By Mark Ellis
It is still warm in the early evening as Pastor Ricardo Hidalgo Rojas edges his aging, flat-bottom boat “Evangelista” into the tiny village of Santa Elise. Children crowd the banks of the Yucayali River, a tributary of the Amazon, a five-hour boat ride from Pucallpa.
Of the 350 Shipibo people inhabiting this primitive village of thatched roof, single room houses, 60 are now followers of Jesus thanks to Pastor Ricardo. In the next four days, he and a team of high school students from Laguna Beach, California will complete the construction of a simple church to accommodate the growing ranks of Shipibo believers.
The need for the Gospel is great in the smaller, more remote villages in the Amazon River basin that follow animistic tribal customs. One of those traditions includes men raping young women when they reach 14-years-old as an initiation into womanhood. In the cities, the perpetrators would get arrested for this, but these villages are beyond the reach of government laws.
Pastor Ricardo says his mother’s prayers inspired his call to this ministry. “Since I was little, she prayed, ‘God, I don’t want a place for my children in this world; I want a place for my children in your kingdom.”
See more.
The Evangelista arrives at Santa Elise
It is still warm in the early evening as Pastor Ricardo Hidalgo Rojas edges his aging, flat-bottom boat “Evangelista” into the tiny village of Santa Elise. Children crowd the banks of the Yucayali River, a tributary of the Amazon, a five-hour boat ride from Pucallpa.
Of the 350 Shipibo people inhabiting this primitive village of thatched roof, single room houses, 60 are now followers of Jesus thanks to Pastor Ricardo. In the next four days, he and a team of high school students from Laguna Beach, California will complete the construction of a simple church to accommodate the growing ranks of Shipibo believers.
Pastor Ricardo (right) with two new Shipibo pastors
The need for the Gospel is great in the smaller, more remote villages in the Amazon River basin that follow animistic tribal customs. One of those traditions includes men raping young women when they reach 14-years-old as an initiation into womanhood. In the cities, the perpetrators would get arrested for this, but these villages are beyond the reach of government laws.
Pastor Ricardo says his mother’s prayers inspired his call to this ministry. “Since I was little, she prayed, ‘God, I don’t want a place for my children in this world; I want a place for my children in your kingdom.”
See more.
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