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