On Monday we wrapped up four of the most important days of the year for "my" river churches! The much-anticipated bi-annual conference of the Huallaga valley assemblies was a great success! Brothers and sisters from all of the surrounding villages converged upon the bustling town of "Huimbayoc" where we celebrated our scheduled "spiritual fiesta". There was plenty of yucca spit juice, lots of boiled bananas, and loads of strange looking fish on the banquet table for each meal. I preached every morning and every evening while brother Niel and brother Jairo took the mid-day and afternoon messages. Our IBEM students worked with the village children for five hours each day and were an incredible help in many of the small details that come with an event like this. We are thanking the Lord for this tremendous time of encouragement that we experienced with these humble but precious brothers and sisters in Christ.
A few weeks ago we completed our first semester of classes at IBEM selva and before starting the second semester we organized the students into teams of three and sent them out into the villages. Their job was to make Christ's name great in their assigned pueblo by sharing the gospel with everything that moves. They organized and taught VBS kids clubs, preached in the churches, did personal evangelism, made pastoral visits, did manual labor and, in general, served the saints in every way they could. The results were incredible! The brethren in the villages were GREATLY edified and the students were able to put into practice everything they had been learning for the past four months. When we all came together at the convention it reminded me of "operation Luke 10" where Jesus sent out the 72 disciples to preach and when they came back they were overwhelmed with victorious excitement saying that "even the demons submit to us in your name" (v.17). Our students didn't do any exorcisms .... that I know of... :) but there was certainly a feel of that joy of having been victorious in Jesus name. We are still hearing exciting stories from each of the students about how God used them and stretched them in amazing ways!
In the midst of all the river trip action and bible school pandemonium we were able to baptize 6 new believers in our assembly here in Tarapoto. For Amy and I the most exciting part of this event was that Josiah was among those who participated in this public confession of faith in Christ! It was an exciting day for all of us at "La Iglesia Evangelica Emaus" as the whole assembly traveled to a nearby creek where we gathered together in a thatch-roofed hut. We sang and prayed and after hearing a great message from Jesse Mattix we went down to the water where I baptized each one of the new believers before many witnesses. We went on to have a great afternoon with lots of swimming, fun and food for everyone. Please pray for these new believers and for our assembly here in town.
Missions quote for the day by Jim Elliot: "It makes me boil when I think of the power we profess and the utter impotency of our action. Believers who know one tenth as much as we do are doing one-hundred times more for God, with His blessing and our criticism. Oh if I could write it, preach it, say it, paint it, anything at all, if only God's power would become known among us"
Micah for the Tuttle's
