4000 miles between blessings

and the Church at Apayacu

Sitting in my shop working on Jungle motors, I never know exactly where a particular motor will go until after it is on its way. This was the case with the motors we took into Peru in March of 2001. I had made arrangements with a missionary I had never met, to bring two motors in for the work he and his co workers were doing on the Amazon near Iquitos Peru. The missionary's name is Larry Hultquist and he works with ABWE, the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism.

It had taken almost a full year for everything to come together. The motors had to be built, the mission had to be able to host us and God had to supply the funding. Even as we neared March I was working to complete and test the motors that we were going to take into Peru. The night before we left the motors were still being tested and boxed. I take the blame for last minute work on the motors, and God gets the credit for last minute fund raising. It seems as if these trips are an exercise God puts before me to teach me to trust Him for all my needs, including money.

 We learned later that not all the Missionaries in Iquitos believed that we could get the motors through customs. Latin American countries can be very unpredictable in whether the person at Customs is worried about the law or themselves. In Peru they have a Red light, Green light system that they say will randomly turn red and you are checked, but there did not appear to be anything random about it. We were red lighted and had to be checked and searched. Our first major obstacle was to explain what it was we had in our luggage. The tubes and pipes of two junglemotors are very odd looking at best. The young lady we had helping us was very gracious and helpful. Our being kind and respectful to her was in sharp contrast to the young man that was ahead of us and God had set him there to give us a brighter light in our demeanor. This lady worked hard at finding the lowest rate for the motors she could, so our duties were very reasonable. 

Once in Iquitos we helped in the preparation of the boat we were to use to get down river. At this time the missionaries we were working with still had no idea who should get the motor, other than it was narrowed down to a couple of groups. Larry Hultquist and Jim Bowers had talked and decided the night before we left that we should go to Apayacu and present the motor to the Church there. Two days of preparation and we were on the Amazon. 10 hrs of running down river and we were on the Apayacu River. The next day we met the Bowers at the Village of Apayacu and after a swim in the river to cool off, we prepared for a "meeting", a Church service.

The service was done in Latin American style. All the men sat on the right and all the women on the left. Songs and testimonies were inter mixed with preaching in the middle. The only distraction was a 2lb rat that fell out of the thatched roof and smacked to the floor during a song. It was quickly dispatched into the jungle with a swift kick and was last seen cart wheeling though the air. At the end of the meeting we presented the motor and were richly blessed with the pastors testimony and praise.

Pastor Benidicto told us how the church had been struggling with decisions about how to get their own place to meet. They were currently meeting in his home and had been waiting on a government grant to have funds to build their own building. After a year of waiting, the Church had decided that it was wrong to use the governments money and had started to build on their own in faith of Gods provision. Pastor Benidicto saw the gift of this motor as a confirmation from God in His pleasure in their faith and trust. 

The next morning we ran the motor on every boat that was available to us. Benidicto said the motor had a very soft feel and because it was unique it would not be stolen. We were blessed by all the smiles, fun and laughter.

As we left Apayacu I was struck by how God had planned all this. In the framework of a year, the expanse of 4000 miles, God saw though time and space and knew his loving children at Apayacu  would make the correct decision and had a plan in place for a gift of encouragement at the ready.

Wow! What a loving God we serve.