Report from Oscar Tello  

Ministry

In July 2018 we started constructing the church building in the native community of Capanahua de Limon Cocha which has advanced to the point that the roof is now on. The managing of the project was given to Lidio Pacho, an indigenous missionary, and thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ the whole community got together to help with this work. The construction was made possible by the loving gift that Sara Arzet gave so that the work would advance. We also made a trip, with brother Peter Hocking, to a jungle community near to Contamana, to train 45 pastors and leaders from the Shipibos people from Loreto.  

On 23 September 2018 we travelled, on an investigative trip, to another region of the Amazon in order find out about other ethnic groups who don’t yet have the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. During this trip we investigated the Ese Eja and the Huachipaeri ethnic groups, as well as gathered information about the Mashco-Piro people from the Madre de Dios region. I was able to do the trip thanks to the help of a known pastor in the region. We observed that these ethnic groups are very closed to the Gospel and are controlled by native protectionist institutions who prohibit the entry of foreigners into their communities. They do for economic interests of the native leaders, national anthropologists and foreigners who have warned the communities not to give any information, or access to their territories, to outsiders (missionaries).  

For us it was difficult in the beginning to ask them for information about the ethnic groups as they wouldn’t give us any. It was the opposite, they asked us the questions but they still didn’t respond to us. Faced with this situation we found a way to get close to them. We did this by helping to heal the people who had suffered injuries or some form of health problem, we helped them with medicines. In this way we were able to gather up-to-date information about various ethnicities. The interesting thing in these communities is that foreign tourism is allowed, or better said, is welcomed because they practice witchcraft as part of their culture. In this respect they offer this help to tourists which is highly sought after in this Amazon region and the native communities. We observed that while access is restricted for Peruvians, it is welcomed for foreigners. 

During this trip we gathered firsthand information and we have observed that, for the ethnicities I mentioned earlier, there are currently no churches among their communities. The reason being that Christians are prohibited to enter their communities. We have been able to enter some of these communities and we intend to enter others. To this end we decided to send a native from that area to live there but when we went to take the trip the native who travelled with us became very frightened so we decided to ask for permission from the Indigenous Institution for us to enter (a kind of visa). However when applying to the Institution they asked us a lot of questions. This was more than a question time; it was an interrogation! In the end they told us that we had to pay them for permission to enter and then make another payment to the community who would determine if it was convenient. In the end they denied us entry. In the face of this circumstance we looked for an ethnic group and we made friends with them. We invited them to have some lemonade and biscuits and only this way were we able to get the information we required. The Word of God says: “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” 

With the Lord’s help I have been able to make various trips to different missionaries where we work, including the Ashaninka community in Aoti where Antonia Yalta and Cristina work, with the aim of making a pastoral visit and encouragement. At the same time, I went there to talk with the authorities in the community and give support to the missionaries that are working at planting a church in another community, Ashaninka of Chontakiari, with the great help of Victor Soto.

Assembly and Election of the Segadores Board of Directors

In January the Segadores board of directors met together with all of the members, where new members were elected to the board of directors for a period of four years. At the same time three more members were elected for the institutional supervision.

Other trips

Other trips we made were to the province of Atalaya where three missionary families are working, two of them are Romanian families. They are working with the Ashaninka community in raising up a church that had stopped, forming leaders and discipling the believers in the church. They are also giving Sunday school classes and bible study meetings in the evenings.

The Capanahua de Limon Cocha ethnic group

The Lord has given us the opportunity to work with the Capanahua de Limon Cocha ethnic group, an ethnic group that is very isolated from the cities. To get to this group it takes a week of travelling on the river (this is after firstly a plane ride and road trip) but normally the trip takes between 15-18 days to get to Capanahua de Limon Cocha. For this reason, the trip is dangerous, expensive and tiring but this doesn’t prevent the trip because the love of the Lord drives us to do it in obedience and gratitude in taking the message.

In April this year the Lord allowed me to travel with the missionaries Lidio and Tito Pacho to Capanahua de Limon Cocha in Loreto to continue the construction of the local church because last year we managed to cut up the wood needed, assemble the roof and put up the wooden posts on a short term basis. I was able to make this journey with the help of Sara Arzet who offered to help with the next stage of the construction. In this stage the wooden posts were replaced with columns of iron and brick. We also fenced off the property and constructed the front of the church with ‘noble’ which is a mixture of cement and brick.  All of this was possible thanks to Lidio and Tito Pacho who took up the challenge of the construction.

This trip started with flying from Lima to Iquitos. Later I travelled by boat with two large motors to the city of Requena. I met up with Lidio and Tito there and we bought all the materials we needed for the construction. The next day we contracted a large boat with the capacity to carry 6000 kilos of materials and we started the trip to Capanahua de Limon Cocha. The river trip was very long and tiring. The worst thing was that we couldn’t get off the boat because for nearly all of the trip we couldn’t find land that you could walk on. In some places we could stop but only for short times.  Our boat trip took five days and two nights, it was long because we travelled from sunrise to 8 or 9 at night so that we could get there as fast as possible. To accelerate the trip, we travelled all through the night for two nights.

We are thankful to God that we arrived safely in Capanahua de Limon Cocha where all the people in the community were waiting for us. Instantly the young and old were helping us to get the materials off the boat, more than 5,500 kilos of construction material. The following day we started to visit the people who happily received us into their homes. On this day we learnt that they weren’t meeting as a church. This was sad especially for the women who said that they wanted a pastor that could live there in Capanahua de Limon Cocha to teach them the Word of God and they added that they were willing to share food with them if anyone wanted to go there to be their pastor. At this moment it came to mind what Jesus said, "that the people were like sheep without a shepherd".  So since then I haven’t stopped praying to the Lord that He will give us a person with a passion to serve and who is ready. I started a programme of biblical studies with the church each day at 5am in the pastor's house they had constructed. It was surprising to see the people who came and each day more people came. Eugenio (he was healed from a venomous snake bite last year) came too.

To start the work I formed two teams, one to work in the community on the construction of the columns and the main walls (Lidio Pacho directed this team) and a second team consisting of two expert chainsaw operators, Tito Pacho and Victor (a Capanahua believer). That is how our day of work went, both in the community and in the jungle, cutting logs into useable timber.

One day while I was in the jungle I got a sore stomach and started vomiting, 20 minutes later I couldn’t walk and spent until the afternoon lying flat out on a piece of timber. Due to this problem I couldn’t eat for two days, I only drank water with coco although I kept on working.  

Each day after the Bible study we went to work in the jungle cutting logs into timber. I took advantage of the time to talk with Julio and Victor about various subjects; families, personal and the church, from the morning to the afternoon. During these conversations I learnt that Julio was a Bible Institute graduate. I was able to talk to them and answer their many questions and also pray for them. I asked other members of the church about Julio and they said that he is prepared and is able lead the church as well as take on the responsibility to continue with the construction work. 

We finally finished cutting the logs into timber so we transported the wood to the community. This was all accomplished with the help of the community. It was amazing to see the unity amongst the community. On our last day, at 5am we led the final devotional with all the church. At the same time we prayed for Julio and Victor who had committed to carrying out the church leadership. All the people who assisted were happy to have a leader form within their own community. We then finished to assemble the slats for the roof and we nailed on the boards. 

Then we were finished in the Capanahua de Limón Cocha community. The next day the community arrived at the pastoral house early in the morning (as was their custom) but this time they brought fruit, chickens, food and crafts. For me it was a sad goodbye because we had such a good time there with them. At the same time we are grateful to God for His help and protection during our stay in this community. We returned home very satisfied for being able to complete not only the main part of the construction of the church building but to be able to appoint a leader and a leadership team from among them. What joy! All of the leadership asked us to come back and give some Bible training to the church and to other neighbouring communities. An intercession team with Segadores has been asking God since April 2019 to make it possible for us to make a trip to give some Bible training in the “Capanahua de Limón Cocha” 3-9 September 2019. Victor, (Eugenio’s brother), had asked us to provide training for him and his family so that they can plant a church in village where they live called Tamanco and when he found out about the future training we hoped to give, he was very happy and said he would attend during those dates. 

The trip in September will have to be made firstly by commercial flight from Lima to Pucallpa and then from Pucallpa to Capanahua Limón Cocha in a small plane from the mission group SAM. Because of these flights the cost of the trip will increase but we are certain that God will provide the required resources to do it. 

Lives Changed by the Lord: Eugenio and his wife’s influence in Julio’s life (their son) has been important. This helped prepare Julio to take on the task of leading the Capanahua de Limon Cocha church. Julio’s decision has motivated many men and women to attend the church. This is a real blessing. I have carried out discipleship studies with them during my various trips there, spending time with them, listening to them and responding to the doubts they had and other reservations.  

On my return to Lima I have had interviews with prospective missionary candidates. Among them is Jessica, a single lady who has a clear calling to do missionary work amongst the tribal groups of the Amazon. Thanks to God, she has the backing of her church. We are now waiting to sign an agreement of cooperation with her church.   

Atalaya

We give thanks to the Lord that three families have moved into the Segadores missionary house. We are now continuing with the second floor construction, making two rooms and one kitchen. 

The Office

Each day I am grateful to God for His help with guiding the Segadores Missionary Group because we have big goals. Among them is the goal to re-open the School of Transcultural Missionary Training in 2020. We ask the Lord that He would send the right people to be part of the training team and the right teachers who are specialised in missiology. 

The Goal of Tribal Investigations

God has given me the passion to continue carrying out the tribal investigation trips to the unreached and uncontacted ethnicities of the Peruvian Amazon. I am investigating these tribal groups so that I can collate information on the majority of the tribes that have no access to the gospel. I have yet to investigate some other tribes in order to complete this. 

New Ethnic Group Prayer Cards

One of the goals for this year is to produce two new sets of prayer cards, one for the unreached tribes and another for the tribes that have young churches. 

Family

We remember each day the eternal God’s faithfulness. It is truly a miracle that He has guided us to serve Him. Since the day that the Lord found me, forgave my sins and gave me salvation through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (16 Jan 1986) until today I have been 12,244 days walking with the Lord. Sustained and guided by Him I have been announcing the good news and testifying to the change and transformation that He has made in my life. In the same way He has given me a wife with the same heart and also a son and daughter who are the inheritance the Lord has given me. 

I live in hope each day, along with my family, knowing that this world is not my home and we are all as one. I am learning every day that the Lord gifts me to live for him and accomplish His plan because there is nothing greater than to serve Him with love and integrity. 

My wife continues to direct the prayer intercession for the Segadores missionary work each Thursday for which I give thanks to God. My children are under the care of the Lord and are growing in their knowledge of His Word.  

We are glad and we give glory to God that in May we complete one year in our new apartment that the Lord gave to us. 

I would also like to tell you that our daughter, Briana, will complete her primary school years this year and with God’s help will start her secondary schooling. Also this year we have many medical checks to complete and we are taking various medicines. Thanks to our Heavenly Father each day we continue strengthened in the Lord through His love. We are looking forward to His coming and for this reason we desire that all of the people who live in the Amazon Jungle, in villages and in cities, would come to know and serve God. 

My Mother

Since last year my mother’s health has declined. The doctor said that she now has Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. Because of the effects of this cancer of the blood my mother now has difficulty talking and eating and cannot walk. She moves around in a wheelchair. Due to her difficult condition we have to look after her day and night. The saddest thing is that she has not yet given her life to the Lord. She doesn’t sleep during the night and she has dementia which makes it difficult to give her the medication she needs to keep her stable. I dress her blisters three times a week. I ask God that He would give us strength daily and that He would give her lucidity to be able to speak to her about the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ so that she can know Him. I cry out to God that He gives me His grace and guidance to keep speaking to others about Christ. 

Prayer and Praise Points

1) I am grateful to the Lord for guiding and protecting me on my investigation trips to the Madre de Dios department and for fulfilling the goals of this trip.
2) Pray for God’s guidance and protection for the investigation trip to the Ashaninka people group from the Apurimac – Ayacucho region.
3) Pray that the authorities in the jungle communities where we perform our investigation visits would look kindly upon us.
4) That God would provide the final materials in order to complete the church building in Capanahua de Limon Cocha, things like doors, windows, seats.
5) That Julio and Victor would persevere in the Capanahua de Limon Cocha church leadership.
6) That God would provide support for the continuation of the construction of the study rooms, the kitchen and the student accommodation at the missionary base in Atalaya.
7) Pray for my wife’s health and care and pray also for both my children, especially when I’m away on missionary trips.
8) That God would give me wisdom as I lead the Segadores missionary organisation.
9) That God would help me, in His grace, to promote even more the transcultural work and to look for support for the Peruvian missionaries from abroad.
10) For more workers to join Segadores and to be involved in reaching the unreached tribes of Peru.
11) For new strategic communities, that there would be openings for the transcultural missionary work.
12) For good health for me so that I can continue to serve the Lord. 

Comments

Dear fellow believers and co-servants at Bright Hope World and the churches/individuals who support us, we see that the Lord is faithful. This is demonstrated through you, who with so much sacrifice support us so that we can go out as the point of the arrow in order to advance the missionary work amongst the nations. Without your help, as a team, it would not be possible to continue ahead in this great work but the work does continue and we continue working while there is still day and while the Lord prolongs life. This, by the grace of the Lord. 

Thanks you for sustaining us with your prayers and your offerings.