Well, my first three months in the interior have already come and passed, and my partner and I are now getting everything ready for our next three months. In a nutshell, the past three months went like this: In July we were in a community finally doing what I was sent to Brazil to do – evangelize and disciple an unreached people group! We were doing Bible studies in houses and in tree shade. It was going perfectly. Then August came. On August 1st we were told to leave the community and not return. Needless to say, we felt confused and lost leaving the community that day. So for the majority of August my partner and I were praying for direction and looking for opportunities. We returned to the community once or twice a week – to talk with the president there. Sometimes he was nice and talked with us, other times he was a lot more stern with us. However, at the end of the month, he still would not allow us to do our work there. So, September was the month of traveling. We visited 8 different communities in three different trips. We were looking for a community that would allow us to live with them and fulfill the great commission. Praise God, we found one!
This brings us to this month, October. At the beginning of the month we returned to Manaus to talk things over with our leadership. After much prayer we decided that this community that accepted us is a door that God hás opened – it is our community. So, my partner and I packed our bags and are now back in the interior waiting to go live in our community. We’ve got a few people to see and few things to buy, but we’re hoping to be in our community come next Monday or Tuesday. My partner and I are anxious to finally be living in a community, fulfilling our calling and doing what we are here to do – to tell people of the love and grace of our Creator God, of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and of the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. We will be living with them, fishing with them, hunting with them, making farinha with them, climbing açaí trees with them to make a delightful juice. We will be working with the children to teach them the truth of the Bible. We will also being doing Bible Studies in homes with the men and women. Pray that we can show the people of this community the love of Christ – that what we preach and what we do would agree. Pray that God would work wonders in this community and that young missionaries and church-leaders would rise from this currently church-less community. Pray that each and every day my partner and I would work hard for the sake of the Gospel. Pray for salvation and transformed lives.
The other day we got ahold of the president of this community on the phone. My partner simply said his name and the president told us that they are waiting for us and already have a house for us to live in! Praise God! We are very excited about the adventure that we about to be beginning. Pray that we can adjust to life in a community. Pray that we can love these people – that we can seriously love them and be burdened for their eternal, spiritual state. Thank you all for the prayers. Here in a month or so I should be back in the city (our plan is to return once a month to buy some rice & beans and send an update to our leadership) and I will try to get on the internet to give an update.
