The Plane Facts
Dear Christian Friend,
Last Thursday night's Gideon meeting ended on an exciting note as the group extended an official welcome to membership. Next they declared that wherever we fly, I can call the villagers together and distribute the little blue Spanish New Testaments to the school children FREE! “Please keep clear records and take lots of pictures,” were their final words. (You can see some of the pictures below) Wow! What a blessing this is turning out to be for jungle Evangelism! Shortly afterward a Waorani man needing a flight to Daimontaro came and talked to Sharon. Enqueri told her that he had received the Lord some years ago with Steve Saint. When we arrived in his village we found the school teacher, Baiwa to be a strong Christian. He was overjoyed to have all his students receive God's Word. As we were leaving he said, “The village wants to invite the Christians from America to visit and help teach us the Bible and English. We’ll give them free room and board!”
Next, Cuban missionaries Ramon and Cari Rodriguez arrived back from Miami and wanted to be taken home to Ayui, the Shuar village where they live. So, we packed up our box of New Testaments and pushed the plane out. The people heard we were coming so the entire school was eagerly awaiting our arrival. The remote schools in the Amazon basin have very little, almost no, reading material, so the New Testaments become welcome educational tools for the school teacher. After sharing who the Gideon's are, we always take time to explain about the NT books, pointing out that the big numbers indicate chapters, the small ones are verses. Time seems to stop as I see the kids faces light up with God's Word in their hands for the very first time. Please pray that the precious Word given will impact each life.
Of late, we have been training Juan Carrillo a new commercial pilot. Juan is a brother in the Lord and wants to serve God as a pilot. He has worked for years as a tour guide on the boats off Galapagos Islands and speaks English well. I have really been putting him through his paces and he's doing a great job of flying as well as sharing the Gospel with the Indigenous people of the interior! His wife, Marielisa, and daughter, Rebeca are still on Galapagos until the school year ends there in January, then they plan to move to Shell. Please pray for this precious family. Let’s seek God as to how He will choose to use them for His Glory.
Grandma Sharon is back into pre-school action. Our youngest grandson Jake is now at the right age so she says it’s time to start again. As I write this there are 3 little guys “enrolled”. The other two are sons of medical missionaries here in Shell. There’s room for up to three more students. She started on Tues. Oct. 2nd so by the time you receive this she will be going at it full force…and will need lots of prayer. J
Rick and Sharon
