We arrived in Brazil on March, 16th and we were happy to renew our acquaintances, friends and fellow workers in the ministry. We settled down into the guest apartment and slept off our jet-leg and then started to get into the groove of everyday life at Mount Horeb. The weather for the most part has been rainy with a few blessed hours of sunshine in between, but in spite of it I managed to get sunburned.
The biggest shock in our first week was the beating of someone on the street where he was left to die. A car came by, picked him up and took him to the hospital. It was late at night and hospital was solidly locked so the Good Samaritan went to the door, rang the bell and asked for a stretcher when he heard shots behind him. The crooks had followed him to the hospital and shot the wounded man in the head and fled. Needless to say there was no more need for medical attention. On the heels of that, a bus loaded with people ran into the back of a huge semi-trailer and many people were shook up, but the driver suffered the worst damage and his leg had to be amputated. Thankfully, there haven’t been any more tragedies so far.
Once again we have been delighted by a number of visits by young people thanking us for the help their families received from the mission over the years. These young people who at the time were needy children in the community have now grown up, married, and become contributing members in their society. For the most part we didn’t even recognize them after so many years, but it was very gratifying to see them again and receive their thanks.
The picture above is of one of the families we helped many years ago. They were very poor, and were helped by our sponsorship program. The mother also came to our sewing classes. As you can see, that's the house they used to live in Itaperucu. One of the children, Citia, came to see us a few weeks ago.
Luciane is another one of those young people who came to say thanks. Her mother was a widow and they lived in a clapboard shack with plastic and bits of tin for a roof, with a dirt floor and the beds were carved right out of the ground. For the most part the mother took the four children and went out begging everyday to survive. The first thing we did for them was to build a small board house with a decent roof that wouldn’t leak and a cement floor. Then we encouraged the mother to come to our sewing and literacy classes. Gradually things got better for the family, and today Luciane is a wonderful example of what can happen when a family receives a minimum amount of help to get on their feet.
Luciane is married, has two children, and holds down a good job that promises her a much brighter future. Stories like this our encouraging and make us realize that in the kingdom of God if we plant good seed, there will always be a good harvest.
After three weeks here Lynn & Dwight joined us and we have been having a wonderful time and they have been a great help to us. A friend of ours offered their beach house with a wonderful swimming pool, and we spent 3 and half days just resting, talking an eating and then resting more, and talking and eating again.
We are all leaving on April, 28th and I will be coming back to Canada with Luke in tow. He managed to get a 3 year work permit to Canada and we are very happy for him. Earl is going to go back with Lynn & Dwight to Mozambique and is going to be away until the end of June.
That’s all for now and I will update you guys in what’s going on in our lives after we get back home.
