Falling for the Lord’s work… Literally

Josiah and João Lopes walking up the steep hill in the community of Martanxim

The Lord truly has been so good to us.  In spite of many obvious attacks from the enemy, God has been faithful.  I feel like Jesus’ disciples did when, after being flogged by the Council, they left rejoicing for having been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5).  And did they stop preaching in the name of Jesus as they were “ordered” to?  NO!  And neither will we!

Falling for the Lord’s Work… Literally

The more we travel, the more we fall in love with what we do and with the people the Lord wants to reach.  We recently held a missions conference in the community of Cametá.  About 200 people from Cametá and surrounding communities came to praise the Lord and be challenged to dedicate their lives to the Lord’s work.  Saturday night we all packed into the tiny church building to dance and sing before the Lord, and to hear His Word.

Jennifer sharing Sunday morning

I was asked to share at the Sunday morning service, and I felt the Lord was leading me to speak about being willing to give your all, letting go of your own dreams and desires to let God’s dreams and desires be yours.  I planned to speak especially about desiring health for yourself (something I’d been dealing with), desiring protection, and even things like desiring to be close to your family.  Jesus said we had to literally hate our life to gain it, and if we loved our life we would lose it.   “Hate” here means that nothing in your life, not family, not health, not dreams and desires, not protection, nothing can be more important to you than Him.  And the only way to ever really have any of these things, is to be willing to give them up.  To “hate” them for His sake.  Sunday morning came and I was ready to let the Holy Spirit speak through me.

Watching the Billy Graham movie Sunday night

As I went to get off the boat, I slipped and fell on the board, hitting the side of the boat on the way down to the river.  Now beat up and bruised, with my foot cut open and bleeding, I was more sure than ever that the Lord wanted me to share this message, and somebody didn’t want me to.  Josiah bandaged me up, I changed into dry clothes, and limped up the steep hill to the church.  The Lord truly blessed the service that morning, and I trust that lives were transformed.  Mine certainly was.  Sunday night we played a Billy Graham movie to close out

Alter call Sunday night - 11 souls were saved!

the conference, and 11 precious souls were saved.  Carlinho, the former missionary who rededicated his life to the Lord on our last trip, won 4 of them to the Lord!  He has stuck by his decision, and is already growing the Lord’s Kingdom, praise God!

We visited several other new communities on this trip, including Martanxim, Itapaiuna, Paraiso and Apacê.  The work in these communities is growing, praise the Lord, despite many challenges.  In the community of Paraiso, most of the community is closed to the Gospel and to our church.  However, Isabel and her mother continue

Isabel and her mother, from the community of Paraiso

strong in the Lord, waiting for the manifestation of His Holy Spirit to sweep through the community.   If you remember Luiz from the IBAMA Brigade, he is the president of Paraiso. Unfortunately he was not home when we visited, but we left a heartfelt message for him.  We believe the connection we made with him at the Brigade will be an open door for the Gospel to enter in to the community of Paraiso!  In the community of Apacê, about a year ago the church suffered a split due to a group of women who began “prophesying” strange things  like fireballs coming down from the sky and wiping out most of the community, saying God had revealed to them that

Mattias, local worker in Apacê, and his family

our church was of the devil.  They took about half the church with them when they left, and they hold meetings that seem almost like spiritist rituals involving witchcraft.  But praise the Lord He is shedding light on HIS truth, and people are returning to church.  Please pray for Apacê, that soon all will return with repentant hearts, and that the church will be even bigger and more blessed than before!

Praise the Lord for all He is doing!  We are super excited that He is constantly adding to His Kingdom here, and we are honored to be a part of it.  We thank you so much for your prayers and support that make all this possible!  God bless!

Jennifer, also for Josiah

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