Reaching High into the Andes with the Good News
As told by “Awake!” correspondent in Peru
THOUSANDS of rugged mountain peaks, up to 22,000 feet high, crowd each other along the entire length of Peru. Scattered among the high plateaus and fertile valleys of this sierra or Andes mountain territory, the majority of the country’s fourteen million people live an isolated existence. Some of the plateaus are so high their inhabitants can witness the birth of rain, and watch it fall away to the valleys below. Seemingly bottomless gorges and steep mountain slopes discourage travel on the part of the people who live here. Thus, many are unaware of occurrences even a few hundred miles distant.
We might at first conclude that this ignorance of the world’s social, political, racial and economic breakdowns is a blessing for them. However, the meaning of these things is something that even they need to know. This evidence of an imminent change for the better is “good news” for these isolated people too. (Matt. 24:14) But how can they be reached?
Plan of Action
Casa Luz (“house of light”), a roving fiber-glass-body housecar built especially for travel in the Andes, has helped. Casa Luz was designed for four full-time preachers of Jehovah’s witnesses. It arrived at Callao port early in 1972. Thereafter began a series of birth pains to adapt it to mountain life in Peru. Since the greater portion of its life was to be spent in the interior, the housecar had to be reinforced for intermountain roads and trails.
Special heavy-duty springs were installed. Sheets of metal for protection against rocks were fitted over the gear box and other vulnerable spots. Enormous heavy-duty bumpers and guards were fabricated and welded on the front and the back. Extra racks were attached above for supplies and over the back bumper for carrying a trail bike (motorcycle). In isolated sections, it may be days before a supply barrel of gasoline can be reached, and a twenty-seven-foot mobile home traveling over steep and rocky inclines could be expected to average little more than six miles to the gallon. So an extra gas tank was installed. Finally, a Land Rover jeep, to be a traveling companion, was purchased and similarly outfitted for mountain travel.
On May 21, 1972, the four enthusiastic ministers left Lima loaded with supplies, including many cartons of Bibles and Bible study literature. They were destined for points that could only be approximated on the map. Their plan was to reach as many persons as possible with the good news of God’s kingdom, however remote their location. What kind of people would they meet?
People of the Andes
The people here, far from “civilization’s” social and moral problems, are tranquil, friendly and hospitable. Little groups of their windowless huts lie in the heatless mountain sun, wisps of smoke seeping through thatched roofs. Children play outside, windburned cheeks aglow. A boy tends his sheep, a farmer plows his acre, and, in the distance, a neighbor disappears down the trail on a two-day trek to the nearest village store.
Centuries ago their Inca ancestors roamed these same valleys and climbed the same terraced steppes up the mountainsides. Then, in 1533, Francisco Pizarro, representing the monarchy of Spain, captured Atahualpa, the last Inca king of Peru. This paved the way for Spanish control. Bringing with him the religion of his country, Pizarro initiated a period of torturous changeover, as his conquerors “persuaded” the Inca nation to adopt the Catholic religion.
The result was a mixture of beliefs and loyalties. Churches were built, crosses erected, new religious customs adopted, but their original pagan rites still persisted. Today in the many mountain villages a cross peeks from almost every housetop, yet the sun-god is honored yearly. Now Catholic priests are scarce, almost nonexistent in the small villages. Many churches have been boarded up and the priest comes around once or twice a year, on festival days. They have less and less contact with their religion and even less spiritual stimulation.
Yet these unassuming people are listening to the Bible message brought by the ministers who travel in Casa Luz. How do they carry on this ministry among these scattered, isolated people?
When they are out in the mountains, each working day in Casa Luz begins at 5:00 a.m., or earlier. Three of the four ministers make preparations for a full day’s preaching. While they load their leather cases with Bibles and study aids, their companion on “home” duty for the day prepares breakfast. Discussion of a Bible text follows breakfast, providing a stimulating spiritual beginning for the day.
Setting out in the Land Rover, the three drive along until homes are spotted on the hillsides. Then they separate on foot, intent on bringing the good news to every individual. Over rocks they go, through bushes, across streams, heading for a hacienda in a fertile valley or a thatched-roof hut perched on a plateau. Almost everyone, whether peasant, schoolteacher, police chief or mayor, listens to their message of hope. These people are anxious to read the literature left with them.
So much interest was shown in one town that the villagers persuaded the ministers to remain for three days so they could learn as much as possible. Since then a prosperous little congregation has been formed. Such appreciation for the Bible’s message is common. In one religious town a man had taken a piece of literature early in the day. Later he was overjoyed to see two of the ministers returning past his home. He was burning with questions about the use of images in worship, the subject of one of the chapters he had been reading. After an hour’s enlightening discussion, he gathered together all his images, poured kerosine over them, and burned them on the spot!
Learning to Cope
Most mountain folk live on what they produce from a few furrows of land; money is scarce. So produce is offered to cover the cost of Bible literature. As the leather bags empty of books, they begin to fill with potatoes, eggs, avocados or a few pounds of coffee beans. On one occasion 120 ears of corn were emptied onto the floor of Casa Luz at day’s end! In the event a chicken is offered, the minister must chase it down and catch it! How would you like to carry a chicken under your arm for the rest of a day, preaching in the mountains?
Scarcely a day is uneventful—from dodging dogs and bulls to avoiding cactus plants. Sometimes a river has to be forded on precariously placed spindly poles. Flat tires are a daily event. Other repairs on both vehicles must continually be made. Sometimes that is no easy task. On one occasion, the axle on the Land Rover broke. It took twelve days on trail bike, bus and train for one of the ministers to reach a large town and come back with the replacement part!
Such experiences have made the four ready for any eventuality—from spending an entire day without food, to enjoying a simple meal of boiled potatoes with an Indian family. Skin bronzed by sun and wind, muscles toned from daily walking and climbing, they can now go up a mountainside with scarcely a pause for breath in the rarefied atmosphere. And this at altitudes up to 15,000 feet!
After a nine- or ten-hour day, three tired but satisfied ministers often arrive back at the jeep as darkness begins to fall. They exchange experiences while heading for “home.” A hearty meal prepared by the day’s “cook” awaits them. This is followed by personal study or by one of the three meetings they hold each week to improve their ministry. A welcome bed then greets them until 5:00 a.m., when they begin the cycle anew. Reaching these friendly, isolated mountain people with the good news has been well worth the effort.
From icy plateaus in the shadow of giant ice caps, to steaming valleys on the jungle side, majestic Andes mountain scenery constantly reminds these ministers of their Creator. They realize the urgent need for honest people living in the midst of this grandeur to learn appreciation for the One who created it too. These isolated people of the Andes are being reached. The future of sincere individuals among them is becoming bright with hope as Casa Luz reaches high into the Andes with the good news.