1st Bi-national Evangelical Congress of the Ayoré People

by

“… I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”

~ 1 Corinthians 3:6       

On August 22-24, 2018, Ayoré Christians from Bolivia and Paraguay held the 1st Bi-national Evangelical Congress of the Ayoré People (Primer Congreso Bi-nacional Evangélico del Pueblo Ayoreo) in here in Paraguay.

It was a 3-day celebration of thankfulness to God every morning, afternoon, and evening that included singing groups from both countries as well as bible teaching from leaders and teachers, starting in Genesis on through the New Testament, showing God’s wonderful plan of salvation through faith in Christ, the Gospel.

Here’s an excerpt from an email from Tim Wyma, who has worked with the Ayoré in Bolivia for many years and came to Paraguay for the celebration:

 To be in the midst of over 600 Ayoré singing and clapping and praising the Lord as we all entered the new church building still brings a lump to my throat, as the memories of that three-day conference reverberates in my heart. There were representatives from 19 Ayoré Churches; 12 from Bolivia and 7 from Paraguay. The 150 Bolivian Ayoré rented three buses to take them to Paraguay and they contributed in many meaningful ways. This was no small expense and as with all the other expense and planning, it was all orchestrated and financed by the Ayoré. This has been a year and a half in the planning.

   The focus right from the opening celebration was thanksgiving to God that His plan included the Ayoré people being recipients of His saving message of love and grace. I wish you all could have been there. There were continuous expressions of deep appreciation and gratitude to all of the missionaries who God used to communicate that message through the giving of our lives, some literally, such as the first 5 missionary men did, who were martyred 75 years ago in Bolivia, and then many more of us who have invested our lives in living and teaching and loving these precious Ayoré people. They carried Norm (Keefe) and I in on chairs hoisted onto their shoulders with the flag of Paraguay as a canopy over Norm and the flag of Bolivia over me. It was their way of celebrating all God has done through all of us. That includes all of you who are reading this who have lived and worked among them, been raised as missionary kids among them, as well as everyone who has prayed and given of your resources to see this happen. It was humbling beyond words for me to represent Bolivia and all of you along with Norm, who represented Paraguay, as well as his son John Keefe and family and Bruce and Alice Higham who have lived and worked there in Paraguay continuously for many, many, years.

Each of us had time to share and seek to encourage those Ayoré who attended the meetings each day.

 Another theme was celebrating the unity and oneness of all of us gathered together, as animosity and bloodshed and war had previously been the prevailing reality among the countries and people now gathered together in one spirit and one heart.  The Ayoré from Bolivia were constantly at war with the Ayoré from Paraguay. Even the two countries of Bolivia and Paraguay fought a long and costly war called the Chaco War, and the ongoing slaughter of “cojñone” (non-Ayoré people) by the Ayoré and vis a versa is legendary.  And there we were, one seamless group sharing and praising and fellowshipping in one God, one Lord, one Holy Spirit, one hope and one Word! 

  Words fail me to really do it justice, but I trust you can get a little glimpse of what God did in answer to prayer and sacrifice and obedience by all of us.  So I pass on their “yacaranguipis” (thank you) to all of you from all of them.”       ~ Tim       
Praise the Lord with us, and continue to pray for the Ayoré, for the various churches, outreach with the Gospel, and for the work to complete the linguistic revisions of the New Testament and Old Testament portions so they can be printed as one book and given to the Ayoré, hopefully by the end of this year.

God IS building his church, and we all get to be a part of it!

Leave a Reply