Drive where?

 We’ve had crowds of happy people milling about all week – men with machetes, school kids loathe to move on, curious women – many smiling faces! Barking dogs by the dozens, scores of horses, buzzing chainsaws, and one big noisy yellow tractor rounded out the scene. Yes, quite unexpectedly, the road is being pushed on up to our ridge and beyond! Everyone loves the excitement, and feels compelled to spend some time each day watching the progress. Our lunch table was full all week, as it fell to us (as the nearest house) to do the cooking for the tractor driver and his various helpers. On Friday the tractor worked for about an hour and pushed a driveway through here to our house. Having the truck parked close by felt so odd!! It happened very suddenly, as a week ago we fully expected it to be years before we saw this day. Although we see some serious 4-wheeling ahead with rainy season just around the bend, we are thankful for this exciting progress. :-)

Here’s some quick updates for those who are interested:

Working with the new elders….Aug 25th we met with Milton and Paulino and set some dates on the calendar. One important issue was beginning a Sunday service in Paulino’s home community three hours south of us one Sunday each month beginning in October. We would appreciate your prayers as we try to double our efforts and have two services going on the same Sunday! (We discussed cancelling the service here at the Outpost these Sundays, but Milton would hear none of it… “We can’t cancel here, we need to meet…Andy or I will just have to teach if Kevin is gone!”) Another date we set was for yesterday, for a ‘culto unido’ (united church service) inviting the Awa believers from all the different communities. It was a blessing to work together with these men to plan the service—planning an offering for those who had to come from far away, food for a lunch together, and the topics for Bible teaching.

Culto Unido…We had almost 50 people here Sunday! Four people made the long trip up from the coast to be here for the service, as well as the local believers from three communities. Milton and Paulino, without asking us for money, had gathered funds to buy tilapia from a local fish farmer for lunch (50 fish!) By Milton’s request, Andy and I both taught on family-related topics from Ephesians 5 and 6.  After a heavy rain the afternoon before, the Lord provided beautiful weather for the special day together! We were thrilled to have Salvador, our local walking ‘miracle’, join us for the day.

Salvador is up and about….Salvador, the older Awa fellow who was unconscious in the hospital just two months ago, is slowly regaining his strength here at his home about an hour’s hike away. He had a pancreatic infection, and the doctor said that such patients have a 7% survival rate. He was released from the hospital August 3rd, but at that time was still too weak to walk or even ride a horse alone. Yesterday, for the first time, I looked down the trail just in time to see him walking up to join us for church! It was neat to have another chance to talk and share the gospel with him. He still has not given a clear testimony of his faith in Christ as his Savior, but he has expressed to his family that he ‘wants to come to church’ which is usually a sign of acceptance of at least as much as he understands. Please keep him in your prayers that he would clearly understand and believe, even if he is never able to clearly communicate it back to us – we long to see him in heaven some day!

Thanks so much for your prayers!

In Christ,
Kevin & Kathy

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