certainly had us outnumbered.” There was a slight pause before he answered and said, “God did not want us to kill you. God knew you had a message for us that we needed. And so every time we shot at you, something happened. A branch would come in the way, a leaf blocked our view, the wind deflected our arrows. No matter how hard we tried, we just could not kill you. Let’s not talk about that. Let’s talk about Heaven, about Jesus, about living forever with Him. We don’t kill anymore. We want others to have life.” • • • I was at my office desk at Word of Life headquarters just outside of San Paulo. The telephone rang, and I picked it up to hear a distant “Hello.” “This is Abraham, the Xavante Indian.” He wanted to promote a men’s retreat for all the Xavantes who had participated in our first encounter some 35 years ago and would like very much for me to come. Abraham would try to obtain a pass from the government authorities, so I told him, “If you can get the pass, I’ll be there.” This time we went overland by truck. There was no road, but we finally got to the river. I jumped off the truck and started hiking down the riverbank until I came to a place that had remained unchanged for all of 35 years. “This is the place!” I yelled. ‘’This is where we met the first time.” “You’re right,” said Abraham. “This is where we had our very first encounter.” Vivid memories raced through my mind, the anxiety, the fears, the frustrations - and now everything so different. What a revolution the Gospel had created in this tribe! We pitched our tents and set up a crude kitchen. For three days we sang hymns, listened to testimonies, and studied the Word of
160
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker