We’ve been here in Breuville for four days now. A lot has happened in those four days and we still feel like we are in some sort of dream or something. It surely is good to be here, though, and we praise the Lord for bringing this opportunity about. I decided that I would go ahead and write a series of letters while we are out here and then when the opportunity comes to send them, I will send them. This way I have a way to relate the happenings around here for my own sake and for anyone who might be interested.
Let me start with our leaving of Thama on Saturday, July 26. We were up early as Pastor Evando said he would be down at the boat and ready to go at 6. I should have known he meant 6 a.m. on the old time. We were up and about, walking the main drag of Thama and it was still completely dark. I kept telling Reb that there is no way Evando would leave while it was still completely dark. After walking around some, we finally went back to the hotel and laid back down in our bed.
When our watches got close to 7 a.m. our time we made out way down to the riverfront with our luggage. Sure enough, there was Evando getting his canoe ready to go. After we bought some fresh bread at the bakery, we were off. Amazingly, for the majority of our 8-hour canoe trip the sky was overcast and the temps were fairly cool. I really believe the Lord worked it out that way because right at the end of the trip the sun came out and I was trying to imagine how it would have been to be in that sort of sun for longer than we were.
I think Evando was noticing how Reb and I kept wrenching around on the canoe seat, trying to get comfortable. He finally told us to put the tarp on the bottom of the canoe and lay down on that. Boy, that was a big relief! I just wasn’t sure how much more my behind was going to take.
Right when we were coming around the last corner before Breuville, I told Reb that we should sit up so that we could get a good look at our new home. So we sat up on the canoe seat and all of a sudden the canoe was shooting up into the air. We came back down pretty quick and I thought we had been through the worst of it, but Reb actually looked back at Evando and cried out, “Oh my goodness!” So I looked back and there was Evando holding on to the motor for dear life as the canoe was taking in water by the bucketfuls. Evando soon was out of the canoe and I noticed that it was shallow enough for him to stand so I jumped out and we all three began grabbing our luggage to try to keep it from getting soaked.
By this time the canoe was completely sunk but thank the Lord it is low water now and we could walk the canoe to the shore. Stuff got wet but, Mom Brosey, remember that bag you got us a while back that was supposed to keep things completely dry?? It works! We had the computer bag in that bag and everything in there was completely dry.
We soon had the boat bailed out and we’re soon here. We did feel bad as apparently when we got up on the boat seat we blocked Evando’s view and that is why we ended up hitting a log and getting tossed. Thankfully, no damage was done to boat or motor and everything that got wet has since been pretty much dried out. A few books are still drying, I think.
We were happy to see our little house here. The extra work that Joe Snake put into it has really made it a livable place. It is so nice to have the toilet inside the house! Every time I use it I praise the Lord for that blessing. If we didn’t have that we would be trekking to use Dao’s outhouse. That would be a good little trek and definitely not something you would want to do during the night.
Good old Joe Snake even helped us haul our stored stuff that was over in Maia’s house to here. There were some heavy boxes that he hefted onto his shoulders! Our bed, mattress, table, chairs, and dresser were all already over here, so that was a blessing.
They run a generator here each evening from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Apparently, there are weeks at a time when there is no fuel available so there is no generator running for the community. Thankfully, right now they have the fuel. There was no wiring or light bulbs here in the house when we got here but in the last couple of days our main man Joe Snake hooked up some wire I brought with me and even connected an outlet to where I can use our laptop during generator hours. Tonight is the first night with electricity! It is nice to be able to put away the candles for now.
Sunday we were over for church in the morning at 8:30. Pastor Evando gave the message. Right after the service he did just what I thought he would do. He came over to me and asked if I would be willing to speak in the evening at the evening service. I told him I would. Over lunch Reb and I decided that for this first opportunity I have to speak maybe it would be a good idea for us both to share our testimonies as that way they could learn a little about our backgrounds and how God has directed us to being here. So Sunday evening we did that and even though there wasn’t very many people there, they did seem to appreciate hearing our testimonies.
When I was speaking I told the church that they were our teachers now and we were their students. We both wanted to continue to learn Portuguese and also learn their culture. Boy, they all seemed to take to that as afterward Joe Snake’s wife was telling Reb that she would send her daughters over to our house to teach Reb how to make the local bread. The pastor’s wife was going to show Reb how to wash clothes over at the spring. Joe Snake has really taken us under his wing to make sure we have electricity and water to flush our toilet and do the dishes. So, it has been nice to have so much help as we really don’t feel like we know what we’re doing sometimes.
Also on Sunday, Pastor Evando asked me to preach both in the morning and the evening this coming Sunday. Today Evando left for a conference of some sort and won’t be back until next Wednesday at the earliest. So, I am kind of the fill-in pastor. Before getting here I had decided that when asked to speak I would start teaching through The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus lessons. So today I spent a good portion of the morning preparing to do that. Hopefully, I can communicate the lessons well enough to be understood and also keep it somewhat interesting.
The biggest challenge here is the water supply. Dao has one of the cleanest springs, according to the people. So I had been going over with a couple of buckets and getting water to drink from his spring. His spring isn’t too close to our house here, so I was working up a good sweat and by the time I got here to the house with my two buckets of drinking water, I felt like I could drink one of the buckets in one sitting! So, I was looking for alternatives.
Joe Snake finally found where our water tank was being stored and hauled it over here to our yard. He offered to fill the thing with a pump and hose, so I quickly encouraged the idea. Last night he filled all 1000 liters of it and I didn’t even think to ask where he was getting the water from. It looked pretty good in the dark. So, both Reb and I were merrily drinking the stuff…until this morning. I looked in the tank and concluded that the water was pumped straight out of the river! Lots of silt and even a couple of swimming beetles doing laps in our tank. I quickly found that water bottle I have that has a filtering system in it and told Reb that we could drink using that for today and tomorrow I will go back to bucket hauling from Dao’s spring. It is nice to have the big tank of water for flushing the toilet and doing our dishes. Neither of us feel sick, yet, so maybe the river water isn’t so bad after all.
Interestingly enough, Reb tried to go over to one of our neighbor’s house today and visit and they told her that they couldn’t visit now as they all have diarrhea from the water! Good night, I hope we don’t get it! Anyhow, I told Reb that with how superstitious some of these people are, they may think we are the cause of it and that is why they don’t want us in their homes. Probably not, though.
Mom, the mattress is fairly firm, but we really like it. I have really been sleeping well. The roosters start to crow around 4 in the morning, but I think that I am starting to not immediately wake up when they start crowing right next to our house. One does hear the cows going through our yard each night. We are one of the few houses with no fence around the yard so it is a thoroughfare for the cows.
This morning during our breakfast time Curica, the neighbors’ parakeet, came over for a visit. He flew right over and sat in our window and watched us eat breakfast. I finally peeled a banana for him and he started working on that. We may be having him over for breakfast every morning now.
Alright, this was lengthy but I feel good that I’m caught up.
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