Netzlaff, Daniel & Alejandra

It all started with a dream. In October 2018, Daniel dreamed that he befriended the Chief of an indigenous tribe. This Chief took him to preach salvation to many communities. In the dream, Daniel asked the Chief, “what is the name of this place?”. The chief answered “Araona”. When Daniel woke, the word Araona kept ringing in his head. He discovered through a google search that Araona was an indigenous tribe, one of the 36 nations recognized by the Bolivian government.

They organized an expedition with two SAMAIR pilots to meet the Chief and preach the gospel to the Araona tribe. After a long journey, they first made contact with the Araona chief and Daniel shared his dream with him. Then the Chief explained that nearly 25 years earlier, missionaries from other organizations had been living amongst them. After conversing, the Chief agreed to allow Daniel and the SAMAIR missionaries to come and visit his people.

Several months later, they visited the tribe again. Now the Chief of the approximately 1500-person tribe did something entirely unexpected and unforeseeable to all those who had been praying so fervently. Upon meeting the group who had come to share the gospel with his tribe, the Chief of Araona and his people began to weep. The Chief recounted, “I know we are not living as we should. And we don’t know how. Please help us.” The seeds that missionaries had planted so many years ago were ready to blossom.

After working for 21 years as a missionary pastor of a church, Daniel and his family have been praying and asking God for His direction to do His will. They have decided to join SAM and work exclusively on missions, with unreached peoples and tribes in Bolivia. Their projects include: discipling, mentoring, radio project, translating and digitizing the New Testament in the Araona language, missionary house construction, and more.

For this is what the Lord has commanded us: I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. Acts 13:47