Field Story: How Volleyball Reaches Indigenous Tribes

Dillon stood on the banks of a river in South America as new believers were baptized in the piranha-infested waters. It was a sight he envisioned for months but one he wasn’t sure would happen. That’s because the journey to this village was met with unexpected obstacles that were only overcome through the power of prayer.

Dillon, an East-West regional coordinator, had traveled to South America a few months earlier to conduct a Four Fields training for students at a Bible institute that only enrolls indigenous people. During breaks, he and the students would play volleyball, and Dillon noticed that one student, Axel, was particularly good at the sport.

Axel told Dillon that everyone in his village loves volleyball so much that it has become a part of the tribe’s culture.

“If you brought a volleyball net and a ball to my village, you could set it up, and people would come out of the woodworks,” Axel, said. “Then you could share the gospel.”

Dillon loved that idea and began planning a trip to visit Axel’s village with a volleyball net. But the trip would not be easy. Axel’s village is far from any cities, and it’s normally a five-day canoe ride down the river. Thankfully, Dillon found a small plane that could take him and a couple of national partners to an airstrip, where they would then take a motorboat two hours down the river.

When the day of the trip arrived, things seemed to be going smoothly for Dillon and his team. A church had donated the volleyball net and other equipment, and the travel arrangements were in order. But when the group arrived at the airport, the first roadblock emerged.

An airline employee said the volleyball net and equipment was too heavy to go on the plane and that it would have to go on a flight the following day. Dillon tried to explain that he had paid extra for this luggage already and that he was supposed to leave early the next day to go to the village. But the employee insisted that the luggage could not go on that flight. Dillon and the national partners could do nothing but pray. They asked God to somehow allow the luggage to get on the flight, and then they boarded the plane.

As the plane was preparing to take off, a baggage handler found Dillon on the plane and told him his luggage made it on the flight. Dillon praised God for clearing one obstacle.

The next day, the team arrived at the motorboat and learned it would not be as easy as cruising down the river for two hours. There were multiple points where the river was too rocky for the motor, and the team had to get out each time and carry the boat along the riverbank. This was hard work, but the trip was still only a fraction of the original five-day canoe ride.

Finally, Dillon and the national partners arrived at the village. Just as Axel said, people gathered as the volleyball net was set up. Adults and children played for hours while Dillon and the national partners shared the gospel. They even took the net to the school to play volleyball and share the gospel with the students.

About 50 people heard the gospel during the visit, and several accepted Jesus as their Savior. The new believers proclaimed their newfound faith by being baptized in the river.

The river signified new spiritual life for villagers, but it did not provide physical life for Dillon and the national partners. They relied on rain for their drinking water during the trip, but it hadn’t rained during their travels, and they were quickly running out of water to drink for the journey home. The team gathered again to ask God to make it rain before they left the village. Miraculously, God answered, and it rained enough to fill their water tank.

Dillon wants to return to South America soon to not just visit Axel’s village. There’s another village that’s an additional eight-hour hike away. This tribe is an unengaged unreached people group—they have no Bible in their language and no believers who live among them. Given the obstacles Dillon faced on this trip, he knows reaching that tribe will be extremely difficult. But he also knows how God answered his prayers for this trip and is confident the Lord will clear the way again.

Names have been changed for security purposes.

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