A History of the Mennonite Brethren Church, Ja Toews

ard B. Giesbrecht as its first missionary. Courageously Giesbrecht faced the problem of learning the unwritten language of the Lengua. He preached for eleven years before the first convert was won. Bernhard Epp arrived from Coaldale, Alberta, Canada, to share in the task. A number of cowork- ers from Fernheim and Neuland joined the missionary staff. Dietrich Lepp reduced the language to writing and later translated the New Tes- tament into Lengua. By 1951 the Lengua Church had become a reality, although it consisted of only twenty-eight baptized members. Meanwhile the Chulupi Indians from the Argentinian and the south Paraguayan Chaco came looking for employment and, perhaps even more, for spiritual help. They eventually set up their camp on a vacant plot of land near Filadelfia. J. H. Franz, also from Coaldale, Alberta, was sent out in 1946 to begin a work among the Chulupi. Franz was assisted in this by two young brethren from Fernheim, Gerhard Hein, and Cor- nelius Isaak, who later lost his life in an attempt to contact the Ayoreo (Moro) tribe. The Chulupi were more responsive to the gospel than the Lengua, and thus a church was established among the Chulupi in March, 1958, when twenty-two were baptized. 42 In 1946 the Board of Missions (Hillsboro) by agreement with the Fernheim missions association, Licht den Indianern, had assumed finan- cial responsibility for the mission work among the Indians of the central Chaco. The association has continued to represent the participation of the Chaco Mennonites in this mission effort among the Indians, again as- suming full administrative responsibility in 1961. A witness has re- 426 HISTORY OF THE MENNONITE BRETHREN CHURCH 53. The Lengua Indian church at Yalve Sanga cently been established among the Guarani Indians who have moved into the Fernheim colony in the last two decades looking for employ- ment. At present there are three churches among the Lengua Indians with a combined membership of over 800. The main church center is located at Yalve Sanga. Four congregations and several preaching centers have also been established among the Chulupi, with a membership of approxi- mately 1000. At a large rally in Filadelfia in July, 1966, Sepe Lhana (Johann Giesbrecht), one of the first Lengua converts, gave this tes- timony: "The Mennonites have not only brought the gospel to us; they have also shown us a whole new way of life!"" That "new way" is every- where in evidence as one observes the Lengua and Chulupi Christians in their work and worship. At present there are about 10,000 Indians in the Chaco, living in settlements scattered within and between the Menno- nite colonies. To settle the Indians on their own land, to build hospitals and to provide educational opportunities for them has all been part of the mission program. A number of Mennonite Brethren who resided in Asuncion, the capi- tal of Paraguay, became acquainted with the desperate spir