The Village of Hankokawa

(Suggested background song while reading this post: "We Are" by Kari Jobe)

I mentioned in my post about the village of Wakallani that one of the Bolivian leaders/missionaries that we had the privilege of working with was brother Juan Sosa. In my mind, brother Juan was like a modern-day apostle Paul, who was passionately driven to reach and share Jesus with the people God had put on his heart - the Aymara Indians.

The relentless (and generous) brother Juan Sosa

If brother Juan is like the apostle Paul, then Carlos and Alicia, the persons of peace we had the privilege of visiting with on our fourth and final morning of ministry, could be his Aquila and Priscilla. In Acts 18:1-3, we see that Paul met Aquila and his wife, Priscilla in Corinth. Like Paul, they were tent-makers and so they developed a discipleship relationship and genuine friendship with Paul such that they became indispensable ministry partners (Acts 18:18-19, 18:26, Romans 16:3-4, 1 Corinthians 16:19, 2 Timothy 4:19).

Carlos and Alicia live in a village named Hankokawa.  Their house is built on the side of a hill.

And it overlooked a breathtaking landscape.

Talk about a home with a view!

Like many of the villagers, they owned plenty of livestock and grew their own food.

"El toro" we met in the field in front of Carlos and Alicia's house

(If you did not or cannot view the video, it is a live shot of the field outside of Carlos and Alicia's house)

However, unlike most of the villagers, Carlos and Alicia are followers of Christ. And it was abundantly clear that brother Juan was their disciple-maker.

On this morning, brother Juan brought only Abigail and me to visit with his disciples. The genuine love between them was immediately evident in how they greeted one another. Brother Juan also brought a generous bag of goods (consisting of household supplies, food etc) to them as a gift.

When brother Juan introduced them to Abigail and me, he quickly pointed out that they are fellow brother and sister in Christ (I guess in case we were thinking of getting out the Evangecube). And the reason we were visiting was to fellowship and do a discipleship lesson with them.

Brother Juan at first said that we were only going to stay for "about 20 minutes". We were suppose to join the other Juan ("Juan Guitar") and Natty at the village school for their ministry to the kids.  By the time we left, however, we had not only done like an hour's discipleship lesson (on Luke 7:36-50), but had also shared a meal (generously provided by Carlos and Alicia) and prayed over their family's health as well as several challenges they were facing. They even gave us some vegetables from their garden to go.

Fresh onions from the garden of Carlos and Alicia

Later that day, after dealing with keys locked in brother Juan's truck and another near-attempt to go to Wakallani (you can read more about it here, see Attempt #5), the team decided to make door-to-door with the residents of Hankokawa.

One of our teams visit with a family in Hankokawa

 I was teamed up with Osvi and Abigail.

We always let Abigail be our front person as the "friendly face"

At one of the homes we visited, a middle-aged gentleman named Luis was at his front door. He seemed to be in a hurry, but Osvi convinced him to hear what this funny-looking gringo (foreigner - that would be me) had to say.  And so he did.

I shared my testimony followed by the Gospel - i,e,, my story in God's story. Luis seemed to be paying attention because he actually responded and reacted to what we were sharing. In fact, when we got to the point about attending church and having fellowship with other believers, he was noticeably agitated. Apparently, in the past, he had some bad experience with "church people" - he said they were worse than people who did not go to church. This was getting a little awkward.

Then I remembered our visit in the morning and suggested to Osvi that we should mention Carlos and Alicia.  Even though Osvi had not met this couple, he went ahead and said their names and pointed in the general direction of their house.

"You see that house there - that's where Carlos and Alicia live..."

Almost immediately, Luis' expression and tone of voice changed.  He clearly had a much favorable impression of Carlos and Alicia and seemed pleased to know that they were believers. Praise God! We made sure brother Juan was aware of this interaction so that he can follow-up on his next visit to this beautiful village.

Amazing view from the village of Hankokawa

In e3 Partners' training for the missions trip, a "person of peace" (Luke 10:5-9) is characterized by one who accepts the messenger, accepts the message, and advocates on behalf of the Gospel.  God allowed us to meet a couple of real-life persons of peace during our visit with the village of Hankokawa that day. They warmly accepted us as God's messengers, and were eager to learn more about God's Word. And our experience with their fellow villager, Luis, showed that they were advocates for the Gospel by their good reputation in their community.

 “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15)

You may have noticed (from this post and the other ones about the Aymara villages) that there are very few photos of the adult villagers we met. We were told on the first day that many Aymaran villagers held the belief that by taking a photo, part of their soul is also taken. Thus, to be sensitive (as Paul was in 1 Corinthians 8:9-12), we generally did not offer to take photos with the grown-ups we met in the villages. The only exception were the kids.

Superstitious beliefs such as these, however, highlight the bondage that holds many of the Aymara villagers captive in spiritual darkness. So, as you finish reading this final post about our experiences in the Aymara villages, could you please continue to pray for the heart and souls of these precious villagers?  Pray also for the persons of peace like Carlos and Alicia - that God would place a hedge of protection around them so that they can continue to let Christ's light shine through them in their community. And please pray for missionaries like brother Juan and his ministry partners, as they continue to share the message of hope found only in our Lord Christ Jesus and disciple the believers who live in these villages.

Pray for homes like this one in Hankokawa that were resistant to God's messengers...this time

The Village of Lluto

(Suggested background song while reading this post: "Follow You" by Leeland)

Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 

(Matthew 19:13-14)

This is the verse on which our team based on impromptu skit when we visited the children of Lluto on our second day of ministry.

In my post about our quest for Wakallani, I described how on the first day of ministry, we had embarked on a full day's hike in the Andes Mountain.  The path we took was along a mountainous trail that encircled a wide valley. Throughout the day, I had noticed that in the middle of all the greenery of that valley sat a lone shiny structure.

The shiny structure (indicated by the yellow arrow) in the middle of the valley was hard to miss

I thought to myself, "I wonder what that structure is?" Well, I got my answer on the very next day. It was the school in the village of Lluto.

A plaque at the entrance of the school in Lluto

Our two Bolivian national leaders/missionaries, brothers Juan Sosa and Juan V., had built a solid relationship with the administrators of this school.  The relationship was so solid that the head of the school (also named Juan) allowed Juan S. and Juan V. (I know, very confusing) to visit the school each week and teach a "world religion" class to all the kids in the school.  Now, our two Juan's did not hide the fact that they were there to share Christ with the children and the administrators did not seem to have any qualms with it.

Panoramic shot from the heart of the school in Lluto 

So, on this sunny Tuesday morning, two pickup trucks ("Jack" and "Jill") filled with gringos (foreigners) pulled in the school yard.

After greeting the administrators, our team was quickly split into two smaller teams.  One team, with Donna as the main "gringo attraction", visited with the older (middle school and up) kids; while the other team, featuring Bobby and I, got a chance to hang out with the younger one.

Donna had it on her heart to share the Priceless Cube with the older kids. So she went off with her team of nationals to prepare for that presentation.

That left our team (Bobby, Cesia, Abigail, and me) to figure out what we should do. We had about 10 minutes! Juan V., who was always with guitar - we later started referring to him as "Juan Guitar" - had already gone into the classroom to be our warm-up act. He led the children in the singing of a few praise songs.

"Juan Guitar"

Cesia and Abi started to think of children's games that would be fun.  And as the feature attraction, Bobby's and my instructions were "to share the Gospel and do a Bible lesson". The go-to lesson in our training was the story about how a sinful woman anointed Jesus (Luke 7:36-50). Hmm... not exactly sure how a group of young kiddos would related to that story.

And then I remembered how the children's minister in my home church once asked me to share and I had used Matthew 19:14 as the theme verse. (1914 was stuck in my head because it was the year World War 1 had started - nerd alert!)  So I quickly mentioned that to Cesia and Abi and within minutes, we had put together a skit.  There was, however, one problem: we needed someone to play Jesus...

I mean, come on, doesn't Osvi just look the part (even with the hat and Snickers bar)? We asked him and he was a little reluctant at first (for a good reason), but ultimately agreed - "it is for the kids!" And perhaps not surprisingly, this was not his first time portraying the Son of God in a skit.

The next hour or so really flew by.  We went into the classroom (with about 15 or so students), introduced ourselves and performed the skit. The kids were shy at first, but a few of them mustered up enough courage to come up and participate in the skit with us. We then shared the Gospel with the kids version of the Evangecube - our first time using it!  Several of them accepted the invitation to receive Christ. So they came up to the front of the classroom where "Juan Guitar" led them in the believer's prayer. Praise God!

Then it was game time. Cesia, who is truly gifted in working with the kids, led them first in a game of "duck, duck, goose" (during which I overexerted myself a little bit, not realizing how exhausting it was to run at high altitude). We then played the Bolivian version of "London bridge is falling down."  And in this version, the grand finale seems to be a game of tug of war:

I never did figure out how a team "wins" this game

After a quick snack time, it was time for the kids to leave. So almost the entire school packed into the "school bus" (a red van).

There are at least 20 students in that "school bus"

It turns out that even though this school was in the village of Lluto, the students actually came from the various Aymara villages scattered across this mountainous area.  One can only imagine the number of stops this red van makes each day before and after school!  The school administrator, however, traveled in style...

Reflecting on our morning in Lluto, it was interesting to notice how it contrasted with our previous day's experience.  On that first day, we hiked nearly 10 (challenging) miles to share the Gospel in one village (Chojo). On this second day, we came to this school by car (or truck) and planted the Gospel seeds that would then be scattered throughout several Aymara villages.  Our God truly works in amazing ways!

Of course, like the seeds in the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-9. 18-23), we do not know which of the Gospel seeds we sowed that day landed on fertile soil.  Only God knows and only He can make the seeds grow and bear fruit.  So please pray for the children who attend the school in Lluto.  Pray for their families and communities.  Pray for the school administrators, who have graciously allowed our missionary brothers to visit with and teach the children on a regular basis. And pray for our brothers, Juan Sosa and "Juan Guitar", who, along their team of ministry partners, continue to follow-up and love on these children. May their Christ-like agape love bear fruit in the form of young Aymaran disciples who have the passion to make more disciples in their villages and beyond.

The Village of Wakallani

(Suggested background song while reading this post: "Glorious Unfolding" by Stephen Curtis Chapman)

To understand our experience with the village of Wakallani, it may be helpful to consider an account from the Bible.

In Acts 16:6-10, Paul and his companions were quite determined to get to the province of Asia to share the Gospel. It appears that they tried at least a couple of times to get to Asia, but each time, the Spirit prevented them from getting there. Finally, to make His purpose abundantly clear, God gave Paul a vision of a man of Macedonia, where Paul and his companions started some amazing ministries.

I am sure it was no coincidence that Acts 16 was part of my morning devotionals during the days of ministry I later called "The Quest for Wakallani".

We had our relentless national leader/missionary, brother Juan Sosa, who took on the role of the apostle Paul. His passion to share Christ's love with this remote village deep in the Andes was strong and infectious.  It was not going to be easy to reach Wakallani because of the amount of rainfall that had fallen during the week prior to our arrival. Many of the road and walking trails leading to the village were closed due to rock slides, which blocked the paths, or difficult to travel on.

However, these obstacles were not going to deter brother Juan's desire and determination to bring us to Wakallani.  Years of traveling through the complex mountains roads outside of La Paz to visit all the Aymara village meant that brother Juan know every possible path to this village like the back of his hand. And he was ready to try every possible path... literally.

Attempt #1: Sunday
With picks and shovels loaded in his two pickup trucks - one red and one white, which our team affectionately nicknamed Jack and Jill (because, well, they went up the hill...) - brother Juan took us on the most direct route to reach Wakallani.  Unfortunately, the city officials deemed the road so unsafe that they actually put up a blockade on the road.  Brother Juan begged to differ and so we tried to make a way.  And, if you watched the video, you will see how Jack (the red truck) got stuck deep in the mud.

The next 6+ hours were spent figuring out how to get Jack out of the mud.  Most of us were transported back to the city by around the 4-hour mark. So we did not make it to Wakallani.

Attempt #2: Monday Morning
Brother Juan took us on the scenic route on this gorgeous sunny morning. The sky was blue, the air was crisp, and the view was absolutely breathtaking.

And then we came to a big pile of fallen rock blocking the road. No problem, let's get our the shovels and picks to clear a path. (We even sang "Heigh Ho" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Once we clear one roadblock, we discovered another one.  And so the team rolled up our sleeves and attempted to clear it.

Then, almost like a messenger from God, a young boy came strolling along the mountain road (maybe from Wakallani?) He informed us that this is only the beginning of the roadblocks.  There are so many more later on that it is not a good idea to keep trying this method.  So, after sharing the Gospel with him, we turned back to try another route (We did give the boy a ride to help him on his way). We did not make it to Wakallani this morning.  

Attempt #3: Monday Afternoon
It would appear that we had exhausted the methods of getting to Wakallani by car.  So brother Juan found a place to park the trucks and we set off by foot to get to this village.

Have you ever been on one of those trips where someone says, "Oh yeah, it's not too bad, about 30 minute to an hour and we will be there. No problem!"  Well, that was our impression when we began the hike.  But no one mentioned that it would be along a cliff with unstable soil (due to the rainfall).

We were told to be weary of those "holes" along the path.
I never asked what would happen if accidentally stepped into one of them..

Then we went down steep hills with no actual paths - "stick to the plants and grab them" was one of many useful advice we got (and these were life-saving words of wisdom).

Truly, off the beaten path

This finally brought us to a long and winding walking trail that seemed to go on forever. However, there were no complaints on the part of the team, the view was pretty amazing.

About two hours later (about 2pm), we found a lush grassy area to settle down for a nice lunch picnic.

The reason we were having lunch so late is because brother Juan's originally thought we could reach Wakallani "in no time" and have lunch at the village. Well, after lunch, even he realized that getting to this elusive village would take us a few more hours deeper into the mountains.  And of course, we still need to get back to the trucks somehow.  Here's how long we had already hiked already:

Yellow arrow is where the trucks were parked; orange arrow is our lunch spot (approximate travel time by foot = 2 hours)

So, change of plans, brother Juan and one of the team member, Mike, were going to head back to the truck. And rather than have most of us hike back (and uphill) through the treacherous terrain that had brought us to this point, we were to take a smoother path to a nearby village (named Chojo, not Wakallani) where the trucks would meet us. "It's about an hour" we were told. So off we went!

Another 2+ hour later, we arrived at the edge of the village Chojo, greeted by a somewhat excitable dog.

The dog looks mellow here, but he was quite agitated when we first met him.

This is where the story of what God did in Chojo picks up, so feel free to read my posting here.  But for completeness, here's how long we hiked after lunch:

Yellow arrow is where we had lunch; orange arrow is Chojo (approximate travel time by foot = 3 hours)

The truck did find us in Chojo by the early evening, but it goes without saying that we did not make it to Wakallani on this day.

Attempt #4: Tuesday Afternoon
So without dwelling on the details too much more, it suffices to say that brother Juan took us on another hike to get to Wakallani.

The sun on this day was particularly bright and it was quite hot such that a couple of team members had to turn back about an hour into the trek. We came to a point where it became obvious that, even if we made it to the village, it would not be possible for us to get back to the trucks by nightfall. (And no one wants to be lost in these mountains at night). So once again, we did not make it to Wakallani on this day.

We did, however, have some fun along the way (for those wondering, we are playing Heads Up!) and the view was once again spectacular.

Attempt #5: Thursday Afternoon
So by this last ministry day, our host and national leader, Osvi, had made it clear to brother Juan, that Wakallani is not happening this week.  But did that stop brother Juan from trying?  You guessed it! This time, however, it was a much smaller group that was with him. We had split the team up that morning so that Abigail and I could visit a house of peace with brother Juan in the village of Hankokawa.

Brother Juan carrying a bag of goods to the house of peace

As we left the house of peace, brother Juan turned to us grinning and saying the magic word "Wakallani?"  Abi and I looked at each other and we knew it really did not matter how we responded. So we went along with him. However, there was one problem - brother Juan had locked his keys in the truck!

It took us the next hour or so to get the car doors unlocked - during which time, I learned how to pick a lock.  This delay allowed the rest of the team to find us - and it was by God's providence because we were out of cell phone range, so they found us without any directions, deep in the Andes mountains!

"Jack" found "Jill" without any specific directions! 

Osvi quickly put the kibosh on the idea of trying to get to Wakallani that day.  Of course, I could not help but think that if the car keys had not been locked in the car, the other team would be looking for us along another (probably rugged) path to Wakallani. But God seemed to have intervened, so we did not make it to Wakallani on this trip.

Epilogue
So what does this all mean? Did our team spend a significant portion of our trip wandering in the wilderness with no fruit to show for our labors?  That was certainly not the case! The Gospel was shared in some unlikely places because of the paths we took. The friendship that were built as we struggled along the paths each day were genuine and Christ-centered. We laughed and sang praise songs, helped one another through difficult obstacles and carried each other's burdens (physically and emotionally), and had long and deep conversations.

Very few complaints were uttered on these days because there was a strong sense that we were where God wanted us to be. The focus was truly "on the journey and not the destination" when it came to the village of Wakallani.

In the Book of Acts, Paul did eventually make it to the province of Asia years later and planted one of the most well-known churches in Ephesus (Acts 19).  So when the Spirit prevented Paul from going, it was NOT because God did not want the people of Asia Minor to hear the Gospel, or that Satan had somehow been successful in thwarting God's plan. It was because the time had not yet come.

On one of the days that we were trying to get to Wakallani, Steven Curtis Chapman's song "Glorious Unfolding" came up on my iPhone.  As I looked at the truly glorious landscape of His marvelous creation in front of me, God spoke to me through the lyrics of this song:

And this is going to be a glorious unfolding

Just you wait and SEE and you will be amazed

You've just got to believe the story is so far from over

So hold on to every promise God has made to us

And watch this glorious unfolding  

Our team may not have seen what God has planned for Wakallani on this trip, but I am confident that there will be a glorious unfolding in that village at the time of God's choosing.  In the meantime, could you please pray for the hearts and souls of the people in this village?  And pray that God will continue to empower and protect faithful missionaries like brother Juan to reach out and share Christ's love with this precious village of Wakallani.

We were told that Wakallani is somewhere in this panoramic shot - just not sure exactly where...