Home Again

I just arrived home this morning after our trip to visit the Mojeño and Yuracaré people who live on the Sécure river. The trip turned out to be both longer and shorter than expected since we had to wait 3 whole days in Trinidad before finally getting out on the river so overall time gone was longer, but time actually with the people we wanted to visit was cut short. But that is life in rural Bolivia. Monday morning Jared and I arrived ready to get on the river but we were delayed all day trying to obtain the correct permission to transport all the gas we needed up the river. The government has made it impossible for people n the Sécure river to obtain gasoline because they have resisted the government´s plans to build a highway through their territory. So we actually did not get the permission but decided to go with all the gas anyways and just trust God that if these people need this resource that we would make it through without getting caught by the Navy boats patrolling the river. 

Tuesday and Wednesday it rained and the road down to the river where our boat was tied is impassable when very wet. During the wait we were able to meet a couple of times with the president of CIDOB (Bolivian Indigenous People´s Confederation, the umbrella organization that organizes all the local and regional indigenous organizations in the Amazon and lowlands areas of Bolivia) and with Pedro Nuni, a Mojeño member of the national congress who just renounced his position so he can run for governor of Beni department (where we were) in the emergency elections being held in January after the national government succeeded in deposing the current governor who was from an opposing political party. There is a lot of suspision that the governement is fixing the elections so they can gain power in Beni and use that as a sign of approval by the people that they do want the highway and they can go ahead and build it. Pedro is running in order to defend his people and their territory. Anyways, Marcial Fabricano, the Mojeño man we have been collaborating with introduced us and we were able to explain to each of these men who we were and what our mission in this area is.

So what is our mission? Well, I explained most of it in the last blog post, but in essence this region of the country is in the middle of a huge territorial conflict which over the years has caused much division and conflict even within the villages in the territory and now nationally. Because of this conflict along with many other issues such as the dependency the first missionaries created here, the church in the area has ceased to exist. So we were going to assess the state of the Church and the believers there, to encourage them in their faith, to encourage them to begin to reunite and meet together once again, and beyond the church to call all the people on the river to remember their Creator in the middle of this conflict and to remember that this battle is not just against flesh and blood. 

So Thursday we were finally off. We loaded over 220 pounds each of rice, pasta, sugar, 40 pounds of salt, and 220 liters of gasoline to give to people as we went along up river inviting them to our meeting, as well as some other stuff for us to eat on the way. It was a good thing we brought some food to eat too, because we were on the river for 50 hours, travelling day and night stopping briefly in 6 or 7 communities for Marcial to share with them this dream he has of reviving the church and redirecting the struggle for their territory, before arriving at our final destination of Puerto San Lorenzo. Check this out to see on a map where we were. 

We stayed in Puerto San Lorenzo Saturday, Sunday, and half of Monday where we spoke with many community members as well as many of the Christians who had followed us to Puerto after we invited them to come. Beside all the individual conversations and home visits, Sunday afternoon we met with all the Christians who had arrived (about 15 adults from 4 different communities along the river) and had a time of reflection and encouragement. I had been told that it had been a while since the people on this river had heard the Word of God, but one woman, in tears, told us that I was the first pastor (I do not tell them I am a pastor, but a White guy with a Bible qualifies in their mind) to visit them and share the Word in 8 years. She said in that last visit her then 8-year-old son had accepted Jesus and in the last 8 years he has not heard a word about Jesus since. She was moved not only because of this fact, but more so because she had been convicted that she herself had not shared the Word with and discipled her own children. 

I had encouraged them not to wait for somebody from the outside to run their church and talked to them about how they were capable of  organizing themselves and doing the work of God´s kingdom despite their perceived lack of resources or education if they would just put it in God´s hands. Marcial shared with them as he did with all the villagers in a general meeting on Monday morning that this struggle they are all experiencing needs to be put in God´s hands since that is who gave their ancestors this land in the first place. Everyone in all the villages we went to agreed and Marcial is beginning to coordinate with them to have a meeting soon with the leaders of each community in the TIPNIS, not just the Sécure River, to fix a date that everyone in the TIPNIS can come together in a time of fasting and praying for their land. This is the event the Marcial sees will help to relaunch the local church as well as redefine the struggle of these people and help them to turn to God in the middle of this pain they are experiencing. 

It was very cool. I feel that this conflict really is a great opportunity for the Church there, but there is a lot of work to be done to convince these people that they don´t need a gringo missionary to do it for them. It was a privilege to be a part of this trip and it was disappointing that it was so short. We left Tuesday morning and were back in Trinidad by noon the next day and got on a bus home last night. I hope and pray that we can continue to support these people and especially to help Marcial as he is clearly a prophetic voice of his people. Next week I will publish the essay he wrote for this trip when I finish translating it. 

Overall it was a very encouraging trip for all parties. Beyond the lessons I learned from Marcial´s leadership and the people we talked to, I also learned a lot just about the logistics of organizing a big trip like this so we can do it better next time. And we didn´t run into any police or Navy in case you were wondering. Please pray for continuing wisdom for Marcial as he leads this initiative and for the strengthening of the church on the Sécure and Isiboro rivers in the TIPNIS.