A few weeks before our district W&W trip to Brazil, I read this verse:
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Proverbs 16:3
It struck me as so significant that I re-read it daily, added it under my signature on emails I sent. Those words, from Proverbs, worked through my mind as I prepared for, and lived through, the trip to the Amazon Region in Brazil.
Missionary Igor Vale told me right before the trip that Brazil was experiencing the
hottest, driest weather in history, & that our trip on the Amazon may not happen.
Then he said, “You guys will arrive in the perfect moment to give hope to our people.”
God was establishing our plans, enabling our team to find joy, even when our long anticipated trip down the Amazon on the Gospel Boat disappeared. We had set aside $1,000 from NMI Silent Auction at Family Camp to pay the airline fee for the nine 50lb. bags holding the ARC. (Jesus Film Tent)…BUT, DUE TO TRIP LEADER RACHEL REED HAVING SPECIAL AIRLINE POINTS, THE ARC WENT FREE! The bags are pictured in the church below, ready to take to the interior (jungle) when the Amazon River rises.
The Amazon River was historically low, causing navigation on the Gospel Boat to be impossible. When we arrived, the boat had already been taken miles up the Amazon,
to be docked where it would be safe.
God had allowed us to deliver the ARC, but we would not get to board the Gospel Boat. With historically dry, hot weather (at least 105 degrees/80% humidity every day), our project changed dramatically. The church had access to a huge building, connected by
a small plot of ground with a high wall. To enter the new facility, we had to crawl down through a hole that had been broken in the brick wall.
That led us to the large open courtyard pictured below. with our DS manning the ladder, scraping & painting. Instead of grumbling that they didn’t get to board the boat and “cruise the Amazon’, this amazing team “laid down their lives and scraped, sanded and painted HIGH walls in a HUGE structure, for days. They were exhausted, but knew that God was using them for a “NEW task, one they had not anticipated. We LOVED the people of the church, & had rich fellowship as we ate the meals of beans, rice and vegetables that they lovingly prepared and ate with us around the long table in the church. We LOVED the pastor/missionary, Rev. Igor Vale (wearing his Trevecca hat all week) and District Superintendent, Rev. Damasio Maralis, who always smiled “with his whole face.”
Below: Pastor Igor helps his beautiful little daughters “learn to paint” with our team.
District Superintendent Pastor Damasio & Missionary/Pastor Igor
Team prepares to scrape, sand & paint…With Brother Ron ready to climb the ladder.
Church leaders, Pastor/Missionary Igor, DS Demasio, & the church had planned on our team scraping & sanding some of the structure, but were utterly amazed that our God enabled the team to scrape, sand, AND paint this huge structure! In our “spare” time, we were privileged to minister at a Venezuelan Refugee Camp, an Indigenous Camp, and worship with a Haitian Refugee Church…Praise the Lord!
Because we were in Manaus, not on the boat, we were privileged to attend Wednesday night prayer group service and Sunday night Celebration service with our DS preaching & Pastor Igor translating.
OUR PLANS WERE CHANGED, BUT GOD’S PLANS ARE ALWAYS PERFECT11
PS: we even got to take a Boat Ride on the Amazon (speed boat that could maneuver in more shallow water), see rare pink dolphins, eat lunch on a floating island, have pix taken with jungle animals…and YES, Laura Dockery EVEN got to fish off the dock (instead of off the Gospel Boat…and she caught TWO piranhas!
E TN TEAM: Rachel Reed/ Laura Dockery (Team Leaders), DS Ron DeWitt, Minidi DeWitt,
Kristie Greene, Bill & Martha Dawson, Scott & Debbie Blair, Lauren & Alice Carey, Jim & Teresa Hodge
