As an agriculturalist Pete Lugtigheid had been asked to help establish plantations of cacao (chocolate) plants in the part of Bolivia where he lives with his family (as part of the Latin Link team – see Nov-Dec 2006 Newslink). Having bought 400 plants to sell on, Pete and a local colleague, Leopoldo, set off from Apolo for the isolated rural community of Munaypata – meaning ‘above the beautiful place’ in the local language. On arrival, there was bad news. The previous Friday, a 4-year-old child was taken ill. By Sunday she was dead, and now her brother and a cousin were ill. Pete and Leopoldo went to investigate. They found an 8-year old child alone in one house, sick and shivery, face and glands swollen. Pete and Leopoldo talked with the boy – they prayed with him, then, taking careful note of his symptoms, left the house with heavy hearts.
Leopoldo says: ‘Here, death is a part of life, illness is brought about by “losing your spirit”, and the understanding of modern medicine is very limited. The families would seek help from the witch doctor, paying him from the very little they had, leaving nothing for a trip to Apolo to see unknown doctors they didn’t understand or trust.’
However, a doctor could go to Munaypata, if Pete could take him in the truck. The doctor was received with some reserve in the village, but they allowed him to examine the 2 sick children. He was worried: the symptoms were consistent with an outbreak of bubonic plague, and he wanted the children hospitalised in Apolo. The families refused: the witch-doctor had already cured their children! They did not have the $4 needed to buy the antibiotics that the doctor brought. Pete offered to pay, and the parents accepted the antibiotics.
A week later, the Latin Link team team returned to Munaypata to continue training in agricultural topics. They found the children back to full health, and chocolate plants are also doing well! ‘However,’ Pete says, ‘these events in Munaypata brought home to us again the darkness and fear that so many of our friends live with.’
He continues: ‘Please pray for the families there as we continue our work, that the people would accept the light of Christ in their lives, truly transforming Munaypata into a beautiful place, where people live in joy and peace with God.’
If you want to know more about the work Pete does, visit www.latinlink.org
These words, written by an Interserve Partner serving in one of the most strongly Muslim countries in the Arabian peninsula, are representative of the way that God has used Interserve since its beginnings in British India in 1852: a concern for both physical and spiritual needs, and a determination to address both in the name of Jesus. This “wholistic” ministry, and this commitment to serve Jesus in some of the hardest countries in the world, have characterised the work of Interserve for over 150 years. Interserve now works in all the countries of Asia and the Arab World and has been working among Asian people groups across England and Wales for over 25 years. The countries in which Interserve works are the least evangelised on earth: several are effectively 100% Muslim, many have no indigenous church, and several are suffering from the effects of war, famine, and political turmoil. Christian outreach is often opposed, sometimes violently. Yet we feel that God has called us to this work in order to see “lives and communities transformed through encounter with Jesus Christ”.