September 2017 Newsletter

HUNGRY TO LEARN by Joel McGee

Pedro lives in a village located very deep in the jungle. This man is one of the leaders of the church in his village. JungleMaster is currently sponsoring Pedro and his family to attend the seminary training held by the Baptist Mission Society here in Nauta.

At a time when river conditions are right and the weather is good, it takes this family 5 days, traveling in a canoe, to reach Nauta. At one of the previous training sessions, Pedro had shared with me that it was going to be extremely hard to come to the training session to be held in early August, as August is the dry season and the river would be so low that traveling on it would be difficult.

The great news is that they did make it! When I asked him about the trip, he told me that it took the family seven days to get to Nauta. Because there was so little water, the first two days of travel were mostly spent walking, dodging stingrays, and dragging the canoe with his family in it. Praise God that they made it, and for the desire and hunger they have for learning more about their loving Father!

Continue to pray and to lift these villages and people up to God. Pray specifically that they will desire not only to learn the theology of God, but to have an intimate relationship with Him. For it is in this relationship that God not only gives us eternal life with Him, but will change our lives today.

Pedro and his family

RENEWED VISION FOR JUNGLEMASTER

Since becoming the official Director of JungleMaster Ministries in March, Joel McGee has thought long and hard about JungleMaster’s future role in the jungle. Because Joel lives in the Amazon, there are many worthwhile projects we could take on. But what is it that God wants us to focus on? After much soul searching, Joel has concluded, once again, that it’s the development of the cofraternity that should be the focus of our ministry in the Amazon. Although some of the cofraternity leaders have now received seminary training and a few among them are eager to be missionaries to other jungle villages, there is much to be done in order to bring them to spiritual maturity. Joel sees the need for him to provide the cofraternity with leadership: teaching and training the members, and providing them with much-needed accountability.

One event being organized to help further these goals is a 2-day retreat for the board of the cofraternity. Joel has enlisted the help of Pastor William, a native from the coastal area of Peru who has been working in Nauta for the past 11 years. Pastor William knows both the language and the culture, and actually specializes in the kind of training the ministry is looking for. The retreat will include one day of fasting, prayer, and self-reflection on each person’s walk with Christ, and one day of discussion on the how and why of boundaries. Please pray for God to use this retreat to deepen the relationship of each of these leaders with Him. 

Joel with some of the cofraternity leaders

OUR MISSIONARIES TO BEGIN LANGUAGE SCHOOL SOON

Thanks to the generous financial support that is continuing to pour in from many, our missionaries, Joel, Amy, and Carmen McGee are now making plans to attend six months of Spanish Language School in Arequipa, Peru, beginning October 16, 2017. Gaining a better grasp of the Spanish language will aid Joel in having those in-depth conversations needed for guiding the cofraternity leaders along their paths to spiritual maturity. It will also help the entire family alleviate the feelings of isolation they have had while living for more than two years in a city where few people speak English.

Joel has been promised the flexibility to take long weekends once/month to travel back home to Nauta. In this way, he’ll be able to stay in contact with the cofraternity, even while attending school in Arequipa.

Prayer Requests:

-For the last of the funds needed for language school

-For the McGee family’s transition to Arequipa

-For a successful 2-day retreat for the cofraternity board

-For Joel as he guides and mentors the cofraternity leaders

-For successful negotiations as we seek to sell our old boat