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Amsterdam 2000 Testimony Transcribed

Thank you! It is a high honor and an extreme pleasure to be able to address all of you God followers from all over the world tonight.

I am here with two of my very dearest friends in the whole world. They knew that they were going to get to address all of you as God followers so they wanted to dress for the occasion. Tementa is an Elder in the Waodani church. His father was a stone age warrior who had no friendly contact with the outside world until my father and four of his friends made an attempt to make a friendly contact. It was his father who was the only man in the tribe that people call "Auca," (although their proper name is Waodani) that my father ever met. When he came to the beach where my father and his four friends had landed the small plane, he was fascinated with the airplane and showed by sign language that he wanted to ride in the plane. Finally he got into the airplane and my father didn't want to antagonize him, knowing that the tribe was famous for killing outsiders, so he decided to take him for a ride. He took him for a little ride and then landed, but Nenquihui, Tementa's father, still didn't get out, and made it obvious that he wanted to see his village from the air. So my dad flew him over the village; the door was off and my dad wrote in his journal that as he flew over the village he realized that Nenquihui didn't want to see the village from the air, he wanted the people in the village to see him in the air. And to be sure that they would see him, he tried to climb out of the open door onto the wing struts and my dad whote that he didn't want him to fall so he reached over to grab him but the Waodani didn't wear clothes except for a "g" string and Dad wasn't sure if he might be offended if he grabbed that. (Nervous Laughter)

Three years ago the Waodani Elders asked me to teach one of them to fly an airplane. They live in extremely rugged jungles in the eastern rain forests of Ecuador and they designated Tementa, Nenquihui's son, to be the first Waodani to learn to fly. We've spent three years developing an airplane and I thought you would want to know that last Saturday Tementa flew an aircraft by himself. I think it was an historic event not only for Tementa but for his tribe and for the gospel. (Applause)

And now I would like to introduce to you Maemae Mincaye, who would like to speak to you in just a minute. Maemae means Grandfather. I call him that because my children call him that. They love him dearly. Most of us know that God works in mysterious ways, don't we? It just happens that in God's economy, this man that my children call grandfather is the new grandfather who replaced their grandfather, a man that Mincaye killed when I was a little boy.

Last week at this time, Mincaye's only blonde granddaughter (my daughter Stephenie Rachel) was called home to heaven. When we rushed down to the hospital, he didn't know what was going on; I didn't know what was going on. He was very concerned and asked me if the doctors had done something to hurt Stephenie. When I told him they hadn't done anything, he got excited and said, now I see this well, God is doing this. And then he said to all the people that were gathered there in the intensive care unit, he said, "Nemo," Star (as they called her in the tribe), "has gone to live with God in heaven. I'm an old man and soon I'm going to heaven too. There I'm going to wait with young Star and old Star (my Aunt Rachel who had already died) and Steve's father and Guikita. (And he named others in the tribe who have gone on to heaven.) And he said, "When you come, living very well, we will be waiting for you in God's place." (Applause)

May I present to you one of my dearest friends and your brother in Christ, Maemae Mincaye? (Applause)

(Mincaye speaks, with Steve interpreting) "I am a true person. My ancestors lived angry and hating each other-that's how they lived. They didn't know any other way. The older people, my ancestors, went over to the Coca River and they would spear people there. Whenever the foreigners came into our land, living angry, we would just spear them. When we saw them, we speared them. But not only the foreigners; we also speared our own people. That's how we lived. (Steve Adds - He's wanting you to truly understand that they lived hating and killing each other.)

"It was a bad way to live, but they didn't know any other trail. My ancestors didn't know God's carving. How could they walk God's trail if they didn't see God's carving? I didn't know either, until somebody came to teach me God's carving, and then I began to understand.

When I killed Steve's father, I didn't know any better. Nobody had come to tell us and we didn't know that his father was coming to show us God's trail, and that's why we speared him.

Then Dayuma (Steve Adds - a young girl who had run away from the killings in the tribe), she came back to us, and she began to teach us God's carving; but when we asked her questions she said "I don't know any more, but if you see it well, I will invite my sister, she's a foreigner with white skin, I will tell her to come here and she can teach us how to follow God's trail, seeing God's carving."

My heart was black and sick in sin, but then I heard that God has sent His own son; His blood dripping and dripping, He washed my heart clean. NOW I LIVE WELL. Now you-God followers from all over the dirt, now I see you well because you are truly my brothers, God's blood having washed your hearts clean too." (Sustained Applause)

(Grandfather says he has one more thing to say.) Leaving in just a few days, I may never see you again here, but I will see you there. (And he said) Speaking God's carvings all over the world, let's take lots of people following God's trail to live with us in heaven (God's Place). (Sustained and Thunderous Applause)

Thank you! Today the Waodani are concerned for the next generation. Missions brought them the Gospel, but they see that the new generation is not listening to missionaries. And when my Aunt Rachel died, they asked me to come. I asked, "what can I do for you that the other foreigners haven't done for you?" They said, "Babae, listen to us well. We don't say you do, we say you teaching us, we ourselves will do. We will speak God's carvings to the new generation." They realize that this is their commission, and Saturday, if some of you can come to a workshop, they would like to share with you what they are doing to reach their people; but more than that they would love to meet some of you from places they will never see so they will know and can tell their people, that this family that we are part of covers the entire dirt (world).

There are things in this Western world that the Waodani don't understand. Mincaye can't understand why they cut so much grass to go look for these little white things they can't eat. He says, " Maybe they should cook them more." I don't understand golf either so I couldn't help him. (Laughter) And then Tementa said, "How is it, eating so much grass and leaves, that the foreigners are all so fat?" (Laughter)

They also don't understand that in God's economy, what they meant for evil so many years ago, God intended for good. I hope that I'm not imposing on you, but I have not been able to explain to them that God has used them as well as my father and four other missionaries to spread His gospel around this world.

Very quickly, without imposing on you, if, what we call the Auca story has affected you in some significant way, would you just very quickly stand so they can see that God has worked good from what they meant for evil. (The majority of the audience of 11,000 - 13,000 delegates stood.)

We see you God followers very well. God bless you!