On a mission to keep you updated!

On a mission to win the Amazon!

Just a quick update…

Josiah and Vavá at Piquiatuba

We have been making lots of exciting trips to visit existing works and encourage the community members to continue strong in serving the Lord. The harvest sure is ripe for the pickin’ – the river people are thirsty for more of God and they run with the vision to their neighboring communities to share how the Lord changes lives. One such example is Vavá, an elderly man from the community of Piquiatuba (pictured to the left of Josiah in the boat), who walks up to 3 hours to other communities to share the Gospel!

First meeting at the community of Nova União

Recently we entered into a new community, Nova União, and held our first evangelistic meeting. It was a complete success, and we were received with much favor by the community members. Please continue to pray for this new work, along with all the other new works we have faith to begin before the end of the year.

This weekend, we will be hosting a conference in the community of São Raimundo. At this conference, we will be ministering the Word of God, providing medical and dental assistance, and distributing water filters to members of the community. This community has been divided against itself for quite some time now, but we are believing that this conference will be God’s strategy of healing old wounds and restoring family relationships. We covet your prayers for this event – for restoration, for our favor with the community, for health and protection, and for anointing in the praise and worship and the ministering of God’s Word.  We hope to update you next week with lots of great pictures and praise reports!

We will be leaving for the States May 4 and returning May 28. Please cover us in prayer for health, protection and for blessed time with friends and family. We couldn’t do anything without the Lord using you, our prayers warriors, to go in first in the spiritual realm to break down strongholds and pave the entry way!  We appreciate you!

Blessings,
Jennifer, also for Josiah

Letters from War…

One thing has become extremely clear to me over the past several weeks – we are at war.   It is something I always knew to be true, but didn’t really believe with my whole heart and soul until now.  The encouraging thing is that we are fighting from a position of victory, but it is a war nonetheless, and we are fighting.  There has been much attack here, and we covet your prayers for our health and protection, as well as the health and protection of the Brazilians we work with.  The enemy is not happy, which means God is moving.  Josiah will be posting soon with specific testimonies of how the Lord has ensured our survival in fighting this war. In the meantime, I want to share with you the exciting outcome of all this attack – God’s Kingdom being expanded.

Baptism

After a recent Encounter with God weekend, we had a powerful baptism in the Tapajós River where God showed up in a mighty way.  It was very moving to see these precious people making a public declaration of their decision to leave their old selves behind and follow Christ.

Church Construction

The church in Piquiatuba has a building, but they've grown so much they no longer fit in it! We hope to build a large brick building for them soon.

The church buildings at the communities of Iruçanga and Caranazal are almost finished!  Funds and teams from the States have helped tremendously in bringing this dream to fruition.  Many other communities we’re working in are getting close to needing a church building as well, so we are believing God will provide for those as He has provided for these communities that can finally meet together in a temple built for the sole purpose of worshipping God.

Upcoming Events…

We plan to visit a service in the community of Jamaraquá on Saturday April 17.  The following weekend, April 24-26, we will be hosting a conference in the community of São Raimundo.  At the conference, we will be ministering, distributing water filters to individual houses, providing dental services and donating clothes to the community members.  In the month of May, we will be traveling to Illinois to help with PAZ Chicago’s first Encounter with God weekend, then to California for Isaiah’s wedding (yay for Isaiah and Erin!), and then a quick visit with family in Louisiana before heading back home to Brazil (have to hit the old stompin’ grounds).    If possible, we’d love to see our fellow supporters around these areas.  Please let us know by e-mail if you will be available in May to get together.  We ask for your prayers for all these events and for protection in travel, and for God to be glorified in all we do.

Busy Having a Blast!

Whoever said Sunday should be your day off was terribly mistaken! To help you understand what a Sunday is like for us, let me walk you through the events of this past Sunday…

Community of São Raimundo

First Sunday service at São Raimundo

Josiah presenting the water filter

In the morning, we took a group to the community of São Raimundo to hold their first ever Sunday service. We worshipped together under the shade of the jungle trees, then we presented a water filter donated by the PAZ Mission Filter Project. Sadly, the community was divided years ago due to a family feud. However, these water filters have opened a door to the other side of the community that had not previously accepted us. We met with the president of the community, as well as the school teacher (a very influential person), and the Lord gave us divine favor! After the filter presentation, almost everyone said they wanted a filter for their own home. In addition, they asked if we could bring dental assistance to their community (the Lord opening another door!). We scheduled a conference for April 24-26, where we hope to deliver filters and provide dental assistance. Please pray that the Lord would restore this community and bring its members back together to live in peace and harmony.

Community of Iruçanga

Iruçanga Sunday service

Sunday morning was also one of the first Sunday services at our home community of Iruçanga. Remember Selva Maria and her husband that we used to take to church with us every Sunday? Now they have asked for a church in Iruçanga, and we are in the process of building a church building about 2 kilometers from our house. They are currently meeting in a thatch-covered area, but are very excited to begin Sunday services in their new church building soon!

Mini-Bible School
We returned home for a quick lunch and then went to church to begin a new mini-Bible school for the missions supervisors under our covering. Every Sunday afternoon, we will meet with our supervisors to study the Bible together, so they will be firmly planted in the Word of God and know how to train up other leaders. After about three hours of Bible school, we drove to the edge of the river so that Josiah could look over his notes one more time before preaching at our Alter do Chão church.

Josiah preaching at Alter do Chão

Sunday Night Service in Alter do Chão
After a short time of study and prayer, we arrived back at church in time for the service to start. Josiah preached an incredible message about paying the price to see God’s blessing and have His anointing. Six precious people came forward in tears at the end of the service to give their lives to the Lord. God is soooooooooo good! We were completely exhausted by the time we finally got home that night, but we were so full of excitement for the Lord’s work and humbled to be used by Him.

Recent Blessing…

Josiah & our 2006 Mitsubishi L200 truck!

After catching fire and leaving us on the side of the road, our Suzuki Samurai has officially been fired. It has been a huge blessing, but we realized it was too small to take others on missions trips, or sound equipment for events in the communities, etc. In addition, we needed something a little more reliable to take us hours into the jungle with assurance that it could get us back. So we were able to sell the Suzuki, and including some inheritance money, praise the Lord we were able to buy a 2006 Mitsubishi L200 4×4 pickup truck! Sunday morning when we took the group and sound equipment to São Raimundo, the truck sure proved its worth. It passed on the muddy roads, through creek beds and over deep ruts that make New Orleans look like asphalt heaven… AND it fit people and equipment! We have dedicated this truck to the Lord’s work, so please pray with us that it will be able to serve Him along with us for many, many, many years!

Newsletter Alert…
We hope to send a paper newsletter out soon with stories and pictures from the February conference in the community of Piquiatuba. You won’t want to miss it! If you don’t already and would like to receive our newsletters, please e-mail us with your name and address at jjhubers@gmail.com.

We wish you all could come down and see the impact you are having here in the Amazon Basin. There’s a special seat in the truck just waiting for you!

Long time no update!

Let me first start off by apologizing for how long it has taken to publish another update, but finally… here it is!

We covet your prayers for a missions youth conference the weekend of February 13-15 in the community of Piquiatuba. We have been amazed at the dedication and the fervor of the youth from our church in planning this conference. It has been completely planned, organized, financed and prayed through by the youth. It should be a huge event involving not only the community of Piquiatuba, but several surrounding communities. So pray for an incredible harvest of souls and complete success! Also, that same weekend we will hold the first Sunday service at the community of Jamaraquá, so please also keep that event in your prayers, as well as our safety traveling to and from these communities.

In January, we got ourselves organized in this new ministry by putting together calendars of missions supervision trips, organizing boat usage, and meeting with the main supervisors under our covering. Last month we also spent time trying to rid our house of tree frogs, tarantulas and leaks in the roof. I think we’ve reached a compromise with the tree frogs, and the roof is no longer leaking right above my bed pillow, so that’s a start. Now we’re ready to start visiting more of these communities, organize outreaches, use water filters and medical clinics to open doors in difficult communities, and see the Kingdom of God spread like wildfire! We are in the process of scheduling a trip with water filters to the community of São Raimundo. We currently have a cell group in São Raimundo on Tuesday nights, however the community was split due to a fight, and only one-half of the community supports or attends our cell group. So we are praying the water filters will open the doors to the other half of the community.

Last week, we had some of the old clan from Santarém come out to spend a few days with us. We had a blast together goofing off and reminiscing about old times, and one of the nights we had a campfire on the beach and sang worship songs. It is amazing we have been able to maintain such close relationships with our disciples and friends in Santarém when we don’t get to see them very often.

We have heard so many incredible testimonies and seen God move in incredible ways, so I hope to get a paper newsletter out to you all soon sharing some of these stories.

In the meantime, we sincerely request and appreciate your prayer covering over our lives and ministry. We can’t tell you enough how thankful we are for your prayers and support. We couldn’t do any of this without you!

And they’re off!

Okay, so technically the “Missions Pastors” title along with all its responsibility is supposed to begin for us in January, after we get our new house and lives in order (washing clothes in the river takes a little getting used to). However, we have already begun to sink our teeth into this great adventure. As if the salvation of souls and the move of the Holy Spirit would wait for us to have our house in order! The Lord has already begun to open doors we didn’t even know He was unlatching…

Jesus is Lord in Iruçanga!
We’ve been living in Iruçanga for about 2 months now, and we have tried our best to help and love up on every person we’ve met. Last week, the president of the community, Selva Maria, asked if we would take her to church with us on Sunday. Imagine waiting for a good opportunity to invite someone to church, and suddenly they invite themselves! So we brought Selva Maria, her husband José and their granddaughter to church Sunday night. When we returned to their house, they expressed how much they truly loved it and asked if we would take them again this Sunday. They even began making plans to buy a centralized piece of land in the community and donate a part of it to build a Paz church! God is so good!!!

New friends and old friends
Last Saturday, the Alter do Chão church hosted a day of fellowship where we were able to get to know our new brothers and sisters in Christ. Every person we talk to has a heart for missions, even people that have only been saved a few months! It’s been really neat building new friendships. Though I have to admit it feels like we’re starting from scratch again like we did three years ago. It has been difficult to be away from the friends we’ve made in Santarém, but we are trying to maintain our relationships with them. In fact, the youth leaders (the original “Crazies Por Cristo”) will be spending New Year’s with us in Iruçanga! We’re going to enter the new year praying together, putting our lives before God so that no matter how far apart we are, He will keep us closely knit. Many of them already have plans to join us in missions once they finish school. Praise the Lord these leaders have continued to prosper even in our absence, which proves that it is always God who is really doing the work.

Prophetic dream
At the church’s fellowship day, a girl named Ranieli pulled us aside to share a dream she had. She said Josiah and I showed up in a truck to pick them up. Then we went riding through the communities, picking fruit from the trees as we passed. When we arrived at a certain place, someone came and asked if everything was ready. She woke up at that moment and felt like it was from God. Since that day, I have been reflecting on the dream. More and more I feel like God is revealing that, through us, He will produce lasting fruit (souls) in these communities, and then He will come and ask if the harvest is prepared for His coming. We hope to present these precious souls before Him as fruit that not only lasts but produces even more fruit for Him! Please continue to pray for the fire of God to sweep through these communities and ignite a passion for Him!

Speaking of fire…
The fire of the Spirit is definitely present in our lives… and even in our car! Last week, as Josiah was driving home, suddenly flames started coming out of the dashboard! He immediately turned the car off, grabbed the fire extinguisher (which, praise the Lord, Brazilian cars are required to have) and put out the fire. Thank God he was close to home, so he just pushed the car to our driveway. It turns out the cigarette lighter caught fire. (I guess it was mad because it never gets used.) Praise the Lord, the fire didn’t damage anything important in the engine area, it only melted a good part of the dashboard. Needless to say, we are believing the Lord will either provide for us to get this older car “up to par” so it can serve as the missions tool it was meant to be, or He will provide us with another vehicle that can travel through the jungle roads and won’t catch on fire! We trust the Lord is in control of all these things, because He is faithful to equip us to do His work! Please continue to pray for God’s provision in our lives and in His work.

Thank you all for your continued faithful support and prayer.