Puesto Paz and the Jaguar Slayer

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Today was the final day of the Ayore conference. The women's team attended a portion of the church service in Puesto Paz and then took on children's entertainment duties to allow the adults to better participate. In this indigenous culture kids are not disciplined and when I say not disciplined I mean absolutely NO discipline. This creates a very disruptive environment for the conference. We did another VBS...this time, the story of the Crossing of the Red Sea. As Marci told the story Suzy and I drew the picture of it in the background. We are amazing artists as you will see from the pictures...Sike! We pre-stenciled the paper with light pencil so that we "looked" like amazing artists...haha! The kids loved it and were extremely occupied...thank goodness! We then did a Red Sea craft. After the VBS the men's and women's groups gathered, had lunch and then headed back to the church. The Ayore men went to another building for men's bible study led by our hunting machine, Gary and the Ayore women stayed in the church house with us for what turned out to be, an emotional women's study led by Suzy. Both were well received by the people!

Now to the real reason you clicked to view this entry...the Jaguar Slayer story.

In the Ayore culture to become the village chief you must kill a jaguar or an enemy. While walking through the woods one day, Don Pedrito, came face-to-face with a jaguar. He pursued hand to hand combat and killed the beast with his knife. This was not without serious consequence. Don Pedrito was disfigured by the event. He did however win the respect of his community and was named chief. His headdress was made from the vicious animal as a reminder to his people. Although these customs are no longer practiced you can still visit with Don Pedrito in Poza Verde where he is on the Council of Elders. Today I had the privilege of meeting such a wise, spiritual and kind warrior. See Don Pedrito chanting a bible story at today's conference at Puesto Paz...it's amazing!

If you can't view the video on the blog you can also see it at

Hasta mañana!

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