What I did on my spring break – by Gerry Gutierrez

Distance traveled:
about 12,000 miles on 11 different flights.
2000 miles driven in the van with stops every hour to add water to the radiator or to fix something else.
300 kms on the big river boat at 8.3 k/h, 12 hrs on the put-put at 3 m/h
60 kms on windy mountain dirt roads in Oaxaca.

Countries visited: the US, Mexico, Costa Rica twice, Peru, Venezuela, plus several Indian nations (also known as ethnic groups)

Languages heard: Mostly Spanish, but also Zapotec, English, Bora, Yaguas, Ocaína, Resigaro, and Huitoto: Muinane

Food I ate: monkey, jungle rodent, cassava, manioc, bananas, nameless bush meat, fermented manioc drinks, mate from Argentina, rice and chicken wrapped up in banana leaves, lots of papaya juice and Mexican tacos!

People I met:
Hernan, a Bora speaker who guided us upriver to his village. We saw a Moloca, or round house complete with tree trunk drums, the shaman’s pipes, herbs, and masks.
Julia, Hernan’s aunt who helped with the NT translation as a teenager, 40 years ago. Julia and Hernan have a burden for their Bora clansmen in Colombia, just over the river. Perhaps they can take the gospel to them when our recordists make new tapes in Bora. Julia and Hernan’s grandmother is 110 years old and still alert in her hammock.
Clever, a Resígaro speaker who was named by a missionary wife about 40 years ago. He is very clever, and has won international competition painting jungle scenes on tree bark.
Gloria, Clever’s niece, who was abandoned by her parents and is being raised by her older sister. Gloria is a deaf mute, beautiful little girl of 5 years. She immediately came to me, and commenced hugging and playing with me, as if we were old friends. When I showed her a picture of my family, she picked me out and was very excited. When I gestured to her “my daughter Panchis” she immediately pointed to Panchis’ brown hair and then her own brown curls. She understood that I have a daughter just like her, and from then she wouldn’t let me out of her sight until we left. The team prayed for Gloria, and for several other people in the villages we visited, knowing that God sent us to bless them.
Many homeless street people, homosexuals and pedophiles in Iquitos, preying and being preyed upon. How God’s heart must break for each of them, lost in their misery. How much he wants to bring light, and life and healing for each of them.
A couple dozen pastors, missionaries and their wives, all doing their part to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in Spanish and tribal languages up and down the Amazon and its tributaries. What a tremendous challenge to get to where the people live, then evangelize and disciple them effectively.

What I remember: trying to explain civilization to those living in bamboo huts with palm roofs at the end of the dirt road or beside the river. Trying to explain why I can’t take them with me to live in civilization. How blessed I am to walk the jungle trails, ride the rivers, climb the mountains, and share that world with you, so that you can pray for the work of Gospel Recordings in the Amazon, the Andes, and Mexico.

Gerry, back at home