Hunting Headhunters in Ecuador
Mrs. George Moffat*
A WAY in the interior of Ecuador, South America, on the eastern slopes of the Andes, dwell the In dians known as •the Headhunters. In Spanish they are called Jívaros (pro nounced Heevaro with accent on the first syllable). There are no chiefs as in other Indian tribes. Every man is a law unto himself. These Indians call no man their master and serve no one; they never forget or forgive a wrong. Feuds are handed down from father to . son. A father gathers his sons around him and recounts all the wrongs done to him by members of his own tribe, then ends with these significant words: “ If I do not wipe out this debt before I die, don’t you forget to do so.” Thus a son is never allowed to forget. It was into this tribe that God led my husband and me to take the message of the gospel. A Mission was opened under the auspices of the Christian and Missionary Alliance at a point where the Chupientsa River unites with the Upano River. We call our station “ Chu pientsa” (Wet River). The tribe has its own language, quite distinct from the Spanish or Quechua languages. It was unwritten when the missionary went there. So the task of learning the lan guage was a difficult one. While there is quite a large vocabulary, the language lacks many words to express spiritual truths. Such words as sin, faith, believe, righteous, holy are non-existent in the Jivaro tongue. Thus to give them the gospel is a tremendous task. We praise the Lord for the transla tions done this past term. Now we have the Gospels of Mark, Luke and John in the Jivaro tongue. Many long years went by before we began to see men and women turn to the Lord. A drawing card was needed. So we purchased a small Yictrola and records. Indians came from long distances to hear the man or woman in the box sing and talk. Then the gospel was presented. The Jivaro is a materialist. He ap pears to have no religion of his own, but dwells in constant fear of evil spir its. He knows nothing about blood sac rifices. The tribe is not large in numbers, but its members live widely scattered over that jungle country. There are no Indian villages; we reach one family at a time. It is a man’s country. The women take no part in the social life. The men are polygamous, having from two to five wives. “ Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife” is not known among these people. No woman travels alone. Page Sixteen
how, and of course the Bible is all they have to read. How it thrills our hearts to see even the eight and ten-year olds with their Testaments, walking on the compound memorizing their verses. God will ever bless His Word. Every Thursday evening the believers gather for prayer. Were you present, you would see a group of some twenty Indians gathered in a small room. The young boys occupy the first bench, older lads the second and third rows, and then at the back sit the women and girls. Everyone is there to pray and they all pray in turn, starting with the first row, and finishing with the women, who miraculously are not afraid to pray in front of the men. Very often the young women will walk an hour through the forest with their babies on their backs to attend this prayer meeting. It is thrilling to hear them pouring out their hearts to God in their own tongue. Sometimes the meeting continues for two hours; no one is in a hurry even though they must return through the forest after dark, with only a little tin native lamp for a light. But we have never heard of anyone’s being bitten by snakes when returning from prayer meeting. God watches over them. When we hear the young men praying that God will save their enemies, we know that the Holy Spirit has really worked in their hearts, for otherwise they would kill their enemies. We now have our first Indian work ers: a young man and his wife. What wonderful work they are doing! The wife is ready to do anything for her Saviour, scrubbing the floor in the Mis sion, taking care of a sick woman, teach ing her weekly Bible class and inter preting for the young missionary couple, when necessary. The husband is willing to work on the Mission farm, oversee the workers as well as to take a Sunday evening service now and then. When we think of how unpromising this couple was before they knew the Lord, and look at them today, we can only say “What hath God wrought” ! Pray that more Indian workers will be called forth from among these Jivaro believers who will be wholly consecrated to Him and will take the gospel to their own people. There is yet much land to be possessed. Pray that the Lord of the Harvest will thrust forth workers into His harvest. * Missionary of the Christian and, Missionary Alliance. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
It is not safe. Adultery is rampant. The Jivaros are not immoral; they are unmoral, and we doubt very much whether they know what the term moral means. These Indians are the nearest thing to animals that we have ever seen. From necessity medical work has been done by the missionaries. Did we not tell them we had come to help them? There were no doctors in that part of the country, and while we gave them physical aid every opportunity was taken to witness to them of the wonderful love of God in sending His Son down to this earth to die in order that we might live. It was wonderful to see how God blessed the simple remedies used. In this way friends were made among them and they began to have confidence in us. We had to be “ all things” to them. A missionary working among such people must be ready to do anything that comes to hand. Many years passed without our seeing any visible fruit for our Lord. We had nothing upon which to stand but the promises of God. We relied upon Isaiah 55:11: “ It shall not return unto him void,” and Galatians 6:9: “ In due sea son we shall reap, if we faint not.” Many times we were nigh to fainting— “ But God” ! Prayers were ascending for these Jivaros. The Holy Spirit was working in hearts. The day came when there was a break. A middle-aged woman accepted the Lord as her Saviour. Naturally we thought that the men would accept first, but often God works in reverse, as far as we are concerned. Then a young man came out for the Lord. How our hearts rejoiced! Then another lad, whose father is one of the most evil men we know, and whose two brothers are witch doc tors, took a stand for the Lord. In his home much drunkenness prevailed and the drums were beaten constantly. The noise was terrific and there was no peace, but in such a home God spoke, and this boy responded. The harvest had begun. Two years ago we had our first bap tismal service. What a day that was! At long last we were seeing fruit for God’s glory! Now there is a small group of Jivaro believers: men and women who love the Lord and are singing His praises and testifying of His goodness to them. From the first we have stressed God’s Word. Scripture-memorization plays an important part. The young boys in the Mission Boarding School are storing God’s Word in their hearts. They love to read, now that they have learned
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