Hey everybody, I know it has taken me long enough haha but this is our final blog entry. Things got really crazy when we got back home, but I just wanted to write this last entry letting everyone know that Michael and I have made it home and we are safe and healthy. The Lord really blessed and watched over us throughout this entire internship. We are so thankful that the Lord gave us this opportunity to learn more about the people He has created and the country that he has given us a love for. This internship has been amazing! Michael and I have really matured in our understanding of the calling that the Lord has given us. First, we would like to give a sincere and heartfelt thanks to our Brasilian family, the Lessa family. Your family took Michael and I into your home and really made us a part of your family. We loved having two little brothers for those 7 weeks, and now we miss our little brothers very much! Thank you so much Pastor Elmer and Elisangela for blessing us in so many ways. You took the time to teach, encourage, and disciple us and we are so thankful for your investment in our lives. Your family is so special to us and we thank the Lord everyday for blessing us with the gift of knowing your family. We can't wait to see your family again soon! Also, we would like to thank all of our Brasilian friends in Parintins for accepting us into your city and making us feel welcome and loved. We have such a love for your city and we are so appreciative of the opportunity to get to build relationships with so many of you. We are so excited to come back and see all of you one day soon. Finally, Michael and I would like to offer our thanks to everyone who has been praying and thinking about us. We know the power of prayer, and it was certainly evident that we had people praying for us. We are so appreciative of your love and suppport throughout this internship. To all of our Brasilian friends back in Chicago, we have missed you guys so much and we are so excited to come back and see you!!! We will be back at church hopefully next Sunday!
Well even though this is the end of our internship, it is certainly not the end of the amazing journey that the Lord has set before us. We are so excited to see what God has planned for us in the future, but for now we will continue to take one day at a time, enjoying the rich blesssings our Savior has given us.
Thank you again everyone!
Michael and Leah
Friday, July 22, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Our Last Day in Brasil
Hey everybody,
Well today is a very bittersweet day for us. It is very exciting that we get to go home and see our family and friends that we have missed, but it is very hard for us to leave our Brasilian family and all of our amazing friends that we have made over these past weeks. We are so grateful for everyone who has taken the time to teach us and help us grow more in Christ. We are so thankful for this amazing experience. It is certainly something we will never forget!
In this blog I wanted to share about our amazing time in Nhamunda. So we got there last Thursday and spent the first day kinda exploring the city and getting settled in. First of all, let me just say that this place is sooooo beautiful!! The city is super small but it is filled with beautiful trees, flowers, and landscapes. We even had the chance to go to their beach and it was so beautiful. But anyway, we spent most of the days there with our team walking around the city telling teenagers about a special service that was going to take place on Saturday night and sharing the gospel with them. It was a really great time just walking and talking with all the teenagers in the city and encouraging them to get involved with the church. We were passing out salvation bracelets (which were sooo popular) and sharing the love of Jesus with the youth in the city. Then something really awesome happened on Friday night. That night we were going to have a big Capoeira class with all of the teens in the city, but we couldn't find any of the teens anywhere. It was like the city was empty. We were all really confused until we heard the booming sound of really loud music. We began walking towards the music and we realized there was a huge party taking place on the far side of the city. Basically the whole city was at this party, it was crazy. The party was almost like a talent show type thing where all of these different groups were performing various dances and singing songs. So since everyone was at this party, we decided that we would wait over on the side of the street for it to finish and then we would have our Capoeira class. As we were just waiting, the Capoeira teacher in Nhamunda that teamed up with us for the week (he is a new Christian and a really cool guy), came up to our group and said, "I just asked the host of the party if we could perform a Capoeira routine at the party, and they said we could." Everybody was so excited because this would be a huge opportunity to showcase Capoeira and encourage the youth to get involved with the new Capoeira team at the church. Since Michael and I are terrible at Capoeira (trust me, we have tried, there is no hope for us haha) we stood on the perimeter and watched. It was so incredible for two reasons. First, it was amazing to see these people perform Capoeira in front of the whole city, but it was even more incredible to see them get up in front of everyone and share about the saving power of Jesus Christ. It was such an amazing opportunity. Then the following night we had a service for all of the teens and it was an amazing time of worship. Michael even did a presentation of the Gospel in Portuguese!!! I know!! I was so proud of him!! It was a really awesome time and the Lord really blessed our time there in Nhamunda. We left on Sunday morning super early at 6:00 a.m and had a really cool boat ride back to Parintins. The sunrises on the Amazon never get old, and it was amazing to see once again the beauty of God's creation. So now, we are just enjoying our last day here in Parintins and attempting to fit all of our stuff back in our tiny suitcases haha! We can't wait to see everybody!!
Once we get back to Dallas, I am planning to write one last blog post as kind of a wrap up on our whole trip. Pray for a safe return home and we will see everybody very soon!!
Michael and Leah
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Going to Nhamunda
Good morning everybody!!
Today we are embarking for a small city up the river called Nhamunda. It is actually an island in the middle of the river with a little over 5,000 people. This will be our first time to visit this city so we are very excited! We are traveling there by boat for about an hour trip. We are traveling to this city to help out a local church there. Pastor Elmer is very good friends with the pastor of this church and he has asked Pastor Elmer for some help trying to revive his church. One of the really unique features of Pastor Elmer's church here in Parintins is he uses different outlets to help the youth get involved in the church. For example, there is a Hip Hop breakdancing team and a Capoeira (Brasilian mixed martial arts) program and a really great music program here at the church. Through these different ministries, the teenagers of the city are able to get involved with the church. This pastor in Nhamunda really wants this same thing for his church as well to try and encourage more of the youth in the city to come to church. So Michael, me, our Capoeira teacher, and one of the musicians at the church are all traveling to Nhamunda to help the church implement these new programs. We are so excited to go to this new city and help the church here. It will be a really great time to see the Lord work in this church. Please pray that these new ministries will be effective and more of the teenagers in the city will have an interest to come to the church. We are so excited to see what the Lord will do through this team in the following days. We will be in Nhamunda till Sunday and then we are headed back to Parintins! I can't wait to share about our time in Nhamunda!
We will see everybody very soon!!
Michael and Leah
Today we are embarking for a small city up the river called Nhamunda. It is actually an island in the middle of the river with a little over 5,000 people. This will be our first time to visit this city so we are very excited! We are traveling there by boat for about an hour trip. We are traveling to this city to help out a local church there. Pastor Elmer is very good friends with the pastor of this church and he has asked Pastor Elmer for some help trying to revive his church. One of the really unique features of Pastor Elmer's church here in Parintins is he uses different outlets to help the youth get involved in the church. For example, there is a Hip Hop breakdancing team and a Capoeira (Brasilian mixed martial arts) program and a really great music program here at the church. Through these different ministries, the teenagers of the city are able to get involved with the church. This pastor in Nhamunda really wants this same thing for his church as well to try and encourage more of the youth in the city to come to church. So Michael, me, our Capoeira teacher, and one of the musicians at the church are all traveling to Nhamunda to help the church implement these new programs. We are so excited to go to this new city and help the church here. It will be a really great time to see the Lord work in this church. Please pray that these new ministries will be effective and more of the teenagers in the city will have an interest to come to the church. We are so excited to see what the Lord will do through this team in the following days. We will be in Nhamunda till Sunday and then we are headed back to Parintins! I can't wait to share about our time in Nhamunda!
We will see everybody very soon!!
Michael and Leah
Monday, July 4, 2011
Real Persecution
Hey everybody!!
In this post I want to share with you guys a very joyful, yet heartbreaking story. The story begins about a month ago when we first arrived here in Brasil. As you have probably read in one of the previous posts, the first week we were here in Brasil, we went on a boat trip with a group of college students from Baylor. On that trip we visited a village called São Sebastão do Juruá. The president of the village is a woman, and during the time we were at her village she came to know the Lord. She was so overwhelmed with the truth of Jesus Christ that she shared with her husband about Jesus too and he also accepted Christ. Ironically enough, the husband was actually the leader of a very corrupt catholic church in the village. He explained to us that he no longer wanted to lead his people through manipulation and lies. Now that he knew the truth about Jesus Christ, he realized that he had to lead them in the right direction. We were so incredibly thrilled that we now had two new siblings in Christ, and now they would be able to lead the village in the truth. Then, we left, and I have not heard from them in a while because they live in a village about 2 hours from the city. Then, last night at church after the service, Pastor Elmer called Michael and I over to a group of people that he was talking to. As we approached the group of people, I immediately recognized that it was the same husband and wife from that village I had met a month ago. I was so happy to see them so I ran up to her and gave her a big hug and shook her husband's hand. The look in her eyes told me that something wasn't right. She looked very pained and troubled. She then began to explain that her village, the same village that she had been leading with such authority for many years, kicked her entire family out of their home, tried to beat them up, and told them to never come back all because they would not recant their faith in Jesus Christ. She told me that the people of her village did not want them to share about Jesus Christ and as a result they threatened to kill them if they did not leave. The president and her family took some of their things and came to Parintins to meet with the Primeira Igreja Batista de Parintins (The church we are here with). As she is telling me this, my eyes are welling up with tears. I was so overwhelmed with her courage and boldness. It was incredible to hear that even through intense persecution and even losing her village, she has remained steadfast in her faith in Jesus Christ. Her entire family (she has two sons as well) knows that they will lose everything, yet they continue to pursue the truth no matter the consequences. It got me thinking that if we faced the same persecution, would we be this brave and remain faithful to Christ? I told her that I was so thankful to God that He has provided her with courage and strength in this time. As we were saying goodbye, she looked at me and said, "Despite what has happened, I have joy in my heart because I know Jesus Christ, but I am very sad because my people in my village do not know the truth. Please pray that they will accept Jesus too." Even after her people have thrown her and her family out, she still desires for them to know Jesus Christ. What an incredible reminder of loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. She is planning on returning today to see if they will accept her family back. Please continue to pray for this incredible family as they go through this persecution. I pray that we all will have this kind of selfless and relentless faith as this family clearly displays. It was such a blessing to get to see them and hear how strong they have been living for Christ. It was incredible to see such authentic and passionate faith in this family. This is the kind of faith that is required of us. Though the world may make it hard to be committed to God, He deserves our total commitment.
Em Cristo,
Michael and Leah Shell
In this post I want to share with you guys a very joyful, yet heartbreaking story. The story begins about a month ago when we first arrived here in Brasil. As you have probably read in one of the previous posts, the first week we were here in Brasil, we went on a boat trip with a group of college students from Baylor. On that trip we visited a village called São Sebastão do Juruá. The president of the village is a woman, and during the time we were at her village she came to know the Lord. She was so overwhelmed with the truth of Jesus Christ that she shared with her husband about Jesus too and he also accepted Christ. Ironically enough, the husband was actually the leader of a very corrupt catholic church in the village. He explained to us that he no longer wanted to lead his people through manipulation and lies. Now that he knew the truth about Jesus Christ, he realized that he had to lead them in the right direction. We were so incredibly thrilled that we now had two new siblings in Christ, and now they would be able to lead the village in the truth. Then, we left, and I have not heard from them in a while because they live in a village about 2 hours from the city. Then, last night at church after the service, Pastor Elmer called Michael and I over to a group of people that he was talking to. As we approached the group of people, I immediately recognized that it was the same husband and wife from that village I had met a month ago. I was so happy to see them so I ran up to her and gave her a big hug and shook her husband's hand. The look in her eyes told me that something wasn't right. She looked very pained and troubled. She then began to explain that her village, the same village that she had been leading with such authority for many years, kicked her entire family out of their home, tried to beat them up, and told them to never come back all because they would not recant their faith in Jesus Christ. She told me that the people of her village did not want them to share about Jesus Christ and as a result they threatened to kill them if they did not leave. The president and her family took some of their things and came to Parintins to meet with the Primeira Igreja Batista de Parintins (The church we are here with). As she is telling me this, my eyes are welling up with tears. I was so overwhelmed with her courage and boldness. It was incredible to hear that even through intense persecution and even losing her village, she has remained steadfast in her faith in Jesus Christ. Her entire family (she has two sons as well) knows that they will lose everything, yet they continue to pursue the truth no matter the consequences. It got me thinking that if we faced the same persecution, would we be this brave and remain faithful to Christ? I told her that I was so thankful to God that He has provided her with courage and strength in this time. As we were saying goodbye, she looked at me and said, "Despite what has happened, I have joy in my heart because I know Jesus Christ, but I am very sad because my people in my village do not know the truth. Please pray that they will accept Jesus too." Even after her people have thrown her and her family out, she still desires for them to know Jesus Christ. What an incredible reminder of loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. She is planning on returning today to see if they will accept her family back. Please continue to pray for this incredible family as they go through this persecution. I pray that we all will have this kind of selfless and relentless faith as this family clearly displays. It was such a blessing to get to see them and hear how strong they have been living for Christ. It was incredible to see such authentic and passionate faith in this family. This is the kind of faith that is required of us. Though the world may make it hard to be committed to God, He deserves our total commitment.
Em Cristo,
Michael and Leah Shell
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Água De Vida
Hey everybody!
It has now been a week since the Festival began and the city is just about back to normal. This past week, God's glory was so evident in the city. Thousands of people were able to hear the name of Jesus, many even accepted Him as Lord in their lives. The Festival here in Parintins is such a dark time for the city, but this year, the light of Jesus shone throughout the whole city. On a very basic level, the Festival is sort of like a Mardi Gras celebration with huge floats and everything, but there are very demonic undertones as well as some very heartbreaking and destructive activity that the people indulge in. The church has two options. They can choose to avoid the Festival altogether and hide or they can counter Satan's attack head on by using this time as an opportunity to wins souls for Christ. Praise be to God that the church here in Parintins is choosing to collide with the culture. It was amazing to witness the church like this. I think that this is exactly what Jesus meant when he said, "Be in the world but not of the world". It was a perfect picture of Christians impacting the culture for Christ while still remaining different from the world. The campaign that the church hosts is called Água De Vida or Water of Life. the purpose of the campaign is to take a simple basic necessity, such as water, and use it as a tool to share the Gospel. The church bought 25,000 bottles of water, divided them up over three days, and gave out free water to thousands of people throughout the city. Every person who received a bottle of water heard the Gospel and received a track. There were about 4 water stations strategically placed around the city where water was being distributed. It was so incredible to witness the surprise on people's faces when they were given this free bottle of water, but it was even more incredible to share with them the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Along with the water, we gave out over 10,000 salvation bracelets. Everyone who received a bracelet heard the Gospel as well. For me personally, it was very emotional to see young children in the church no more than 8 or 9 years old running up to complete strangers and telling them the sacrifice that Christ made for them. I have never see such courage and maturity as I saw in these children. It was so inspiring for me and I was so blessed by their boldness. I think that if the church was more bold like these children, the church would look so different. The church really stepped out of their comfort zone and proclaimed God's glory even at such a dark and dangerous time. Glory be to God for everything that He did during this past week. We would not for one moment take any of the credit for what God did this past week. It was truly amazing to witness the glory of God. We are now on the last two weeks of our internship here in Brasil and it is sad to think it has gone by so fast. Of course we miss our friends and family, but it has been so great to live here in Brasil for the past month. We really feel like God is stretching and molding us in new and different ways. Of course not all of it is easy, but it is necessary. Whenever we hand our lives over to Christ, it is always going to be uncomfortable, scary, and at some times lonely, but it is important to remember that this is what God has planned for us in our lives. His desire is for every believer to surrender their lives to Him so that we might declare His glory and make Him known among the nations. Please continue to pray for the nations, not just Brasil, but every country too. Since God has a heart for the nations, it is vital for us to have this same heart as well. We love our friends and family so much!! We will continue to keep you posted these last two weeks in Brasil!! Michael is still trying to figure out how to post pictures so this may come soon.
Em Cristo,
Michael and Leah Shell
It has now been a week since the Festival began and the city is just about back to normal. This past week, God's glory was so evident in the city. Thousands of people were able to hear the name of Jesus, many even accepted Him as Lord in their lives. The Festival here in Parintins is such a dark time for the city, but this year, the light of Jesus shone throughout the whole city. On a very basic level, the Festival is sort of like a Mardi Gras celebration with huge floats and everything, but there are very demonic undertones as well as some very heartbreaking and destructive activity that the people indulge in. The church has two options. They can choose to avoid the Festival altogether and hide or they can counter Satan's attack head on by using this time as an opportunity to wins souls for Christ. Praise be to God that the church here in Parintins is choosing to collide with the culture. It was amazing to witness the church like this. I think that this is exactly what Jesus meant when he said, "Be in the world but not of the world". It was a perfect picture of Christians impacting the culture for Christ while still remaining different from the world. The campaign that the church hosts is called Água De Vida or Water of Life. the purpose of the campaign is to take a simple basic necessity, such as water, and use it as a tool to share the Gospel. The church bought 25,000 bottles of water, divided them up over three days, and gave out free water to thousands of people throughout the city. Every person who received a bottle of water heard the Gospel and received a track. There were about 4 water stations strategically placed around the city where water was being distributed. It was so incredible to witness the surprise on people's faces when they were given this free bottle of water, but it was even more incredible to share with them the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. Along with the water, we gave out over 10,000 salvation bracelets. Everyone who received a bracelet heard the Gospel as well. For me personally, it was very emotional to see young children in the church no more than 8 or 9 years old running up to complete strangers and telling them the sacrifice that Christ made for them. I have never see such courage and maturity as I saw in these children. It was so inspiring for me and I was so blessed by their boldness. I think that if the church was more bold like these children, the church would look so different. The church really stepped out of their comfort zone and proclaimed God's glory even at such a dark and dangerous time. Glory be to God for everything that He did during this past week. We would not for one moment take any of the credit for what God did this past week. It was truly amazing to witness the glory of God. We are now on the last two weeks of our internship here in Brasil and it is sad to think it has gone by so fast. Of course we miss our friends and family, but it has been so great to live here in Brasil for the past month. We really feel like God is stretching and molding us in new and different ways. Of course not all of it is easy, but it is necessary. Whenever we hand our lives over to Christ, it is always going to be uncomfortable, scary, and at some times lonely, but it is important to remember that this is what God has planned for us in our lives. His desire is for every believer to surrender their lives to Him so that we might declare His glory and make Him known among the nations. Please continue to pray for the nations, not just Brasil, but every country too. Since God has a heart for the nations, it is vital for us to have this same heart as well. We love our friends and family so much!! We will continue to keep you posted these last two weeks in Brasil!! Michael is still trying to figure out how to post pictures so this may come soon.
Em Cristo,
Michael and Leah Shell
Friday, June 24, 2011
Back and Ready for Action!
Hello everybody!!
It has been a long time since you have heard from us! This past week we were very blessed to join up with a couple of teams from the U.S. on an Amazon Outreach boat. The trip was a great time to practice more Portuguese, meet some awesome new Brasilian friends and to just exalt the name of Jesus Christ in these villages on the river. God also personally blessed me with the amazing opportunity to build a relationship with a Brasilian doctor from Parintins named Monique. She is a pediatrician here in the city, but this past week she joined our boat team for a few days and did some village medicine in several of the villages along the river. It was an incredible opportunity to just sit with her the entire day and learn more about how to successfully execute village medicine. It was so great to learn about all the different tropical diseases and weird fungi! We treated everything from urinary tract infections to worms to pneumonia. It was crazy!! Hahaha! I am pretty sure that I haven't stopped smiling since then because it was such an amazing time! Of course the challege was she didn't speak very much english so I definitely got to practice my Portuguese! We had American nurses from the U.S. operating our "pharmacy" so Monique would tell me the medication or treatment in portuguese and I would write it down in english for the american nurses. I got the hang of it pretty well after a while! So now I can prescribe medicines in Portuguese! Hahaha! I wasn't keeping an exact count but over those couple of days we saw over 300 patients! God is so good and his grace is so evident! Now we are back in Parintins for our last 3 weeks. The Lord is continuing to show his power here in mighty ways! Today was the beginning of a big festival here and the city is packed with people! However, the church is ready and prepared for action! Today we spent the day handing out free water and in turn telling the people about the "water of life" through Jesus Christ! It was a perfect example of the church "being in the world, but not of the world". Please continue to pray that the Lord would empower his people and protect us while we serve Him during this time. In fact, we are about to head back out with the rest of the church to continue to minister to the people here and share the name of Jesus Christ with whoever we come in contact with! It is so great to see the church, no matter the age, being bold and courageous proclaiming God's glory! We are happy and healthy and just continuing to learn all that we can while we are living here. God is continuing to give us incredible opportunities to share his love with those around us. We just feel incredibly blessed to be a part of the work God is doing here in Brasil and we give Him all of the glory. We miss everybody so much and we can't wait to see everyone again! As always, thank you again for your continued prayer and support. We are so thankful for our friends and family back at home! Some of you guys have been asking when we are getting back so I was just going to let you know that we are arriving back in Dallas on July 13th and then headed back to Chicago on the 20th! We are so excited to see everybody again! By the way, I promise the blogs will be more frequent now that we are back in the city with internet access and we hope to post some pictures too!
WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!
Michael and Leah
It has been a long time since you have heard from us! This past week we were very blessed to join up with a couple of teams from the U.S. on an Amazon Outreach boat. The trip was a great time to practice more Portuguese, meet some awesome new Brasilian friends and to just exalt the name of Jesus Christ in these villages on the river. God also personally blessed me with the amazing opportunity to build a relationship with a Brasilian doctor from Parintins named Monique. She is a pediatrician here in the city, but this past week she joined our boat team for a few days and did some village medicine in several of the villages along the river. It was an incredible opportunity to just sit with her the entire day and learn more about how to successfully execute village medicine. It was so great to learn about all the different tropical diseases and weird fungi! We treated everything from urinary tract infections to worms to pneumonia. It was crazy!! Hahaha! I am pretty sure that I haven't stopped smiling since then because it was such an amazing time! Of course the challege was she didn't speak very much english so I definitely got to practice my Portuguese! We had American nurses from the U.S. operating our "pharmacy" so Monique would tell me the medication or treatment in portuguese and I would write it down in english for the american nurses. I got the hang of it pretty well after a while! So now I can prescribe medicines in Portuguese! Hahaha! I wasn't keeping an exact count but over those couple of days we saw over 300 patients! God is so good and his grace is so evident! Now we are back in Parintins for our last 3 weeks. The Lord is continuing to show his power here in mighty ways! Today was the beginning of a big festival here and the city is packed with people! However, the church is ready and prepared for action! Today we spent the day handing out free water and in turn telling the people about the "water of life" through Jesus Christ! It was a perfect example of the church "being in the world, but not of the world". Please continue to pray that the Lord would empower his people and protect us while we serve Him during this time. In fact, we are about to head back out with the rest of the church to continue to minister to the people here and share the name of Jesus Christ with whoever we come in contact with! It is so great to see the church, no matter the age, being bold and courageous proclaiming God's glory! We are happy and healthy and just continuing to learn all that we can while we are living here. God is continuing to give us incredible opportunities to share his love with those around us. We just feel incredibly blessed to be a part of the work God is doing here in Brasil and we give Him all of the glory. We miss everybody so much and we can't wait to see everyone again! As always, thank you again for your continued prayer and support. We are so thankful for our friends and family back at home! Some of you guys have been asking when we are getting back so I was just going to let you know that we are arriving back in Dallas on July 13th and then headed back to Chicago on the 20th! We are so excited to see everybody again! By the way, I promise the blogs will be more frequent now that we are back in the city with internet access and we hope to post some pictures too!
WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!
Michael and Leah
Monday, June 13, 2011
A Very Exciting Week
Hey Everybody!
This past week was very eventful and I can't wait to share everything with you guys! We have been learning so much more about the culture here in Parintins and we are improving on the language alot which is such a blessing from God. This past week, "love was in the air". Here in Brasil, Valentine's Day is on June 12 so for the first time ever, Michael and I celebrated Valentine's Day twice in one year hahaha! Throughout the week, there were many events celebrating Valentine's Day. The first event we were able to attend was a wedding, but not just any wedding. Once a year, the city hosts a "complementary" wedding for everybody in the city who wants to get married by the state. If they choose to get married on this date, then they do not have to pay the marriage fee so as you can imagine, many people take up this opportunity. They also have a pastor from each denomination there to read the vows for the couples getting married. The pastor that we are living with represented the Evangelical denomination. There was also a Catholic representative and an Assembly of God pastor to represent those couples under those catagories. So the wedding is held in a city building and people from all over the city came to see it. You will never guess how many people got married!! I thought it would just be a handful, but there were exactly 130 couples who got married. Isn't that crazy!! They played the music and all of the couples walked down the aisle one after another and then they all sat down, and whenever their pastor or representative came up to the microphone, the couple stood up and repeated their vows. I have never seen so many people get married at one time! It was quite a sight! Continuing with the theme of love this week, the church we are serving here had a Valentine's couple dinner on Saturday night. It was a blast! There were about 40 couples from the church that attended. The night was complete with good food, funny couple games, and the most amazing chocolate dessert I have ever had! Hahaha! We had a great time, and plus who wouldn't want two Valentine's Days in one year!
Well, enough about the love, hahaha! Yesterday was a very very special day for me because after three years, I finally got to see a very precious girl (now a woman) whom I befriended my first trip here. Her name is Camila and she lives with her grandparents here in Parintins. Their family is a huge help to Pastor Elmer's church here and they help lead a church plant in the most impoverished area of Parintins called the Invasion Zone. We went to the church plant yesterday and that is where I was able to see my sweet Camila. She is now 14 years old and about a foot taller haha! It was so good to see her and God is using her in amazing ways at the church plant. Even though she is only 14, she is leading a sunday school class for all of the children at the church. It was such a blessing to sit with her while she shared the love of Jesus with all of these children, most of which are abused and neglected. After the church service we sat together and talked about everything. She was very surprised that I could speak some Portuguese now haha! I was so blessed by her and I am so thankful that I got to see her. She was very excited that we will be here for 4 more weeks! I'm sure we will be hanging out alot!
I also had the amazing opportunity this past week to spend a day at the hospital here in Parintins. We went to the hospital because we were trying to recruit a doctor to come on an Amazon Outreach boat trip this coming week for village health care. We met with the leaders of the hospital and they agreed to send one of their doctors with us on the boat trip to treat some of the sick people in the villages. It is a great deal for them because the city requires the doctors to go out into the villages a certain number of times a year, but if they come with Amazon Outreach they are able to use the resources and medicine available on the boat at no cost to them. So basically they meet their quota and don't have to use any of their own supplies. They were very excited to take this opportunity haha. I am very excited as well because I will be coming alongside with the doctor this coming week to learn how he does village medicine. It will be a great learning experience for me and I am very excited for this opportunity. After we met with the head honchos of the hospital, they offered to give me a tour since they knew I was a pre-med in the U.S. It was such an eye-opening experience to see how this hospital works. The facility was very nice and they have alot of departments, such as an E.R and a neonatal unit, but the problem is they only have 6 doctors for the entire hospital and it is the only hospital for the entire city. It breaks my heart that there are so many needy people in the city that are not receiving adequate care, not because of a lack of resources, but a lack of workers. I have begun to notice this reoccuring theme: lack of workers. There are simply not enough people to do all of the work that needs to be done. Of course money is always an issue, but without people to do the job, nothing gets done. It is my prayer that more Christians would respond to the command given by Christ in the Bible and go out into all the nations and become workers for Christ. It is the very purpose of why we are here on this earth. The reality is, God has called all Christians to all the nations to proclaim his glory. But why is there still so much work to be done and so few workers?
The final story I want to share is something that Michael and I got to do this morning. It was called our "Great Adventure"!! A man by the name of Abimael is the leader of the village outreach ministry at Pastor Elmer's church. He invited Michael and I to travel with him and his wife to a village on the river to ask permission for an Amazon Outreach boat trip to visit that village this week. We have never been able to travel the Amazon with just a small motor boat for about 4 people. It was an incredible experience to say the least! It was about a 2 hour boat ride to this village. Once we got to the village, Abimael spoke to the vice-president of the village (the pres was MIA haha) and asked his permission for a boat trip to come and visit this next week. They haven't allowed Evangelical Christians in their village in 10 years, but this time they agreed. Please continue to pray that the people will be open to hearing the good news of Christ. It was such a cool experience to travel side by side with Abimael and his wife Fransisca. They are such faithful servants of Christ and it was such a blessing to learn from them. Hopefully we will be able to accompany them on more trips in the future. On the boat ride back as we are just cruising along the Amazon, I was just overwhelmed with how much our Savior loves us. His creation is so beautiful and the people that he has created are beautiful as well. I think we often forget that everything we have and everything that we are is all because of the mercy and grace of God. He created us for one purpose: to know Him and to make Him know unto all the nations. I encourage you to think about the nations this week. Not just Brasil, but everywhere. Intentionally pray for the unreached people groups all over the world who have never heard of Jesus Christ. Make it your prayer this week to pray for all peoples all over the world because the same God that created you, created them as well. Pray that God would open your eyes to opportunities for serving Him throughout all the nations. After all, if that is our sole purpose here on this earth, why would we waste our time doing anything else.
Thank you for your prayers and support, we love you guys!!
Michael and Leah
This past week was very eventful and I can't wait to share everything with you guys! We have been learning so much more about the culture here in Parintins and we are improving on the language alot which is such a blessing from God. This past week, "love was in the air". Here in Brasil, Valentine's Day is on June 12 so for the first time ever, Michael and I celebrated Valentine's Day twice in one year hahaha! Throughout the week, there were many events celebrating Valentine's Day. The first event we were able to attend was a wedding, but not just any wedding. Once a year, the city hosts a "complementary" wedding for everybody in the city who wants to get married by the state. If they choose to get married on this date, then they do not have to pay the marriage fee so as you can imagine, many people take up this opportunity. They also have a pastor from each denomination there to read the vows for the couples getting married. The pastor that we are living with represented the Evangelical denomination. There was also a Catholic representative and an Assembly of God pastor to represent those couples under those catagories. So the wedding is held in a city building and people from all over the city came to see it. You will never guess how many people got married!! I thought it would just be a handful, but there were exactly 130 couples who got married. Isn't that crazy!! They played the music and all of the couples walked down the aisle one after another and then they all sat down, and whenever their pastor or representative came up to the microphone, the couple stood up and repeated their vows. I have never seen so many people get married at one time! It was quite a sight! Continuing with the theme of love this week, the church we are serving here had a Valentine's couple dinner on Saturday night. It was a blast! There were about 40 couples from the church that attended. The night was complete with good food, funny couple games, and the most amazing chocolate dessert I have ever had! Hahaha! We had a great time, and plus who wouldn't want two Valentine's Days in one year!
Well, enough about the love, hahaha! Yesterday was a very very special day for me because after three years, I finally got to see a very precious girl (now a woman) whom I befriended my first trip here. Her name is Camila and she lives with her grandparents here in Parintins. Their family is a huge help to Pastor Elmer's church here and they help lead a church plant in the most impoverished area of Parintins called the Invasion Zone. We went to the church plant yesterday and that is where I was able to see my sweet Camila. She is now 14 years old and about a foot taller haha! It was so good to see her and God is using her in amazing ways at the church plant. Even though she is only 14, she is leading a sunday school class for all of the children at the church. It was such a blessing to sit with her while she shared the love of Jesus with all of these children, most of which are abused and neglected. After the church service we sat together and talked about everything. She was very surprised that I could speak some Portuguese now haha! I was so blessed by her and I am so thankful that I got to see her. She was very excited that we will be here for 4 more weeks! I'm sure we will be hanging out alot!
I also had the amazing opportunity this past week to spend a day at the hospital here in Parintins. We went to the hospital because we were trying to recruit a doctor to come on an Amazon Outreach boat trip this coming week for village health care. We met with the leaders of the hospital and they agreed to send one of their doctors with us on the boat trip to treat some of the sick people in the villages. It is a great deal for them because the city requires the doctors to go out into the villages a certain number of times a year, but if they come with Amazon Outreach they are able to use the resources and medicine available on the boat at no cost to them. So basically they meet their quota and don't have to use any of their own supplies. They were very excited to take this opportunity haha. I am very excited as well because I will be coming alongside with the doctor this coming week to learn how he does village medicine. It will be a great learning experience for me and I am very excited for this opportunity. After we met with the head honchos of the hospital, they offered to give me a tour since they knew I was a pre-med in the U.S. It was such an eye-opening experience to see how this hospital works. The facility was very nice and they have alot of departments, such as an E.R and a neonatal unit, but the problem is they only have 6 doctors for the entire hospital and it is the only hospital for the entire city. It breaks my heart that there are so many needy people in the city that are not receiving adequate care, not because of a lack of resources, but a lack of workers. I have begun to notice this reoccuring theme: lack of workers. There are simply not enough people to do all of the work that needs to be done. Of course money is always an issue, but without people to do the job, nothing gets done. It is my prayer that more Christians would respond to the command given by Christ in the Bible and go out into all the nations and become workers for Christ. It is the very purpose of why we are here on this earth. The reality is, God has called all Christians to all the nations to proclaim his glory. But why is there still so much work to be done and so few workers?
The final story I want to share is something that Michael and I got to do this morning. It was called our "Great Adventure"!! A man by the name of Abimael is the leader of the village outreach ministry at Pastor Elmer's church. He invited Michael and I to travel with him and his wife to a village on the river to ask permission for an Amazon Outreach boat trip to visit that village this week. We have never been able to travel the Amazon with just a small motor boat for about 4 people. It was an incredible experience to say the least! It was about a 2 hour boat ride to this village. Once we got to the village, Abimael spoke to the vice-president of the village (the pres was MIA haha) and asked his permission for a boat trip to come and visit this next week. They haven't allowed Evangelical Christians in their village in 10 years, but this time they agreed. Please continue to pray that the people will be open to hearing the good news of Christ. It was such a cool experience to travel side by side with Abimael and his wife Fransisca. They are such faithful servants of Christ and it was such a blessing to learn from them. Hopefully we will be able to accompany them on more trips in the future. On the boat ride back as we are just cruising along the Amazon, I was just overwhelmed with how much our Savior loves us. His creation is so beautiful and the people that he has created are beautiful as well. I think we often forget that everything we have and everything that we are is all because of the mercy and grace of God. He created us for one purpose: to know Him and to make Him know unto all the nations. I encourage you to think about the nations this week. Not just Brasil, but everywhere. Intentionally pray for the unreached people groups all over the world who have never heard of Jesus Christ. Make it your prayer this week to pray for all peoples all over the world because the same God that created you, created them as well. Pray that God would open your eyes to opportunities for serving Him throughout all the nations. After all, if that is our sole purpose here on this earth, why would we waste our time doing anything else.
Thank you for your prayers and support, we love you guys!!
Michael and Leah
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