Pubdate: Sat, 28 Apr 2001 Source: New York Times (NY) Copyright: 2001 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Author: Clifford Krauss IQUITOS JOURNAL: SIMPLE, DEVOTED LIVES ON THE AMAZON IQUITOS, Peru, April 27 Missionaries say there are many souls to be saved along the Amazon, where the people often drink away their money and live by superstitious beliefs that include a myth that unwanted pregnancies are the work of the feared river dolphins. But as the Adams and Mortimer families glided up the brown waters on their way to this jungle city for a memorial service for one of their best friends, there was little time for these American missionaries from Michigan and Oklahoma to evangelize. It was a day filled with personal reflection and prayer to understand the meaning of the deaths of Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter, Charity, who were killed a week ago by a single bullet fired by a Peruvian Air Force fighter jet that was hunting what it thought was a drug-trafficking plane. The tragedy has been a major embarrassment for the Peruvian military and has led to the suspension of United States-Peruvian antidrug operations. But it does not appear to have weakened the ardor of the five remaining American missionary families who troll the Amazon around Iquitos on their houseboats for weeks at a time, playing gospel music from loudspeakers like pied pipers playing for souls. "Ronie is doing great," Connie Adams, 45, said about Veronica Bowers, whom she knew well since the Bowers and Adams families docked their houseboats next to each other here over the last several months. "She's partying in heaven. We're happy for her but sad for the rest of us. It's just not fair that people on the river are now not going to hear about Jesus from the Bowers and go to heaven." The conversation continued on the pilot bridge of the Adams houseboat without tears or overt signs of grief, as members of both families displayed a calm resignation to events that they say only God or the Devil can cause and understand. "I'm praying for the man who shot that bullet until he repents," Helena Mortimer, 61, said. "Jesus died for every one of us so we can't afford to be angry." Mrs. Adams agreed, and added: "If I get scared and run off, the people on the river don't get saved. The goal is to get my ticket to heaven and take as many people with me as possible." Nevertheless, she said she understood why Jim Bowers, Veronica's husband, has said it would be too painful for him and his son to return to their missionary work here. Mr. Bowers and his son, who have returned to the United States, were also on the plane. These families that cruise the Amazon, belonging to various Baptist and other denominations, are a hardy bunch who brave snakes, mosquitoes, sunburn and the dangers that go along with sharing narrow curlicue tributaries with heavily armed drug traffickers and navy patrol boats. They spend their days building churches, digging wells, teaching converts how to minister to their people and preaching that drinking and gambling on soccer hurt family life and health. It is a simple life, but one that has the feel of a transplanted culture in one of the more exotic corners of Peru. The Adams and Mortimer houseboats are outfitted with washer-dryers, VCR's and microwave ovens. The older children waterski off a motorboat that the Adams family ties to the houseboat, and "Winnie the Pooh" and "Toy Story" videos are popular among the younger children. Lunch on this trip included hamburger meat and pork chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, canned peas, biscuits and chocolate cake. The children are taught by their mothers from Christian home-schooling curriculums, and everyone helps with the daily chores and joins hands in prayer. The families work hard at their Spanish but typically ban Spanish from home life, so the children will have an easier time adapting to American life when they go home for Bible college. They make their own clothes, including red, white and blue outfits for the Fourth of July, when missionary families gather together for a party in Iquitos. Many of the missionaries are children of missionaries themselves. "It's something in your heart," said Mrs. Mortimer, the daughter of a preacher. "As you pray, God leads you." She and her husband, John Frederick Mortimer, 58, share a houseboat with their son, John Edwin Mortimer, 36; his wife Cindy, 35, and their three grandchildren. Preparing to refit the boat, they live in tight quarters, using bunk beds and futons on missionary trips that sometimes last three weeks or more. As a child, John Edwin used to ride motorcycles and horses with his father as he ministered to villages around Veracruz, Mexico, and he said that at 13 he received God's word to follow in his parents' footsteps. Cindy, who met John Edwin when the Mortimers used to go home to Sanilac, Mich., for annual visits, said that her parents were sad not to see their grandchildren regularly, but that "they are proud of us and happy we chose Jesus over the Devil." They have been working intermittently for 19 years in and around Iquitos, and full time for the last 13 from the houseboat. They receive financial support from the Shell Lake Full Gospel Church, an interdenominational Wisconsin church affiliated with World Harvest Outreach, which has sent 35 missionary families around the world. The aid has gone to building 35 churches and drilling 10 water wells in villages where children once had distended stomachs from parasites. They have tried to spread modern techniques to create better banana and pineapple yields, and they teach hunters to hunt just what they need to eat. "In the Bible, Paul says we are not saved by our works, we're saved by faith," John Edwin Mortimer said. "But faith without works is dead. The faith that you have brings forth works." To drive home the point, the Mortimers try to build their wells next to their churches. On the trip back here, they made a quick stop to Nuevo Horizonte, a jungle village where the Mortimers recently built a well. They heard bad news from the local minister. The water had a metallic taste. The Mortimers decided that the well was contaminated and needed to be bleached. If that did not work, they would have to work an additional three weeks to build another well. "The first couple of years I would have gotten real upset," John Edwin Mortimer said after hearing about the well problem. "But now I understand there's no sense in getting bent out of shape about it. I know God has it in his control." - --- MAP posted-by: Andrew