Galilea - The Classes

We were here to teach the 3rd of 12 TPI classes - A Survey of the Old Testament. As the course progressed, I was impressed by the men's ability to understand the material, ask solid questions, and compare and contrast the biblical teachings with some of their tribal customs that sometimes differed from biblical practices. They had questions about infant salvation, the use of some medicines and drugs that induced alcohol-like euphoria, marriage vs living together, and how to minister to someone with two wives.

This was the area where few, if any, of the students were married to the woman they were living with, and had children with. One of the men had contacted Jaime, our country coordinator for Peru, and told him that 7 of the men wanted to get their lives right before God and had decided to get married in May, but wanted Jaime to send them a program because they didn't know how to do it (perform a wedding ceremony) and didn't want to do it wrong. When I got there and told them that what they had done had been an inspiration to me, and others, that 7 had taken this step, based solely on the power of God's Word, they told me the new number was 14. When they discovered I was particularly interested in this, they recounted and told me that 16 couples had recently married, wanting to be more in line with God's Word on marriage and the relationships between God, men and women. I asked these men and women to stand when I took this picture, so you can put faces to some of these remarkable people.

The people standing had married just a few months ago to "get their lives right before God."

I had taken some material with me and was able to share portions of a Biblical Manhood study with the men, as well as several sessions with the families regarding Paul's description of marriage in Ephesians 5 and how it is a picture of the relationship between Jesus and His bride, the church. I also shared information on the 5 Love Languages and 5 Levels of Communication. They had the hardest time trying to complete the Love Language questionnaire, though. Although they understood the concept, filling out a questionaire was just something they were not used to doing. We had a good time reviewing the material from the three sessions over two nights (when we had lights). The two TPI instructors I was traveling with helped out when my vocabulary and examples failed to get across the ideas they knew I was trying to say.

The men studying Biblical Manhood - a 6-hour course I gave 4 times in Peru.

Filling out their Five-Love-Language questionnaire.

Preaching in Spanish with a translator to their tribal language.

One night I had to preach in my socks - there was a lot of mud and they asked people to leave their shoes at the door.

The men with their Biblical Manhood and TPI-Old Testament books.

This is the church in Galilea.

Cooking over open fire, pushing the logs closer as the fire burns.