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Daily Scripture
 
"I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I wil praise You among many people."

Psalm 35:18

TEPEHUAN MINISTRY AT RISK

Barry Wingo ministers to a Tepehuan family

October 19, 2005

After working in a village for the last five years, missionaries heard disturbing news that they may be asked to leave their ministry.

With the time and investment already put into language learning, cultivating relationships and starting to build houses, this comes as a blow to missionaries Andrew and Anne Marie Ferguson and their co-workers Barry and Candy Wingo.

While they knew that some in the village resented their presence, they had not received any negative comments or vibes that would lead them to suspect that something of this magnitude was brewing.

The resentment stems from the mistaken notion that if missionaries are allowed to live there others will eventually come and their tribal land will be taken over.

The Fergusons have assured them that this is not the case, but some of the Tepehuans are still unconvinced. Trust comes hard when they've witnessed unscrupulous outsiders take control of other tribal villages and leave the people with little or nothing.

The issue has split the village. Half want the missionaries to stay and half want them to leave. Tepehuans on the leaving side are working hard to sway the others.

Andrew will meet with the leaders of the village today. He will seek to clearly communicate why the missionaries are in the village, and help the leaders understand the importance of allowing them to live there and continue their work.

"We want to communicate that we love them and don't want to take their lands from them." wrote the Fergusons. "We want to share with them that we have a message from God that can free them from the fear and bondage they live in."

Pray that the minds of the leaders will be open to the truth. Pray that they will give the missionaries their unanimous permission to live in the village, bringing peace and harmony back to the Tepehuan village and to the church planting effort begun there.