It's a JUNGLE out there!

In 1956 five missionaries working in Ecuador were desperately trying to make contact with an indigenous group in the jungle in order to save their lives. There was external pressure for the Ecuadorian government to go into the jungle and wipe out the Waorani people. According to some anthropologists, the Waorani at that time were the most murderous people group in history. Through revenge killings from one village to another was devastating their population. Their intolerance for visitors was just as violent and there was rumors of government intervention to wipe them out completely.

Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian and Nate Saint had decided to go into the jungle in an attempt to share the gospel with the Waorani. Nate, a pilot with Missionary Aviation Fellowship had spotted a Waorani village while flying over the jungle and had been using a basket to lower gifts to them. Contact had been made from the air but when the missionaries tried to make personal contact by landing on a small beach they were speared to death.

Through a Waorani woman who had walked out of the jungle and made contact with outsiders, the missionaries widows and their children later moved into the jungle and spent time with the Waorani sharing the gospel with them and forgiving them for the killing of their husbands and fathers. That marked the end of the murderous era for the Waorani who continue to live in the jungle but have chosen a non murderous/vengeful existence.

Last week I had the privilege of going into the Waorani village of Nuneno to join some missionaries who work with the Waorani. We were joined by Cypress Church from California who has been visiting the village and developing relationship with them for the last three years.

Without going into detail about all of the activities from playing with the kids to eating monkey or singing, I'd like to simply share my highlights. As the "translator" for the team, I was asked to translate for one of the older men in the village who wanted to share his testimony. The testimony I had the privilege of translating was that of one of the men who took part in the killing of the five missionaries. I was in tears as I heard him (Grandpa Mincaye) share not only the details of what and how the killing happened but continued on to tell of how the Lord has changed his life.

Later that week as we gathered in the river to baptize those who had decided to publicly demonstrate their obedience to the Lord I was again moved to tears as Grandpa Mincaye spoke to someone he was baptizing. His message to them was so passionate and so heartfelt I couldn't contain my tears of Joy. Nearly sixty years after he had speared the men that were trying to share the gospel with him he was in the river baptizing in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I too was asked to be a part of the baptism as we sang and rejoiced together with the Waorani who were coming to the waters to show their obedience in baptism. Praise the Lord!

Please join me in prayer for the Waorani. While there are many believers, there is little support. They live very isolated and are constantly being bombarded by tourists and visitors who bring in temptations from the outside. There are very few missionaries and many villages that they can only get to a few times a year. Please pray also for the various missionaries who have been called to share the Love of our Lord with this amazing group of people.

Finally, please pray for me as I continue in a busy summer. I returned from the jungle just last night and the day after tomorrow I'll be going to another village, this time in the coastal jungle to a community of descendants of escaped slaves. They live in nearly complete isolation from the rest of Ecuador and can only be reached by a three hour motorized canoe ride upriver. We will be going in to put on a similar program to the one we did for the Waorani and will be doing so in support of the handful of local christians who have returned to their birthplace because they feel the call to minister among their people. Pray for the safety of the team that joins us from California and the rest of the missionaries who are leading the trip. God is already at work in this place, pray that we will be sensitive to his leading to how we can be a part of the work.

(Pictured above: Grandson Mincaye - Missionary to the Waorani, Miriam - a young girl who is a Shuar indian but works with the missionaries to the Waorani, ME. Miriam was one of the 20 people baptized in the Shiripuno that day)