Dear and good friends,
Greetings from lovely Ashland on warm fall evening.
They say not to start a letter with an apology, so I won't apologize for not letting you know about our Colombian friend, Ismael, and his challenges back home "on the reservation." The fact is, I thought I had already brought you up to date on his situation and I see now that I haven't. But don't take that as an apology--a confession maybe--but not an apology.
I had written about the politics of his group, the leaders of which are well served by indigenous solidarity. But Ismael had become a Christian and, while still holding tightly to his language and culture, he is now firmly pursuing life in Christ. This goes against tribal rules and tradition.
His tribal group, the Wiwa, is closely related to the Kogui, a group with a number of Christians who have been severely persecuted for their faith. While Ismael was in Guatemala last year, studying with us, over thirty Kogui were being held against their will while being abused and mistreated both physically and mentally. Although the Christians have escaped confinement, they aren't out of hot water yet as the tribal elders debate their future and as Colombian politicians get involved on both sides.
When Ismael went home from Bogotá where he is a first-year university student, he heard that a similar fate awaited him. He asked for prayer for his safety and for his firmness in the faith.
He reported back that his time was good and that he visited three local villages. People were wary of his new faith, but he was welcomed since he talked about what he had learned during his time in Guatemala and how he had developed with one of our faculty a practical alphabet for writing their language. Students and teachers were delighted and surprised. At one Wiwa school he gave a three-day conference on how to write their language. He said that even with the interest in literacy, no one dared invite him into their home over night so he spent the night in the cold, yet he says, "I was happy, because I knew that the Lord was with me."
Although the Wiwa didn't want to hear him share his faith, they were happy and impressed by his linguistic gifts and they have invited him back to talk to them again.
Ismael wrote to tell me to thank you all for your concern and prayers for him. He's now back in Bogotá until the end of the school year right before Christmas, when he'll head home again. Please continue to pray for him and other believers among the Kogui.
Nan and I arrived back in Ohio in late July. I leave for Peru on October 17. We kick off our next training program on the 20th. Nan will be ferrying between Ohio and North Carolina in my absence. After 59 years on the farm, her Dad is very seriously considering selling his last remaining draft horses. It is a sad and hard time for the folks, but they still have good health and clear minds for their 83 years, for the most part. There's lots to do at the homestead and Nancy is a big help.
Nan also helps with the grandbabies. Elisa and Yury have the twins, now almost 16 months old. They are jabbering and toddling all over the place. Molly is raising a daughter, Eden Joy, as a single mother. Eden is five months old, a beautiful wiggly and giggly girl. Molly and Eden live with Elisa and Yury for the time being and Molly helps in the Santana family business that is going gangbusters. Yury and his brother opened the shop two years ago, and they now have ten employees.
We have 21 students signed up for CLAVE, the training program I direct. Last year's CLAVE was held in unmatchable Guatemala. This year we'll be in Pucallpa, a large town of the Peruvian jungle on the banks of the Ucayali, which, along with the Marañon, are the major tributaries of the Amazon River. It is hot and muggy there. Did I say that it is hot and muggy?
CLAVE is set up to train speakers of minority languages in skills for promoting and developing their languages. The students are bilingual in both Spanish and their native languages. The classes are taught in Spanish. We teach them skills for writing up interesting facts about their languages. They learn about grammar and how the sounds of their languages compare with those of other languages. They produce both an academic and cultural literature that gets uploaded to the internet for others to read and enjoy. Some of their work is paper-published as well. We have these students for four months of all-day classes. It is exciting and they leave both exhausted and exhilarated--at least that's the plan.
Please pray that the students we've accepted into the program will actually show up. They pay $100 for the four-month training (including room and board). It's a great deal, but sometimes people balk when it comes time to pay, so we're hoping that pretty much everyone decides to join us. We are counting on 20 students and 10 faculty and assistants. It's quite a zoo. Pray that we can think of everything and get off on the right foot.
Usually our students are committed Christians. This is true of CLAVE as well as CILTA, which is the university-level training program that we've been involved with in Lima for the last five years. This group will be about half Christian believers. Pray that the mix is healthy and meaningful for everyone.
God's best to you all. Thanks for your prayers and partnership.
Wes and Nancy
