Recently, Andy and Chrissy Shaub who serve among the Awa people in Ecuador went over the Sunday School lesson with the Awa Sunday school teacher, so that she was ready to teach her class of busy two to eight-year-olds the following Sunday. The lesson hit a chord with her. They went over Mark 5:1-20, taking turns reading the verses. Jesus healed the Gadarene demoniac. “It’s really true, Jesus is stronger than the evil spirits.” She told them about an older man in their community who had a demon possessing him. The shaman (tribal healer) felt his pulse and claimed he was possessed so they had to do a curing ceremony which meant a big feast. They had to kill a cow to feed everyone, and the shaman charged £30+. This is the reality of the world that they live in.
In mid-December, Andy had a sore throat then lost his voice. They wondered if they should cancel church or find someone to fill in. When Andy loses his voice, it’s completely gone for a while! What finally happened was that they used Andy’s obvious need for help to create an opportunity for different ones in the service to read verses and questions and participate in discussion. It was very encouraging to have Awa people able and willing to read.
Prayer Requests:
• Praise the Lord for some good translation sessions in December!
• The drafting of Joshua 6.
• For the continuing process of training their Awa co-translators.
• For Andy’s voice strength, there has been slow improvement since he lost it mid-December. Although it has been good to have Awa readers to help in church!
• Thankfulness that Ecuador has rains again, sufficient to reduce the scheduled electricity outages (power cuts).
• For their co-workers Kevin and Kathy’s return later in February!