This ministry to bikers has donated 16 bikes to Paraguay since 2000. This year three bikes were donated to 1. The STID Bible School in Bella Vista, 2. the Ache Bible Translation (Letra) Project in Naranjal and 3. the Arroyo Pora Church plant in Encarnacion. We thank God for these tremendous tools to make sharing the Good News more effective. We had the privilege of hosting a fantastic team from CMA (Christian Motorcycle Association) in November 2005. From that great group, some CMA individuals and groups saw that Norberto would be benefited from having his own bike. We want to thank all the folks that donated toward Norberto's motorcycle. After waiting weeks for it to arrive from Japan, it finally arrived. It's a Honda Storm 125. It takes about $2.00 worth of gas to fill it each week. In contrast, our Suburban takes $47.50 for fuel each week...so this is a huge financial savings for us.
Here's a picture of Norberto's new ministry mobile! We also wanted to share the profile of one of the motorcycle recipients: Lorenzo Puapirangi lives in the Puerto Barra Ache community, located 20 km from Naranjal. Until the mid-1970s his ethnic group was isolated and without any contact with civilization. For most outsiders these gentle rain forest people were considered to be very primitive and savage and were greatly feared by most Paraguayan people in general. The Ache have a sad history of abuse, genocide and slavery at the hands of the white people "Beru" who considered them to be subhuman and fair prey to be exploited or sold to local colonists on the periphery of the great jungles of Eastern Paraguay. Sometimes the Ache returned arrows to bullets, trying to defend themselves from the ferociousness of the "Beru" and because of this they were labeled extremely dangerous and cruel as the savage Guayaki who attack innocent colonists with no reason or provocation! Lorenzo's father, Chrachogi, was captured in the fifties and traded to a local farmer who used him in all sorts of different types of hard labor for his profit. Lorenzo grew up in the Puerto BArra village. The jungle surrounded their community very quickly disappeared like the early morning dew under a roar of chain saws, bulldozers and tractors, as new farmers moved in clearing the land to start growing food and cash crops. Lorenzo also struggled with bewilderment, rage and impotency trying to find sense to the tremendous loss of practically all their traditional territory, customs and culture across the different Ache communities. He looked for answers in a number of different places, like the spirit world or answers from the white man's world, but no help was found until he put his trust in Christ, and found peace. Lorenzo had six brothers, but 5 died. One of his siblings died when his mother fell on her child while escaping from two hunter dogs released by two Paraguayan hunters. Only one 14 year old sister is alive today, Irene Kuachigi (Wild Turkey).
Today Lorenzo Puapirangi is walking on God's path, with the sincere desire to see his brothers and sisters grow in the Word and find salvation, maturity and contentment in Christ. In order for this to happen, the Bible needs to be translated into the Ache language and he is one of six mother tongue translators, with the Bible translation organization, LETRA Paraguay. If you would like more information regarding LETRA or the Ache Indians, check out www.oneverse.org
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