SAC UPDATE

Hello Everyone,

Just a few lines to tell you about the trip that is upcoming. We now have 14 people going. This is actually more than I asked the Lord for. God has brought in people from all directions. I have four people going from Louisiana. This is a result of the actions of one person; Shirley Davis. She made a difference. You can too! After one of her trips to Peru with me she put an article along with a picture in the local paper and through that made contact with the Kovacs, Bobby & Roxie. These two have have made great contributions to SAC. They have participated in the dramas, the well drilling, and anything else I ask them to do. Roxie is teaching the hygiene program. She is a retired school teacher and is very good at anything she does. But they have introduced others to this ministry. Two of the people on this trip are going because of them. I might also mention that the Kovacs have been responsible for a lot of money coming in for this trip.

The trip continues to evolve. If you will look at the two attached files you will see a GoogleEarth shot of Lake Tipishca. Just across the river is the town of Contamana. In "Tipischa 2" you will see a larger view of Contamana. The word "Airport" is written in red letters just above the little runway where we fly in and out of sometimes by small plane. I have four people from Pastor Causey's church in Knoxville, TN, including the pastor, coming in on the 30th of March to this little airport.

Lake Tipishca is where we will be spending 2 1/2 weeks to minister to the seven villages on that lake. I am very excited about this. For the first two weeks we will go village to village teaching, preaching, doing hygiene, giving water filters, building latrines, showing videos, giving away Bibles, etc. The last three days we will have a campmeeting at one of the villages and invite all those who know Jesus and anyone else who wants to come. We are expecting 500 or more. I will provide food for them and they will sleep wherever they choose under their little mosquito nets. We are expecting a great revival during that time. Please pray for this campmeeting.

Rev. Eddie Burge will be joining us the last couple of days. Eddie is an experienced missionary who specializes in "School of Christ International". He has done hundreds of these classes, I suppose. This is the program pioneered by the late B.H. Clendenen. It consists of prayer, fasting and teaching for 12-14 hours a day. Eddie will convene this school across the river in Contamana. The leadership that God raises up in each village will be invited to this school. As a bonus, the other pastors in the area will also be invited. I have built a total of 4 churches in this area; one of them is in Contamana. We will have the school in that building. At the end of this school which will last for 15 days, the leaders from the lake will have sufficient knowledge to go back to their villages and lead their people in their Christian walk. They will be able to do this unassisted by outside help.

What we are doing here is planting an autonomous Christian community in the jungle. I expect them to be able to survive on their own and to also spread the Word of God to others. This will be a pattern of things to come. If this venture is successful, and I have every reason to believe it will be, this will serve as a model for future ministry in these remote areas. These people are so deep in the jungle and it is both logistically and financially impossible to have outsiders come in to supervise. They must be given the tools to live for Jesus on their own.

Following this trip it is my intention to go further down the river and repeat what we have done here... i.e., find 6 or 8 villages in close proximity to each other and work there long enough to bind them together with the Words of Jesus so they form a Christian community to nurture one another in the love Jesus. They must be taught to do it without outside help. In this area there will never be outside help on a regular basis.

May God bless you as we labor together for Him who called us to this marvelous light.

Bro Joe