Easter Morning

On Easter morning our family awoke to a flooded school room and guest room after a night with especially long and heavy rains. We cleaned it up and then I went to our Training Center outside of town to pick up some youth that had spent the weekend there at a retreat. On the way back to the church, we crossed one of the main bridges in town and saw that the creek was high and flowing very fast. I thought not much of it, as it is common this time of year. Usually once or twice a year there is a heavy rain and some of the low-lying neighborhoods in the floodplain fill with water. By the time we reached the church I had heard several comments about some dams breaking upstream on a large creek that runs into the Xingu River. There are several earthen dams on ranches upstream, but again, I didn't think much of it. I made a couple other stops, dropping people off and then headed back home.

On my way I got a call from Bud, another missionary who said the water was getting close to the foundation of his house (although his house is near the creek, it had never raised to the level of threatening his house). As I approached the same bridge to cross back over the creek I saw water covering the road, a quarter of a mile from the bridge! I knew then this was not an ordinary flood. I checked a couple other bridges and found them all impassable. There was no way for me to cross the creek, and get to Bud's house. Or even home if I wanted.

The creek cuts through the middle of town and has several bridges. Most of them are older wooden bridges, some of them more solid than others. I was still driving the Mission's large truck, now empty, and I realized I could help the many people fleeing their homes. I first encountered a distressed guy on the street desperately seeking help, I followed him into a flooded neighborhood driving through almost 3 ft. of water. We anxiously loaded the truck with furniture and family and headed for higher ground.

The first family I helped rushes to evacuate their house and save as much as they could. Only minutes later the water had risen another 2 feet.

I returned to help others and worked most of the day alongside Allison and other youth from our church. I've helped with flood clean-up before, in St. Louis after the 92 flood and in New Orleans after Katrina, but it's always been after the fact. I was there when it happened this time and I could see the fear, desperation and confusion in their eyes. Especially difficult was watching people who had so little lose everything, knowing there was no insurance, no savings account, or other government safety net for them to fall back on.

Later on, my thoughts returned to how I was going to get home. Just before dark, Allison and I found the only way to cross to the other side of town. A bridge had been partially washed out, but people were crossing by a plank. I left the truck with my friends and I walked across, finally arriving home after a long day. Below is a short clip of the bridge crossing:



Many people lost everything they had. In some locations, the water rushed in with such force that they were only able to leave with the clothes on their backs. Local reports say 15,000 people have been affected. Our churches had many families effected by the flooding, but Bud's house was spared.

The next day the water receded and the damage was more visible. Entire houses are gone and the only thing left on the land is debris from their upstream neighbor. Slowly the bridges reopened. One was completely washed away and several others are damaged, probably beyond repair. There is talk of another dam that may break and cause more flooding. So while the victims are trying to recover from the first flood, they live in fear of another assail of water. Last night I helped the youth group make soup and distribute it to the people living in the area most affected. The whole situation is truly heartbreaking with so many people in need it is almost overwhelming. Please pray for our community. We need wisdom as we seek to meet the needs of the community during the long rebuilding process, both physically and spiritually.

The road to the airport has been washed out and while we were discussing this problem Mia lightened the mood when she said she hopes it gets fixed before grandma and grandpa come in June, otherwise they'll have to spend the 3 weeks in the airport.

Heading for higher ground

A scene from one of the streets:




Here's a link to a Brazilian article (in portuguese), but it does have some video.

Quick update... more to come

We have been meaning to update our blog about Easter Sunday but just have not found a moment. Altamira has suffered some difficulties in the last few days as dams upriver broke unleashing a torrent of water to unsuspecting homes. Entire houses were washed away in the current and many, many people in our town are displaced, some having lost all of what little they owned. For a time all bridges were impassable, cutting off one part of the city from the other, with Josh stuck on the side opposite our home.

Josh has been out every day, almost all day helping people move to safer ground, retrieving appliances and belongings that were swept away . Tonight some friends made huge kettles of soup and we passed it out in the area most affected. Hopefully we can get an update out soon, but if not please understand. And please, please pray.

Jungle Training

This past weekend I went on the inaugural trip of a weekend training school that we are starting. Every month we will take a group of Brazilians to a river community where we have a work started. Most of the weekend is spent in a structured class, but they also help out with a church service and inviting neighbors from the community. I made a sort of promotional video for this training, which is called Fiel (faithful). I've done some other video stuff recently, some of it more fluff side (see the last video about Mia's birthday), but if you're interested in learning more about our work here, watch this video:

I can also make the video available in high quality if anyone is interested in showing it for promotional purposes.

A birthday and a new ministry

Brin has been in charge of starting a weekly outreach program for our English school. The English school, at which she has taught in the past, is part of our social outreach program. Several students have been introduced to our church, and later making a decision to follow Christ, after attending the English classes. Brin has long had a heart to use this opportunity that we have with so many people from the community. The outreach programs include English songs, skits, or videos, folowed by a short talk and discussion groups afterward.
The first meeting was well attended, so we hope that it takes off.

Ava and Ella where able to participate in a skit, my only fear is that they will be typecast as obnoxious younger sisters. Also in this photo: Chelsea, Marilda and Angelica.

Brin playing a game with visitors.

A little recognition

Early morning in the Assurini.

Last week I was reminded of the unsung workers that contribute so much to the church-planting effort that we are a part of. The missionaries and the pastors seem to be the glory positions. We get all of the attention. But there are several workers that toil tirelessly for the Kingdom (there are undoubtedly many of these in your church as well). Poli is one such worker. Every week, leaving his wife and young son, he spends a couple days working in a region that has 7 struggling churches. A few of them have buildings, the others are just clumps of believers that want to learn more, but no one is able to teach them. No one, that is, except Poli. Poli visits at least one of these locations once a week. And as you can imagine, it's no easy journey.

Our church's leadership praying for Poli

Last Sunday Poli was ordained as a minister by our church. A formality that didn't change much on the outside, but seemed to have a profound effect on Poli. He, along with his wife were called up front and the leadership prayed for him, annointing him with oil. Afterwards they opened it up for anyone to come and pray over Poli and his wife. You could feel the support the congregation was giving Poli. I'm sure he will never forget it, and I'm sure that it will serve as a reminder for our church as to the much needed prayer support that is needed for Poli to carry out this work.

Orlando, the man in the center, lives in the Assurini and has been influential in planting churches in that region. Poli and his wife are seated.

After a recent trip I took with Poli, I shared a little about his rough background and his work in the Assurini. And in the two posts below you can read more about the Assurini, the area in which Poli works:

December 13, 2007

The Assurini

I am faithful and true

Brin and I have some college friends who have been serving as missionaries in a muslim country for 6 years. They have 4 girls who have only known life in their adopted country. A few months ago we got word that they had been deported, we heard only that they had since relocated to another country, waiting reassignment. Recently, Brin received an update, with their permission we are posting it on our site so more people can hear their powerful story and the journey of faith they have been on...


"I packed up our home and we said our good-byes in 6 days. The summary is that we were in the best year that we had been. We felt like we had been stripped and pruned and had gone through some fires to get out the human junk we kept holding onto. (Not that it doesn't continually happen, but we saw a a good season of it). Then we took a new position as leaders over the rural south. We began making contacts, picking the city we would move to, and visioning/strategizing etc. We had our first true church occurring and seeing how God was moving. Our home was finally becoming a home. We painted each of the girls rooms and added to our pets (2 cats). We had just returned from a networking trip down south with some partners in the States. Cal and I were excited. Since I was more than 7 months pregnant and our passports were going to expire in about 6 months, but we needed them in January for visas, we decided to go ahead and get new ones before the holidays and the baby coming. Cal got the new passports and went for our 1 year visas. It all seemed routine. Who knew what that day would hold.


"Anyway, after applying for the visas, Lydia received hers. Then Calvin was called into the secret police. He was held for about 3 hours. They didn't do much except ask him weird questions and following him to the bathroom. They told him to come back in a week for the visas. They then took his mobile phone number. This week we prepared for the worse (being deported), but not believing it would actually happen since no one else had ever had it done. (Others who have been denied have had the male stopped at re-entry at the airport with wife and children allowed in.) Calvin went back and then he was held the entire day by secret police. He was sent from office to office with a personal guard. He eventually ended up in the illegal resident section with everyone else handcuffed. They said his guard was sufficient for him since he was American. Then his guard fell asleep on his shoulder. I told him he should have ran at the point! ha ha By the end of the day, they said his visas were ready. He went back to the "public" section of the building and then the high officer of the secret police took him. Anyway, they then said that we had six days until we would be deported on violation of overstaying our tourist visa. We still do not know the "whys" of it all. We have ideas, but nothing concrete. This deportation was both for him and me. Calvin came home and we cried. It was a hard blow. The blessing was he was able to help this emotional big pregnant woman pack up the house. The bad was that I had to leave within days also. We changed our phone numbers and our building guard harassed us to no end for them. (He was informing the police about us.) We also had plain clothed secret police outside our building entrance for the last week we were there. An intimidation technique and a shaming for us to the neighborhood.


"It was really hard on our girls. They couldn't understand why we had to rush and get our things packed. Sell some of their toys. Leave their newly painted princess rooms. Then when we could only take a few suitcases with us, of course, what they wanted couldn't all fit. Lydia was the worse because she understood what was happening. Also, she had just had a birthday. We had to leave her new birthday bike. That's everything for a kid. Also, the previous month, two out of three new kittens had died. (also a birthday present) Now we had to give the new 1 week old kitten away to another family. Saying good-bye to friends and comprehending never seeing them again. This had been her only home. She was 15 months when we arrived in country. It was tough times on her. When we arrived in Jordan, not only the crying, but lots of anger from the kids. They were forced into many situations they had no control over. They knew this wasn't right, even if they couldn't explain it. The first night in Jordan we put Alia into pjs and asked for her to go to the bathroom. She said she did. So I turned to dress Kinzy. Then I saw Alia squat and just pee on the floor, pjs and all. With all of the hormones, I just lost it. I dropped 7 pounds in that last week and went into early labor due to the stress of everything (physical and emotional). Calvin broke out in Shingles along his cerebral nerve 24 hours after he was released from the police due to the stress. So the last week he was lifting boxes/suitcases and just would fall to the floor in spiking pain. He eventually got on morphine which helped. And of course you know the end of that story, every two weeks until Christmas, one of the girls broke out into Chicken pox in Jordan due to the Shingles.


"We had our baby girl, Noelle, here in Jordan. She came only two weeks early. That was good considering I thought I would have her in Nov. We brought her home from the hospital and laid her in a small laundry basket. I had to leave her nursery back in our other country. We are in temporary housing here and there just isn't much. (We are now borrowing a pack-n-play from some people we met.) Christmas came and we enjoyed it as a family. During these weeks there was a lot of crying and grieving. Sometimes it was for our home, or our friends, or the loneliness we felt. At times it was for the death of a dream and of a vision, or for the feelings of being the outsider again. Many times it was over the hurt we saw our girls experiencing and being helpless to heal it. It was all gone. We could do nothing to get it back. It was taken away by the bad guys. It was our love. Then the realization of all of the time we wasted hit us. We were losers, just great big zeros for the missed opportunities. For not preparing the believers for our departure. For not building up their community so they could perserve together. For not training others enough so that the lost would continue to hear. Then we cried even more. It was a lonely Christmas. Pretty empty. We tried to get several family or friends to come visit, but none of them could.


"We then went into a leadership training here in Jordan for the whole month of January. It was a sweet, sweet time with the Lord. And now it's February. We are finally feeling like we are getting going and moving somewhat normal again. We did not go back to the States during this time. With being so late in the pregnancy and having the baby and no passport, it was impossible. But then we went into the training. Honestly I had very mixed emotions about it. I wanted so much to go "home" and be pampered and someone watch my kids so I could just sleep in depression! ha ha I wanted the comfort of all that was known to me and my family around me. Yet, since we didn't go back and we knew no one here, we were forced to do nothing else but be alone, be still and listen to His voice. It was the most amazing healing we have ever experienced. His Word was like a soothing salve on our hearts. Each day the Lord gave just enough mercies so that we were able to sleep and wake the next day for a new dose. We sang through tears. We praised even when it hurt. We held our children and told them of God's faithfulness to our family. Of His faithfulness to our believing friends. Of His love and faithfulness to our lost friends. His sovereign will is for our good and for his glory. I didn't even know what grace and sovereignty was when I was seven. I saw in Lydia's eyes and life, she was not only understanding but experiencing it daily. (Of course, I didn't know what an ocean was either at that age.)


"One night I kept waking up and I audibly heard God say I am faithful and true, I am faithful and true. Over and over as I woke throughout the night. Then as the morning came, the voice said, Hope in the Lord! I knew God was speaking to me. Hope in the Lord is not like earthly hope. It's not a crossed finger hope. It is a confident hope that expects to see His victory and promises fulfilled. So that is how Noelle was named, Noelle Hope. I really believe that if we would have gone back to the States, our comforts would have been worldly. Because that is what I was looking for. Mmmm, double chocolate chunk fudge.... But praise God, He used barren times to be the most wonderful time of healing and comfort. When trials come in abundance, so does His comfort."

Well...

Post by Brin

Some of you have heard me complaining about my water situation. I really think it is worthy of being called a fiasco. When we first arrived back in Brazil we discovered the pump to our well was not functioning as it had been pre-furlough. So we hired someone to descend into the well (75 ft.) and he diagnosed us as needing a new pump. So a new pump was put in. Again we daily ran out of water and Josh determined that the new pump was not put in deep enough. At least we hoped, because that would be an easy fix. Josh tried to no avail to find someone to finish the job, but couldn’t until after the rainy season (June). That is when I started complaining. I really like to have enough water. I live in a rain forest for crying out loud. Sometime later we found a guy willing to go down and fix the problem. And…..he did. And now for weeks I have had all the water I could drink. It was wonderful until yesterday when Josh took a shower and the water smelled like dead animal. We thoroughly scrubbed the water holding tank and filled it with fresh water from the well, and the water still left us feeling filthy after taking a shower. So the only other source could be our well itself, which was still unsealed from the last time.

So here you see Josh, again, opening up the well and pouring a bottle of bleach into the watery grave of a decomposing something. If you could smell us now…

I think that I need to clarify a few things. Yes, our family is still home schooling. We have also put our girls in a school here in Altamira so that they could make some friends their own age and also have the opportunity to learn independence. They go to school every afternoon which leaves the mornings open to home school. It works pretty well. Ella loves Brazilian school, however Ava and Mia are not convinced yet. Ella also loves home schooling now that Chelsea helps me home school twice per week. Chelsea is a new missionary with the Xingu Mission from Columbus, Ohio. She will be working with youth and also involved with music and dance ministries. She herself is a grateful home school graduate and her enthusiasm inspires Ella to want to learn. Chelsea is also a talented musician so at some point I will have her teach Ella music. Right now the only instrument we have is a plastic recorder, so we'll wait a bit. I am so thankful for her. We have all been anticipating her arrival in Altamira since we first found out she was coming in August. Chelsea has visited twice previously, the last visit she stayed for 3 months and conducted a ballet class for all the missionary kids. My girls remembered this small detail and we always referred to Chelsea as the "ballerina." We greeted Chelsea when she walked off the airplane and I am pretty sure that Mia was expecting her to be wearing a tutu and tiara.

Here is Chelsea's blog if you want to know more about her:

http://chelsea-nichelle.blogspot.com/

Celebrate with us! Only 2 months away from being 7, Ava has graduated from Kindergarten. We surprised her with a giant chocolate chip cookie which is a grand gesture since the chocolate is imported.

Everything she needed to know she learned in Kindergarten. Here are some of Ava’s ramblings on the topic of "school”:

• I know how to say honey in Portuguese because my teacher brings it to school and gives it to us at snacktime. Sometimes they bring honey and sometimes pizza.
• Emily teached me reading. Mat M-A-T. Bat B-A-T.
  
• I go to school in brasil and I get nervous and cry. And Mia screams and cried more.
  
• My teacher she barely lets us play. At the end when we go to our moms she gets out the toys. She mostly cares about homework.
  
• Whoever does good at school gets a pencil and whoever obeys gets honey. Only I obey.
  
• We want to make friends and so we say hi and share food.
  
• I have to do Brazilian math.
  
• When I see Mia on the playground, when I leave I get a little scared.
• When I don’t want to stand on the stage I run to Mia. Everyone looks at me. Because of my white face and red curls and because I talk weird.
• I have a babysitter here her name is Cleide. She has sleepovers with us. She takes the lice out of my hair.
  
• My favorite part of school is making friends. Her name is Deborah.
  
• We went to the waterfall and we saw a snake and I was in a tube with mom. Snakes are good, they don’t hurt us but some poison.

Marituba river trip

The girls have been complaining that they haven't been able to go on a boat trip since we've been back from furlough. So finally, this past weekend, we went on a boat trip as a family. Joined by about 10 Brazilians from our church, as well as Chelsea and Patty (2 new missionaries) and Kate, a short-termer.

We returned to Marituba, a community which I had visited last year where my friend Alison's aunt lives. On that visit, a couple of his cousins had expressed a desire to follow Christ. Spending a little bit more time on this visit, we were able to meet with his cousins and a few friends and begin going through a discipleship booklet for new believers.

Discipleship group with guys from the village.

The group of Brazilians we took included some of the young guys I've been working with on youth group events. I am continually impressed by their desire to be involved in the work here. One young man, Souza, and his wife have even expressed an interest in moving to a remote community and living there as missionaries. It's exciting to think about how God is going to use them in the future, and to realize that I may be able to play a small role in encouraging their development as leaders.

One adventure that we experienced showed me once again the dangers we face here, and how fortunate we are to have so many of you praying for our family. The community we visited sits on the west side of the river at a location where the river is wide (8 miles). The good news of this particular sight is the constant breeze blowing across the river keeps the mosquitoes away, the bad news is often storms approach quickly and the waves can be quite treacherous. To make matters worse, the beach has many hidden rocks scattered about just under the waters surface. In this situation, we usually anchor the boat off-shore and take a canoe to shore (I really wish we had a dinghy, I'm not sure what a dinghy is but if an situation called for a dinghy, this would be it). It had gotten late the night we were having a home group meeting, so Brin returned to the boat so the kids could sleep. They were fast asleep when a storm suddenly blew up from across the river. With no warning, the captain was unable to start the motor and move the boat out further from shore before the wind blew the boat and dislodged the anchor. By that time our church service was over and the rest of the group was heading to the boat, the same wind made it hard for us to even reach the boat. When it appeared that we had reached the boat, I realized it wasn't because we had made it any further from shore, it was because the boat had blown up on shore. All of this happened very quickly; amid complete darkness and a lot of yelling. We were able to get all the ladies on the boat while the rest of us tried to dislodge the boat from the sand. Fortunately the boat did not hit any large rocks, but it was stuck fast. The danger is that wind and waves heave the boat onto shore (it gets turned parallel with the shore), and if the waves are big enough they can actually flood the boat and sink it. This happened years ago to this boat and while no one was hurt, it did cost a lot to get the boat seaworthy again. Finally, using another boat, we were able to pull the stern free from the sand, and back the boat away from the shore.

At one point I told Brin to be prepared to get the kids off the boat if the boat began listing. She pulled Ella from a deep sleep in her hammock, gave her a life jacket and waterproof flashlight and told her that if she finds herself in water, not to worry because she can probably touch, but if not, just use the flashlight to look for the shore. Normally a worrier and compulsively safety conscience, Ella should have been freaking out. However, 3 minutes after Brin left her she found her back in her hammock sleeping.

Augustino, from our church in Altamira, and his sister
whose house we used to hold the church service.

Brin holding a boa constrictor that the villagers had recently caught.

Beto sharing during the meeting.

Ava showing off her canoeing skills.

Return to Surubim

I just returned from a trip to Surubim. Some of you may remember this community where I have been involved in the church planting we are doing there. I drove my truck and the main church planter, Ronaldo, rode his motorcycle. For those of you that know him, we were excited to be joined by Beto, who is home for a visit from the University where he studies down south. The seven of us where planning on a 2 night stay, during which we would visit neighbors, spend some time with Zecateca (the main leader), and have a church service.

I was especially impressed with Zecateca, a man that I first wrote about before he had become a Christian. In a blog from over a year ago, I noted that he would make a great pastor. Today, after less than a year as a believer, he has grown tremendously and is excited and eager to learn and grow more. Ronaldo, and his wife Rosanah, have poured a lot into him and it shows.

Here is a video that I made of our trip. I hope it gives you a better taste of what it's like to travel to and visit a remote community like Surubim...

refreshing changes

River village built completely on stilts

This is Brin here. I am back from my trip up river. I helped lead a team from the Vineyard Church of Delaware County (Ohio) as they visited churches and villages in a region close to where the Xingu River meets the Amazon. It was a serious treat for me. First of all, I needed to get away. But in my jungle town there just isn't anywhere to go. So when I returned I was refreshed and much more appreciative of my husband and eager to be a better mother. Also, this team was made up of such quality people 10 days was just not long enough to soak them up. I miss them, which is weird since I just met them.


We spent the weekend in Porto de Moz, a small port town, and the rest of the time traveling up and down the rivers, stopping in now and then at people's homes, sampling their buffalo cheese, talking about God, and putting on services in the evening. Tim, a missionary and also MD did consults along the way. I sat alongside him and acted as a glorified pharmacy tech. I loved meeting people's medical needs and it flows naturally into meeting spiritual needs as well. I was surprised at how poorly I understood the language. I thought I was doing great in Portuguese until I tried to understand the river people with their thick accents, poor grammer and missing teeth.

On the way to school

So now that I am back and getting back into a routine, Josh promptly left for a mission to the interior to a location called Suribem which is close to his heart. On Wednesday night I got a phonecall that the girls were to start school the next day. I was given less than 24 hours notice. I am not sure if that is normal or I was just forgotten. What a contrast to North American schools that have the graduation date on the calendar even before school starts. So I sent my babies off to school. They are the first foreigners to attend this school which was evident when the teachers could not make heads or tails of their immunization records and laughed at the funny names on their birth certificates. Had I had the liberty, I would have cried over the realization that my babies are no longer babies. And also that I had sent them into a lot of unknowns. But I had other commitments so I ignored the tender spot on my heart. When I went to pick them up Ava was the most enthusiastic, contrary to her worried statements prior. Statements like, "I wish I could paint my skin brown so I could make friends." Ava's favorite part was buying a popsickle for 25 centavos. She also referred to her classroom as her "hotel room." I am sure wires got crossed in translation somewhere. Mia was pleased that she got to wear a "costume" (uniform) but then at the end of the day was not happy because they did not use the playground. Ella was originally concerned because there are not doors on the bathroom stalls, which indeed there are not. She deliberatly studied her classmates, teacher and classroom and concluded it will be harder than she thought. She also stated that her classmates did not treat her any different until one of the teachers made a speech about children from other countries that look different and speak different but are still children just like them. That was when she got stared at the first time. She also gained a little unwanted attention for bringing prunes and apricots (an imported treat) for snack instead of cookies or crackers. She told them her mother was a nurse and they empathized with her.

Mia and her classmates

Adventures with dad

Brin's been gone on a boat trip for about a week now. I've been enjoying hanging out with the girls. I think they'll be in for a little bit of an adjustment time when mom returns, kind of like after the kids get to spend time with grandma and grandpa. Anyway, here are a couple of things we've been doing together...

For some reason I have memories of making Apple Dumplings on special occasions with my family when I was younger (I can't for the life of me remember what those special occasions were, maybe like in my case dad was just hungry for some dumplings). We made some the other day. It all went great, except for when I ran out to get some ice cream...

It seems vanilla ice cream is harder to find than you'd think. As I was digging around in the freezer, pushing aside such flavors as "green corn" and "tapioca", I tried to explain that I wanted vanilla, or something close to that. "Oh, are you making a milk shake?" the patron asked. I hesitated, should I try and explain to her how I'm making a dessert and it just tastes better with vanilla? I'm not sure I can even put to words with English the complimentary tastes of a warm apple dumpling and a cool scoop of vanilla ice cream. I decided to forego the explanation. She sure tried hard to please me though, at one point bringing me vanilla ice cream... with raisins. "It's mostly vanilla with some raisins", she explained. Finally I opted for Vanilla with some sort of chocolate candies, I figured it was better than trying to spit out raisins like watermelon seeds. Come to find out, the chocolate candies didn't take away anything from the sweet sweet melody of apple dumplings and ice cream.

The girls were pretty bummed out that they couldn't go with mom on the boat trip (unbeknownst to them one of the reasons she was going was to get some time away from them). So I promised to take them camping, which we did in the backyard, and we also went to a local beach with a group from our church. We spent the day there, playing football and swimming. The beach was an hour and a half boat ride from here, so the girls even got a little boat trip out of it.

Iriri Travelogue

I just spent 5 days on a trip to a very remote region where the work is growing. To get to these remote communities, we travel about 8 hours by car and then usually visit several communities on the Iriri River. This time we drove to a different location on the Iriri and visited 3 different communities on the river. I had several impressions and experiences on the trip, but writing a lot, I'll try and just comment on some of the photos:

Once we arrived by truck, we traveled exclusivly by boat. Here, a dugout canoe with an outboard motor transports part of our team (consisting of myself and 4 other Brazilians).

We carries film equipment with us, showing the Jesus Film in each of the 3 locations. Around 7 people responded to a call to follow Christ, adding to the several others who have also shown an initial faith and a desire to serve the Lord. The distance from Altamira will make it difficult to see these people discipled. We are hoping to send a brazilian missionary couple to this area to live and work with the new believers.

Illiteracy is a common. Pastor Clenildo (from the main church in Altamira), is showing a local man how to use a device which speaks the New Testament in Portuguese. Individual verses and books can be selected. It's batteries can be recharged using a handcrank or a built in solar panel.

A young boy reads a gospel tract to two illiterate men. They are laughing because he confuses the word "sinner" with the word "fisherman" when reading that "everyone is a sinner" he read "everyone is a fisherman" (the Portuguese word for sinner "pecador" is similar to fisherman "pescador").

Our group stopped by an elderly woman's house, who was blind and nearly deaf, to pray for her.

Commercial fishing is one of the main sources of income in this area. Here, a man who makes weekly visits in his truck to deliver fish to the market in Altamira, wieghs some Peacock Bass.

One of the other main sources of income is the collection of tropical fish from the river. Here an air compressor sits on the bank and is used to supply breathing air via the hose to divers who collect fish.

Enjoying a moment alone along the river.

With the river still rising due to the onset of the rainy season, the fishing was not great. But I did secure this catch one day. We mostly ate Piranha (on the left) which seem to bite in any season.

Are you ready for some football????

It all started back in June when a team of my former youth group came down on a work team. Most of the guys played on the high school football team at the time and tried to teach a few Brasilians how to play "American" football. I brought back a football when we were home, thinking that maybe we would play again sometime. Last weekend about 12 guys showed up to learn how to play. Only 2 of them were at the original game in June, so we spent a lot of time explaining the rules (which can be kind of hard to explain when you don't know how to translate words like down, line-of-scrimmage, down by contact, 1st and goal and hike - how the heck am I supposed to translate hike? I don't even know what that means).

For not knowing the first thing about football, I was impressed with how quickly they learned. My only regret was explaining the lateral, it only confused the issue and lead to way too many illegal forward passes. (I just realized, after I wrote that last sentence, that Brin is going to hate this post...)

We've played twice since that first Sunday, and once was on New Years Day after most of the guys were up all night! We always gather a crowd of curious onlookers, and a few times we've picked up some walk-ons from the crowd. We've been playing tackle on a small sand field. The dislocation has been the most popular injury so far - a shoulder and a toe. I think I'm going to push for flag football soon.

On a personal note, I go through football withdrawals every year during the NFL season. I've been able to get a few games that I've enjoyed watching. But really going out there and playing has been a pretty good fix as well. Plus, for the first time in my life, I'm the star quarterback!

Here, one of the throw-happy guys decides to chuck the ball instead of being tackled. He was not the quarterback and was well past the line of scrimmage.

This guy, Leandro, actually has a pretty good tuck going. Usually the ball would be waved frantically by the runner.

Explaining plays was also a chore, but like "backyard" football back home, they rarely (if ever) went according to plan.

A Hawaiian Christmas

On Friday Brin and I hosted a party for the leadership team that helped with the event I described in my last post. After just mentioned that we'd like to host a party for the group, in typical Brazilian fashion, it took on a life of it's own. Soon we learned that it was going to have a "Hawaiian" theme and each person was to bring a white elephant gift. We had a great time with the group. I really have been impressed by their servant's heart and dedication. I hope you enjoy the pictures from our luau/Christmas party:

The making-of a great event

A few weeks ago I made a street advertisement that promoted an evangelistic event that our church was doing here in Altamira. I have been helping with the planning of this event, often feeling both impressed and a little bit cynical about the grandeur of the project. Well, I'm here to report on the outcome. First, an update on my growing position as an advertising agent:

I was told 3 days before the event that we would be given some free airtime on the local TV stations and they wanted me to put together a commercial. I threw something together and the guys seemed impressed. I never saw it on TV (we don't own a TV). I imagine it probably ran at 3:00 am, sandwiched between an ad for a 900 number and the latest exercise equipment that will revolutionize your life.

The day we were to begin setting up at a local gymnasium I realized very little was going to be ready by the advertised 7:00 start time. Literally, at 6:45 I was in my truck driving around the city picking up instruments for the band. As we arrived back at the venue at 7:15, some of our band members were just leaving to go home and take a shower! There was a part of me freaking out. But when I looked around at all the workers, no one was acting like I was feeling. No one had one bit of urgency in what they were doing. Even the crowd, who had just been trickling in up to this point didn't look one bit incensed that we were obviously not going to start on time. I think things finally started at 8:30, an hour and a half later than advertised (in my commercials, mind you). By then I had resigned myself to not caring.

The event itself is not easy for me to explain. It was an evangelistic event, but seemed not too seeker-friendly, in my American evangelical mind. The theme was "miracles", or "Jesus is alive", depending on who you ask. The program included dance performances, a drama, worship music and a talk. Following the talk there was a ministry time where people came forward to receive prayer for healing.

What impressed me the most about this whole undertaking was the way it was planned entirely by the youth group leadership team (comprised mostly of college and young adults). I love working with this group and they truly put many hours into planning the event (although not enough effort went into the details, but that's just my opinion).

My role was kind of like a consultant, they would ask my opinion and sometimes they would do it, other times I think they probably laughed at me when I left. I was also in charge of the video and photography team (I'm telling you, they were serious about this). I have been commissioned to make a DVD of the event, including a "making-of" segment. For some reason unknown to me they seem to be more excited about the "making-of" than they do about the actual video. I can't tell you how many times someone has come up to me and told me "can you film this and put it in the making-of"? And that's how they say it too "making-of", I guess DVD's don't bother translating that description so they have grown to include the English phrase in their language, except it sounds more like "moking oov", so it took me awhile to understand what they were saying.

Anyway, I'm having grave reservations about this DVD. I'm not sure how it's going to live up to the expectations. And is it OK to have a DVD with a "making-of" segment that is longer than the actually video? I'm so confused. But I better get going because I have several hours of video and about 1,000 pictures to weed through. The video and photography team that I was in charge of was not lacking enthusiasm, fortunately they eventually ran out of storage space.




Our cheesy TV commercial:

A Brazilian Ballerina

I really did not consider the recital essential to my daughters upbringing.

I had a language mishap the other day. Not a funny one either. I was having a short conversation with a young women, she was 20 or even younger. I asked her how she was and she did not give me the quick, standard, "all well" response. Instead she told me that she is pregnant and left her boyfriend because he hits her. But here is what stinks, I didn't undertand. So I asked her to repeat it. I think she used some slang, sorta like "he slapped me around" or something. I didn't get it so again, she repeated and again I didn't undertand. On the third time, I understood and felt like garbage that I made her repeat something so horrible 3 times. But here is what really stinks. I was so stunned about what I did and somewhat paralyzed in the awkward moment that I did nothing, said precious little, and even worse, didn't even ask to pray for her. I see know that I was preoccuped with my lack of language to allow God's power to work through me. This insight into myself is sobering. I have thought about it a lot since then. How I get so concerned about my lack of fill-in-the-blank that I miss out on being powered in the way God intended me to be. I hope I have a chance to run into that girl again.

Josh had a great weekend. He spent a lot of time planning, organizing and working at a big event the central church put on. The weekend isn't over yet so check back soon for video, pictures and Josh's take on the whole weekend.