Why am I here?

Now that you know a little about us and our ministry I want you to know why I have chosen to blog. We have had many adventures in the Amazon Region and because of our love for this area of the world I want to tell you about it.

For the past 2 years we have been visiting two villages that are located close to the city of Obidos. Obidos is about 10 hours up the Amazon River from Santarem. Vila Roberta and Vila Sao Raimundo (Pronounced as Hi-mundo)are locate on the Amazon River about a half hour before arriving in the city of Obidos. These villages are located close enough together that if people need to they can walk from one village to the other. Children from both villages go to the same school, located in the village of Sao Raimundo. The first village we visited was Vila Roberta. The village was completely open to the gospel. It was like they were just waiting for someone to come and tell them about Christ. We spent several days there doing activities with children and visiting with the people in the village and having church services at night.

The first visit, there was several people who made professions of faith. We showed the “Jesus” film on the boat one night and there were about 30 people who came to see the film. Our relationship was building nicely. The second time we went to Vila Roberta we also went to Vila Sao Raimundo. No matter what village we go to we have to ask the village President for permission to come into the village. We explain to him/her what kind of activities we would like to do. We have never been denied this privilege however we thought that Sao Raimundo would be the first for denial. We had been told that the village President was a Macumba Priest who had 19 young boys who were his disciples. First of all Macumba is a form of spirit worship. The worship includes blood sacrifices.

To go into a village like this we have to be prepared spiritually for encounters with the enemy “Satan”. We were granted permission to go into the village and we were granted permission to go into the school that was in that village. The ministry began and we needed to know where the village President wanted us to have service at night. When our representative went to the President he said….”The Padre (Catholic Priest) doesn’t come here anymore and no one uses the Catholic Church why can’t the Baptist use the Catholic Church. So the Baptist used the Catholic Church at night for services. The President sent people to the church to clean and open the church for whoever wanted to come. There were many people who came to church at night. People came to know Christ as their savior. The next time we went back to that village the “President” of the village had changed and the “Macumba Priest” was no longer there. We aren’t sure where he is but we know we prayed for him to either come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ or to be moved out of that place which had been claimed for Christ.

We have been back for the past 2 years to both of these villages and are preparing to build a church half way between the two villages. Please pray for both villages. There has been a piece of property given for the church building to be built. Now money is needed to build the church. These two villages have so much to offer for the Kingdom of Christ. Please pray for those who have made professions of faith to continue to grow in their faith. Please pray for us as we serve in this area for Christ.

This is why I am here!!

Until Later…..God Bless you all INDEED