The Agersten Missionary Story
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    • Chapters 1-15 The Ministry begins: Tarma >
      • Chapter 1: Farewell to Norway
      • Chapter 2: The First Journey to Peru - 1
      • Chapter 3: The First Journey to Peru, - 2
      • Chapter 4: The Arrival in Lima
      • Chapter 5: Welcome to Tarma
      • Chapter 6: 3000 meters above sea-level - Travels around Tarma
      • Chapter 7: A New Home and Goodbye to the Lindgrens
      • Chapter 8: Daily Life - Part 1
      • Chapter 9: The Church: Casa de Oracion - part 1
      • Chapter 10: Visits to Huancayo
      • Chapter 11: Visiting new places
      • Chapter 12: The Church: Casa de Oracion Part 2
      • Chapter 13: North to Bagua
      • Chapter 14: Daily Life - Part 2
      • Chapter 15: Farewell to Tarma
    • Chapters 16-26: Exploring the Jungle from Bagua Chica >
      • Chapter 16: The Move to Bagua Chica
      • Chapter 17 Early Days in Bagua Chica
      • Chapter 18: Exploring the jungle - part 1
      • Chapter 19: Exploring the Jungle, Part 2
      • Chapter 20: Exploring the jungle - part 3
      • Chapter 21: Exploring the Jungle - Part 4
      • Chapter 22: Considering our Next Steps
      • Chapter 23: Preparing to Leave Bagua Chica
      • Chapter 24: Building a boat in Yurimaguas
      • Chapter 25: The first trip in El Sembrador
      • Chapter 26: The Last Day in Bagua
    • Chapters 27 - 35: The Work in the Jungle Begins >
      • Chapter 27: Traveling down the river to Borja
      • Chapter 28: The first mission trip in El Sembrador
      • Chapter 29: From Shoroya Cocha to the Border of Ecuador
      • Chapter 30 : Traveling the Marañon and Pataza Rivers
      • Chapter 31: Christmas in Yurimaguas
      • Chapter 32: Settling in Tigre Playa
      • Chapter 33: Building the Ministry and Building a House
      • Chapter 34: We are invited to an Awajun Tribal Village
      • Chapter 35: Returning to Norway for a Time of Rest
    • Ch 36 -49: Returning to the Jungle >
      • Chapter 36: Returning for a second season to Peru
      • Chapter 37: Raising a new church building and a miracle
      • Chapter 38: A Family Trip up the Morona River with the New Houseboat
      • Chapter 39: the Village of San Juan
      • Chapter 40: Bible Weeks and a Fishing Miracle
      • Chapter 41: Visiting some of the Awajun Tribe on the Cahuapanas River
      • Chapter 42: Unexpected Events in the Midst of Everyday Life
      • Chapter 43: Visiting Villages in Morona with the Wilhelms
      • Chapter 44: A Surprising Helicopter Landing:A sign of changes to come
      • Chapter 45: A Generator Brings Exciting Changes to our Lives in Tigre Playa
      • Chapter 46 : Another Visit to the Cahuapanas River
      • Chapter 47: Establishing Contact with Wycliffe/JAARS
      • Chapter 48: A Suspensful Visit to a Chapra Village
      • Chapter 49: Communication by Ham Radio - A Great Blessing
    • Chapters 50 - :The ministry continues >
      • Chapter 50:A Visit to the Achuar people near the Ecuador Border
      • Chapter 51: An Awajun Group Forms a New Village
      • Chapter 52: The Uritoyacu Villagers Relocate again

Chapter 32: Settling in Tigre Playa
Establishing a home and a base for future work in the village Tigre Playa    
AS TOLD BY GRO AGERSTEN

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We were very excited as we approached the village Tigre Playa again on Jan. 1st, 1970 after spending Christmas in Yurimaguas. We were happy and grateful we had been led to this village that would be our home and base for the ministry in the region. As we docked and tied up the boat in front of the hut we had purchased, quite a few villagers came to meet us although many were still working on their fields at this time of day.
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    Before we left for Yurimaguas we had hired some people to repair the two huts, including laying new palm roofs. We could see that the roof on the main hut was not complete yet, and we were a bit disappointed since we had looked forward to moving out of the narrow, wobbly boat after living in it for three months. Fortunately, the smaller kitchen hut had a brand new palm roof, so we would be able to use it right away. It was situated behind the main hut and there was a short bridge between them. Both huts were on stilts as is usual in the jungle and had walls and floors of bamboo and palm trunks that were cut open and unfolded. Everything was tied together with vines without any nails. A couple of the walls just went up halfway, and the resulting openings served as windows. There was no door, but just a small gate into the house from steps leading up to the front of the main building. It didn’t stop people from coming in, but it did keep out the neighborhood dogs.

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We moved into the kitchen hut with our table and some chairs we had in the boat. We laid our mattresses on the floor on top of some heavy plastic sheets, then hung the mosquito netting over that. Every morning we would put the “beds” away for the day. Even though it was cramped in the small hut, we were glad to sleep in a “house” again and have solid ground under us. However, that first night we woke up to a racket under the kitchen floor. The neighborhood pigs had gotten used to sleeping on the ground under the hut and there was a lot of scuffling, oinking, and squealing right under us. We got up several times to chase them away, but as soon as we lay down again, they would come back. After a few nights of interrupted sleep, John had an idea. Just before going to bed that evening, we boiled a big kettle of water. We hadn't slept long before we were awakened by the pigs again. John got up, got the kettle, and poured the water through the cracks in the palm floor onto the pigs. There was quite a commotion and noise as the pigs ran out of there, and that was the last time they laid down under our hut!
We did have other small animal visitors; the forest rats were particularly bold. They did not usually wake us up, but if we were awake, we could often hear them around the mattresses. We were thankful for the mosquito nets that not only kept the mosquitos out but also other insects and small critters such as bats and rats. All food items had to be carefully stored away in barrels, cans, and glass jars, and we learned quickly that it was important to clean away any bits of food and crumbs from all surfaces to avoid an invasion of ants.

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Moving in and practical tasks

    The day after arriving in Tigre Playa, some young boys helped John move the refrigerator and the cooking stove out of the boat and into the house. He also brought in a small table with shelves and a mirror that hung above it. There we kept the washbowl and toiletries. John started making me a kitchen counter right away with shelves out of materials from palm trees bound together with vines. The countertop was a new tin plate. It was simple but functional! At night, we were thankful for the Petromax lamp that gave us good light. It used paraffin, just like the stove and refrigerator.

    We had to get water from the river. The Marañon river water is brown since the strong current stirs up the mud and sediments from the riverbed. This is particularly true during the rainy season when the river runs high and fast. We would bring in water in the afternoon and pour it into some clean barrels. During the night, the sediment would settle to the bottom. We would then boil any water we would be using for drinking. It was a lot of work to get enough usable water. At least when the water was high, it was not so far to carry, but when it got low, the riverbank was further from the house and the bank would be muddy.

 We bathed in the river each evening before it got dark and the mosquitos arrived. It always got dark around 6 - 6:30 pm year-round. We were usually sweaty and hot, so it was refreshing to bathe and change clothes each evening. We were early to bed and up with the sun just like the rest of the villagers. 

While we were making shelves and doing other things to make our lives as practical as possible in this primitive environment, the workers we had hired in the village were laying the roof on the main building. They finished after a few days, and John left with the boat for Borja to bring back the rest of our things. We had been able to store them in a house in Borja when we started our journey in the “El Sembrador” from there about three months ago. Happily, he found everything just as we had left it. When he returned to Tigre Playa with everything we had lots of help to carry and many curious observers as well. They helped carry in our beds, some simple furniture, a couple of big wooden boxes, and our travel trunk that would serve as a coffee table during our stay in the bamboo hut. The beds and the furniture had been taken apart and had to be reassembled, something that our young helpers found very fascinating.


The main hut had a good size room in the center. The entrance gate was in the middle front of this room, and opposite it in the back was the little bridge to the kitchen hut. There was a bedroom on either side: a larger one where we placed our double bed and a dresser, and a smaller one that would be Maino and Lewi’s room. We had not brought their beds because they could not be disassembled and packed flat, and there was no room for them in the moving load. John built them beds out of palm tree materials, and also shelves for clothes. Mattresses were put on the beds and finally, the mosquito netting was hung and tightly tucked under the mattresses to protect them from mosquitos and other crawling things. They seemed quite happy with their new beds.

Once we were pretty well settled, John made several sawhorses that we could lay planks over. These we used as benches when our living room needed to be turned into a church for services. We did not have much living room furniture, only a simple bookshelf we had with us from Norway, two camping chairs, and the travel trunk serving as a coffee table. Maino and Lewi also had a small camping chair each. This made it easy to change the function of the room. When not in use as benches for church services, the sawhorses and planks were stored on the ground under the palm floor.

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We invite the villagers to services at our house

We went and visited all the homes in the village the week before our first Sunday service. In a couple of homes, the people were dismissive and would barely speak to us, but overall we were almost surprised at how welcoming and friendly the people were toward us. Here, as in most of the villages along the Marañon, people were predominantly Spanish speakers. They were mostly descendants of people who had moved into the jungle from the mountains either to work in the rubber industry or just looking for land to farm. We discovered that many of the older generations did not speak Spanish well. They spoke a Quechua dialect that is used in the mountainous jungle areas in the northeastern part of Peru. When we arrived, the state had established Spanish-speaking schools in many of the villages, so the next generation often spoke both. In contrast, the younger generations only spoke Spanish fluently with the exception of a few Quechua words they had learned from their grandparents. This was to our advantage since we had been working with and practicing our Spanish for three years now.
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Not many people came to that first service, but as the weeks passed, our living room filled up with children and adults during the services. A few young people had accepted Jesus during our first visit last fall, and now several others joined them in the faith. The teaching, the songs, and the accordion music were something new and interesting for both young and old.

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Ministering to both body and spirit.
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    In a letter home, I summed up some of our new experiences:
“At this time of the year, the village children are on a three-month summer vacation from school. On February 2nd we started a two-week Bible School for them. Every afternoon from 2 pm to 4:30 pm, our house is full of children and young people who are excited to be learning. We have them in two groups; I am in the living room with the 7 to 13-year-olds, while John is in the kitchen hut with the 14 to 20-year-olds. Since there has been a school here for several years, most of them can read although it is often slow going. Of the adult population, very few can read and illiteracy is particularly common among the women. I’m actually starting lessons with one of the women who wants to be able to read the Bible.

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There are also a lot of physical needs around us. Every day people come to us for help and medications for a variety of illnesses. John takes care of the majority of this work. Fortunately, we are staying healthy ourselves. The children are doing great and keep busy all day. Maino is very excited about the “school” and all the children who come each afternoon. She walks around singing all day long and talking our ears off. Lewi runs around right outside and pretends he is driving a boat with an outboard motor.
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I’d better end this letter now. It is late, the paraffin lamp is out, and I am writing in the light of a couple of candles. The mosquitos are biting, and I need to get under the mosquito netting. This letter will be sent with a boat that is stopping at the village in the morning on its way to Iquitos. They will post our letters there.” 

    These first months in Tigre Playa became a pioneering time in many ways. We had a lot to learn about life and the people of the jungle. It was also a very busy time. It felt like things were in place, just waiting for us to start the ministry. There were so many needs in so many areas, more than we had been able to imagine before we arrived, but we could feel the prayers of family and friends and the hand of the Lord with us every step of the way.

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  • Home
  • About
  • Maps
  • Sections
    • Chapters 1-15 The Ministry begins: Tarma >
      • Chapter 1: Farewell to Norway
      • Chapter 2: The First Journey to Peru - 1
      • Chapter 3: The First Journey to Peru, - 2
      • Chapter 4: The Arrival in Lima
      • Chapter 5: Welcome to Tarma
      • Chapter 6: 3000 meters above sea-level - Travels around Tarma
      • Chapter 7: A New Home and Goodbye to the Lindgrens
      • Chapter 8: Daily Life - Part 1
      • Chapter 9: The Church: Casa de Oracion - part 1
      • Chapter 10: Visits to Huancayo
      • Chapter 11: Visiting new places
      • Chapter 12: The Church: Casa de Oracion Part 2
      • Chapter 13: North to Bagua
      • Chapter 14: Daily Life - Part 2
      • Chapter 15: Farewell to Tarma
    • Chapters 16-26: Exploring the Jungle from Bagua Chica >
      • Chapter 16: The Move to Bagua Chica
      • Chapter 17 Early Days in Bagua Chica
      • Chapter 18: Exploring the jungle - part 1
      • Chapter 19: Exploring the Jungle, Part 2
      • Chapter 20: Exploring the jungle - part 3
      • Chapter 21: Exploring the Jungle - Part 4
      • Chapter 22: Considering our Next Steps
      • Chapter 23: Preparing to Leave Bagua Chica
      • Chapter 24: Building a boat in Yurimaguas
      • Chapter 25: The first trip in El Sembrador
      • Chapter 26: The Last Day in Bagua
    • Chapters 27 - 35: The Work in the Jungle Begins >
      • Chapter 27: Traveling down the river to Borja
      • Chapter 28: The first mission trip in El Sembrador
      • Chapter 29: From Shoroya Cocha to the Border of Ecuador
      • Chapter 30 : Traveling the Marañon and Pataza Rivers
      • Chapter 31: Christmas in Yurimaguas
      • Chapter 32: Settling in Tigre Playa
      • Chapter 33: Building the Ministry and Building a House
      • Chapter 34: We are invited to an Awajun Tribal Village
      • Chapter 35: Returning to Norway for a Time of Rest
    • Ch 36 -49: Returning to the Jungle >
      • Chapter 36: Returning for a second season to Peru
      • Chapter 37: Raising a new church building and a miracle
      • Chapter 38: A Family Trip up the Morona River with the New Houseboat
      • Chapter 39: the Village of San Juan
      • Chapter 40: Bible Weeks and a Fishing Miracle
      • Chapter 41: Visiting some of the Awajun Tribe on the Cahuapanas River
      • Chapter 42: Unexpected Events in the Midst of Everyday Life
      • Chapter 43: Visiting Villages in Morona with the Wilhelms
      • Chapter 44: A Surprising Helicopter Landing:A sign of changes to come
      • Chapter 45: A Generator Brings Exciting Changes to our Lives in Tigre Playa
      • Chapter 46 : Another Visit to the Cahuapanas River
      • Chapter 47: Establishing Contact with Wycliffe/JAARS
      • Chapter 48: A Suspensful Visit to a Chapra Village
      • Chapter 49: Communication by Ham Radio - A Great Blessing
    • Chapters 50 - :The ministry continues >
      • Chapter 50:A Visit to the Achuar people near the Ecuador Border
      • Chapter 51: An Awajun Group Forms a New Village
      • Chapter 52: The Uritoyacu Villagers Relocate again