"Dear praying friends,
In April of 2006 a young man in the
village got into a fight with his wife. He beat her savagely, and when
her mother took up for her, he beat his mother in law, actually taking a
machete and chopping her twice in the head. The lady's husband, the
boy's father in law, was in church and when the service was over, people
ran in to give him all the details. He told Gary and I that he was just
going to go get his wife and go home that he had no desire to fight.
When he did get to where his wife was, there was a large group of people
all yelling at him to take his son in law in hand and show him he could
not get away with chopping his mother in law. He insisted he did not
want to fight and turned to go, but his son in law's family insisted he
take care of the situation. He finally gave in and took the offered pole
and hit his son in law a blow to the head and much to his surprise, and
to the surprise of everyone in the place, his son in law fell
unconscious and died a short time later. As you can imagine, the village
was crazy. We were up all night praying and counseling trying to find
some way of diffusing the situation.
The next morning, Gary and I
were two lonely guys standing between the opposing sides of the
village. it was real ugly with people urging the Rivas family to just
run over us and knock us out of the way. It seems like we were staring
death in the face, and things were tense but finally with God's help
first one, than another turned to go home. I had hidden Jaime in my
house all day and secretly got my boat and motor ready and found a
neutral driver to sneak the boat away from the village and wait for us
up river. Then we got jamie out of the house and spirited him away and
up to where the boat was hidden. I can't tell you how relieved we all
were to have him safely out of the village.
He has been living
in exile ever since that time and has had a really good attitude about
the whole affair. He never had intended to hurt the boy and at the same
time knew the family had every right to demand his death. He has
repeatedly asked if there were some way that he could make restitution
and has asked the family for forgiveness. He has spent the time since
this happened working in the church up in yajanamateli and to be honest,
the Lord has really used him up there. Part of the Rivas family are
strong believers and they have forgiven Jamie and have urged the family
to forgive him and to allow him to return but to no avail. It has been a
closed subject.
Last Sunday, unknown to most in the village,
Marcos, Jaime's cousin, went up to Yajanama to get Jaime. Bautista,
Jaime's uncle almost died a month ago, and the family was worried that
he was going to pass away and not get to see Jaime again, so Marcos took
matters into his own hands and left to go get him. Like i said, most
people in the village, Gary and I included did not know anything was
going on. Well, they got home this evening and things are not good. We
really covet your prayers for the situation. Gary and I met with the
believers in the Rivas family and they are really worried that they are
not going to be able to control the side of the family that is insisting
on revenge. We prayed together asking God to intervene and show HIMSELF
strong tomorrow morning. We ask that you all be much in prayer tomorrow
right at dawn. This would be around 5 AM ven time, which would be 5:30
AM eastern.
Thanks for your prayers, this is of course only a
brief accounting of all that has happened. This has been a black cloud
over the village since the day it happened and we have all spoken about
the need to forgive and restore. We have thought at different times we
have been on the verge of a solution but it has always eluded us. Now
for the last two months we have been meeting as a group of believers at
5:30 AM every morning and asking God to heal the village and give us a
real revival. Honestly, looking at the last six years, this is where it
does have to start, so my prayer is that this is God's timing and HE is
going to do a real work. Pray with us.
your partners,
Michael and Keila"
