Lindy and Carol Drake your connection to tribal missions Guanano Church Planting Team: Lindy and Carol Drake, Barry and Denise Spor September 2008
Praise
We successfully completed a 3 week course on Discourse Analysis along with many of our Brazilian coworkers. Why is this important? We want to tell God’s stories in the same way they tell their fishing and hunting stories. How do they differentiate between background information and the main point? How do they keep track of who’s doing what to whom? How do they keep the story moving forward without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail? How much new information can you introduce in each sentence without overloading? We have studied these things in the past. But this subject is so complex, we can always learn new things which will make us better Guanano storytellers.
Because of this course, we have been in Manaus since early August. This made it possible for us to meet the boat which brought 500 Guanano New Testaments which had been printed in Colombia. These New Testaments are a revision of the first version printed in 1987 and a result of the lifetime commitment and hard work of Nate and Carolyn Waltz of Wycliffe Bible Translators. We were able to pick up 30 boxes and move them immediately to another boat which will carry them upriver to São Gabriel. What a blessing these New Testaments will be to the Guanano church! What a tool God has put in Guanano hands to read and learn more about the wonderful God who loves them and gave Himself for them!
Pray
I wish we could live on the mountain top without ever coming down, but God’s people also walk in sad and lonely places. This past month, Delfina gave birth to a stillborn baby girl. They buried her right next to Paula, their 8 year old daughter who drowned last year. Moses and Delfina are struggling. They had resisted the advice of friends and neighbors to chant and blow tobacco smoke over the mother and baby to hide the birth from dangerous fish and animal spirits. Instead, they depended on the Lord, the Giver and Sustainer of Life. Now they will hear the harsh criticism that comes from the heart of Satan himself, "You killed your baby. It’s your fault. You should have chanted." We don’t know why the Lord would allow such a thing to happen. We have asked the Lord to show his awesome goodness and power to His Guanano people so that their faith (confidence in Him) is strengthened, and their roots grow down deep into his love. He has put Moses and Delfina on a platform for all the Guanano world to see. How will they respond? Will they cling to the Lord in faith in the midst of great pain and suffering? Will they demonstrate before all that they are following the Lord, not because of the good things they get out of it, but because He is God? How would you respond? Please pray for them.
The second act of this story is about to unfold. Mario and Nilsa are about to have their first baby. Nilsa is 15 and unsaved. Her entire family is unsaved. They are certainly expecting Nilsa to seek their help in carrying out the customary chanting and rituals during this time of childbirth. Mario is encouraging his wife to trust the Lord alone. What must they be thinking now? It certainly seems as if the Lord has undercut Mario’s position and made it impossible to defend. What will they do? Please pray for them.
We are heading home tomorrow. Lord willing, we will be with the believers on Sunday morning. We want to encourage them and strengthen them to stand firm against this onslaught of discouragement and unbelief. Please pray for us.
Thank you for your participation in the Guanano work through prayer.
