We trust you all had sweetly blessed Christmases sprinkled generously with God’s love and grace.  Here are a few of the highlights from our Christmas season…

Ruropolis Youth Conference… and a Big Headache

Ruropolis Waterfall... Before the Headache!

In mid-December, Josiah and I were invited to be the speakers for a youth conference in the small inland city of Ruropolis.  Our church rented out the city auditorium and invited youth from all over to attend.  There were hip-hop performances, skits and God’s life-changing Word.  We pray that this event helped to grow the Ruropolis church with a permanent growth, in Jesus’ name!  In our free-time, the locals took us to a waterfall which was absolutely gorgeous!  However, after only about 5 minutes of enjoying God’s creation, poor Josiah busted his head on a rock beneath the waterfall and spent the better half of the afternoon a little nauseated and bleeding from the forehead.  Praise the Lord the cut was not too deep, and he only suffered minor soreness in his neck for a few days.  God’s hand of protection was certainly over us!

Remember Geandre??

Geandre and Monica's Engagement

For those of you who have followed our updates since the beginning, Geandre was our very first cell group member over 6 years ago.  We remember how he would tremble nervously when asked to give the announcements in the group.  Now he is all grown up, has a great job, is serving the Lord… and is getting married!  We had the privilege of announcing their engagement at church in December (in Brazil, the engagement is a big deal done in the church, the wedding rings are prayed over and exchanged, but only worn on the right hand until the wedding day).  He is marrying a beautiful woman of God named Monica.  Please keep them in your prayers as they plan their wedding and move toward a life together serving Jesus.

Praying in the New Year

Praying in the New Year

This year we decided to do something very special for New Year’s.  We held a prayer meeting in the community of Piquiatuba, invited the leaders from surrounding communities, and we all entered the New Year together on our knees praying and interceding.  As the fireworks were sounding, the church was on their knees interceding for the salvation of their fellow community members and for God’s perfect will and plan in this upcoming year.  It was truly a moving experience!

Amazing Testimony and Prayer Request

Conce

Conce, a lady from our church in the community of Jamaraquá has been praying for the salvation of her husband Pedro (the community’s Catholic leader and a heavy drinker) for years.  Just recently, he has begun to show signs of hope.  Over Christmas, he got extremely drunk and stayed that way for two days.  During this time, he wrongly accused her of having another man and said many other hurtful things.  After he sobered up, his own children called his attention to what he’d said to their mom and how unjust it was.  He told Conce he would not ask for her forgiveness because she wasn’t God and only God could forgive.  However, within only a couple days, he approached her as she was eating breakfast, threw his arms around and cried asking forgiveness for how he’d hurt her, and he also promised to never drink again!  By New Year’s when Conce was at our prayer meeting, he still had not had a drink praise the Lord!  So please agree with us in faith for his complete transformation and salvation, and for their family to be an exemplary Christian family in Jesus’ mighty name!

Homemade Banana Trunk Grill

Just for Kicks

What do you do when you have meat to grill, but no grill to cook it on?  Easy!  You cut down banana trees and use their soft trunks to stick various branches into, and there you have it!  A “modern-day” Brazilian grill ready for a grill-out!  (The meat was delish by the way…) 

Officially Brazilian "Sailors"

Whew! We are finally finished with our 3-month boating license course.  And I must say I’m proud to have finished it, being a girl, first of all, and an American! Now I am officially a marine mechanic.    I have already gotten my hands dirty and have been fittingly (and lovingly) called a “grease monkey.”  We had the honor of marching in a parade with the Brazilian Navy on Brazil’s Independence Day, September 7, and we were even first in line!   By God’s grace, I was the “valedictorian” of the class, and received a special gift from the top navy commander on the day of our graduation!  I was one of three girls in a class of about 70 students, and the only American.  I love it when God shows off.

Now back to the grind…

After our graduation, we set out on a looooong boat trip to visit our river communities.  One of the main supervisors under our covering has been taken down to focus on his family for a while, so we have a lot more on our plate than normal.  But God is in charge, and the works are ultimately in His hands.  We are doing all we can to see them grow and multiply, and then wait on God to do the magic!  Here are a few things that happened on this last looooooong but exciting trip!

Jamaraquá

Cell Group at Jamaraquá (Clícia in the white shirt)

God has raised up some excited leaders in the community of Jamaraquá, and despite trials and tribulations, they are coming out victorious.  The couple leading up the work there, Gilmar and Clícia, were saved in January of this year, and have been enthusiastically serving the Lord ever since.  Because of our boating license course, we hadn’t been by to visit much, but they have faithfully held services every Saturday night, even in our absence.  Also, Clícia has plans to go in to the neighboring community of Maguary and witness to a friend of hers that lives there, in hopes of beginning a new work there!  Please continue to pray for Jamaraquá, and its surrounding communities.

Acaratinga

Service at Acaratinga (Damasceno in red shirt on left)

In the community of Acaratinga, we have had a work that has been steady but hasn’t grown much.  However, on this last visit, a man who we’ve been trying to win for months finally gave his life to the Lord!  We held a service at Damasceno’s house (with the goal of finally winning him for Jesus) on Sunday morning.  He pulled Josiah aside before the service and had a long talk with him.  Their talk was interrupted, then the service began, but Josiah’s message to Damasceno continued as he shared from the Bible about salvation.  At the end, Josiah gave the opportunity to anyone who wanted to give their life to Jesus, and Damasceno accepted!  He was even tearing up (Damasceno is a very “hard” man, one you’d imagine wouldn’t cry very often) as he shared about how he finally understood the message and gladly gave his heart to the Lord!  Please pray for Damasceno and everyone in the community of Acaratinga.

We thank you so much for your continued prayer and support.  Again, we could not do all of this without you!  Be on the lookout for more updates coming your way soon!

Be blessed!

Jennifer and Josiah Huber

Bible Course at Piquiatuba Church in June

Bible Courses in the Communities…

We held our first intensive Bible course in the river communities of Piquiatuba  and Prainha in June.  Many local workers and leaders showed up from the river communities to learn more about how to be better leaders and how to be more effective in the Lord’s work.  It was exciting to hear testimonies after the course of how much more enthusiastic the workers are, making plans to win friends and family members for Jesus and plant churches in neighboring communities.  We hope to hold another Bible course about how to be good disciples and disciplers before the end of the year.  God is using these courses of fundamental Bible teachings and excellent leadership training to raise up much-needed workers for His harvest.  In the weeks, months and years to come, we believe we will see exponential growth in His work in these communities due to the knowledge and vision passed on in these teachings.  Please continue to agree with us in faith for this Bible course to produce leaders and missionaries for the Lord’s harvest!

Conferences and Events…

The Destiny Team, from left to right - Pr. Chris, Jamie from Oregon, Joshua, Jennifer, Miriam, and Josiah

We held a Family Conference in Piquiatuba June 26-27, that ended with a moving baptism at the riverside.   Pr. Chris McCall came with a team from Destiny Fellowship in Biloxi to be our conference speaker.  It was a wonderful conference where many were touched and families transformed by God’s wonder-working power.  We also held a Missions Conference in the river community of Nazare, and a Family Conference in the river community of Apace (so far our furthest community, about 12 hours up-river).  We also held an event in the community of Santa Rosa to raise money for their church  building.  The Lord

Nezi from Aramanai

is busy, busy, busy at work!  Please continue to cover all these communities in prayer – for victory, for the Lord’s peace to reign and His truth to be known!

Praise Report from the River Community of Aramanai!

Those of you who have followed our updates for some time now will remember that the community of Aramanai has been a dream of ours for years.  On a recent trip to that area, our main contact in the community, Nezi, finally gave her life to the Lord!  For a long time now we have tried to win Nezi for Jesus, but she has always refused and said she would get saved when she turned 65.  Well, this time the Holy Spirit went before us and prepared her heart, and she decided to receive Jesus!! While we were in Aramanai, we visited the local Catholic leader, Eduardo.  We have also been trying to build a relationship with him and win him for Jesus.  Eduardo was the person who shut down our last attempt to bring the Gospel to Aramanai.  He has now grown to like Josiah and me, and I finally got to meet his wife, Franca, and love up on her a little.  As the Catholic leader, Eduardo is a very influential man in the community.  When he finally receives Jesus, the community will likely follow in his footsteps!

New Church Plant in Sao Pedro

Praise the Lord, a new church plant has just opened up in the community of Sao Pedro!  This community has been so closed to the Gospel until now.  A family from our church in Alter do Chao recently moved there and started a weekly Bible study, and it’s growing!  The couple being trained up to be the local workers in Sao Pedro, Valdenilson and his wife Regina, are super excited about starting a church there.  In obedience to His Word, we have been praying for the Lord to send workers to His harvest, and He has been more than faithful!!  Continue to agree with us in faith!

First Aid Practical in Boating License Course

Boating License Course

Praise the Lord the boating license course finally started on June 6 and will continue through September 5 (3 months, ouch).  It has been a little difficult maintaining all our normal responsibilities now with this class every morning, but God has given us much grace and favor.  And now I can explain to you how a turbo-charged motor works just as well as the next guy… or at least come close.    In September, we will have our formal graduation and receive our licenses.  Although it has taken up much of our precious time, the course has actually been very interesting, and even fun at times with practical classes where they leave you in the middle of the river to swim to shore (when I came to think that was “fun” I may never know).

The Trimaran Prototype is on its Way!

We have now received about 40% of the funds necessary to build our trimaran prototype, and the plans are underway to start building soon!  We are super excited that God has heard our prayer and has touched the hearts of His children around the world to give to this worthy cause.  The trimaran will provide a much more stable and economical means of transportation for church-planting and supervision.  Please continue to pray with us for the rest of the funds to come in, and for the whole process of planning and building to go smoothly without hiccups.  We hope you can make it down for the maiden voyage!  :)

As always we covet your prayers in every area of our lives.  There are some situations we pass through and realize that the outcome is 100% due to the team of powerful prayer warriors we having fighting the battle with us from all around the world.  We would love to be able to personally thank every single one of you who has consistently lifted us up in prayer, and somehow repay you for the difference you have made in our lives.  But we know that in Heaven you will receive your reward, all of us soldiers will stand together as Jesus welcomes us in saying “Well done, good and faithful servant!”  Until then, we are together on the front lines in this spiritual battle for souls of the Amazon!

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

Exciting experiences!

Josiah working on the boat motor

The first night of our trip, our boat broke down in Piquiatuba (about 4 hours upriver), and a missions pastor from Santarém had to fly out in a small plane to rescue us and fix our boat.  This challenge and delay actually opened the door for us to have some much-needed and very successful meetings with the leadership in Piquiatuba.  God is truly blessing the work there – they are already sending out their own missionaries to 8 of the surrounding communities!

Canoeing through anaconda-infested waters

In the community of Samauma, we took a late-evening canoe ride through jungle marshlands in the pouring rain to get a generator so we could hold a night service at the church.  On the way, as I bailed water out of the canoe with a small plastic container, the young man rowing confirmed, “Oh yes, we definitely have anacondas here!”  As night set in, and the rain poured down, our “anaconda threat level” was raised from elevated to high.  :)  But all glory be to God, He kept us safe and we were able to have an extremely blessed service in the church at Samauma that night!

Restoring broken missionaries…

We visited several communities on this trip, but one especially stands out.  At the community of Cametá, we met a man named Carlinho who used to be a missionary with our church years ago.  He planted several churches and raised up leaders, one of which is now a missions pastor under our covering.  However, because of much persecution, he began to fall away and has been out of the church now for many years.  His mother is the local church worker of Cametá, and although she and many others have tried to convince him to return to the Lord, he refused.  During our visit,

Jennifer with Carlinho and his mom, Irene

Josiah insisted he sit and talk with us (although he really didn’t want to, and had trouble even looking us in the eye).  During this talk, Carlinho opened up his heart about the difficulties he’d suffered, and at the end of the conversation, he told Josiah that if he would pray with him, he would rededicate his life to the Lord!  We all prayed together, and Carlinho prayed asking forgiveness for turning his back on the Lord.  We also prayed that God would heal his heart and help him forgive people who had hurt him and persecuted him.  When we left, he made a new commitment to return to the Lord’s work.  God truly went before us and opened Carlinho’s heart and gave us favor in his sight.  Praise the Lord!

New area to supervise…

Pr. Joao Lopes (right) with the local church worker, Antonio (left), from the community Nova Vista

Because of time constraints, we were only able to visit 5 of the 10 new communities we will be supervising, but we plan to return to a conference in the area two weeks from now and visit the remaining 5.  We were able to spend some quality time with Pr. João Lopes and his wife, Marina, the new missions pastors we will be discipling and overseeing.  The further you travel from town, the fewer communities have electricity, the simpler the people and the simpler the lifestyle.  It  was truly an eye-opening experience to meet these simple people – people who live happily without the luxuries we so often take for granted like phone service (Marina only found out when we arrived in town that her brother died in Manaus 8 days ago), running water, lights at night, freezers and refrigerators so food doesn’t go bad

The church in the community of Samauma

after one day.  They just grab their trusty flashlights and set up steep and staggering hills to go to church.  I never knew a flashlight could be such a close friend until we walked on these narrow jungle paths in the pitch black night with people who could still find their way in the dark.  I felt lost, and they felt at home.  I was reminded of a song by Nichole Nordeman in which she sings, “Oh the differences that often are between everything we want and what we really need.”  These people know what they really need, and they have it – Jesus in their hearts.  He is all the light they need.

New Works and New Workers…

Osiel

The new work at the IBAMA Brigade  is still an open door into several national forest communities.  The brigade is in transition right now, the current leaders are retiring and someone else will take their place.  Pray that the new leaders will be as open to the Gospel as the current leaders, and that we may continue weekly Bible studies to train up soul-winning missionaries to send out to the communities!  A young man named Osiel from our church in Piquiatuba has taken on the challenge of being the local worker at the Brigade.  Please keep him and the work there in your prayers.

Eduardo

Also, our local worker in the community of Bom Jesus (Good Jesus) named Eduardo has responded enthusiastically to God’s calling for more laborers to the harvest!   When asked to help out in a community, he either walks for hours, bikes long distances, or piles his family in a small boat to go to the community to serve.  In addition, he was invited to visit a new community, Marituba, which has been one of our goal communities since the beginning of last year!  Marituba is a community of native Brazilian Indians who have been extremely closed to the Gospel.  The people there liked Eduardo so much they invited him back!  New works are popping up without our even knowing!  Please cover Eduardo with your prayers, that God will keep this fire burning in his heart to do His work, and that he would not grow weary.

In an effort to make community supervision more efficient, we have been asked to take on another area of the Tapajós River. We currently oversee jungle and river works between Santarém and Pini.  This new area will start after Pini and continue upriver to close to Aveiro, and will add another 10 church plants to supervise.  We are looking forward to traveling more to successfully supervise all of these communities, and raise up leaders and missionaries to carry the Good News even further up river and inland.  Our goal is to plant 15 new churches this year and we know with the Lord’s helps we can surpass that goal in Jesus’ name!  Praise the Lord!!!  Please pray with us that all of these new works will become firmly established missionary churches, that all of our current works will strengthen more and more, and that God would open doors in new communities for His love to flood the hearts of all!

We head out last night in the rain with 3 of our disciples to the IBAMA (Brazilian EPA) brigade base in the middle of the Tapajós National Rainforest.  There are stationed on this base a little over 100 men from more than 15 different communities along the Tapajós River.  According to Osiel, the brigade member friend of ours who invited us to start a work at the base, his friends and co-workers are extremely hungry for God and ripe for the Gospel.  He invited us to help teach them about the Bible, which needless to say was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.   We arrived around 8pm, and walked lightly through the mud to get to a wooden house resembling (and smelling like) old New Orleans style architecture.   We entered the sitting room and soon realized that everyone had forgotten we were coming!  In the middle of the jungle with no cell phone service, we had no way to remind them of our visit.  All in all, only 6 brigade members showed up and they seemed tremendously cold and disinterested in what we were doing there.  Nevertheless, we went forward with our plans.

Luis, President of the Community Paraiso

We taught them a praise song, Josiah gave an evangelistic message, and then all of a sudden, a “God thing” happened.   One person after another started opening up about their lives.  The meeting broke out into an excited, tear-jerking question and answer session between famished hearts and the people God sent to point them in the right direction.  It was amazing!  The elderly couple that oversees the base expressed how much they really needed someone to come and guide them because they want to follow God, but don’t really know much about Him.  Another young man, Luis, opened up about how he’d been searching, and when Josiah showed him God’s plan for salvation in the Bible, it was like a light turned on in his head.  “I’ve heard so many different things but this really makes sense,” he expressed, “I’m beginning to think I’ve finally found the Truth!”  We came to find out a few minutes later that he is the president (therefore an extremely influential man) of his community, Paraiso!  What an open door to win that community!  HIS plans truly are exceedingly, abundantly, above all of our plans.

The night wrapped up with everyone praying the sinner’s prayer together, one declared rededication to Jesus, and a calling for those 6 people to take part in God’s plan to win the men on that base and to use them to take the Gospel into their communities.  They all accepted the challenge, and without even being asked to, they promised to invite as many as they could to next Thursday’s meeting.  Normally, we are not able to visit the same place twice in two weeks because of the many places we have to supervise, but we felt the Lord really wanted us to personally help this group get going.  So, Lord willing, we will return with our disciples next Thursday to a much larger and even hungrier group than last night!  We count on your prayers to make the difference again!

As we drove home, we thought God had done His work for the night, but He was only just beginning.  The ride home with our 3 disciples turned into an emotional conversation about how this experience made them regain focus on their true calling.  It was life-changing for all of us!

Thank you again for your prayers, and praise you awesome Father for carrying out YOUR perfect plan for last night!  We claim all these young men AND their communities for Your Kingdom!

Give Honor to Whom Honor is Due…

Lunch with our moms

In November, my mom, Kay, took quite possibly one of the scariest trips anyone could take – never having left the U.S., she traveled alone to and in a foreign country, where she doesn’t speak the language.  For most of us, such a feat is one of those things we wish we “had the courage to do.”  Not only did she face her fears flying and coming to a foreign country, but while she was here she embraced the Brazilian missionary life… and enjoyed it!  I want to honor my mom for all she has done and for all that she is.  Cheers to you Momma!!

We also had the honor of hosting Josiah’s mom and Uncle Tim last month.  We had a wonderful time with them as well!  It was SUCH an honor to have our families with us!  That alone was the best Christmas present we could ask for!

IDE Jatobá

Some of the kids at Jatobá

We recently held the 6th IDE Jovens Missionários (The “Go” Young Missionaries Conference) in the community of Jatobá.  We are trying out a new strategy of holding the event one day only, instead of the whole weekend, in hopes to  have them more frequently.  We arrived in Jatobá early Saturday morning and spent the morning going door to door evangelizing, praying for the sick and inviting people to the big event at night.  We also took a doctor and a dentist to see people from the community throughout the day.  In addition, people from our church in Alter do Chão blessed the community members with free haircuts and manicures.  At the night service, our group Crazy Por Cristo came from Santarém to perform the Lifehouse Everything skit.  It was an impacting and emotional time.  At the end of the service, we prayed and several people were healed for the glory of the Lord!  We believe this IDE will serve as a catalyst to get a strong work going in the community of Jatobá! Please agree with us in faith!

Baptism at jungle creek in Piquiatuba

Baptism in Piquiatuba

After last month’s “Encounter with God” weekend, we held a baptism in the community of Piquiatuba on the 27th.   Now in the dry season, the river level has gone so low it is hard to reach the river communities by boat.  You end up leaving the boat so far from shore and wading through knee-deep mud filled with stingrays!  So we packed up our 4-wheel drive truck and head out on the dirt roads to get to Piquiatuba.  Fourteen precious people from Piquiatuba and the surrounding communities gave their testimonies and were baptized in a beautiful creek in the middle of the jungle.  It was an amazing experience.  Our truck pulled through nicely on the jungle dirt roads, hauling a drum set, a 400lb concrete water filter, a portable sound system, a large speaker, a generator and 30 people!!  That’s a new record!

Missions Conference 2010

The first weekend of December was our annual Missions Conference, where workers from all the communities under the Santarem Paz base come to town to be spiritually fed and appreciated by all.  The local workers from our communities received food baskets and donations of clothes and shoes.  They were giddy with excitement!  The speakers of this year’s conference were Josiah’s mom and Uncle Tim.  Their challenging messages encouraged our missions workers and supervisors to hasten Christ’s second coming by winning all their neighboring communities for Him.  It was truly a blessing to all of us!

Be on the lookout for our Christmas newsletter which should be arriving soon to your mailbox.  It includes an invitation to be a part of a very special project that will revolutionize church planting in the Amazon Basin!

Praise God for all He is doing, and for you being a part of it!!

Making Feet Beautiful in the Villages…

The church at Piquiatuba, one of the places we hope to hold the Bible school

Romans 10:13-15 “For “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have no believed?  How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard?  And how will they hear without a preacher?  How will they preach unless they are sent?  Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things.”

Our main focus right now is to produce beautiful feet in the villages – to raise up and send preachers of God’s Word so that others can hear and believe and be saved.  With this end in mind, we are working to organize a Bible school within the communities. Recently our church started a 4-year Bible school in some of the main cities, and we want to take these teachings of essential Bible knowledge to the communities to aid in raising up local workers and leaders infected with Great Commission excitement.  There are workers in the communities who are serving the Lord and have the heart of God to reach others, but lack a firm foundation in Bible knowledge.  The result is the blind leading the blind (Matthew 15:14), babies trying to raise other babies.  Many villagers are even illiterate, so although they would like to study the Bible in depth, they are unable to.  That is why it is so vital to the growth and spiritual maturity in these communities to have solid, Bible-focused training, “spiritual food” that will fortify their souls and ignite the same fire in them as the apostles of old when they knew and understood the truth.  As facilitators, Josiah and I are going through the individual Bible school courses with the goal of adapting the courses and teachings to the reality of life in the jungles and rivers.  For example, because of the high illiterate population, many studies may need to be taught through DVD and include more discussion time than written homework.

The church at Iruçanga, another place to hold the Bible school

We are looking forward to the wonderful results this Bible school will produce in the communities, but we are relying on wisdom from the Lord and on your prayers to organize it and get it started.   Please cover us in prayer as we undertake this exciting new endeavor.  Pray that God would give us His wisdom and show us the best way to organize these courses and present them to the communities so that the results will be so incredible that no one can doubt it was God who orchestrated it!

Soon… the Pitter-Patter of Little Feet…

My family

In addition to working overtime to get this Bible school started, we are currently preparing our house to receive our mothers!  My mom, Kay, will be coming to Brazil for the first time now at the end of October.  (And yes, she does have little feet – gotcha didn’t I?)    She and my dad were scheduled to visit here in January, but it was not possible because of his sudden passing in November of last year.  My mom is now courageously stepping out to come on her own, and we are SO excited!  Josiah’s mom, Christine, will be flying down with my mom on October 28 before heading out on another trip on November 1, and my mom will stay through November 12.  As any good daughter and son-in-law would do, we are getting everything set up to make our house the most welcoming and the most comfortable.

Josiah's family

Josiah’s mom will also return in mid-November to spend a week with us.  We ask for your prayers for a safe, peaceful trip for both our moms, that there would be no hiccups, and that my mom would love Brazil as much as I do! 

Indebted to you for your prayers and support,

Jennifer, also for Josiah