AMEI conference

The AMEI (Association of Evangelical Indigenous Women, in Portuguese)conference was unbelievably great. I wish I could describe it all for you. The trip and the time at the conference was physically hard, but well worth it. It seemed that there was an inordinate amount of difficulty in getting there: we faced low funds, unexpected costs, blocked roads, weather problems, crabby border officials, lack of space on buses and boats, near misses with transportation, a lengthy wait at the bus station at our next to final destination (with no means of communication, which made it more tense) and unexpected landings in our small mission plane both ways. However, God was so good. "Ñacarangipise, Dupade" (Thank you, God), sighed Leoncia as we climbed into our taxi after a tense time with the Brazilian Federal Police on our way back. So the glory went where it belonged. He provided us with a safe arrival at the site, a merciful price from SAMAIR which enabled us to avoid the road block, people who prayed us through official checkpoints and Sunny to call and speak directly with officials, a wise pilot who was careful to land and check for problems in the plane and who landed and stayed down during bad weather, the last four tickets to the border on a bus larger than what normally travels that route, seats on the last boat leaving Brazil for the night and free sleeping quarters in a pastor's home on the Bolivian side. We were not always comfortable, but we were always safe and never hungry. Sin, salvation and consecration were some of the topics at the conference, as well as problem of alcoholism in the villages and the responsibility of women in calling the community to righteousness. My mother challenged us all to consciously choose to believe the God tells the truth and to reject Satan's lies. There were many good times of affirmation of the indigenous culture with contextualized services, singing and fun times. The two Ayoré woman and one Chiquitano who went with me expressed a renewed hope in God's love for their people and power to rescue and save. They said they no longer felt so alone and Leoncia expressed a desire to go on in Bible study to better prepare to teach the Bible to Ayoré women, especially now that Benial is gone. She says she now sees the value in her sometimes sad testimony and is asking God to give her strength to use her story for God's glory and the good of other Ayoré women. Please pray that God might preserve in us the excitement in Him.