RIVER TRIP

I couldn't stop my thoughts the night before last, and a host of family and friends passed through my mind and I lifted them (you) up to God. I felt very sad as I realized how many opportunities I have squandered throughout my life, opportunities to take more of an interest in the welfare of those around me. I thought of Psalms 139 where David says "how precious also are your thoughts toward me, O God, how great is the sum of them, if I could count them they would be more in number than the sand...". Suddenly the Holy Spirit electrified me with a connection to John 13:34 "A new commandment I give onto you, that you love one another AS I HAVE LOVED YOU." And I realized how FAR I have to go to love others as Christ loves me! How many of my measly thoughts of others consist merely in what I need from them, or worse yet, of judgments and criticisms? Where are the precious thoughts of unselfish love? Should not I discipline my mind to dwell on others and their needs, and to scheme up ways to bless them? Sadly, my thoughts are too often too narrow, too little, too wrapped up in my own agenda, my own needs, my own problems. There is no light in that. "What gets the mind gets us, and what gets us will be manifested in word and action." God rewire my mind. Take out all the short circuits and tighten all the false contacts and make my life to shine for you! (Matthew 5:16).

            We are working hard to get ready for our mission trips during the mid-year vacation (July 2-17). This year we have two groups going to different locations. One group is going with Cornelio and Susie to Semaipata near Santa Cruz to help at an orphanage and also distribute bibles and do some service projects in the surrounding community. My group is going north to the rivers of the interior. Our destination is the village of Santa Rosa on the Manurimi River, a tributary of the Madre de Dios. The primary goal is to help a small company of believers there erect a church building. We will also distribute bibles and literature and hold evening meetings. In those remote regions the locals are always excited to meet new people and they love anything on the screen: pictures, videos, even sermons. We are going to try to make the most of that.

We found out about the project through Enrique Zabala who worked with us here at the school for a number of years, and just recently moved into the interior to work in the Brazil nut industry. His family lives in Pekin, a small town downriver from Santa Rosa. The lumber for the church construction is being cut in the jungle as we speak. Emilio Canamari, one of the believers at Santa Rosa decided to dedicate all his time to hand milling the timber for the church with his chain saw after studying the recent Sabbath School lesson on the book of Zacharias, where the prophet rebuked the people for spending all their time and work on themselves while leaving the temple desolate. Not only that, but this same brother made a promise to the Lord some time ago that he would not repair his house until he has built a church for the new group of believers. The first time that Enrique met Emilio, Emilio told him:

“Hermano, I don’t want you to think that I’m lazy, and that’s why my house is in this condition.” Enrique was astonished to see that half of Emilio’s house was squashed underneath a large Brazil-nut tree! Turns out Emilio had been trying to feel the tree because it was rotting and posed a threat to his house. Unfortunately it didn’t fall exactly where he was planning! So Enrique encouraged the group there to help Emilio fulfill his promise quickly so he can fix his house! When Enrique found out our primary plans for a return trip to Las Amalias (the indigenous village on  the river Horton where we built a church in 2010) had fallen through, he got really excited and shared this story with us, suggesting it as a worthy project to undertake.

            About two weeks ago Enrique shared another exciting piece of news with us. The last time he went to worship with the group in Santa Rosa, there was a new face in the group. When Enrique asked the elderly gentleman how he had come to join the group he grinned and told how he had become very sick, and how Emilio and the group of believers had helped him get to Riberalta where he could get medical attention and had promised to pray for his recovery. He saw his subsequent restoration as a direct answer to prayer and had joined the group of believers to find out more about the God of these people who had taken the time to care. The Lord is clearly at work in a mighty way!

This month has flown by and we only have five more days to get ready for the trip. We will travel half a day by truck to El Sena, and from there the road is all water all the way to Santa Rosa. It should take us about 20 hours. The word is that Enrique has equipped his boats with lights and keeps chugging along all night. The good news is that this river doesn’t have so much flotsam as the river Orton, so Lord willing we won’t be colliding with any logs or other major debris.

Due to the remote location, we need to take cement, nails, and tin for the church roof, as such materials are rarely available out there, and if you can find them they are sold at exorbitant prices.

Please pray for us! And if you want to do more, some of the students who want to go are not sure if they will be able to go because of lack of funds. We have done a motorcycle wash in Guayaramerin, made and sold bread, and also visited the local churches to talk about our trip, but the funds we’ve raised so far have been just enough to buy the food for the trip. The transportation cost is about $26 per person, and there are about 10 students in the group. The roofing materials for the church will probably cost around $400. Bibles have already been donated and will be arriving soon on the mission plane along with some of our provisions that I ordered from Santa Cruz where they are available at much more economical prices. (Just in case you’re wondering how it could possibly be cheaper to fly the food in, the flight is already scheduled because we have a short-term missionary volunteer coming from Trinidad and Tobago to join our group, and she will pay for the flight as it is also almost the same price she would pay to fly here commercial.)

Oh, and I can’t stop writing before I share with you the story of Antonio Mamani. Antonio is in his upper sixties, and he has made up half of our faithful membership from the nearby village of Yata ever since he was baptized three years ago. Nearly every Sabbath he arrives for church on his bicycle. He first began to come to the school here when one of the founders employed him to help clear the land. He told me how every day before work, the missionaries would gather the workers for a small worship service and prayer. The bible-based teaching, impressed him deeply, and he began to share what he was learning with others.

Recently Antonio came to me asking for missionary training, and he told me a couple of stories of how he had been able to share his faith.

“Almost like I were a real missionary !” he grinned.

“What do you mean, almost? You ARE a missionary!” I told him. I told him that of course I am happy to study with him, but sometimes I think Antonio is more of a missionary than I am, and I could learn a thing or two from him. He cares for the sick and takes the stranger into his house. I have seen him give away his own hymnal to someone because they liked to hear him sing one of the songs in it. About a month ago when we went to visit him he enthusiastically led us to visit the house of a new neighbor.

“This man is kind of gruff” he laughed, “But when I started sharing about God with him he started to soften up. I want you to sing and study with him!”

It turned out the neighbor is Don Fermin, an elderly grandpa and backslidden Adventist. We had a very profitable and Spirit-led conversation getting to know each other and the afternoon passed quickly.

Every time Antonio makes a trip to the interior he takes literature and wherever they give him the welcome he speaks from the word of God. Antonio is not a preacher type, but he remembers what he has learned, and he is not afraid to share it. On many Sabbath afternoons he rides his bicycle to another village about 8 kilometers away to sing songs and tell bible stories to the young people. He told me that one time the Catholic priest in Yata was trying to convince him that Sunday is the seventh day of the week.

“That can’t be” said Antonio, “or the Lord Jesus would have risen on Monday!” He proceeded to show the priest the gospel account of how Christ rested in the tomb on the seventh-day Sabbath, (and his disciples rested in accordance with the commandment, Luke 23:56). He followed up by showing the priest the dictionary definition of Sabbath and Sunday, and that was the end of the argument.

One time a man stopped Antonio on the road and wanted to sell him a pistol. “You go everywhere on that bicycle, you need to carry a weapon to protect you.”

“I have a good weapon already” replied Antonio. “The very best.”

“You do?”

“Yes, I’ll show it to you” and Antonio pulled out his bible. “This is the only weapon I need!” The gun-dealer remained speechless for a moment, than packed up his wares and went on his way!

We invited Antonio to join us on the mission trip this year and he is really excited! Pray for him as well as the rest of us, and that we will all be faithful witnesses for Jesus.

motorcycle wash to raise funds for mission trip

Door to door, dogs, a dream, and supernatural sunblock…

 

PART 2

The chain-link gate to the naval base was slightly open, and Gadiel and I entered and approached the first house, apparently unobserved. I thought I saw someone out back, but decided to try the front door first. When no one responded to our knocking, I cautiously began to walk around the side of the house, keeping an eye out for the dogs we had been warned about. Upon rounding the corner, I saw a lady sweeping a walkway that connected to the house next door. 

“Buenos dias” I called as we approached, and she looked up from her sweeping with an expression that was less than encouraging. I continued rather awkwardly, asking if she would give us but a moment of her time, and quickly explained who we are, where we are from, and what we were doing, and placed a number of materials in her hands. I wasn’t sure what her reaction would be as she seemed to still be processing everything I had said, so I simply asked her which of the materials interested her most.

“Well, it would have to be this one” she surprised me by indicating the book Time of Hope (Original title, When God said Remember, by Mark Finley). “Why don’t you come inside?” She said abruptly, turned, and led us down the walk to her house. Once inside, she directed us to some chairs in the living room, and while Gadiel filled out a receipt, we made conversation. I can’t remember all the exact turns and transitions in our dialogue, but I know that God was guiding, and His Spirit was present, as you will see

Her name is Sandra Nagada, and she and her husband were recently stationed here in Guayaramerin after living for some time in the altiplano. She has family in Riberalta, and passes by the school driveway every time she goes to see them. I invited her to stop by some time.  As we continued to talk, she began to share quite a bit. She is an evangelical, and her husband is Catholic.

“It used to be very difficult for me” she confided. “I was praying all the time for my husband. He loved to go out to parties and he would always come home drunk. I felt so helpless, all I could do was pray. And well, God has answered me and my husband is much better now! He doesn’t go to church with me, but we don’t go out drinking, we just stay at home. The neighbors invite us out to parties and stuff and I never want to go because I know what it is going to be like. So now they think we’re weird and don’t invite us to anything and I feel like I don’t have many friends. But it is worth it to have peace in the home.”

“Wow. That resonates with me, what you just said about feeling alone because of your decision not to participate in your neighbors’ parties! But I agree, it’s definitely worth it to make the right decision and be at peace. It’s like it says in 1 Peter 2:9, ‘But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people…’ When we don’t go along with what the world does they look at us as weird, but God has called us to be different and separate from the world! Jesus said, no one can serve two masters. If we aren’t on His side, we are against Him!”

“So what church do you guys belong to?” Sandra asked.

“We’re Seventh-day Adventists.”

“Oh! The lady who lives on the other side of the base is Adventist! I remember because we invited her one time to a birthday celebration for the kids and she said they couldn’t come because it was on a Saturday!* Your day of rest is Saturday isn’t it?”

 “Yes, it is! But we didn’t come up with the idea to keep Saturday! God himself is the one who blessed and made the Sabbath holy as a monument to His creative power since the very beginning of time. Do you mind if I share a couple of scripture passages?”

“No, not at all!” She assented. I read Genesis 2:1-3 and Exodus 20:8-11.

It seemed as though Sandra were hearing all this for the first time.

“One of the most beautiful things about the Sabbath to me is that God says it is a sign of what he wants to do in our lives.” I continued. “Just as he sanctified the Sabbath, filled it with his presence, and set it apart for a special purpose, so too He wants to sanctify each one of us, fill us with his presence, and set us apart for a special purpose! (Exodus 31:13, Ezekiel 20:12). So to keep the Sabbath is really an act of faith that recognizes what God wants to do in us, and recognizes that He has the power to do it too!”  

Sandra was listening intently. When she spoke again, her words took me completely by surprise!

“You know, it’s not by accident that you came here today,” she said. I felt a little thrill shiver down my spine. “I mean, what are the chances? First of all you caught me at home today!” She continued. “Not only that, but I was outside sweeping, just at the moment when you came! Usually if I am in the house I don’t answer the door. Last night I wasn’t feeling very well, I had a headache and I told my daughter I was just going to lie down for a little bit. ‘Okay mom’ she said, and no sooner had I lain down on the bed than I fell asleep and had a dream. It was the strangest thing, you won’t believe it, but in my dream somebody came to me and wanted to sell me a yellow book!” She looked down at the front cover of her new book, which pictures a large autumn tree, bathed in the golden glow of sunlight. “Well, it’s not completely yellow,” she admitted, “but it is quite yellowish!”

“And this book speak exactly on the topic we have been discussing about the Sabbath! You are going to love it! And I am so glad you shared that with us just now, because I am also convinced that our meeting today has nothing to do with chance!” And I went on to tell her of my prayer, and how we missed the bus by a question of seconds, and how the dump-truck dropped us off right next to the naval base, and of the impression I had that we should try to canvass there, and how we met someone who gave us permission right at the moment when we arrived.

As we were leaving the house, a mongrel began to approach us, and Sandra shouted and chased it away. “Usually I keep him chained up because he likes to bite people!” she explained. “You didn’t have any trouble when you came in the front gate?”

“No, no trouble at all!” I remembered the initial warning we had received and thanked God for allowing us to pass unharmed.

Gadiel and I continued to canvass the base, finishing at the Adventist lady’s house where we shared the story about her neighbor Sandra and encouraged her to try to make friends.

The rest of the day passed quickly, and we were soon taking the 3:00 bus back to the school. The bus was quite full, but we found seats near the back. As I took my seat the man sitting behind me caught my attention because he had a foldable aluminum ladder like one I saw recently in the hardware store and wanted to buy for the school. The ladder served as a good conversation starter. Soon I found out the gentleman’s name is David Sanchez. He is a merchant from Brazil where he has a wife and two kids. After telling me a few more things about himself, he started to ask me questions.

“So what do you do and where are you from?” he asked. When I told him I am a volunteer missionary teacher at the boarding school at kilometer 30, he grinned.

“Hey, I know that place! So what do you teach?” He asked. “English?”

“No, believe it or not, I teach history, geography, literature, philosophy, and civics!”

“You don’t say! What do you teach about in those classes?” his question surprised me. Did he really just ask me that? Nobody has ever asked me that question before! Lord, did you put that question in his head? Or is he just wondering what version of history and civics a foreigner might be teaching to the young people of nationalistic Bolivia! Or maybe it was all of the above. In any case, I had to take advantage of the opportunity.

“Well, I believe that all true knowledge comes from God, so I try to approach each subject from a biblical perspective,” I began. “For example, civics has to do with the study of the obligations, rights and privileges of the citizen. According to Philippians 3:20, as Christians our citizenship is in heaven.** So in my class I start with that foundation. What are our obligations, rights and privileges as Christians? That leads us into a discussion on sovereignty, authority, and law. Sovereignty refers to a supreme or ultimate authority. The view we take regarding who has sovereignty, or ultimate authority, leads us down a road toward one of three outcomes in government. If we believe that each individual is invested with sovereignty, that leads toward anarchy because everyone is their own ultimate standard and can do as they wish. If, on the other hand, we believe that one man, or a group of men within a government have absolute and supreme authority, then they don’t have to answer to anyone but themselves, and that takes us toward tyranny. The best option, I believe, is to accept that God is sovereign, and as such both the individual and the state are responsible to Him, and receive their authority from Him. If we accept that approach, we are on the road to liberty!”

 David seemed quite surprised with all of that. “So what church do you belong to?” was his next question.

“And what do Seventh-day Adventists believe?” he asked. “Do you believe that salvation is only through Jesus Christ?”  

“Absolutely! ‘There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved!”

He asked me a couple of other questions on basic Christian belief, and seemed to be satisfied by my responses. Before we finished our conversation I was able to show him the books and magazines we were selling and he bought the same book about the Sabbath that Sandra had bought and promised to come by the school some time to visit.

It wasn’t until after I got off the bus and was walking down the driveway that I realized that God had answered yet another part of my morning prayer. He had sent someone for me to talk to on the bus after all! I thought I had missed out when we had to ride the dump truck instead of the bus, but God had everything worked out for the return trip!

That evening when my wife asked me how the day went I enthusiastically recounted my experiences.

 “Hey, and you didn’t get sunburned today!” she exclaimed. More than once she has told me that I look like a tomato when I come home after a day of canvassing! Just then I remembered the last part of my morning prayer (I am slow at these things) and my heart overflowed with gratitude yet again to my mighty Creator God who saw fit to answer every one of my requests that day, even honoring my trifling petition for supernatural sunblock! I had spent so much of the morning inside the homes of hungry souls, that the sun hadn’t had a chance to scorch me! Now while you may scoff at me for intimating anything miraculous about the “sunblock” proffered by Jovannah and Sandra’s respective roofs, I know for certain that it is only the Spirit of God that can put such a longing for truth in the human heart, and to me, that two strangers would invite me into their homes and question me with such eagerness concerning the Word of God, is a greater miracle than if I had walked under the tropical sun all day without getting burnt! May His name be praised!

*In Spanish, as in many languages, the word for Saturday is actually sabado the equivalent of  "Sabbath."

** The word “conversation” in this text in Spanish is translated as “citizenship.”