Chapter 54: Elio's Ministry Among the Shawi - Part 2
AS TOLD BY GRO AGERSTEN
Elio returns to another Bible study week in Tigre Playa.
We traveled to Norway on New Year's Day 1976 and returned to Tigre Playa in February 1977. We are not sure if Elio visited Tigre Playa during that time. Some time after we returned, we heard through the Wycliffe/Jaars pilots that he was working as a teacher and evangelist among the Shawi people in Sillay. Wycliffe was working on translating the New Testament into the Shawi language. They had already translated some songs and some parts of the Bible into their language. The Shawi people also lived scattered in many villages along the Paranapura River, which flows into the Huallaga River just below the town of Yurimaguas. Bible translators from Wycliffe had learned the language in one of the villages at Paranapura. In the highlands where that river and Sillay begin, but go in different directions, the villagers follow paths that connect the villages on both of these tributaries. Through Wycliffe, we got in touch with Elio again and invited him to a Bible week for leaders in 1978.
We traveled to Norway on New Year's Day 1976 and returned to Tigre Playa in February 1977. We are not sure if Elio visited Tigre Playa during that time. Some time after we returned, we heard through the Wycliffe/Jaars pilots that he was working as a teacher and evangelist among the Shawi people in Sillay. Wycliffe was working on translating the New Testament into the Shawi language. They had already translated some songs and some parts of the Bible into their language. The Shawi people also lived scattered in many villages along the Paranapura River, which flows into the Huallaga River just below the town of Yurimaguas. Bible translators from Wycliffe had learned the language in one of the villages at Paranapura. In the highlands where that river and Sillay begin, but go in different directions, the villagers follow paths that connect the villages on both of these tributaries. Through Wycliffe, we got in touch with Elio again and invited him to a Bible week for leaders in 1978.
Elio arrived well in advance of the Bible Week. It was exciting and joyful to meet him again after a long time. Gunnar Vervik and John taught the 24 leaders from congregations and outposts in the villages along the Marañon from San Lorenzo in the east to Saramiriza and Borja in the west, as well as some from the tributaries Morona and Potro. Oddbjørg and Gunnar had worked with us at Tigre Playa for just over a year while Eva and Rudolf were in Norway. Elio was a great help at the Bible Week with his insightful comments and sharing of experiences from the work in Sillay. He was well-versed in God's Word and grounded in the faith. He appeared like a Timothy, equipped by the Holy Spirit for the work among the people he was convinced God had led him to. We heard that Wycliffe had completed the translation of the New Testament into Shawi in 1978, which was a great help to Elio's work as well.
To Tigre Playa after a bad fall from a coconut tree
Several years later, when we returned to Peru in February 1984 after 3 1/2 years in Norway, we came straight to a new Bible week at Tigre Playa. A couple of days into the week, while we were all gathered for Bible study at church, a small motorboat came and docked just below our house. One of the people in the boat came up and said that they had Elio with them, who was very sick. We went down to the boat and found Elio lying on a homemade stretcher. It was clear that he was in great pain. They explained that he had fallen from a palm tree while he was harvesting coconuts. This happened five days ago. He was unable to walk, and he had not been able to pass water since then. His stomach was tense like a drum, and he could hardly move because of the pain. The friends from Sillay had stopped at the Barranca military camp, located a short distance below us. At times, a doctor was stationed at the barracks there, but this time, there was no one there who could help.
They carried Elio up to one of the huts we had built for the sick and families who sought our help. We tried to figure out what to do. Elio had clearly injured his back and perhaps also his bladder or kidneys. We and the participants in the Bible Week gathered around Elio and prayed for him. He was still in great pain. It was the urinary retention that bothered him in particular. We soon realized that the only thing that could help was catheterization. None of us had done that before. However, we had a couple of catheters in our medical equipment for this exact purpose. We sterilized them on the stove in the kitchen. In the meantime, the sun had set, and darkness had descended on Tigre Playa. After the leaders participating in the Bible Week had eaten their supper, they went into the church to pray. We prayed while John prepared to insert the catheter. With God's help, he was able to drain an incredible amount of urine, which brought much relief to the patient. John told us that when he got home, Elio had sighed with relief and said, "Now I saw the tiger very close!" By that, he meant that he felt he had been close to death. It was a common expression in the jungle when faced with a life-threatening situation. John repeated the procedure the next morning as well. He still had great pain in his back when he tried to stand up, and he couldn't walk.
Elio to Yarina Cocha – Pucallpa
Through the ham radio, we told Wycliffe missionaries in Yarina Cocha about the accident Elio had been in, and told them that he was badly injured and in great pain. They sent a plane the very next day. It was a wheeled plane that landed on the airstrip we had cleared of bushes and undergrowth just above the mission house. The airstrip was completed in October 1978. Before that time, only seaplanes came to Tigre Playa. A large crowd of adults and children accompanied us when Elio was carried up to the airstrip. We were grateful that Wycliffe would take responsibility for having him examined and X-rayed, and they also covered the cost. They were aware of his work among the Shawi people and wanted to assist him. Elio had to have surgery in Pucallpa and had back pain for a long time before he finally recovered completely. When he was well enough, they flew him back to his family in Sillay.
A few years later, we met Elio and some others from Sillay in San Lorenzo during a joint Bible week for the entire area at the church there. It was a joyful reunion. Elio looked healthy and happy. He told us that he was a teacher at the school in one of the villages in Sillay, while also supporting the work in the small churches in the area. He and his wife had four children at the time. John also spoke with those who were with him. They said that Elio was highly respected by both the congregations and the rest of the Shawi people in the villages.
A surprising meeting with Elio in 2001.
After we moved upriver to Saramiriza on the Marañon on New Year's Day 1985, we were only sporadically in San Lorenzo and the surrounding areas, including the Cahuapanas and Sillay tributaries. However, through Wycliffe, we learned that in the 1990s, he collaborated with them and served as a Bible teacher and helper in the villages among the Shawi people, as well as in other indigenous tribes. We ended our work in Peru in the summer of 1999 and traveled to Norway. There was still a stock of fuel for the planes of JAARS and SAM (South American Mission) that employees of the congregation in Saramiriza were responsible for.
In 2001, when John visited Saramiriza with Jørgen Cloumann, then head of the Pentecostal Foreign Mission's work in Latin America, he unexpectedly met Elio Solis. He was a passenger on the SAM plane that was stopping over to refuel before it went on to some indigenous villages in the area. Elio said that he had become a widower, that his children were grown, and he spent all his time as a Bible teacher, translator, and interpreter among the indigenous people. He told of many solid churches with good leaders that had grown up in the villages of Sillay and Paranapura. The collaboration with Wycliffe and the Swiss Indian Mission (SIM) in evangelism and teaching in the villages in this area has borne rich fruit, according to Elio. It was with joy and gratitude that John said goodbye to Elio, who flew on in the small missionary plane on his way to new assignments.
Several years later, when we returned to Peru in February 1984 after 3 1/2 years in Norway, we came straight to a new Bible week at Tigre Playa. A couple of days into the week, while we were all gathered for Bible study at church, a small motorboat came and docked just below our house. One of the people in the boat came up and said that they had Elio with them, who was very sick. We went down to the boat and found Elio lying on a homemade stretcher. It was clear that he was in great pain. They explained that he had fallen from a palm tree while he was harvesting coconuts. This happened five days ago. He was unable to walk, and he had not been able to pass water since then. His stomach was tense like a drum, and he could hardly move because of the pain. The friends from Sillay had stopped at the Barranca military camp, located a short distance below us. At times, a doctor was stationed at the barracks there, but this time, there was no one there who could help.
They carried Elio up to one of the huts we had built for the sick and families who sought our help. We tried to figure out what to do. Elio had clearly injured his back and perhaps also his bladder or kidneys. We and the participants in the Bible Week gathered around Elio and prayed for him. He was still in great pain. It was the urinary retention that bothered him in particular. We soon realized that the only thing that could help was catheterization. None of us had done that before. However, we had a couple of catheters in our medical equipment for this exact purpose. We sterilized them on the stove in the kitchen. In the meantime, the sun had set, and darkness had descended on Tigre Playa. After the leaders participating in the Bible Week had eaten their supper, they went into the church to pray. We prayed while John prepared to insert the catheter. With God's help, he was able to drain an incredible amount of urine, which brought much relief to the patient. John told us that when he got home, Elio had sighed with relief and said, "Now I saw the tiger very close!" By that, he meant that he felt he had been close to death. It was a common expression in the jungle when faced with a life-threatening situation. John repeated the procedure the next morning as well. He still had great pain in his back when he tried to stand up, and he couldn't walk.
Elio to Yarina Cocha – Pucallpa
Through the ham radio, we told Wycliffe missionaries in Yarina Cocha about the accident Elio had been in, and told them that he was badly injured and in great pain. They sent a plane the very next day. It was a wheeled plane that landed on the airstrip we had cleared of bushes and undergrowth just above the mission house. The airstrip was completed in October 1978. Before that time, only seaplanes came to Tigre Playa. A large crowd of adults and children accompanied us when Elio was carried up to the airstrip. We were grateful that Wycliffe would take responsibility for having him examined and X-rayed, and they also covered the cost. They were aware of his work among the Shawi people and wanted to assist him. Elio had to have surgery in Pucallpa and had back pain for a long time before he finally recovered completely. When he was well enough, they flew him back to his family in Sillay.
A few years later, we met Elio and some others from Sillay in San Lorenzo during a joint Bible week for the entire area at the church there. It was a joyful reunion. Elio looked healthy and happy. He told us that he was a teacher at the school in one of the villages in Sillay, while also supporting the work in the small churches in the area. He and his wife had four children at the time. John also spoke with those who were with him. They said that Elio was highly respected by both the congregations and the rest of the Shawi people in the villages.
A surprising meeting with Elio in 2001.
After we moved upriver to Saramiriza on the Marañon on New Year's Day 1985, we were only sporadically in San Lorenzo and the surrounding areas, including the Cahuapanas and Sillay tributaries. However, through Wycliffe, we learned that in the 1990s, he collaborated with them and served as a Bible teacher and helper in the villages among the Shawi people, as well as in other indigenous tribes. We ended our work in Peru in the summer of 1999 and traveled to Norway. There was still a stock of fuel for the planes of JAARS and SAM (South American Mission) that employees of the congregation in Saramiriza were responsible for.
In 2001, when John visited Saramiriza with Jørgen Cloumann, then head of the Pentecostal Foreign Mission's work in Latin America, he unexpectedly met Elio Solis. He was a passenger on the SAM plane that was stopping over to refuel before it went on to some indigenous villages in the area. Elio said that he had become a widower, that his children were grown, and he spent all his time as a Bible teacher, translator, and interpreter among the indigenous people. He told of many solid churches with good leaders that had grown up in the villages of Sillay and Paranapura. The collaboration with Wycliffe and the Swiss Indian Mission (SIM) in evangelism and teaching in the villages in this area has borne rich fruit, according to Elio. It was with joy and gratitude that John said goodbye to Elio, who flew on in the small missionary plane on his way to new assignments.