Knife wounds and such

Sometimes I catch myself wondering why I'm here in Brazil. I invariable go back to the time when God made Himself and His desires for us to come to Brazil vividly clear, sometimes even in miraculous ways. The last few days we have been participating in (observing) a pastors conference. Nearly all of the pastors and church workers from all of our churches where in attendance. One of the sessions was a history of our mission on the Xingu River. We heard about how the work here began with a few Brazilian families moving here from Santerem, and then shortly after a few missionary families. Many stories were told about God providing in miraculous ways, especially in the early years. A couple stories stood out to me...
1) When the families first came to the area in1992 they settled in Porto de Moz, a town that was ripe for church work. Within two weeks of arriving and beginning the work, there were already a handful of believers. It so happened that one of the grandkids of one of those first converts, now a worker in one of the churches, was in attendance at the conference. As they pointed this out during the presentation, this seemingly trivial fact - struck me. We've all read in Acts how when some people came to Christ there "whole household" would believe as well. It impressed me how one life turning to Christ 16 years ago would effect generations to come.
2) On a recent boat trip I got to know Naldo, one of our pastors. What I didn't hear then was a story about his first encounter with the church. I guess one night, a drunk man who had just been in a knife fight, with the wound to prove it, stopped by the church and asked to sleep there that night. That drunk man was Naldo. As the story was being retold, Naldo (with a big grin) stood up and lifted his shirt to show everyone his scar. He now is the pastor of that same church, and is working in several other villages to help plant other churches.

I'm sure guys like Naldo wonder about if they are where the Lord wants them to be. I'd also like to think that every time he sees that scar he knows that God has called him out of a life of sin and wants to use him where ever he is. -JTP

Pastor Naldo