Guahibos reaching Guahibos

 

Fresh From the Tribe!!

I want to share these Guahibo testimonies told to my Mark who is in his 5^th week working with his Indian helpers to finish up the comprehension checks. How we rejoice when God uses Guahibos to  reach Guahibos!! Guahibo Luis  and his wife Celmira pictured here, joined us in the translation work in the mid 1990’s and have been serving the Lord. Selmira is pictured helping our Colombian partner, Consuelo, with the language years ago. By the way, continue to pray for Consuelo suffering with cancer she’s had for going on four years. Pray as Mark and the Guahibos finish up in these last few days. Mark told me they are getting tired.

(Mark Writes) About six months ago, Luis and Celmira were returning from an evangelism trip, and decided to stop off in John’s village. John is a Guahibo who used to be a drunkard, beat his wife and hardly ever brought money home. Well, about 2.5 years ago he began reading God’s Word in Spanish and became convicted. He started having “church” in his village. One day when in the town of Cumaribo he ran into Luis and Celmira. They explained the way of salvation to him and he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He then said that Luis now had to disciple him as the village had chosen John to be the elder of the “church,” as he was the only one interested in God’s way. Seeing as how all the New Testaments in Guahibo are sold out, waiting for  the publication of the New revision, Luis gave John some of the trial portions I had printed up of about three books of the Bible to be given to the Scripture checkers. John devoured these portions, reading them and asking Luis questions every time Luis stopped by. So then six months ago was one of these trips. When Luis and Celmira got to the village, they found a woman named Teresa who was skin and bones. She had been sick for a long time, and her husband, Humberto who was not a believer had spent a lot of money on vitamins, iron supplements and other medicines as well as witchdoctors etc. but all to no avail. Luis said it was evident that it was real close to God calling her home. So Luis said to her.” I want you to trust in God.” (Her husband interrupted and asked, ¿aren’t you going to pray for her?) Luis said “yes, but before I do, I want your wife to understand.” SO I said to the woman. “I will pray, and God will do as he wants. He may heal you, or he may decide he wants you to be living with Him. But whatever God choses, He wants to get the glory. If you die he wants the glory of your faithfulness in trusting in Him. If He heals you, He wants the glory of His healing you. So you need to trust God”  So I prayed for her, then went to talk to John.  A while later I got word that God had healed her and she was now getting fatter again. She was giving all the glory to God. Her father who was a witchdoctor had come on his own to chant over her, but she said to him “What you are trusting in is of no value! You are wasting your time. I am only trusting in God. Just go away.” Well, when God healed her, then her husband placed his faith in Christ. When she went to conference, she told everybody how God healed her when medicines and witchdoctors couldn’t. She gives the same testimony wherever she goes.

Luis said that he had wanted to go to that conference to hear her testimony but a couple weeks before he had had an accident with his motorcycle and his face was all bunged up. He didn’t want to go looking  like that  so stayed home. “Afterwards”, Luis said, “ I realized that if I had gone, she would have praised me, not God. So it was God’s will for me to not go.” Later when I did get to talk to her, she said: “When you were talking  to me about trusting God regardless, it was like a light of  faith lit up my soul. I decided right then that I would trust God no  matter what.” She also told me that she missed me at conference. But I (Luis) said to her. “No, it was good that I couldn’t come as that way God got all the  glory!”

Luis has fallen in love with Anna’s prayer of praise in 1 Samuel 2. Then in Elijah’s experience in how God doesn’t come down hard on his child with wind, earthquake and fire, but in a still small voice lovingly invites his child to repent of  his unbelief and trust again. Over and over again the sovereignty of God is revealed, in which God decides our life and death, our riches or poverty and on and on. Luis is impressed on the love of God. It is these thoughts that motivated Luis to give this testimony.

THANK YOU for being a part of what God is doing in building HIS church among the Guahibo people,

Mark and Joyce Cain