February, 2010 PERUSING PERU - Go To Nations

THE STORY
I am writing this newsletter with a much different focus that brings with it a sense of urgency and a call to arms in behalf of the villages that I work with and protection for us as I and the helpers from my local church go to minister to them.

Three important events took place right before leaving on this most recent river trip which led me to believe that it was a significant attempt of the enemy to try and stop the work of the Lord.

1) I successfully completed a 21-day fast to consecrate the year to the Lord and to realize the long prayed for breakthroughs in the ministry that I had been seeking. As a result I felt strongly that the Lord honored thefast by not only giving me the strength to finish it but also the assurance that my petitions were answered.

2) One of the two men that joined me on the trip, named Eràclito, told me that the Lord had shown him for about a year that he was to enter into full time ministry and that he would like to work with me (a huge answer to my prayer for more help in this work). This trip would have been his first with me to 'test' the waters to see if this is where the Lord was showing
him to minister.

3) We developed a program that would have re-taught the village we were going to about the uses of the water filters that we were going to install on this visit and present an effective evangelistic program to this community.

In light of this the following is an account of what happened we traveled to a village on the Shishinahua River to once more bring the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The two men from my local church, my boat driver, Josè, and I made plans to visit an Indian village on the Shishinahua River named Santa Clara to do a water filter project in their community. This is a village that I visited many times to do evangelism through projects, follow-up visits and programs over the past three years and so the people were ready to receive us on this day as well. 
 
We started out on the 11-hour canoe trip from Yurimaguas on Friday morning, February 5 but unfortunately we never made it to the village. The trip included traveling on a larger river named the Huallaga for the first five hours and then turning off to the smaller river of the Shishinahua for the remaining six hours. As we set out the Huallaga River was quite high and
the current was very strong due to the steady rain we'd had for the past several days. Happily for us it was not raining when we left. All seemed to go as normal as it had so many times before when I had taken these trips.  This time however, would prove to be quite a different experience.

Only about an hour and a half into the trip a two-story passenger boat passed us at a dangerously close distance and at a speed that is unlawful for river traffic creating large waves in its wake. As the boat passed on ahead of us its waves came rushing towards us broadside crashing into our 3 foot by 30 foot motorized dugout canoe with a force that rocked the narrow vessel from side to side. The first round of waves flooded the canoe but did not cause us to sink.  The second round however, seemed to be much larger and come much faster so that the canoe simply could not sustain the impact or the volume of water that the waves brought with it and so it caused us to capsize tossing us and everything we had into the rushing river. The boat motor was the first thing to sink to the bottom of the river without any hope of recovery.

In an incredible first reaction, Josè, the boat driver, quickly gained control of the canoe, though still overturned, before we lost that to the river as well. By mounting the vessel and stabilizing it with the only oar he had, which he was miraculously able to reach before it was taken by the current, he steered the canoe towards us as we pushed whatever items we could reach closer to him so that they could be hauled onto the overturned canoe before the river claimed them also.

Clinging to a set of 3, 20-gallon pails that were to be used for the water filter project, I swam and collected cargo with one hand while holding ontoto the buckets with the other to keep me afloat. Eràclito, one of the men from my church, did the same with the plastic tank of gas that he was holding onto and in doing so we were able to recover an expensive, borrowed generator and the backpacks of all the men.

As I was moving the last item I could reach toward the canoe I heard a panicked and terrifying scream from Geiner, the other young man from my church, as he gasped for breath while mouthing out the one word that would bring him to safety, Help!. Geiner couldn't swim and had already sunk beneath the water twice and was now surfacing for the third time before he could call for help. While I was not close enough to even see my friend let alone help him our other companion, Eràclito was and instantly grabbed him up with a strong arm and lifted him to safety onto the canoe. While Geiner regained composer, although quite shaken, Eràclito returned to the water to continue to collect what he could and push it toward the canoe. By the time I was able to turn around I was relieved to see that Geiner was safely on the canoe and that Josè was now doing his best to break out of the strength of the current to bring the vessel to shore.  The next thing I knew the canoe and Eràclito, which I had been close to just a minute ago, were quickly gaining more and more distance from me and I was being swept away by the current and thrust down river against my will.  I started swimming with all of my might to break out of its hold but it didn't seem to be making any difference. All of the self-disciplines that I had learned over the years while engaging in rigorous exercise routines such as calculating the time it would take to run, stair-step, or row a certain distance with a given amount of energy to accomplish the desired goal seemed to escape me and logic and reason gave way to panic.

I continued to swim crying out to the Lord for help and anyone else that could hear me as I could feel the last portion of my energy reserve being used up. I did not have a back up plan when the natural resources of strength would finally expire and so I kept pushing and swimming as Iwatched the safety of the riverbank rush past me seemingly so far out of reach. Then suddenly when it felt like all hope was gone and I was using the last vestiges of strength and breath I could muster I saw signs of shallow water. Somehow I made it!  Safety was now only a few more minutes away.  With that the canoe seemed to appear out of nowhere carrying Josè and Geiner on top and Eràclito following close behind providing the last bit of anchoring I needed to reach the riverbank.  By the grace of God we were all together again and safe.

Without a moment to lose I followed the lead of Josè and Eràclito by joining them in hauling the canoe to the riverbank and up right it as quickly as possible. Together we rocked it from side to side to spill out all of the water it collected and in an instant Josè and Eràclito jumped in the canoe and took off as fast as they could to chase after the cargo that was still floating down river.

Geiner and I just sat in silence as we waited for them to return trying as best we could to process what just happened. My mind was racing over the expensive boat motor that Josè lost as well as my back pack that had my glasses, money and cell phone in it, which we would have needed to call for help and/or pay for a ride back to Yurimaguas. I could not even begin to think of what would have happened if Eràclito had not been near Geiner in time to save him or what would have happened if we were further out in the middle of the river when we capsized. Instead I started praying for help for Josè and Eràclito from other boats that would be passing by. I did not have to pray long though because within 20 minutes from when they left the two men came back rowing against the current with one oar and pushing with a poll that Josè had gotten from the river debris near the bank of the river.  With nothing short of a miracle they were able to recover everything that was tossed in the river when we capsized. The only things that were lost were Josè's expensive boat motor, my digital camera that was now ruined from water damage and a few smaller items. 

Thankfully we were able to get back to Yurimaguas by flagging down a speedboat from a boat company that happens to be located right next door to Josès house. When they reached us they radioed the office in Yurimaguas to send a boat to collect us and we made it back to town about an hour later hauling my canoe behind.

It has taken several days for all of us, but especially Geiner, to recover emotionally and spiritually from what could have been a fatal attack of the enemy. As a team we gathered together and prayed for each other with our pastor and broke bondages of fear and doubt as well as the power of flashbacks that had plagued our minds and emotions. Gloriously the power of the oppression that at least two of us felt was broken by the power of the Holy Spirit through the authority of the Name of Jesus. For my part, I simply cannot afford to succumb to attacks such as this from the enemy in presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ and so I present to you my prayer request as explained below.

THE PRAYER REQUEST
After this experience I realized all too clearly the level of spiritualwarfare that I'm dealing with and that prayer support is absolutely essential to the completion of the work of the Lord in these communities.  It is the will of the Lord for these villages of the Shishinahua and the Yanuyacu River, the two rivers that I'm working on, to hear and receive the gospel of Jesus Christ with the evidence of a changed and transformed life.  Therefore, I am putting out the call to everyone who feels the Lord'sleading to stand with me in a concentrated effort to pray, fast, intercede, use scripture or do whatever is necessary to break the spiritual bondages that are trying to impede the Gospel of Jesus Christ from going forth.  I realize that some of you have already made this commitment and have stood in the gap for me and this work on several occasions and that is why so much that could have gone wrong did not.  At the same time however, I believe that there are others whom the Lord is calling even now to join in this work and take up the charge to pray for the salvation of these communities. I firmly believe that as we join together and stand before the Lord as one voice walls that have kept the Gospel out will crumble at our feet and people will be able to see and accept the Truth that will set them free.  In light of this I would like to propose a plan:

Choose at least one day a week to commit to pray:

1) that I receive clear, distinct wisdom and discernment to know how to reach the people with the Good News in the most effective way that will bring them into the Kingdom.  In addition, knowing which projects to do and when that will meet the physical needs of the people in order to improve the quality of their lives.

2) for the people in the villages to be open and receptive to hear and receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a desire to walk with Him and renounce anything that is contrary to the Word of God through the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

3) against every attack of the enemy in all its forms that would try to stop the work of the Lord from going forth.

4) for the safety of my team (which is different each time I go out) as we travel back and forth to these villages and while we're in the villages.

5) anything else that the Lord would show you concerning His work among the villages and the establishment of His Kingdom in their midst.

The commitment would begin immediately and continue until the end of the year. During this time I will send out monthly prayer focuses so that all of us can stand together as one before the Lord to take these communities for the Kingdom of God.  

In order to do this I will need to hear from each of you that have already taken up the charge and those of you that the Lord is now calling to participate.  Please indicate which day(s) you will be praying so that hopefully we can cover the entire week. Please understand that this is a concerted effort that each of us have in this work and that each part is vital to the overall outcome, which is glorify the Lord and build His Kingdom in these communities.

I want to thank each of you in advance for responding to the leading of the Lord in this calling and encourage you that every piece of ground taken for the Kingdom is part of the warfare that all of us are engaged in. The glorious reality though is that we are not alone. We have the Lord of Hosts going before us, and the power of His Church along side of us to win the fight. Therefore, let us go forward with strength and confidence to take the Kingdom of God to every corner of the earth. God bless you and keep you always my treasured comrades and I will look forward to hearing from you
soon.

Together in the Harvest,

Sharon Malcolm