Messenger in a Bottle

For generations, the Wilo people languished in fear of the powerful witchcraft of neighboring tribes and the capricious whims of the jungle spirits. Hope is kindled, though, when they hear of a book said to contain a message from the creator God. In desperation, they plead for a messenger - any messenger - who might come and explain this mysterious message to them. But they weren't counting on messengers like these.With humor and quick pace, Davey and Marie recount the ensuing chaos as the missionaries embrace tribal life while struggling to decipher and learn the unwritten language of the Wilos. Within a few years the villagers are enthusiastically reading and writing in their own language for the first time. But they want more. They want to know what "God's Talk" says. They hope that there is something more to life than the vicious cycle of fearing and appeasing the evil spirits at every turn.

Davey Jank was nine months old when his missionary parents took him from Canada to live among a fierce, stone-age tribe deep in the Amazon jungle. There the village warriors conceived a plot to ambush and kill his older siblings in an effort to draw their father and his coveted shotgun into a war with an enemy village. Inexplicably, this conspiracy was never carried out, and to this day no one remembers exactly why. Instead, the four children were accepted into tribal society. The three elder children were given the names Twiggy, Sunburned, and Squirrel. To Davey was given the name of a powerful enemy warrior from a neighboring village, not as a symbol of respect but simply as a convenient way to keep the hatred of their enemy fresh in their minds. ＂Thanks, guys. Glad I could help with that.＂ Reaching school age, Davey boarded a Cessna airplane and flew off to a far-away boarding school, having opportunity to be with his parents only during vacations. The school staff served as educators and interim parents to him and dozens of other missionary kids. One might think that an arrangement such as this must surely result in a plethora of long-term psychological trauma, but Davey is happy to report that his teachers and dorm parents suffered little lasting damage and today lead fairly normal and healthy lives. Having grown up seeing firsthand the hunger that many tribal people have for God’s Word, it wasn’t a stretch for Davey to decide to be a missionary himself. After attending New Tribes Bible Institute for two years, he went on to study linguistics and cross-cultural communications before joining in the effort to bring God’s Word to the Wilo people.