My good friend, Carol Drake, writes about a recent trip to town to purchase supplies. There, she encountered an old timer who has his own opinions of tribal people.
We got into a conversation and the old store keeper asked me about what I did. Once he knew that I was a ‘religious’ person, he wanted to make sure that I knew all tribal people are ‘malandros’. Not a very nice adjective to describe a people group. He was saying that tribal people are cunning, wily, lazy, dishonest, shrewd, undependable and double crossing, good for nothings.
“Lady, you will never change them. Be careful. They can’t be trusted.” he earnestly warned me.
I totally agreed. I’ve seen it. I have experienced it firsthand. We’ve lived with malandros, preached to malandros, prayed for malandros. Still, we haven’t been able to change them. I would think it hopeless, if it was up to us, but I know someone who has changed them.
His name is Jesus. He has taken a man who used to chant to protect his family and has turned him into a praying father. He has taken a young man who used to be known as Iron Man because he loved to get in drunken fights and turned him into a family man who teaches God’s Word and helps us translate the Bible into his language. He has taken a lady who would often talk about devils and turned her into a woman who takes notes in church and wants to see her family come to know Jesus, too.
I think my Guanano friends here could say the same thing as the Moi tribesman, whom you quoted as saying, “Things are different now than before we heard the Gospel.”
Carol Drake, as told to Macon and Katy Hare
ps. “And that malandro who recently lost our boat and motor, driving it while drunk and jumping overboard to save himself while letting our outboard motor and speed boat get lost in the rapids, well, amazingly enough, God allowed us to find that lost boat and motor. If God can recover what malandros irresponsibly lose, He can recover lost malandros, too. ”
Is God is in the business of changing the hearts of tribal people all over the world? Absolutely! We, along with Lindy and Carol Drake get to be a part of what He is doing. Join us, wont you?