Wondering where we were? We were out on the river with the two other missionary families and some Brazilian pastors scouting out unreached areas. The city we traveled to took us 3 days to get there in our boat, stopping at a leadership retreat in Porto de Moz, another city that sits at the Xingu river and Amazon river junction. We’re tired. So we will write more tomorrow.
We have a little mystery microbe invading the house. Started with Mia traveled through the Simon household and circled back around and caught Ella. Here she is on our bed watching a DVD sent to her by her cousin Emma. Ava and Mia, along with Cleide, joined her. Cleide started to sing along and Mia preferred she not.
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...
Pastor Naldo
Ella taking a break at a local house.
Josh and Ella taking an excursion Ella and I (Josh) just got back from a trip where we visited some of the work on the river. We went with Bud, Keith (another missionary here) and Clenildo (a Brazilian pastor from Altamira) on a river trip. On the way to the community we were visiting we stopped at a few houses and invited people (at one point one of the guys with us was yelling to people on the shore, inviting them as we cruised by).
We pulled up to a group of houses as the sun was just dropping below the horizon. The other boats out front indicated people had already begun to arrive. Normally they meet in a house, but a larger crowd had gathered, so we met outside. This group of believers usually meets about 2 times a month. A pastor or church worker from another church usually visits at least once or twice a month. The only leaders they have otherwise is a man and his wife who have been believers for less than 2 years. They are hoping to build a church building, and can do so for as little as $1000.
The "Church" service
The church service began with some worship songs lead by a young man who had just learned to play guitar. It appeared as though the congregation, as well, had just learned to worship, when someone began clapping along with the music everyone clapped along in their own rhythm. Ella asked me “are they trying to clap like that or do they not know how to clap?” It made me think how bad they are at doing “church” as we know it. No worship band, no pastor, no building. And yet I had to think that God was pleased looking down on this group of young believers. I saw in them a genuine desire to learn about God. And yet for them to learn, it was almost completely dependant on other people, they have no means to learn themselves. It was a good glimpse of why we are here in Brazil. Bringing the Gospel to “the least of these”, who have very little means and yet possess a great desire to learn about their Creator.
This past weekend I was asked to go on an evangelistic trip to a town a couple of hours away. I took Ava and she was really excited about going on a trip with daddy. I knew we were in for an adventure when we arrived and I was told there were no bathrooms at the place we were staying. Belo Monte, the small town we visited, is the home of a small church that without a fulltime pastor has struggled to grow and produce fruit. The twenty-some team members, mostly college age students from Altamira, were eager to give up there own Easter weekend to help a struggling church. I was impressed by the attitudes of the young people on our team, it seems our churches do a really good job of preparing them for service and passing on the value of evangelism.In the morning, small groups went out and canvassed the town. After lunch, a few of us went to a local radio station (it looked more like a pawn shop from the collection of old amps, mixers and even a record player). A pastor and my friend Beto gave an on-air plug to attend the meetings later that day. I was asked to say something, and even Ava got in on the fun. It had that college radio station feel (yeah this is radio, but is anyone really listening?).
In the afternoon, the team put on a VBS program and later that night, a church program where four people accepted Christ. Before leaving the next day we prayed for the couple who leads the church. This was the first time I saw our mission’s goal of “making disciples who reproduce themselves” so vividly lived out. It was definitely one of the most unique Easters that I have had, but I think also one of the most memorable.
Kids watch as the Brazilian team performs a puppet show
Ava participates in a tug-of-war contest.
Mothers wait for clothing that our group handed out.Powered by ScribeFire.
Last week Brin made mention of me and her dad going fishing. I wanted to give a fishing report: we didn’t catch a lot (it’s not a good time for fishing right now with the water up so high), but what we did catch wasn’t your run-of-the-mill fish either. Pictured is a Black Piranha that I caught. I’m holding it with pliers because I like my fingers where they are. Another Piranha story happened a few days later. We went on a short boat trip with the girls and grandpa. I took Ella out to fish one morning and one of the Brazilians with us handed her a fishing line that had already been baited and thrown overboard. She doesn’t have a lot of experience with fishing, but what little fishing she has done has been with a rod and reel. The Brazilian practice of just using a line was foreign to her, and the look on her face showed it. A few minutes latter, one of the guys noticed her line moving so he started to pull it in and plopped a Piranha in the boat. I yelled, “Get your feet up!” There we were, feet raised in the air with a mad Piranha flopping around at our feet. I’m not sure if Ella will go with me next time…
My dad went home and so now the house is quiet. Not that he is a noisy guy it’s just now we don’t have a reason to have fun. Ella caught on quick that her Spring Break is over. She will have to return to school with a mother not nearly as motivated to teach as she was 3 months ago. “When is our next visitor coming?” she asked with desperation in her eyes.
Have you ever been standing at an ATM as the thought enters your mind “what would I do if my money doesn’t come out, but the machine debits my account”. I’ve always thought it would be hard to explain to a bank manager, and he would probably just think I was lying, or stupid. Well, come to find out, that’s exactly what happens! In fact, you look even more stupid if you are just learning the language…
The other day I was at the bank withdrawing money from an ATM. I heard the machine flipping through the cash as it counted it, but the slot never opened. The ATM was outside the bank, and the bank was closed, but people were still milling around inside. I knocked on the door and got a security guard’s attention. He finally got the bank manager and they were both standing there as I desperately tried to explain what happened. I realized I was getting nowhere as I saw that all too familiar look that says “I see your mouth moving, but I really don’t understand a thing that is coming out of it”.
It’s now been almost a week; I’ve confirmed that my account was debited for the withdrawal. After being back to the bank twice (with an interpreter), I’ve been assured that on Monday I will get my money. Things move slowly here. At least I didn’t have to stand in the hours-long line that most people must wait in to make a simple transaction. The banks are excruciatingly inefficient and slow here. But at least now I know what happens, as long as you don’t need your money right away it’s not that big of a deal!
Here is what happens when you play outside at noon 3 degrees from the equater. Oops. Later in the afternoon we played volleyball in the rain with some of the youth from the churchs here in town. We are really enjoying hanging out with the youth and are happy with the relationships that are starting to form.
As you can imagine, our expenses here do not change much from month to month. However, occasionally some of you (or a church) may give an extra gift. As money comes into our fund, above and beyond our needs, we are blessed to be able to pass that on to those in need. We are learning that the needs here are so great. The average Brazilian makes about $150/ month. It is not uncommon to hear that a church family is without food. More than once Brin has gone into our cupboards to give away food. The other day we helped a woman get dental work done that she never could have afforded on her own. We have been blessed by many of you, and in turn we have the opportunity to bless others. We can’t pass on every story, but one recent experience stands out:
Every year in Brazil the Christians brace themselves for the celebration of Carnival, a celebration like Marde Gras. One of the ways the church has responded here is by putting on a retreat for young people called “Christoval”. There are four churches in Altamira that joined together this year for their Christoval retreat, held at a retreat facility we are building outside of town. Each church was allowed a certain amount of participants, each who had to pay the $15 for the 3-day retreat. One of the churches is from a particularly poor part of the city. I asked the pastor of that church if he had any students that needed help. He shared with me that they were thinking about dropping out and doing their own mini-retreat at the church because he had so many kids who couldn’t afford it. I used to be a youth pastor, and before that a youth, so I knew that the “retreat” held at the church would not be nearly as effective (I think the whole point of a “retreat” is the leaving). I told him I wanted to help out. We devised a plan that would satisfy even the staunchest conservative, we made all the kids work for a day to “earn” their way to the retreat. Below is a picture during the retreat. I didn’t miss leading the cheesy retreat games, but I was thrilled that I could play a part in helping some of the kids attend.
We’ve been without internet for several days, so we are trying to catch up with everything…
This weekend we got a bike for Ella. I found a used bike at a bike shop and Ella loved it because it has a basket on the front and a rack on the back. When we went to buy it the guy kept going on about the “documents”. I’ve learned that documents for vehicles are very important. They are basically the registration for the car, but if you get stopped by the police and don’t have the documents the car will get impounded. But I wasn’t sure why I needed to worry about documents for a bike. So as I’m loading the bike into our truck, the guy from the bike shop asks if we can give him a ride to get the document. We thought it sounded important so we went along. After driving across town, and meeting his “boss”, we were confounded when he took off on another bike (seemingly produced from nowhere) riding away in search of the missing document. We questioned if it was even worth waiting for something that we didn’t know we needed. In the end, he couldn’t find the document, but we were promised that we would have it next week. Later, we talked to another missionary and learned that documents for bike are in fact important. The police also confiscate bikes if you can’t produce the documents. If I ever witness the police apprehending a bike from a document-less 8 yr. old, I’ll be sure to get a picture for you.
Joanna brought us treats from America, like peanut butter and Hershey's kisses. So it is only fitting for us to share our bounty with her. The above photos is us drinking Acai, no english equivalent that I know of. It is a berry of sorts. It looks like gritty blueberry pulp. And without a lot of sugar, it tastes and smells like mud in my opinion but the Brazilians love it. We also made acerola juice and cupacu, which is nothing that I can compare to back home so if you are curious about what they are like you will just have to come for a visit too.
Yesterday, Joanna Geyer, a close friend from Tremont, came to visit. She arrived safely with her 11 mo. old son, but her luggage did not. We were told it would be arriving on the first flight this morning. The morning came and went. No luggage. Tonight, after the kids were in bed, to our delight it arrived. Brin let out such a squeal that Ella got out of bed. We knew some people had sent us some things, but when we started going through the box we were overwhelmed. We remember packing boxes for missionaries, but I don’t think we comprehended how much a simple act can communicate. Thank you so much for those of you who sent something. Oh yeah, and Joanna has her clothes. 
I’ve been working on building bunkbeds for the girls in their new room. The room is small so we tried to conserve as much space as possible. Last night, the first night in their new beds, they actually asked if they could go to bed. The room they had been using will now be our storage/ guest room.
My sister-in-law Sonya is reading a daily devotional called Voices of the Faithful and is praying through the book with me in mind, specifically. I had already read the book a year before and it wasn’t entirely meaningful to me, but it is now. Several days ago Sonya told me her reading for the day was teaching precisely what I was dealing with. Namely confusion, and how I am going to cope with it. Part of me wants to withdraw from people who think I am stupid because I can’t understand what they are saying yet. I also don’t know what to do with others who may have questionable motives behind what they ask of me. So sometimes, I just don’t know what to do.
Here is what the book said; “Sometimes I am confused by language, sometimes by culture, sometimes by tradition, and sometimes I am just plain old confused. In any given situation, there are many right answers and approaches, and there are just as many wrong ones. When the chaos reaches maximum proportions, I am tempted to quit. So why stay? The answer is simple. God has given us a glimpse of His vision clearly stated in Revelation 7:9: ‘After this I looked and there before me was great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.” It is the power of God’s vision and His grace that sustains us, renews us and keeps us focused on our calling.
So whether your own personal chaos is two little Ethiopian children that won’t let you sleep, like Dave & Sonya. Or maybe your chaos is a life that whizzes by so fast that you are too exhausted to put effort into the very things God says are most important. I am going to try to look for glimpses of God, rather than try to piece together a two-year picture. At least that is what I need to do for now.
