Jungle Part 2

My third day in Pucallpa was an interesting one, and further helped to humble myself and Ian in regards to money, and trusting God for money, as well as what is a generous spirit. This happened as we were travelling out to another of the church plants of the main church in Pucallpa. This was a river community located an hour by boat away from the main port in Pucallpa, where all sorts of things can be seen! Anyone fancy a banana?
They don't get this strength by eating Weetabix!

We arrived 25 minutes late for our boat, as we were doing some leadership training, and then got mislaid, as tends to happen in the jungle, when time is a relative concept. However our boat was driven by the church leader and his wife. On our way we saw dolphins, as well as many birds, and really felt as we were arriving, that we were in the middle of nowhere, even though I had a signal for my mobile phone (no permission needed for cell sites out here).
The church leader and his wife

When we arrived the 10 members of the church started to arrive, along with several young adults, teenagers and children, not counted as part of the church, but equalling maybe 30 people all in all, if not more. Ian shared a message, which I translated, as well as praying for the people there, and introducing ourselves. We then received the customary tour of the village, by boat, as for 4 months of the year, the village is flooded. That means the football pitch, the church, and the gardens are out of service from January to April each year. School starts when the waters subside.

The church building under water and where they are meeting currently

We were given 15 bananas each (Myself, Ian and Oseas) as a thank you for coming to visit them. These are people who live off bananas and fish, that they find in their gardens and they catch in the river. They then sell them to try and make a little extra money. This was before we bought coconuts from the only tree on the village, as a little thank you to them. 10 soles for 20, 50 cents for each one, (9p each) and the villagers couldn’t afford to pay this. We were also given 50 bananas from another family, and 5 fish which were still alive until we got back to the church. The village coconut tree.

These guys had nothing, nearly literally, yet they were so grateful to God for bringing us that they wanted to thank us materially and sacrificially for our presence. Ian and I were humbled. We had seen poor people before in Lima, poorer in Pucallpa, (one guy earns 25 soles a day, four pounds a day, when he gets work, and another 10 soles, less than 2 pounds). These people earned a lot less than this, a sol one day, another day nothing. Therefore they were giving out of their poverty, and cheerfully as well, I have so much still to learn.

A wonderful and generous people, but also very poor and malnourished in some cases

After returning, and seeing more dolphins, and other wildlife, we returned home with all our gifts and went for pizza. This wouldn’t have been mentioned but this was only the second time Oseas had eaten pizza in his life. Pizza is a luxury here in Peru, and especially in the jungle.

As it was the last night before we left I preached in the church again, and Ian preached to the young adults in the pastor’s house, with interpretation from Jennifer, the American missionary. These both went really well, and after we had a prayer tunnel. This tunnel took nearly two hours, beause these guys know how to pray for each other, and just as it was finishing the young adults arrived back. (which had grown by word of mouth, no announcements, to thirty people, many not Christians)

The Prayer Tunnel