Let me first apologize for not having updated my blog in three months. Please do understand that where I am at internet is scarce. In our community there is no internet, or computer for that matter! Then when we go into town once a month sometimes the internet works and sometimes not - sometimes they open the internet cafe and sometimes not.
So, let me give a brief summary of the past three months. Jailson and I finally arrived to our community on November 1st. The people in the community are fantastic, and from the first the day they have taken us in and brought us with them and taught us their lifestyle and culture. These first three months have been extremely busy. We eat a lot of fish, with the occasional monkey or alligator. We drink a lot of juices - my favorites being of pineapple and sugarcane! And we work. We cut and carry wood, uproot and peel manioc, make farinha, go fishing, clear people's farms with machetes, make pajuaru, and cut the weeds in our the community, once again, with our machetes. There is always work to be done, and we always try to have the same mindset as Paul when he said, "We were not idle when we were with you, nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but with toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you." We have learned a ton and really enjoyed where we are at.
So how about the spiritual? As we work we try to teach the Bible. For example, while fishing we try to tell a Bible story about fish such as when Jesus called the fishermen to be fishers of men. Or while working in the field we tell about the sower who threw seed on the side of the trail, on the rocks, in the thorns, or on the good soil. Once we have developed relationships with the men we ask to study the Bible with them. We have done Bible studies with a few of the men; however, there is one that is always wanting to study more and really has a hunger and thirst to learn about the Bible. We also work with the kids once a week teaching them songs, telling Bible stories, and reciting Bible verses. Praise God that doors are opening and people are hearing His Word.
Our only problem is that there already is a church in the community - it is called the Catholic, Apostolic, Evangelic church of the Cross. In a nutshell they believe that worshipping the cross of Christ will save them rather than worshipping the Christ of the cross. They actually believe that the cross in front of their community will turn into a stairwell to the heavens when Jesus comes back and only those who have these crosses will be saved. They turn to spiritualistic healers when sick instead of God. They also have tons of rules prohibiting many things in the community, showing they do not understand the freedom we have in Christ.
So we have been teaching God's Word - never shying away from telling the truth. Sometimes our words are well received. Sometimes they are not so well received. However, we keep on speaking and trying to continue in order to teach what the Bible says.
So pray for us. Pray first off that God would open the eyes of these lost people.
Pray each and every day that we would follow God being obedient and dependent on Him.
Pray for good health so as not to interfere with our mission.
Pray for the president of our community. He is the leader and a very respected man. He currently has a problem with his leg. Pray that God would work wonders in the life of this man both physically and spiritually knowing that if he converts the whole community would be more open to hearing about Christ.
Pray for travel safety.
Pray that God would already start raising, from the community, men to continue the work when we leave in six months.
Pray that God would be glorified in everything.
