in the plaza de armas (town square).  I couldn't see anyone, until later when the light came on and sure enough I'd been preaching to a good sized group of people.  Many were shaken and wanted to talk afterward.  It seems like many people were interested in the message, but once again, we kept hearing the same sad story, people don't want church because of the bad testimony of a handful of leaders in the church.  We NEED leaders.

Up at 5 a.m to pray and read with the guys.  We read from Psalms 119 thru 150.  Awesome God!  After breakfast we went to pray for sister Patricia, she was in a lot of pain (everyone thinks it is appendicitis).  I could only urge the family to get her to the hospital in Tarapoto as soon as possible.

At about 10 a.m we headed up river in a peke peke (boat with a motor, the sound the motor makes sounds like 'peke-peke') to the next village.  Along the way, the propeller shaft hit a submerged log and the whole motor came flying out of its socket, flipped over and landed on Pablo's leg.  He had a pretty good gash and lost plenty of blood.  In the end he was alright, but the peke peke was busted and we were stranded on the banks of the river a few miles from the village.  There was nothing else to do but to set out hacking through the jungle with machetes until we found a trail.

After an exciting trek slogging through mud, eating a variety of jungle fruits and avoiding the many poisonous critters we finally made it to Puerto Mercedes, where we promptly began our regular hut to hut evangelistic visits.  After giving out N.T's and tracts to a lot of people one family gave us a fine dinner of rice, beans and majaz which was muy rico (very yummy).  That night the normally abandoned church building was so packed out I thought the elevated rotting wood floor was going to cave in (by some miracle it didn't).  I preached from Mark 14:66-72 and everyone was very attentive.  I was able to deal with several souls for a good amount of time afterward and I think the Lord was really working.  Many people begged us to return and help resurrect this church that no longer meets together at all.  If only there were 40 dedicated available men to serve in 40 different villages that all have a similar story.

At about midnight we said our good-byes, got into our canoe (the motor had been re-secured and brought up to the village by that time) and we headed into the pitch dark to sail the mighty Huallaga river.  Despite the tremendous darkness, Pablo our peke peke driver, had no problems guiding us back to Papa Playa where we happily retired to our tents (in the company of rats).            

This is a series of posts from Micah's journal that he kept on last weeks' river trip.  
The dates of the trip were June 2nd - 5th.  He plans to make at least one week long trip each month.

Here's part one:

6-2-10
Today I left Tarapoto at about 5:30 a.m with Edinson, Ever and Jerlin.  As we headed over the 'seja de selva' [mountain sloping down into jungle plain] in a rented 4X4, we read 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Hebrews out loud.  Each time the truck had to make a stop, we got out and sang, gave away tracts and shared the gospel to whoever would gather to listen.  When we arrived in Papa Playa a group of brothers and sisters were waiting to greet us.  This village has the healthiest assembly of all of the river towns along the Haullaga due to the presence of long time Peruvian missionary Arturo Napuchi.  He is almost blind, has very limited resources, but regardless is a great preacher.  He also has nearly the whole N.T memorized!  It was a great joy to give him and his family a 110 lb sack of rice, some money and some corrugated metal sheets for his leaky roof.

We spent the afternoon going from hut to hut sharing the gospel, praying for the sick and inviting people to the evening gospel meeting.  After a fine dinner of fish, banana juice, banana chips, boiled banana, and fried banana we hurried off to the meeting.  Many people came out.  Edinson and Jerlin led the music, Ever and I preached (you can't just have one sermon in these villages, they always ask for at least two).  It was a good time and I think that many were encouraged. When everybody had left we set up our tents in the church building and drifted off to sleep to the sound of rats scurrying up and down the tent poles.      

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.