A Book About A TRŪe Amazon Adventure - "Beyond The Call" By Harry G. Flinner (retired) Missionary of the Church of the Nazarene

A Glimpse Of

Chapter Three    Pages 57 - 96

“FLINNER, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING?”

The raft

Framing the house

Our home was ready

           

            The furlough year ended.  I was back in Peru, facing a formidable task.  No one had ever done what I was attempting to do.  There were no houses in the jungle like the one I designed and there was nothing in the rain forest I could use to build it.  No one had ever built a raft that would carry ten tons of cargo through rapids, whirlpools and several waterfalls.

Several days down river we arrived at the Cusu River, the site I had chosen to build our home.  I built a temporary shelter and settle down to spend my first night alone in the jungle.   When daylight came there were fifty people crowded around my little camp. The situation was a bit intimidating. The men were armed with primitive weapons. I was alone.  I was an intruder.  Can you blame me for feeling intimidated?  I always knew the day would come when I would meet those people, but I didn’t think it would be lying in my sleeping bag looking up at their strange faces.  I crawled out of my wet sack to confront my visitors.  Any intelligent communication was impossible., but they seemed to sense that I was not much of a threat standing there virtually naked and alone.

 My first task was to dig out the hillside and make a level area above the high water.  It was a far bigger job than I could expect to do myself.  The Indians could see what I was trying to do and several came to help me.  A few days into the project I sensed that something was wrong.  My workers seemed agitated and angry.

I discovered that Chimpe, the witch doctor, who lived a mile or so up the Cusu, was stirring up trouble for me.  He was upset because a White Man was moving into his jungle.  He threatened to kill me, burn my house and take my family.  I knew the witch doctor could make that threat real.  I knew if I were going to live there I would have to meet Chimpe and become his friend.  How I won the friendship of that shaman was an interesting experience.

The shaman who threatened to kill me and my family

 

In about four months the house was livable, even though it was far from finished.  I hiked out of the jungle to bring in my family.  I contacted the Wycliffe Bible Translators on HAM radio and arranged for them to send a small pontoon plane to transport my family to our new home in the jungle.  That first flight in was fretted with problems that made it an unforgettable adventure.  Eventually we arrived safely at the Cusu and we were home.  I was with my family living with the Aguarunas.  I liked it a whole lot better.  Things were beginning to look up.  Praise the Lord.