A run-in on a hike

Cheri writes:

We last wrote an update shortly after Jesse Boyd visited us for a few weeks of intense evangelism and a side trip to Chile and nearby towns. Since then we have continued in gospel distribution around Bariloche and up into the mountains to hikers and climbers. My beloved friend Heather Dunton came down for a visit from New York and we had a great week and a half of enjoying the great outdoors and putzing around Bariloche. She arrived the same time as Dylan’s friend Russ Taylor was going to visit and so together we packed up the kids and we all headed into the mountains for an overnight trip to Refugio Lopez. The hike was a grueling one, straight uphill with no means to carry Ritter so he had to walk as well. He proved himself to be a real trooper and made it up with only a little help. Thankfully the weather was amazing while up there and the views of the lakes and mountains were spectacular. The downhill was more arduous, but without any major incidents. I was so thankful to have Russ and Heather’s help with the kids as I don’t think we could have pulled it off without them.
Also while Heather was here we rented some mountain bikes and did a fun circuit ride that wove us up and down over hills and around pristine lakes with little food vending stands along the way to break up the ride and enjoy the views. Dylan was a rockstar Dad to take the kids for several hours while we did that, and then again watched them from the shore as we did some kayaking along a big lake just outside of Bariloche.
He even had plans to watch them as Heather and I embarked on a long hike from our house, but our plans changed when we ran into some trouble. As we were hiking along the trail in the middle of the day, we passed a guy coming down the mountain and stopped to ask him about how much further until we reached our destination. He was maybe early 20’s with very bloodshot and swollen eyes. He said about 20 more minutes and we thanked him and continued to head up the hill. Suddenly Heather feels some tugging on her backpack and stops to turn around. The guy has his hiking stick raised and is saying “Plata! Plata!” (money! money!). Since she doesn’t speak much Spanish, she didn’t know what he was saying and gave him a quizzical look. Then I realized what was happening- he was trying to rob us! I must have been an afterthought as he didn’t seem sure he even wanted to do it. He probably figured that it wouldn’t take much of a threat to get two gringas to eagerly hand over their money, camera and whatever else we had in the backpack. Unfortunately for him he was messing with the wrong gals. So I started shouting at him in Spanish at the top of my lungs, “In the name of Jesus I demand you leave us alone!!! Get out of here! We have no money to give you!! Leave us in peace!! You will get nothing from us!! In Jesus’s name go away!” At the very name of Jesus he made the sign of the cross and backed up, but then he’d get angry and bare his teeth with evil in his eyes and raise his hiking stick like a bat, ready to strike. We both continued to call upon the name of the Lord, louder and louder until he finally looked like he was going to leave us alone so we headed back up the hill, quite shaken up. After several steps I looked back and he was still behind us, debating what to do next. I think he just got more angry and volatile until he just burst out into a sprint after us, waving his stick and gaining speed on us. It was obvious we couldn’t outrun him, so we stopped to face him. Since he was probably high on drugs (due to the bloodshot, swollen eyes and slow reactions), I felt that it was likely he was possessed by demons as well, so as he was running towards us, I verbally rebuked the spirit within him in Jesus’ name and then braced myself in case he was going to hit me with his stick. He again bared his teeth like an animal, wound up like he was going to hit me then had a sudden change of demeanor. I continued to call upon the Lord as loud as I could and then he told me to be quiet, he put down his stick, kept looking up and down the trail, then he did the strangest thing. He looked me in the eyes and said he was sorry. He asked me to forgive him. I told him I forgive him and then he turned around and went on his way down the trail. Needless to say, we were both very shaken up and as soon as he was gone, we headed off the trail back home.
Now that it has been a few days since the incident, my mind is still reeling through the “coulda, shoulda, woulda” scenarios. I know that a swift kick to the crotch would have provided a means for us to escape the situation, but I write in all honesty, it never once crossed my mind. Neither Heather nor I ever thought about using physical action against him. Calling upon Jesus, the Name above all names (Phillipians 2:9-10), was exactly what the Holy Spirit told us to do, and that’s what we did. There was a major spiritual battle going on in the guy, you could tell by the radical shifts in demeanor. It was crazy to see and quite terrifying, but it was an awesome testimony to see the power of His name deliver us. It was also a good reminder to stay on guard and not be quite so trusting of people or seemingly safe situations.
Heather and I had some fun on Easter Sunday doing some gospel tract distribution. We have some Catholic tracts that talk about salvation through Jesus, and not through the Virgin Mary or saints and we were handing them out to people going to Mass. We gave out over 400 and hopefully it gave folks something to ponder other than chocolate eggs and a bunny on Easter Sunday. I’m not bashing Easter eggs, on the contrary, Heather brought down coloring kits to dye the eggs and we had a ton of fun hiding them and finding them. Ritter likes it so much that we’ve replaced the real eggs with egg-shaped rocks that we colored and we’ve been hiding and finding them on a daily, sometimes hourly basis.
So the kids are doing well. Amelia now has two front teeth, rolls around the house and has started solid foods (loves squash and carrots). The second ingredient in the baby cereal here is sugar (made my Nestle- no hidden agenda there to get kids hooked on sugar from infancy!) so I have been making my own. Ritter is learning chores like making his bed, folding his clothes and getting fully dressed by himself. He’s speaking more Spanish and if we speak Spanish to him first, then he responds in Spanish which has been awesome to see. Sometimes we even overhear him talking in Spanish like saying to Amelia “como estas mi chiqitita” or “donde esta mi pelota?”

Dylan adds: I finally finished my goal of bringing bibles and gospel literature to all the local trekking refugios. Hans and I went up to Refugio Jakob a few days ago which was a beautiful 11 mile hike. We took an alternative trail home which ended up being quite a nightmare. Somewhere along the way we entered a thick bamboo jungle. Before we knew it we were immersed and completely lost and trapped on all sides by bamboo. It was so bad we literally could not move or turn around without fighting and pushing and forcing our way through the thickest nastiest bamboo prison I’ve ever encountered. This lasted 2 hours plus until finally we found the trail and I let out a scream of rejoicing and praise to God for deliverance. So now that that’s done, what remains? Well we are on the home stretch, one month left before we head home. I’ve just printed another 3000 gospel tracts, this time with our churches contact information printed on them. Some of the folks from the church are wanting to get more involved in local outreach so I’ll hopefully be teaching and leading them in that this next month. Our bookshelf is almost diminished of gospel material but we still have 5 Hebrew bibles that need homes. We met a Christian couple who own a restaurant that Israeli travelers visit. They asked me for gospel tracts and bibles so I need to get back out there and supply them. When Russ was here he also took quite a few Hebrew and European language tracts for his remaining 2 months of travel in South America. It’s neat to see how God has used us here to spread His word even further than just Bariloche. I know for a fact that gospel tracts we printed here are going or have gone into Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. All praise to Him who formed the mountains! (Amos 4:12). During the last month I’ve also tried my best to meet and talk with Israelis. I even went to a Friday night Sabbath meal at the local Israeli traveler synagogue. It was pretty cool, they read the Torah and sang, all in Hebrew of course. I was the only Gentile out of 100+ Israelis. I was able to talk about Yeshua ha Messiach (Jesus) with one guy named Or. I also met again with the local rabbi who runs the place. He as you might have guessed was pretty closed to the topic of Yeshua. He even pointed to a picture of some old Jewish man and said that he through that guy was the Messiah! The work will continues with the apple of God’s eye, Israel. Lastly I am spending some time online taking my continuing education courses for my Oregon Real Estate License. I need to get that done here sooner than later so upon our return life isn’t so stressful. When you pray for us, please pray for God’s provision, direction, and wisdom in the months to come. We have some major decisions to make regarding living, working, and ministry.