New Creations

One of the communities we visited

Brin and I are back from an evangelism trip into the interior to a location named Maribel. Maribel is our farthest work. It takes 3 days by boat in the rainy season, and about 8-10 hours in a vehicle. Because of the remoteness we expected to see lots of wildlife, and we weren’t disappointed. Among other things, we saw (and/or tasted) paca (a large rodent, the size of a small pig), a snake, a jaguar, a jungle cat (smaller than a Jaguar), and Brin and some girls on a team saw a crocodile while bathing in the river. It was dark and they were stark naked, Brin adds. In nearly every village we visited we saw a flock of butterflies at the beach.

It would be a stretch to call the communities that we visited “villages”. Most were just a few houses at most, separated by vast jungle and river. We visited 4 such locations, in each place we were warmly received. We held services in the evening and Tim saw people with health problems each morning.

An evening program

Pastor Naldo prays with some of the locals

Pastor Clenildo, from our church in Altamira, tries to bring a group at least 3 times a year to this area, providing discipleship to the believers and always leading more people to the Lord. We saw several people make commitments to the Lord. Pastor Clenildo is such an effective evangelist and pastor. It seems natural to him to visit a family, trade hunting or fishing stories, tell jokes, but always challenging and encouraging them from the Bible.

So many faces stand out to me as I think back over our trip. Each of them telling a story about a hard life lived in isolation and separation from the rest of the world. As I watched Clenildo teaching about the parable of the wise builder and the foolish builder I was reminded of the seemingly impossible task of discipling people so remote. Clenildo seems unaffected by those doubts and concerns. He takes every opportunity to encourage them, fully expecting the result to be changed lives. Here is one example of the challenges before him; I walked up to him once finding him writing out the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes. After a moment, I realized he was giving a discipleship booklet entitled “New Creation” to a man that could not read. I was witnessing an ad hoc literacy class.

Pastor Clenildo disciples (and teaches literacy)

During one of the services, Orlando, a man who came with us on the trip got up and gave a testimony. Orlando married Teresa, a woman who grew up in this region, and years ago they were living on a ranch near Altamira when Clenildo lead them to Christ. It is because of Orlando and Teresa that Clenildo now works in the Maribel region. When Orlando, a rough looking middle-aged rancher, began to share with the group, I knew he was speaking from his heart. It was apparent that he was not comfortable with public speaking. He went on to share about how Clenildo told he and his wife about Jesus, how they struggled to give their lives to Him, and now make frequent trips back to this area because we wants others to experience the same hope that he has.

Orlando

Although I didn’t understand everything he said, I understood his heart. I saw in him a new creation. I didn’t know him before he knew Christ, but now he is gentle, kind man with a body that hints at the hard life he has lived. It was then that I realized that discipleship in this context is possible, that new creations can result from this difficult work.

I was reminded again of the butterflies we had seen earlier. Metamorphosis is a marvel of God’s creation and a metaphor for what happens when a life encounters Christ. That miracle is not dependant on sophisticated methods or access to the most modern spiritual training. In the end it’s still a miracle. Something simple becoming something new and beautiful. -JTP

Nikki and Brin inspecting the butterflies