It was a shrinking feeling riding a narrow wooden boat down a winding river with dense jungle on either side. I saw a couple of crocodiles lying on the riverbank and heard the distant yowl of a howler monkey. The pilot of our piragua didn’t seem fazed by any of this as he skillfully maneuvered the vessel around fallen trees and floating limbs. I couldn’t believe these people do this all the time!
Our team was made up of me, my coworker Tom Scatliff, and Doug Schermerhorn from Ethnos360 who works on gospel recordings in the native Embera language of the Darien region in Panama. We were able to see his recording process, which provided valuable insight for the audio-player feature on the next version of the SonSet® Radio.
It was a five-hour boat ride to Rio Sito, a remote village in the heart of the jungle without cell signal or electricity. This was the site of the Easter conference for believers throughout the region. We walked to a simple open-air, gazebo-like structure that had been built in the last couple of weeks for the conference. A large blue tarp served as the roof for the back portion to allow for more seating. It was here that we demonstrated the two LightStream Pocket devices we had brought for the people, allowing them to use their phones to download the Jesus Film in their native language without the use of the Internet. Looking around me, I saw a young girl watching the Jesus Film for Kids on a phone, groups of people teaching each other how to download the content, and some of the leaders asking questions, interested in using this technology to bring the gospel to various isolated villages along the river.
It is a privilege to be part of the SonSet Solutions team and advance the gospel with technological solutions that are uniquely designed for people in remote places!
Written by Bryan Jackson, June 2022