The missionary awoke suddenly.

Someone was standing outside his house in the tribal village, calling his name.

“I stumbled out of my bed to find Herbert at our veranda door,” the missionary wrote. “I opened the door and he came up on the veranda and sat down in the dark. I did not really know what was going on. I just thought that it was a weird time to come visit.”

Herbert began mumbling in Spanish, moving randomly from odd topic to odd topic. The missionary eventually realized that Herbert had drank a bit too much piyarentsi – a fermented manioc drink.

The missionary didn’t know much Spanish, but filled in with Portuguese and began explaining the Gospel. He’s still learning the language Herbert and his people speak.

“He was quiet as a mouse and I began revving up and my tongue got more loose as I began to really preach it to him,” the missionary wrote. “I thought to myself as I shared with him, ‘Wow he is really listening.’ I carried on for a few minutes and then turned on my flashlight only to find Herbert fast asleep across from me.”

After a great deal of effort, he managed to wake Herbert.

“Before he left my porch that evening he broke down crying and said, ‘I have no value … I am worthless!’,” the missionary wrote. “I felt so helpless as I could not tell him in his own language how much God loved him and that he is very valuable in God’s sight.”

The missionaries to Herbert’s people “look forward to that day when we can communicate the Gospel to them.” Please pray for them as they diligently learn the tribal culture and language.

On his 45-minute walk with missionary Barry Spor to the mid-week Bible study, new believer Jessi shared his recent struggle with sin and peer pressure.

“He had been shamed into drinking and got drunk by some old unsaved acquaintances,” wrote Barry of the 20-something Guanano believer.

Jessi was frustrated and felt so bad before God about it.

That night at the study, when it was time to give prayer requests, he shared his heart with the Guanano church.

“As you know Robert, Marcelena, Luis, Vicente, little Gustavo and I are new believers,” Jessi said. “Please pray for us as we fall into sin often, even when we don’t want to. It is hard for us to trust Jesus to change our lives.

“Please pray that we would trust Christ in us to overcome our sinful ways of living.”

A big fight has had a mostly happy ending.

The fight broke out at the end of a Gavião ceremony in Brazil last week. Several women planned the fight to gain revenge on some who had caused a fight several months ago.

As the melee broke out, nearly 70 women joined in. “Blood was shed, as a few chose rocks over fingernails, pulling hair and biting to inflict pain. One woman even ran for a knife,” wrote missionary Diane Kitchner.

“The sad thing is that it was started by a Christian woman who attacked a Christian woman from another village.  It affected everyone here, especially as the outbursts of anger continued.”

Croc, one of the Gavião believers, and two chiefs started meeting with the people involved. The meetings went on for hours. On the second day one of the main fighters listened to the Scriptures that Croc was reading and realized that she was a sinner and needed the Lord. She trusted Christ that evening. That softened many hearts and another meeting was scheduled for the next day.

At that meeting women began to change their perspective and began asking forgiveness from those they had hurt. Tears were shed and the women began talking and even laughing with one another.

“One husband said with tears how happy he was and that this day would go down in history,” Diane wrote, “because it was so unusual for Gavião people to resolve conflict like that.”

Anger, hostility and violence remain a very real possibility. Several from other villages are prone to violence and the main issues still need to be resolved. Pray for God’s protection on the men who need to deal with the situation. The leaders have asked that God be honored by what takes place as they mediate the meetings with the women involved.

The Ka’apor people are gaining a renewed interest in God’s Word.

Many Ka’apors, including church leaders, left the church and got involved in drinking, immorality, fraud and debt. Attendance at believers' meetings had dropped to about 25.

A couple months ago, a few men in the church got together with five leaders of the church to confront the leaders with their sin, and encourage them to turn back to the Lord.

“Because of the sad example of these men’s lives, many of the people in the village became tired of the drinking, partying, fighting and accidents that have been the result of the things they are involved in,” wrote Lydia Schuring. “They noticed that the ones who knew Christ lived differently. A lot of them began asking Reuben [Schuring] if he could teach them.

“The Sunday after the meeting with the men, the church building was packed. We tried not to show our surprise when we walked in and there was no place to sit. Old believers came back who hadn’t been for years, bringing many of their family members.

“Many unsaved older Ka’apors, who didn’t want anything to do with God before, were there, and many children and young people. As a result, we have begun teaching evangelistic Bible lessons again on Monday and Thursday evenings.

“This is a really big step for the older generation as it is so hard for them to accept something new. Interest has stayed high in those who continue to come.”

But logging has started up again and has drawn several families away to the jungle. It is also the time they go hunting and fishing. So pray for continued interest in Bible teaching.

Pray too for Reuben as he revises the lessons and for his ability to communicate effectively the truths God wants them to understand.