Kopenoty (Ko-pen-o-chi)

Greetings everyone, (Italic indicate a picture)
It is so good to be in a nice clean cool hotel room after five days in an indian town. We arrived in Kopenoty last Friday night after a very nervous hour trip on a dirt road. They have not had rain since April and will not have any until September or so. The road was loose dirt that created lots of dust. With trucks in front of us and vehicles passing we could not see where to go. There were several bridges with just two boards to cross on. On the way out today we saw a very expensive pick up truck on its side in the river. Guess it missed one side of the log bridge and fell off the bridge.

They were having a youth meeting when we arrived. We were able to make plans for the teaching sessions the next day. On Saturday we met in one of the school rooms with at one time 11 students but only 5 were there all day. We gave out sets of pictures to 6 teachers. They were only the paper copies we had and only three of the 9 pictures had Portugues lessons. It is intereting trying to get these indians to participate in a simple game or drama. They don't even want to smile,but we did accomplish that. For the first time doing this I think it went well. It is hard to know what they are thinking and learning from us.

The next day Fay and I saw one of the ladies carrying her bag we had given her with the pictures to her class. Larry went to take pictures and came to tell Fay and I in our ladies class to go see what the preschool teacher was doing with the pictures. When we got to her outdoor classroom the kids were running all over the school yard and she was trying to teach several stories in one 40 minute time. Guess we did not communicate real well. Buckmans plan to go back in the Fall and stay awhile. So they will be able to help them some more.

Kopenoty is a Terana indian settlement that means "The Indian is at home." Five years ago 32 families of Christian Terana Indians left their homes down south and came over 1,000 miles north to claim land from the government. It was not easy for them but for three years now they have been living in this small settlement of Kopenoty. By our standards it is very poor but it is how they live. They have gotten the government to build a school and a health clinic and a water system (not like ours). They are on their third church, each one a little bigger. Some of the people have gone 5 hours farther into the jungle to claim their lands. I will let Cal tell you about them because he and Larry spent the last two days with them. It was really primative.

All of us stayed in one room. That is Buckman's, us, the missionary/pastor, his wife and three month old baby. That room or house was their first church. Their kitchen is another building. One picture is of the pastor's wife and another lady doing the dishes. The bathroom was a brick structure with a toilet, three showers and a sink. Doesn't sound too bad does it? Well this bathroom was also the one for the church so it got used alot on certain days.

I have lots to tell you but it is late and Cal needs to write some too. I guess I want to convey to you the sounds of the jungle. The wind blows all day, often with dust, there are chickens everywhere. Each home has a rooster and chickens and dogs. But the stars are beautiful. It is so dark and the sky is so clear. God can sure make beautiful sunsets too.

Pray for these people. They have problems in their churches just like we do with personalities and situations to deal with. Their lives are simple but they love each other and love the Lord and want to tell other tribes around the Gospel. Please pray too for the big conference in Manaus on the Amazon. There are so many details that are not coming together. Larry is not in charge of this, and it is hard to see when others are not handling the details. It is hard to sit back and let God work it out. We don't know how we are getting there all the way. We do have plane tickets for the most part. I did want you to know that there will be no canoe on this trip these two weeks for me. PTL! Well here is Cal.

Larry and I left Monday and went five hours further into the jungle to the beginnings of a village. The Terena indians are trying to reach a tribe who a missionary visited many years ago. This other tribe knows some Christian songs, but not much more. We drove for two hours past the last sign of human life. We followed two tracks through dense jungle on every side until we would come to a two log bridge. Then we would adjust the logs for the width of the truck tires and proceed again. The other tribe lives another sixty kilometers beyond this new village being built by the Terena.

We had a service one night. There were strategy sessions. Plans were made for future ministries to the other tribe, and we went fishing. I can now say that I have caught a piranha and a peacock bass. In the picture I am actually holding a stringer with two peacock, two piranha and a spotted catfish. We have some better pictures of the fish, but Bobbi wanted me in the photo. We had enough fish when finished to feed everyone in the village fish for supper about twenty pounds. I also saw a monkey in the trees. This was a Makack(sp). Please pray for the Terenas as they seek to go where few white men would dare to go with the gospel.

We are on our way to visit another tribe as we seek to recruit Indians to reach other tribes. We will send more when we get closer to civilization. Last night in the jungle I watched a satelite go overhead. Not one Indian knew what it was. They certainly know there plants, fish and animals though. Blessings.