November 26th – 30th found Ron and his team in four locations in the jungle, celebrating with our friends the Cofan people as they received a new edition of the Bible’s New Testament – this time a bilingual one!

Our team was made up of eleven people.  Some started the journey by car in Quito and others we picked up along the way.

No trip like this is without it’s obstacles.  One that occurred in the first three villages was that the building promised ahead of time for the evening gathering was cancelled!  However, God worked out another location each time.  We also had one drive between Sinangue and Dovuno when one of our cars had some warning lights blinking and wasn’t driving smoothly.  This was where there were no towns or mechanics close by.  Thankfully, God answered prayer and the problem was easily solved.

We started in the Cofan village of Sinangue, moved on to Dovuno, then Dureno and last the tiny village of Totoa Nai’qui.  The program started out with a time for the children including an outdoor game time, singing, a puppet show and coloring.

 

 

We would then take a short break and get ready for the evening program with the adults.  This would include singing, testimonies, and a movie that recounted the history of the Bible with the Cofan people.  Near the end of the program, everyone that brought their invitation had a chance to “win” a free Bible if the number on their invitation was called off.

 

In each of the four locations, Ramon, Enma and Aurelio would take turns giving a testimony of how God’s Word had impacted their life.  It was sometimes very interesting seeing the expressions on individual faces as these testimonies were told.  Pray that these words are remembered and continue working on hearts.

Last of all, Sarah, Lydia and Esther worked the book table.  We had Bibles, the Cofan hymnal, the Jesus film in Cofan, and several other small paperback books available for purchase at reduced cost.  It was enjoyable to see the faces light up as people bought a brand new Bible!  We marveled that every village had at least one young person just craving reading materials in their heart language – as they pored over the other items and sometimes purchased them.  Esther’s heart warmed as she watched a mother and her three children purchase a new Bible, their faces glowing with excitement!  Some people didn’t bring their money with them and made sure Ron promised to bring more Bibles with him on his next visit in January.  Everyone remarked on the video that was made of the Bible history and many requests were made for a DVD on the next visit.  We sold out our Cofan Jesus DVD’s and will need to fill more requests in January as well.

We would like to mention a special stop Ron and Esther made to visit Elcira.  She lives across the river from the main Cofan village of Dureno, feeling her age as she can’t walk much by herself anymore, and being cared for by one of her daughters and family.  She was one of Mom Borman’s biggest helpers learning the language and working on the primers to teach the people to read.  It was special being able to give her a unique showing of the Bible history movie which had her mentioned several times.

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers for us during this past week.  It was a precious time and we just pray that the Lord will continue to work in the hearts of the people to draw them to Him.

Cover photo:  Christmas street decorations in Lago Agrio!  We thought the mixture of candy canes and palm trees were interesting.