09/14/04: Tribal Update: Pedrotina

Hello Folks:

Years ago in the early 80s, when many Tribal were showing more and more interest in learning to read and write their own language, Pedrotina, as a boy, also got on board. He was doing very well. He was becoming a good reader! But then suddenly he got married and immediately had to begin to find food for his wife. And then as his family grew and grew, his time was suddenly given totally toward running the plains all day, hunting and gathering to bring in the needed groceries for his hungry family. And so literacy was pushed aside as something that truly wasn't the priority. He totally stopped looking at books.

However, now as a dad of seven kids, Pedrotina has suddenly shown incredible interest to pick up books once again. And during some of our last discipleship times with the Tribal leaders, Pablo Davíd really worked to get him back on board once again. And he continues to learn, pushing ahead to gain lost ground, and conquer the 15 vowels, 18 consonants, and the endless array of possible syllables. His boys are older and helping him bring in the food, and so with the extra time, he continues to move ahead. And this is so exciting for us too because Pedrotina is a good teacher! It would appear that the Spirit of God has given him the gift of teaching. He is a great exhorter and wise in the application of truth. He really applies the Word of God and stands on it like a solid pillar. Just a short while back, one of the village chiefs and his brother who is a shaman worked hard to get him to go back to the old ancestral ways. Pedrotina stood solid and answered them squarely with the truths of scripture. So yes, we are very excited about this guy getting serious about reading once again.

Please pray for Pedrotina, that he will continue to enthusiastically move ahead. Pray that he will reach the point where he will be able to comfortably handle the written Word of God and the Bible lesson material that we continue to develop.

Teresa and I head out first thing in the morning for northern British Columbia, Canada. Thanks for your prayers.

Thanks for being a part of the team,
Merrill and Teresa

PS Thanks for your prayers for our daughter Jodi, who is in Israel studying until the middle of December.