Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised:
In the midst of great economic uncertainty, our organization is making some significant changes, and the likelihood is great that those changes will soon impact the ways in which our team works here in Bolivia. But it is amazing and comforting to know that we have a God Who is completely unsurprised and unaffected by any financial problems. We can rest securely knowing that He has promised to provide our needs if we seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33)!
Prayer Necessities for the Skimmers:
1. We are going to meet with our European friend Brooklynn again tonight. Please be praying that the Holy Spirit will continue to provide us with opportunities to share His Truth with her and that He will grow the seeds that have been planted in her.
2. Please be in prayer the upcoming Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and for the IMB´s wisdom in its use of these funds. Every penny of this offering goes to support missionaries on the foreign field.
3. Pray for our men´s team, as they are currently scattered through various Quechua communities doing investigation and discipleship. Pray that God would give them His wisdom to know where we are to work next and to know how and what to teach to immature believers.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know (Bonus for the Readers):
One of the major advantages of our language school is that each of our teachers has at least some indigenous heritage and, as a result, we are able to learn about the Quechua culture as well as the language. To read some of the myths and legends of this people group has been enlightening, and reading about their customs has really taught me a lot.
This past week, I was able to have a prolonged conversation with one of my teachers, and he explained to me much about the history of the Quechua practice of the San Juan (John the Baptist) festival in the Bolivian community of Acacio.
The celebration begins with a bullfight on the eve of the holiday, with the winning bull and his owner both being showered with chicha (a corn-based alcoholic beverage that is a staple of every Quechua celebration).
The following explanation is a description of what happens on the San Juan holiday itself. I realize this is not the best English grammar I´ve ever posted, but I´ve translated it as best I can from the original Quechua, so I hope you´ll forgive me if there are some mistakes:
"From the sunrise, all of the people from Acacio and the surrounding villages come to the large, wide street in the plaza. Some of them arrive to fight again, still drunk and dripping blood [there were also a variety of drunken fights the previous evening], bellowing like a bull, and others are playing the charango [an instrument something like a ukulele].
"In order to fight, in that moment, they put on well a helmet, and they tightly envelop their right hands with something like a belt to make a good fist. To fight, they begin bellowing like bulls. And then, suddenly, jumping, they kick, they beat with their fists, and some fall to the ground. And when those are on the ground, the others kick heads, stomachs, or wherever.
"In that way also, sometimes the women defend their husbands. Sometimes the women fight among themselves while they carry their children on their backs; they hit each other with their shoes. Sometimes their families and those from their communities enter the fight. In that way, they have a big fight.
"Then, some of them stand up covered in blood, their heads cut, their noses broken, their mouths swollen. And, being like that, they are, of course, drunk.
"Like that is the San Juan festival in Acacio.
"But it is said that there is another, bigger festival in the month of September. Taht festival is called Exaltation [a celebration of another Catholic holiday]. In that festival, it is said that there is a bigger, uglier fight. Sometimes, it is said that they kill one another. ´If a man dies in the fight, the fields will produce well for the following year; and, if no one dies, the fields won´t produce well,´ they say.
"Like that are the customs in Acacio."
If this barbaric behavior disgusts you, good. I hope it makes you feel the darkness in which these people daily live their lives. I hope it makes you realize how DESPERATELY they need your prayers. Without them, the Quechua will continue to live in the bondage that tells them the blood of another human spilled in their fields will cause them to produce more crops, rather than knowing the Truth of the Creator God Who put a curse on Cain for spilling another´s blood:
"´Your brother´s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother´s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.´" (Gen. 4:10-12)
It breaks my heart to think of these people living in such abject darkness rather than in the marvelous light in which I walk. What a blessing I have received:
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Pet. 2:9-10)
Won´t you please join me in praying that, as we continue to declare His praises, these people walking in darkness will see that Great Light?
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned." (Is. 9:2)
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