Raimundo and another man who was there fishing, laughed and said as if already knowing what Aude’s response would be, “Deekuh-tahee”, “Let it loose.” “Oh, no I won’t! My kids–I don’t want my kids to get sick, you let it loose!” “No,” the other guy responded, “I don’t want sickness for me or my kids, either!” Finally, Aude said, “Zeh-zee, tee-ah, deekuh-tahee!” “Jeff, you untie it!” So Raimundo paddled me over to the net, and I was preparing to try to untie this baby porpoise from the net, when Raimundo stepped in from behind and broke his paddle on the poor porpoise’s head, killing it instantly. It may have made un-snagging the porpoise easier, but I was hoping to return the little guy to his mother, alive.

The Culinas live in bondage to so many taboos.They aren’t near as worried about their sins of adultery, stealing, lying, etc., as they are of the “sins” of: touching an “unclean” animal like a porpoise; doing physical work before one’s newborn child’s umbilical cord falls off; or sleeping in close proximity to one’s spouse–one might become emaciated–and many, many, more.

They, like that little porpoise caught in the net, are caught in Satan’s net, in bondage to sin, and the day is coming when they will be judged, not for whether they handled a porpoise or not, but for their evil works. They need to believe in the Savior, Jesus, to rescue them out of the “net” of sin. May we soon be able to communicate the Gospel message clearly.

“We have much to praise God for, and are very grateful for how He has been our help in moments of despair and sadness. Glory to Him alone!

“Our trip back to the village was a bit troubling. The weather indicated that it might rain but it wasn’t preventing us from traveling. At a certain point, dark clouds were quickly approaching. It is quite common on these trips to drive through rain, but for some reason Jeff parked the speedboat along the bank of the river next to a local resident’s boat. But, I was worried about the time and said, ‘Let’s just keep going.The storm is not going to be very strong!’ Jeff, still not convinced, continued on. This was one time I think it was terrible that he listened to me! We went on for about 5 minutes before the storm of rain, wind, lightning and thunder hit us. I had never seen anything like it. Our speedboat is aluminum, and aluminum is metal, and lightning really likes metal–metal and water! The lightning was all around us and we thought we were going to meet the Lord at that moment.

“Our boat has a covering on top and on the sides, but we keep the side coverings off while traveling. We had no time to put the side coverings up, and we were afraid to step on the aluminum floor of the boat for fear of getting electrocuted, so we and our baggage got sopping wet. I started to cry in despair. Until then, the kids were fine, but when they saw their mother in tears, they too, including Janyssa, started crying. At that moment we could only do one thing–cry out to our Father for help, and that is what we did.

“The lightning and thunder continued above us like flames of fire but the Lord was with us amid the fire… In that moment God brought to my mind that we are nothing. We are insignificant before the power of our marvelous God. But God cares about us.”

The good news is, that last week I started teaching chronological Bible lessons to a group of villagers. I have experienced God’s grace in this. I started out with many uncertainties in my mind. Would I be able to communicate? Would anyone show up?

The first 10 or more lessons have been written in the language, so that has helped greatly. It may be too early to say, but I think I am beginning to even improve in speaking the language from all the exposure to the terms and phrases, etc. used in teaching. Also much time spent with the translators (Edite’s brother and sister) and getting the translation of the lessons written has helped me learn a lot.

We had to cancel the last two days due to my malaria, but I hope to continue tomorrow (April 13th).

On February 7th, after finishing the Bible lesson for the day, Davi confessed faith in Jesus. He said he was going to tell the others on a scheduled Friday night Bible study, but couldn’t keep the good news in–he went immediately and told his sister, Edite, as well as veteran missionary, and former co-worker with my mom and dad,John Stoelting.

The seed of the Word has been sown down through the years by my folks and others, and now fruit is being harvested. Consider these happenings during the last few weeks

1. Davi believes in Christ 2. Davi tells Luis that he has believed in Jesus, and that now he knows he is not going to “the big fire” when he dies. Luis says he wants to hear the Bible teaching too. 2. Wazoco (young lady) shares with us a dream she had in which Jesus returns and the people are trying to find a place to hide, while the Believers are happy and by His side (similar to a dream Davi had). She then asks to be taught the Word. 3. Nauti, a young man who had the privilege of attending a Bible school for tribal people of Brazil, and believed in Christ while there, shares with us how his family and others marvel at how he is not afraid of the spirits of the dead and witchcraft any more. He tells about his faith in Jesus to Mawira, and Mawira asks to be taught the Word. 4. Maia, Nauti’s younger sister, says she wants to hear God’s Word too. 5. John Stoelting, who teaches the Word every morning in the village, says he has noticed that the people seem to be showing an interest in the Word that he has never seen before.

Praise and pray with us!

Jeffrey, Adriana, Sheldon, Janelle, and Brayden