SO what to write. Well, I just got back from my probably my last boat trip. AHHH. It was an Alligator hunting, spear fishing, grapefruit picking, snake dodging, fire ant biting extravaganza. No really it was a great time of worship, prayer, visiting, evangelizing, and preaching, testifying, and watching Jesus invade the earth and heal many many many many people we prayed for. There are a few that got away. But they are stuck in my heart and I will continue to pray for them. It also pushes you for more intimacy with the father.

Here is what my friend wrote about our trip and I thought dang it she did a far better job explaining things. So enjoy. :)

Wow has the time passed, we only have two more weeks left here in Brazil. We just got back from our last boat trip and God saved the best for last! All our time here has come down to this last boat trip, God used our abilities in Portuguese to minister to people on a new level that we haven’t been able to do this whole time. Around 60 people came to the Lord and another 50 people were healed from various things. Not only did we see headaches and backaches healed, we saw one lady get healed from cancer! Now let me stop all your thoughts right there with saying how do you know she got healed from cancer and let me tell you how it all happened.

One night during ministry time a lady came up having cancer near her left armpit. When she came up for prayer she was believing the Lord for a healing that night, and the Lord moved. She came up with a lump right were the cancer was, as we prayed the lump began to shrink! By the end of our time praying the lump was no longer there, and she said her skin where the lump used to be was completely soft. She had surgery scheduled but the Lord stepped in and did the surgery on His own time. Glory to God!

Another day as we stopped for a short while to talk to a local river pastor. A lady from church came to the boat saying, there is a man who wants prayer for healing and he is not saved. Marcos (Brazilian Friend) and Ben jumped up and left the boat right away. As we arrived at the house we sat down and just asked simply, “What seems to be the problem and do you want to be healed?” Then briefly explained that the Lord wanted to heal him and began to pray. The man had pain in his back and in his chest, after a short prayer the pain was completely gone. Then we talked to him for about 10 to 15 minutes and he received the Lord. How easy and awesome does the Lord make it to lead someone to Him.

We also spent a lot of time doing children’s ministry. As someone who has come to the Lord at the age of four, this ministry has always meant a lot to me.. I know by experience that children can feel the love and peace of God and make that commitment to the Lord. We did skits, songs, and shared the gospel message. About 50 kids came to know the Lord that week! How precious are our children to the Lord.

What to say. at the moment I am counting down the days. You can take that both ways.... counting down the days to seeing my family and friends, and some nice long forgotten convinces. experincing arts and media again is a excitement of mine too.
But on the other hand I am counting down the days a and feel like a little kid that doesn't want to go and is being dragged along, my feet are pushing against anything i can find for leverage and not to make me go. I have become accustomed to life here. I have made friends and at times they feel like family too. There is a mighty work taking place here and I hate to walk out on that.
I am asking my self this question a lot. How do missionaries do it. Leave there loved ones, some times for a lifetime. the only thing I can think of is to stay focused on the task Christ i s calling you too.
But with each day that passes I want to say that I realize how little I know.
So yep my time here in Brazil is almost up. I would love your prayers as I am seeing I am torn and need the Lords guidence.
But am so thankful that I have had the privillage of coming here and working with PAZ. I am continuing to learn from the missionaries here. I hope I have gathered as much drops of wisdom from them as possible.

Well it's me again. So here is my update, I will try and keep it brief because I am thinking you all could be getting tired of my ramblings about life on the mission field. This weekend has been jam packed for my brain and I am trying to keep up. Here in Santarém and PAZ we have had many "short-termers" varying in stay from weeks to 2 months to me at 6 months. Different ages, walks of life, and from very different places. As of late, three have left. ☹ All amazing people, seeking where God would have them and taking there time here with PAZ to hear if the Lord is calling them to missions full time into the future, or here to offer help during a summer break. They have been an asset in many ways let along just sheer manpower. I pray the Lord blesses them and we will see them again soon.
My time here is not usually this packed with great activities. Let's recount the days:
Thursday I was invited to a pray vigil, where some young people were crying out to God, awesome to be apart of that. Except for the fire ants, mean little buggers.
Friday baby shower for a friend here, Ruth. It was cool to see… Why? Well for one, I can't seem to get away from baby showers no matter where I go, ha-ha. But it was cool to see the Grandma's pray for this unborn child. The grandma's are working on the mission field, the daughter (the lady who is pregnant) was raised on the mission field and has returned to work here also and so a new generation of children coming and hopefully joining this work. What a blessing.
Saturday we (short-termers) were invited to spend some time with one of the main leaders of PAZ, Project AmaZon. Where she shared the vision of PAZ, why they do what they are doing. My heart got so excited. I will try and recount…
PAZ was started in the 70s I think, but the vision from the beginning was to evangelize the Amazon Basin, then all of Brazil, then the rest of the world. They compared it to Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Well, Paz is having a big effect on things here and spreading the word about Christ. I can't begin to tell how much things have changed due to PAZ planting churches. But really it's the Holy Spirit planting churches using the people of PAZ. And other missionaries here too.
PAZ has been sending out church planters into the deeper parts of the Amazon and having great success, and recently sent out workers to another city here in the basin called Fortaleza. It is a large city, not considered easy soil. But they are now running a church that has about 1500 members in it in 2 years. YEAH!
And so they plan to continue on in this, send a team to Sao Paulo to start a church plant there. They can't wait to see it boom into a great church that worships the Lord, and leads people to Him. And by going after the Judea (the Amazon, and reaching the unreached) and then going after Samaria (other parts of Brazil) and doing so in larger cities where they gather resources also. This will help the work continue on to the ends of the earth by funding more to go out to the rest of the world.
Two of my new friends here, Jennifer and Josiah, are actually planning on being part of that team to go out to the rest of the world. The excitement for me is so joyous. This is just the beginning… but what a pleasure to take the gospel to those who don't know, who NEED Christ. They need His companionship, His relationship, protection and provision for their lives. What a joy to introduce them to the God who created them and sees them like no one else can, with immense love. I love vision and hearing it cast. You get to see the big picture, the reason why we do what we do. The vision keeps you on the road.

SO what does this mean? It means please pray for me. As I get so excited about this vision of church planting, and discipleship.

PAZ is a bit different than most of the organizations I have worked with, in the fact that they are a cell group church. And I am not gonna lie, I am still trying to get used to it. But I see the fruit of it. The goals are to get everyone involved in a cell group and everyone is discipled and has a discipler. So the church is not ONLY the pastor's responsibility, it is in the hands of the people. Who are going out and making disciples. AND then multiplying, and growing.
And as for the team they sent to Fortaleza, they used a very different mode there also. Here is my best description. You can take a seed and plant it in the ground and water it and grow it and it will grow, but it will take time. Or you can transplant a tree, a fruit bearing tree. One that has proven in the past it can bear fruit and plant it and it will continue to bear fruit. You will get a crop (small but good). Or you can transplant a whole orchard and bear a huge crop after you have watered and adjusted to the new place. The yield of the crop will be huge. The first is a believer but staring out. The second is a believer who has learned and proven himself; fruit bearing raised up leaders, lead a cell group discipled…. The third is to transplant a team, a group of these believers who have proven fruit bearing in the past. Transplant that and your start will be great and people are attracted to what's happening, growing, the thing in motion.
They have proven this new method effective. As I think they sent either 100 or 50 couples or families to Fortaleza and in two years are at 1500 in their church. What a blessing to that city and people.

So I would definitely ask for your prayers. As excited as I get about vision, I am still human and am homesick. But as a friend put it "you need to fight for an eternal mindset." I really liked that I knew I needed more of an eternal mindset, but I don't know how well I have been fighting for it. SO Lord speak to us all and give us the courage to follow.

PS: I heard an interesting (not sure if it is fact) tidbit that America is one of the 3rd largest unreached people groups in the world. Really hit me. Wow, and think of all the immigrants to the US daily. AGBC, be lifting up Michael and Erica as they are in the heart of it in Miami.

So as we were chugging away at our cell group we were puney. But remember I spoke about the congresso and how many people came to the Lord or came back to the Lord? Well, Sylvia and I get to see some of that fruit. As a girl name Chyoni came back to the Lord, and on fire. And we are merging our cell group with her and a few of her friends. So we had our first meeting last night (Saturday), which went very well. She is so pumped and I am excited to see what God has up His sleeve. As we had more than ten people there I think. Please remember to pray for Fajita and Gabriela, and Fabioani, as they are the girls in our cell who are not so consistent. I pray they will have more of a desire to know God and get involved in the cell where they can fellowship, learn and be encouraged.