By Suzy Richardson
Special to ASSIST News Service


SAPPHIRE, NC (ANS) -- More than 13 years ago, a young American woman boarded a tiny airplane that would carry her away from the comforts of a familiar America, into the heart of the thick, mysterious jungles of Brazil's Amazon Region.

Jeanette Wayne and husband Richard and children Emmaline, Chloe and Benjamin.

 And while the following 18 months forever changed Jeanette Wayne's view of the world, she recalls a journey that forever changed her heart.

"That experience was just priceless," recalled Wayne, founder of 'Amazon Fellowship', a ministry whose goal is to link American Christians with Brazilian missionaries living amongst the indigenous people of the Brazil Amazon Region. "It changed my life."

Wayne formed Amazon Fellowship in 1992, which is now a part of ASSIST Ministries - after she and husband Richard returned from their missionary trip. Wayne describes the experience as one that stretched her in many ways: she experienced the highs of ministering to fascinating, new cultures and the lows of feeling isolated.

In the midst of the isolation, someone reached out- through a simple letter that dropped from the sky.

"The letters come by a plane drop because some of the tribes are so remote," she explained. "I just can't even express how much that means to get a letter when you're out in the middle of a jungle."

And through a simple letter, Wayne's vision for Amazon Fellowship grew.

"Having been there as a missionary, I know personally how deeply it affects you knowing that you are not all alone; knowing that there are people who actually are thinking of you; they haven’t forgotten you even though you’re literally at the ends of the earth," Wayne said. "To get those letters, it’s just priceless."

For many missionaries, the correspondence with other believers is powerful, Wayne said. Many missionaries spend the bulk of their time ministering to and living among tribes who still do not believe in Jesus Christ.

"Just seeing the spiritual blessings, knowing that they've got people here who care about them and are praying for them, it means a lot," Wayne said.

Since its beginning, Amazon Fellowship has supported a slew of missionary families- many with children. The group sends care packages every six months, and financial support monthly- the amount depending upon each family's size. Today, the group supports eight families throughout the region.

According to Wayne, the families- who often live below poverty level- use the financial assistance for the most basic needs.

"I know what it's like to have a little bit extra to take care of a need," Wayne explained. "That's often what happens is the missionaries can’t take care of their health because they don’t have anything extra. Anything extra usually goes toward helping the Indians or something other than their own health."

Recently, the ministry received a donation of $10,000- their largest ever- from the former Grace Fellowship Church in Shelby, NC.

Juarez and Lu Aguiar and children Lis, Caio and Amy: Missionaries to the Yanomami Indian tribe.

"That has just been the greatest joy for me, to start sending large amounts of financial support to these wonderful Brazilian areas," Wayne said.

With the donation, Amazon Fellowship has made some dreams come true- simple dreams that many Americans do not understand.

One missionary was finally able to fix the infected teeth that pained her for so many years. "I could almost hear their shouts of joy over the e-mail when (she) said 'I'm finally able to get my teeth fixed.' She was just so elated," Wayne said.

The missionaries are impacting a myriad of cultures for Christ, according to Wayne, who has seen some astounding transformations since 1992.

Wayne points to the Jarwara tribe, a small Indian tribe of about 180 people, as one example. In the last 15 years, more than 80% of the members have dedicated their lives to Christ.

"They've almost worked themselves out of a job there," Wayne said of the dedicated missionaries. "They have just been so busy ministering and now they're really just discipling because there are so many Christians now in this tribe."

Daniel and Du Wild and children Martin and Marcus Missionaries to the Jaminawa Indians for 17+ years

"We feel part of a very big and wonderful family around the world. We don't feel alone." said Sandra Oliveira, a Brazilian missionary who has ministered to the Jarawara tribe for 10 years. "To know that we have friends praying for us in another country and they understand what we are doing and they believe in our work is great."

Today, missionaries are working to translate 'The Jesus Film' into the Jarawara language. Several books of the Bible have already been translated.

"That is so incredible," Wayne said, adding that translation work is excruciatingly time consuming. "God's light is just shining in their hearts and they're getting to read His Word in their own language and that's pretty amazing."

Wayne, a home schooling mother of three young children, strongly encourages American Christians everywhere to reach out to the Brazilian missionary families.

"I have a profile form that I send to people that they can feel out to tell me about their selves and about the kind of family or individual Brazilian that they would want to be linked with and we go from there," Wayne said.

Wayne pointed to the Pellien family, who has continuously supported a missionary family of four for more than 12 years.

"Through the years, they have formed a special bond with that Brazilian family and it's exciting to see and hear them talk about their friendship," Wayne said. "It’s just been so exciting to me to hear from both of them about what a blessing it is to have that special friendship."

"It's humbling to know that there are people that have given their whole lives to a group of people," said Julie Pellien, a mother of three. "Just to see them come to the Lord, it's really amazing."

And while her children have learned about other cultures through this experience, they have also learned about themselves.

"It teaches my kids how much they actually have in comparison with other people and how fortunate they are to have a church and to have the gospel preached everywhere," Pellien said. "I think that it's real good for them to remember that people do give their lives for this."

Wayne is also interested in connecting American children with the missionary children, something that hasn’t happened for more than two years during a Vacation Bible School.

In the center of this photo are the missionaries who minister to the Jarawara Indian tribe.  They are > David and Francisca Irving and their children Robert and Alice.  They have been ministering to the Jarawaras for about 15 years.

"The whole theme of our VBS was about the Amazon jungle," she said. "Everybody dressed up. They were in jungle attire. The kids got to see, in action, what it's like."

Spearheading the correspondence, Wayne involved more than 100 American children.

"Each class, I assigned particular missionary children," she said. "So they wrote letters to those particular children and that was just a blessing."

By the end of VBS, the children had raised more than $1800 for the missionary families. The money was used to build a playground for the missionary children.

"It might not sound like a big deal to Americans, but it was a really, really big deal to them," Wayne said. "These are kids who have very, very little. They just don't have toys, games and that kind of thing."

Bottom line- Wayne says- Americans need to get involved.

"We are looking for people to sponsor families or individuals," she said. "Being able to be a part of something bigger than them selves, getting children involved, is very meaningful. Many people are much less fortunate than we are but choose that life because they want to serve God and minister to those people."

For more information, or to sponsor a missionary family, contact Amazon Fellowship at rwayne1@citcom.net, or 828-862-3727.

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Suzy Richardson is a freelance writer and has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Florida.  She currently freelances for a variety of Christian media outlets, including Charisma magazine. Suzy lives with her husband, Marquis, and two children in Charlotte, North Carolina. Contact Suzy at naomirich@yahoo.com.

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