What an amazing privilege to once again enter a Waorani village.   We have been working more and more with the Waorani and desiring to see God’s Kingdom grow in them and through them.   This latest journey was logistically challenging.    The village of Noneno, (one of 27 different Waorani communities) is 18 hours away from Quito.   We left   Sunday night at 10:00pm and drove through the night to the eastern part of Ecuador.   We arrived in Shirupuno at 12:30pm the next day…loaded up our canoes and traveled another 2 hours down river to the village of Noneno.    This journey was made by all 50 of us!   46 on the team from Kansas and 3 of our Youth world Staff.    Along with getting us there…we had to carry in all our food for the week….all our tools for work projects…everything we needed for the week!

We had several goals as we entered the community.   We wanted to live out and share the Love of Jesus Christ more than anything else.   This community is little reached and had only a handful of believers.   We would share the message of Jesus with the children in a kids club everyday…and with the entire community every evening  through drama and testimonies.
  We also had several challenging work projects in front of us.
#1   We wanted to help build a building that could be used for church and camps…the foundation had been prepared…but everything else was to be done by this team.   The wood was cut BY HAND WITH A CHAIN SAW..and had to be carried out of the jungle…and then the church building was to be built.

This is the start of the building…concrete piers for the foundation…and then cross pieces will be the floor…the wood in the picture was all hand cut and hand carried from the jungle.   Where is the HOME DEPOT when you really need one!


The frame slowly began to take shape…each truss had to be made by hand…and lifted up by hand …and nailed in place…


Finally the frame is done…and the tin roof starts to go on…piece by piece…


Putting some of the finishing touches on the flooring…


A tired…but excited group of North Americans and Waorani stop in the morning rain for a picture in front of their “new church”.   The walls will be filled in by the community in the weeks to come…but the hard part was done.   We celebrated on Friday night with the first ever “Church Service” in Noneno!  One of the Wao ladies shared a testimony of how excited she was to have a church in “their” community.   She had heard of other communities that had one…but now they had their own, and they could learn more and more about God and His Word to them…and for their children!
#2    Along with the Living Water of the gospel…this group also worked hard to bring clean drinking water!   The government of Ecuador had installed a pump station several miles away from the village that would bring water from a clean stream to each house.  Unfortunately, over time…the pump and system had stopped working.   Thanks to God and some creativity…this group was able to fix the problem and get it working again.    We were greeted one morning by happy cheers that once again, the people of Noneno had clean, drinkable water at their houses!

Two of the young men from Kansas admire the “running water” that was being pumped into the village!   It doesn’t seem like too much to ask…to have clean, drinkable water…but many parts of the world struggle to get this basic need.    What a great thing to be able to help this community with water!
#3   We were also able to repaint several of the buildings in the village…repair some floors, level the local soccer field…and attend to some sick and needy.   One of the ladies on the team was a nurse and she was so very helpful to some in the community that are hours away from any medical aid.
Most importantly we were able to “live out the Gospel” every day.   On the last night…as we were saying our goodbyes..the community President shared how he had first heard about God from Rachel Saint!   However, it had been a long time since anyone had come to their community to share more about God.   He invited each of us to come back and share more about God and the way to “Walk His trail…and follow His Markings”.   Again…what a privilege to share the Love of God with this village of Waorani!
PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS COMMUNITY OF NONENO.    PRAY THAT THE WORD OF GOD WOULD TAKE ROOT IN THEIR HEARTS, MINDS AND SOULS…AND THAT IT WOULD PRODUCE GOOD FRUIT.   ETERNAL FRUIT.
PRAY for the team from Kansas that came and shared their lives with the Waorani.  Pray for the students and leaders that were on that team.   As we debriefed together at the end of the week….6 of the students shared that they wanted to give their lives to God and serve in full time international missions!   Again please pray that the Word of God and the experience that they have had will result in eternal fruit that Jesus talked about in John 15 .   Pray for them as they go home to Kansas and desire to live out their faith in their community.
LOWS in the JUNGLE
As some of you know…one of the big challenges in the Jungle for Phil was passing a Kidney stone while there.   A long way from medical help…2 of the days were extremely difficult as Phil waited for the pain to pass…and more importantly..the Kidney stone to pass.    Definitely the most painful experience Phil has ever walked through…and an amazing reminder to be thankful for the Medical care we have.   A great reminder that for many parts of the world…that is the way life is…you survive and do the best you can without medical help.   Please pray for continued healing for Phil…and that God would continue to raise up men and women who are doctors and nurses to serve in the world…Amazing opportunities to share the Love of Christ through medical care are everywhere in our needy world!
SAFETY in Quito….
Please pray for safety in the City of Quito.   We have lived here for the last 9 years and have not ever been concerned about this…but times are changing!    In the last month…we have been robbed(thieves entered our property and stole 2 motorcyles)…and 3 other missionary families that we know have been robbed.   One of the gals on our team had her car stolen…and one of our single guy missionaries was attacked at knife point as he was walking home.   Please pray for safety…please pray for peace instead of fear…confidence in God instead of cynicism about Ecuadorians in general…and protection for us on a day to day basis.

THANKS for your love, prayers and financial support.    We love you and count it a blessing to be partners with you in ministry.

PAYNES | NEWSLETTER