Update – March ‘10

Greetings in the name of the Lord!  He has promised to build His church and I’d like for you all to praise Him for all that He gave me in order to be able to participate in this work in Brazil!  The past month rolled by quickly, with my time split between travel and language study.  It has been nice to get out of town a bit and visit some villages, and I am now reenergized for a few weeks dedicated to Portuguese.

Back in February, I was blessed to have a team here from Illinois.  On  my first boat trip of the year, we traveled to the Tapajós River community of Uquena to distribute some new water filters.  As a mission we are experimenting with new filter designs, utilizing a similar technology for filtration, but constructed out of alternative materials.  We took about 30 filters to the community and spent three days there assiting the local worker, Josué, teaching him how to install the filters and then making visits around the community.  We also made the hour hike to the next village down river, Murucí, to visit and encourage the one family of Christians there.  We were able to use an ox cart and haul our AV equipment there and host an outreach, showing a film and having a small evangelical service.  And praise God for the six people there who confessed Christ as their Savior!  The next day and night was spent in Uquena and when it was all said and done, between house visits and another service, fourteen more people made confessions of Christ in their lives!  Pray with me for their sanctification!  And especially for men like Josué who work in these communities and will be discipling these new believers, teaching them the ways of the Lord.

After a few days back in Santarém, I headed out to spend a weekend away at a retreat.  This was a great opportunity for me to get to know some of the ministry tools that are used here and that I will need to know as I begin to disciple people myself.  The morning after the retreat, I departed for the jungle community of Puraquê with a team of Canadians.  We set out to get some work done on the church that was being built there.  In three days we built trusses, put up a roof, painted, and poured the concrete floor!  We were able to accomplish all that we set out to do in the name of the Lord!  I was also encourage by my ability to help with language translation for the team.  I must say that it is especially rewarding to see some fruit from the labors of language study.  Pray for this community and the church there that it would flourish!

Then just this past weekend I was able to attend a church inauguration in  the Amazon River community of Piracãoera de Baixo.  It was great to see the building being finished up and then celebrating with the local folks the blessing they had received in having a place to worship in their community, something I often took for granted in the US.  I also experienced being stranded on the Amazon River for a bit of time on the way there as we hit a piece of driftwood with our boat.  Check out this blog post for more on that story.  May God be glorified through this church and may He strengthen the Body and raise up excellent leaders through it.

Praises
- God is working mightily in the Amazon Basin of Brazil saving souls!
- God is sanctifying me in ways I did not expect when I moved here!
- I seem to be learning Portuguese and am beginning to feel more comfortable in various social situations.
- For safety in travel and work done with visitors from North America.

Prayer Requests

- For God to be glorified through my language training and that I could see the fruit of this labor.
- For wisdom as I soon begin the physical act of searching for an apartment or house to rent later on this year
- For continued faith and pure trust in the Lord for my financial provision even when my short-sightedness wants to worry
- For the patience and knowledge necessary to successfully and correctly file my US taxes

Serving a Faithful God,
JAE