NTM

Thanks for praying for us as we traveled back to Brazil. Here are some of the trials from our last few hours in the U.S.;

• Because of a mix up with the hotel we had someone try to get into our hotel room twice the night we were going to fly and had only 6 hours to sleep. It really wakes you up to have someone opening your door in the middle of the night, we were glad we had put the bar across so they weren’t able to get in any farther.
• The shuttle to the airport left with another group just 2 minutes before we arrived and so we had to get one 30 minutes later than planned, which caused us to be in a long and slow line for check-in.
• One suitcase burst open on the sidewalk of the airport in a rain storm.
• Going through the security checks, it seems like every time you are treated less and less humanely and more and more like a bunch of cattle.

We are glad to be done with flying commercially for a few years, Lord willing. We praise the Lord that we were able to get through without losing any baggage and had no trouble with customs. Thanks for praying!

It is always a little bit of a shock and discouragement to land in Manaus, then we hear of different struggles in different posts, lack of workers, health problems, lack of faithfulness, depression.

But Jodi just shared with me 1 Corinthians 1, how Paul encouraged the church in the reality of what we have in Christ, keeping our eyes on what is eternal, what God has done in us, sanctification, we are called saints, He is going to make us stand blameless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ, God is faithful.

Even while Paul was aware of the problems in the church, he encouraged them through the hope that we have in Christ. It is so good to keep our eyes on
those things and not let ourselves we discouraged when we see the problems of day to day life, living in a fallen world with fallen men.

Thanks for praying about our need of a fridge that will operate on gas in the tribe. We had a friend looking for one here in Manaus and he wasn’t able to find any, they stopped making them two years ago.

Mike and Jodi spent several hours today looking more. There is a missionary selling his but it is in a different part of Brazil and may take up to a month to get it, we told him we want it but I must admit to being disappointed that we will have to go back to living without a fridge until it comes.

We will be able to use Joel and Gwen’s fridge till they arrive but it is just so inconvenient to have to go to another house every time you need something out of the fridge. But, we know that God allows these trials to teach us patience and perseverance and I am getting used to the idea and will really appreciate it when it gets there. We pray that it will work well after being shipped and last as long as we need it.

We leave by commercial boat on Wednesday, to a small town where we will meet some Yanomami men and they will take our things into the tribe by river. We are trying to get a year’s supply of gasoline, propane, cement for the floors along with sending in dressers and other things too big or heavy for the small plane.

Mike wants us to see this town, since there is a big chance we will live there eventually, where we will be near the people but let the church function on its own. Then we will travel back to Manaus and 500 miles north by road and then small plane to the post.

Pray for us as we travel by boat.  We were able to get a room so we can lock our stuff up but we will try to take our own food because the food they serve is famous for making you sick. But for me, the best thing about having this room is that it has its own bathroom. Otherwise we would have had to crawl under about 100 people’s hammocks to get to the back of the boat to the few bathrooms that everyone shares.

Thanks so much for your prayers. We will keep you updated as these plans unfold!

Love,

Mike and Diane

P.S. The time with Mike’s family to celebrate his parent’s 50th anniversary was a real blessing and encouragement! We all really enjoyed being together!Please pray for Holly and Christian as they are job hunting!