Fruit. In Paraguay there is a lot of fruit, all year round! Some years the amount is overwhelming, like mango season, when they fall all over the place and people just make mango piles where they rot and stink. It is such a waste, but that is how abundant they are, that by the end of the season they have no value. But the fruit that Jesus is talking about to his disciples, and therefore to us, is not natural, like apples or peaches. When Jesus was tired one day, and was resting by a well, while His disciples went to buy food, he spoke to a Samaritan woman, and referred to this encounter as ‘food’ for his soul: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work.” Then he said these powerful words: “Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!” John 4:34 - 35 NKJV This fruit Jesus is talking about is the precious fruit of the earth: SOULS. One day my husband will write his heart cry, and I believe it is Father God’s heart, that so much fruit is ready all at the same time and harvesters are few, so much is spoiling, going to waste, like those mangos, just rotting away with no purpose. In this blog, I would like to share with you about the precious fruit we are seeing - the harvest that has come into the barn! Rejoice with us! And just like Jesus, we are feeling satisfied! We have such amazing testimonies that I thought to share this with you to encourage you! God is always on the move, meaning that even though we may not see or feel like it, He is being who is everywhere He is invited: a mighty God of LOVE , redeeming, delivering, and setting the captives free! When we arrived in Paraguay, 10 years ago this October (wow!), we really didn’t know where the Lord wanted us to be, or what exactly He want us to do. We knew though it was about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to the hopeless. So we looked for ‘the lost and hopeless’. In every country, there are people groups who are rejected, outcasts, forgotten and unfortunate. Well, here in Paraguay these are the indigenous - First Nations people groups. Shortly after our arrival in Paraguay, God supernaturally connected us with them, through meeting Pastor Cipriano - an indigenous leader, who shared with us his vision to reach his people. With tears rolling down his face, he told us how he had cried out to God for help for 20 years. After almost 8 years of harvesting, we are now seeing some very precious fruit of these labors! For you to understand what we are seeing on the ground, perhaps I should first paint a picture of how it was on our first visits back when we barely spoke Guarani, when the mosquitos and other bugs still scared us, and the heat choked us. Now still it is very challenging, our work environment, but the grace of God is sufficient and He is always faithful! Try to imagine, if you can, a world in which every day is a struggle for survival. If it is cold, you feel cold with little but a camp fire to keep you warm. If it is hot, the only cool you might experience is being in a stream, or under your thatched roof, if you managed to repair it before the summer heat. You do not know love as in pure godly love. If your parents wanted you, that was unusual. Most children are burdens or unwanted, another mouth to feed or body to try clothe. Lust of every kind is around you, and there is no sanctity of life. You have no protection guaranteed, unless you are favored or there is a good leader of your village. Many villages we have arrived at have no running water, no electricity, and some have no school within walking distance. There is rubbish (trash) everywhere, ripped or discarded rags hanging on bushes, or scattered around, perhaps remnants of a broken toy, an old stripped and deflated football, a useless bike frame… The huts are built with mud usually, so if the village is thriving, most of the little huts are well kept, meaning in the rainy season they are repaired. Most of the time we find broken unkept huts, that are half covered in tarps, in a desperate effort to keep out the rain, and cold in the winter seasons. If the village still has forest to hunt in, or a healthy stream to fish in, they will have food. Many have sold their forest in desperation for quick cash, or because of being forced. These then have suffered the most, as they must now plant food to survive, but the land they live on, after being moved off the good, is not fruitful, and so they barely manage to grow enough to live off. What we notice the most as the result of this struggle for survival is the look of hopelessness and despair, especially in the children’s faces. That vague and broken look, the matted hair and dirty little naked body just breaks your heart. The baby, hanging from mama’s arms - has the mama even known pure love herself to be able to show her child? What has that young girl been through to cause such a look of pain and fear? Only God knows all the injustices and evils they have suffered. Our first arrival is not usually a welcomed one, unless they have heard about us from another village. We are tall white people, scary and not to be trusted. Maybe we also will betray them and bring more harm. If the leader of the village is a good one, he will not be quick to let us come in. However, over the years we have established a deep trust with many of the leaders and their people - a trust we greatly value. Before Covid (bc😂), we had a relationship with 47 communities. You may remember how the governments all over the world told everyone to stay at home and wear face masks. Well, after seeking heavenly wisdom, we knew the Lord wanted us to “Go and preach!” and He gave Peter the perfect strategy: food delivery. This opened the door for the gospel to about 120 more communities. At a desperate time when there was fear all around, and many could not work to make a living to feed their families, we were able to take food packages and make connections with the chiefs! We are still seeing the fruit of that season of great expansion! Some of the dramatic changes that we have seen as a result of the gospel is the outlook of a village; where previously there was rubbish all around, the area is raked and cleaned. They have planted stunning flower gardens around their hut, and fruit trees. Suddenly government projects have arrived, like electricity and running water, a school, and some livestock. Some may call this co-incidence. When we ask the villagers, they thank Almighty God! Another change that touches our hearts, is that when the villagers know we are coming, they run and wash, and put on their very best, as if going to a party. And that shows their joy in the gospel - this is how it should be when we come into the presence of Jesus! And this is how the indigenous see our time with them. It is like Christmas Day! One very touching testimony of the fruit of God’s redemptive love is the story of a baby boy I will call James for his protection. His story is an image of the indigenous people: he was abandoned on a roundabout, half naked and covered in cigarette burns. He was dying, when a young single mother found him, 5 o’clock on a rainy morning. This single mother happened to be from a community that had received Jesus. I have thought many a time that she wouldn’t have even noticed him if she didn’t have the Holy Spirit in her life. James was about 7 months old. We can never understand the desperateness of a mother to resort to abandoning her own baby to die. James’ mother was 14 years old, we found out later. Peter and I happened to visit the community who had rescued James a couple days later. The chief’s wife called me to her in a fluster about something, just as we were about to begin our teaching. As I walked over to her hut, we passed by a small puppy or dumped rag I thought. But then the lady started to point angrily at the lump and talk to me very fast in her language that I was only just beginning to understand. I looked more closely at the lump and realized it was a baby, on the dirt, all filthy and sprawled out. I was so shocked. I felt like a dagger had hit my heart as I could hardly believe that the baby was the object of this lady’s frustration, and that he was not in his mother’s arms as he slept. I scooped him up as all my motherly instincts gripped me, and filled me with overwhelming compassion! A hundred questions bombarded my mind, as to where was his mother? Why is he not wanted? How could this be, a helpless baby be so mercilessly rejected? How can a people group be so hated, so rejected and so forgotten by others? How can they be such a target of scorn and even the topic of crude and mocking jokes that are in everyday conversations? How can their plight be so hopeless, so desperate that there has been no effort to solution or mend? James was at the point of death when we found him. Only God brought life back into him as we prayed over his weak little body, with the whole village joining me as we laid hands on him declaring that he should live and not die! We named him together and watched as his little tiny brown hand turned and responded to the music we sang around him. It was like he was reaching into the hope he sensed, flowing from the guitar. I asked the village to adopt him on our behalf that afternoon, as we could not legally take him home. This was five years ago. Our little James is thriving now! He loves Jesus, and sings and worships with us. He is a blessing to the whole community, and is a part of their village family. His little face brims with joy when we visit, and he gives us such big cuddles! He is growing up knowing Jesus - his personal redeemer, the One who saw him lying on the edge of the road in the rain. Jesus, the One who sees these people we have been called to reach! May they no longer be abandoned and rejected, but the focus of the love and mercy of God! We continue to reach out to them, with the message of the love and goodness of God! And Jesus who sees you and your family where you are at - our Almighty God who holds the whole world in His hand, and put the stars in the sky with His fingertips! My prayer for us all is that we would all bear fruit and that our fruit would remain, as Jesus desired of us in John 15:16, where-ever the Lord has placed us and with whatever He has asked us to do! All for His glory, and so that on our arrival in heaven, we will hear His words to us:
“Well done my good and faithful servant!” Luke 19:17, Matthew 25:21 Let us push forward, keeping our eyes fixed on the loving gaze of our Lord, who is coming soon to take us home! “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of God.” Hebrews 12: 1-2 God bless you and thank you for your love, prayers and support for us!
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AuthorsPeter & Evi Ratcliffe Archives
October 2024
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