The Finishing Touches in Auerana

It’s always great to see a project come to a close.  And that’s what we got to do this past week in Auerana, a 40-family community on the Amazon River, northwest of Santarém.

I was just there four and a half months ago, but this was a whole different community.  As is common in the Amazon River flood plane, these communities spend part of the year underwater!  In November when I traveled there, we docked our boat along the main channel of the Amazon and then walked for 30 minutes to arrive in Auerana.  This trip, we docked the boat so that we could step directly on to the church!  Talk about a great parking spot!

This team from Indiana worked to paint the church, inside and out, as well as install a handrail for the walkway around the church.  They finished the floor on the stage as well.  But one other activity they did was ministering to the children of the community through singing songs, performing a skit, and playing games.  Over 30 kids showed up and some parents as well.

We also worked to install almost 20 new water filters and fix almost 20 others that had been damaged from the flood in 2009.  I specifically worked with this effort and enjoyed the time visiting almost every home in the community.  We evangelized and invited everyone to the two services we were planning to have in the church.

Clean water is a resource that as Americans we take for granted.  Right now, life is much easier for people in Auerana, because the water is right under their house.  They just have to throw a bucket down and pull it up, as opposed to walking down to the river with buckets and carrying it back.  However, this water is covering their outhouse, cow pastures, and who knows what dead animals.  The gift of fresh water is precious, and even more so when the Gospel comes with it.

At one of the services, almost 70 people from the community came to hear the Word preached!  We were excited to see that kind of attendance, but the most exciting part of it was the 4 people who were saved and came to saving faith in Christ!  Please pray for these two adults (Cledevaldo and Derlei) and two children (Reinildo and Alexandre).  Several others received prayer for healing.

One praise report that we had from the community was a man who was saved during my trip there in November.  Only he was flat out drunk when he professed faith.  But now, almost 5 months later, it’s confirmed that he’s never drank since and is one of the most solid believers in the community!  It reminded me of the bondage to alcohol that God pulled me out of when I was saved.

We left that church painted and ready to go.  But now we’ll be anxiously awaiting reports of how the real church, the body, grows and is able to utilize this simple building for God’s honor and glory!  The people there were excited to see the progress of this building and received us well and with lots of gratitude.  May God pour out His Spirit upon that community, Grace upon Grace, so that the name of Jesus may be exalted in Auerana.