Jeremy of the jungle

Some college grads are landing tech jobs with signing bonuses and stock options. So why did this guy opt for living in the jungle of Peru? Maybe because he's a rebel with a cause.

Story by Chris Turner
Photos by Bob Siddens

[ see photos | hear interview | see video of Peru | listen to song | read interview | see prayer request ]

Jeremy Taliaferro sits on a log and cradles his acoustic guitar like a guy whoís just been handed an autographed version of Eric Clapton's Fender. His long brown hair drapes over his shoulders and forms a shroud that covers his face. He just about rips the strings off the guitar picking with his right hand as his powerful left hand bends strings from one chord to the next. The thing is almost crying.

"Man, I love the blues," he says before launching into a lick from an old Robert Johnson tune. "There's a lot of passion in the blues."

It is an interesting sight: a middle-class white guy from a Fort Worth suburb sitting in the middle of a Peruvian jungle, playing music traditionally associated with African-Americans from the Mississippi Delta. Throw in three large tattoos, throwaway shoes and a passion for Jesus Christóand you have a rebel with a cause. (Jeremy, 24, is now back in the United States, having just returned from a two-year missionary assignment in Peru through the IMB's Journeyman Program (for more information go here).

"People thought I was going to be a punk my whole life,î Jeremy says. ìBut God is doing something in my life. Iím an example of being different and that God doesnít give up on people."

He could have picked an easier assignment, but says itís clear God wanted him deep in the jungle working with the Ashèninka (Ah-SHEN-eng-kah), an indigenous people group. Most have never heard the gospel.

"I've really had to rely on God," he says. "I've always been somebody who is confident in my ability to do stuff. But God showed me real quick that Iíd better learn to depend on Him."

There were plenty of opportunities to learn dependence on Godóstarting with the seven-hour (if the road is dry) ride by four-wheel drive to the port city of Bermudèz. Itís another 12 hours by boat to the community of Belènóif the water is low. Once there, Jeremy would set up his sleeping bag and mosquito netting. This was home for nearly three weeks out of each month. Bedtime is sundown. Baths? Jump in the river. Food is primarily dehydrated backpacking fare, relieved by an occasional meal with one of the Indian families.

Oh, yeah: Snacks included the cookies he shares with local children or the ants they share with him.

"It really wasn't as primitive out here as I expected it to be," he says as the flicker of a candle lights his face in the black jungle night. "But the people's spiritual knowledge was. It kind of shocked me."

The Ashèninka believe animal spirits bring illnesses and death if an animal is wounded during a hunt and not killed. Witch doctors are hired to cast spells that prevent a spirit's attack. Payment is often made with a chicken.

Since the Ashèninka have no knowledge of Jesus Christ, Jeremy taught the Bible to them by sharing the stories of the Bible. Maybe two out of 100 Ashèninka can read, so storytelling is how they communicate. As he taught a few who do have a relationship with Christ, now they teach their villages. Word is spreading fast: Missionaries hope as many as 50 percent of the people living along the river where Jeremy teaches will make a decision to follow Christ within the next two years.

"It is so awesome to see how God can take these people from not knowing anything about Him to all of a sudden realizing who Jesus is and what He can do for them," Jeremy says. "I thank God for allowing me to be a part of that. These people have taught me the simplicity of faith."

[ back to Stories ]