It had been a while since I wrestled anyone, so I was grateful that I had 4 partners when the demon-possessed man started to get violent. Oh yeah, and there was this lady that tried to kill herself by throwing herself in front of our motorcycle. Pretty normal stuff for Porto de Moz, I guess.
Our family visited the town of Porto de Moz, situated at the mouth of the Xingu River, where our mission has another base. Three missionary families live and minister there. We went on a river trip while there and helped deliver some water filters that our mission fabricates and delivers to people living on the river in that area. We had heard a lot about this ministry, but were never able to participate. But the real adventures seemed to be waiting for us back in town...
One night a counseling session turned into a spiritual battle with a demon possessed man. They had worked with this man before and had even cast demons out of him, but they evidently returned. It seems he has never really earnestly accepted Christ and the reality of Christ’s warning that a demon will return with 7 more demons to a “house unoccupied” seemed to be lived out in this young man (Mt. 12:43-45). He had been involved in witchcraft since 12 and is finding it hard to give up that lifestyle. He has made some sort of pact with the devil and eats household items after each meal. Last time the missionaries prayed for deliverance he spit up beads and a sewing needle. He’s even had needles come out of his ears. It literally took 5 of us to hold him down. As we prayed for him he would growl, foam at the mouth and speak in several different voices. After 2 hours he seemed to fall into a deep sleep. So Clyde (the missionary we were staying with) hung up a hammock on his porch and that’s were the demon possessed man slept. It’s one thing to read about the demon possessed in the New Testament, and it’s something else completely to be confronted with it.
The next day, Clyde and I were riding through town on his motorbike. A lady was in the road ahead and so Clyde swerved to the left, but she went to the left. So he swerved to the right, she went to the right. At first it seemed like a case of mixed signals (you know, those awkward moments when you stutter step trying to get around someone). But finally she just lay down in front of us. Clyde had to slam on the brakes, coming to a stop only inches from her. We parked and helped her up. She was obviously drunk and through slurred speech and tears she shared about her difficult life. She was now pregnant by a man who wants nothing to do with her and she just wanted to die. She has no relatives to turn to. She was truly desperate. It was difficult to leave her, knowing how needy she was. We bought her some food and prayed for her, not knowing if she was going to attempt the same thing again. Clyde ran into her a few days later (not literally, that goodness) and she said she didn’t remember him, but that people told her what had happened. Her demeanor had changed and she was truly grateful to him. She said she hadn’t had any alcohol since that day.
Both of these experiences showed me how little I know about how to help people. Maybe we could have prayed longer for the demon possessed man, or maybe we should have done more for the lady we almost hit. The hardest is when you see that someone is desperate for Jesus in their life, but they can’t see that.
Here are some other moments from our trip…
Clyde explains the process of making the concrete filters. Many of the sicknesses seen on the rivers are caused by poor drinking water (usually unfiltered river water).
On a normal filter trip they will take up to 60 filters and install them in only a few days. On our trip we took only a few filters because we went to an area that already had received filters. We gave a few to families who didn’t get them last time and checked up on the others, making sure they were in working order. The filters need very little maintenance because the purification process is biological. We also had a church service for those that were interested.
One thing all villages have, no matter how small, is a soccer field.
Kevin (a missionary from Porto de Moz) demonstrates a device which a team recently brought down. It’s an audio bible, in Portuguese, that is powered by a hand crank or a solar panel. Perfect for people who lack electricity and are illiterate.
It’s no easy job installing the filters, at over 300 lbs. it takes at least 3 people to move them.
The filters have precise amounts of 1” and ½” gravel and fine, clean sand. The filtering is actually done by a layer of naturally forming bacteria. It takes about 30 minutes for about 3 gallons of water to be filtered. The result is water that is free of any contamination.
The kids were more interesting in swimming than installing filters.
We were invited to teach English in one of the schools. Brin asked her class how many could read, only about half raised their hands. The class consisted of ages 12 – 35.
A family poses in front of their new filter.
for a previous post on the water filters click here
or visit our website www.xingu.org
or the website of "Thirst Relief" the partner organization we work with.
Our group in front the work site
Parker displays a home-made knee board that they made to ski behind the boat
Travis "skiing"; there were dolphins jumping in the waters around us as we took turns trying the contraption.
Tyler enjoys a meal and the sunset on top of the boat
Travis, Isaac and Tyler carry a post weighing several hundred pounds
Travis, Isaac and Tyler carry a post weighing several hundred pounds
We enjoy a cool moment in the watering hole at Tijuca.
