Of Chickens and Cultural Identification ~ June 2024

 This last month we lost a dozen chickens to a predator! While we were a bit clueless to what was happening, our Awa neighbors and friends jumped in to give us a hand. The whole affair turned into a rousing topic of cultural identification :-) as we heard stories of chicken loss due to hawks, weasels, possums, and ocelots. Different friends showed us the clues that we were missing. “Don’t you see the scratches in the bark of this tree and the feathers on the ground here?” Guillermo asked us. In the end, the predator was pronounced to be a possum coming in the night. Neighbor Delia kindly made us an Awa-style trap and stopped by daily to make sure the bait was fresh. A few nights later in the wee morning hours we woke up to a ruckus in the chicken pen. The predicted possum was out there, trying to get one of our hens! That was the end of that possum, although we have been warned that he was a young one that may have a big family!
 
And now we have much more sympathy when the Awa tell us stories of losing their chickens!

Two weeks ago we lost our faithful dog Toby. After living to the ripe old (dog) age of fourteen years here at the Outpost, he was mostly blind and deaf, although still faithfully announcing with loud barking each visitor that appeared in the driveway. We will miss him!
 
And again, our Awa neighbors and friends were sympathetic to our loss.

Living here among the people full-time is sometimes tiring. Sometimes we struggle to have a smile for the next visitor and energy for the next request for help. And yet living close to the Awa keeps us in their world, understanding their lives, and relating to their struggles. It also shapes our teaching each Sunday as we work to bring God’s truth near to them. Pray for daily strength for this around-the-clock life! And pray for a Jesus-like response as we interact with the many Awa who arrive on our doorstep.
 
In a few more weeks we will be packing up our suitcases and heading out on our travels to Paraguay and then the USA. Pray for our coworkers Andy & Chrissy as they hold down the fort in the months we are gone!
 

Young Families…and a Broken Arm

We love looking out at the Sunday crowd in Palmira and seeing many young families sitting together on one of the benches! There are six of these families attending regularly. While we have usually drawn a good crowd of children, seeing more adults (and especially complete families) among the crowd is encouraging!

One of these young couples is Jaime & Sandra. This last month has been a hard one for their family, as son Jimson broke his arm while playing in the churchyard while his mom helped the Shaubs with translation work. The local Awa bone-fixer man was called, and after rubbing and moving Jimson’s arm this way and that, he said the bone was definitely broken. He tied Jimson’s arm up with a strip of cloth, saying it would probably heal up. Over the next few days Jimson’s arm swelled up and was quite painful, so in the end Sandra and Jaime took him out to the hospital for x-rays. The hospital visit turned into a week-long stay before Jimson finally had surgery to set the bones in their proper place.
 
This has been a real time of testing for Jaime and Sandra. They haven’t returned to church yet and we sense they have pulled away from involvement in the translation work. Pray that they won’t lose their faith in this trial! Pray also for Jimson’s arm to heal properly.
 

Thank God and pray with us:

• Praise for a good day with the youth May 18; and pray for our next Saturday June 22
• For Jaime & Sandra, and for little Jimson’s healing
• Pray for the upcoming medical caravan team coming later this month
• For these last weeks in Ecuador as we wrap things up; and for coworkers in our absence
• For coming travels to Paraguay the end of July and the safe birth of Baby Windler

In His grip,
Kevin & Kathy