Dearest friends,
SITIO TRAPIA, QUIXABEIRIANHA, MARACANAU, AND NOVA TRAPIA
These places will not appear on most maps. The people who live there are not forgotten; for most people athey do not even exist. Brazil has a law that requires all children to have an opportunity to go top school. However, most of the children in these villages have never gone to school.
They live in an area where it does not rain for years at a time. This year it rained and everything brown turned green. People have enough water and enough food. Normally, they just survive as best they can. With the rain came blessings, but also problems. It is so hot and dry that year after year diseases cannot survive. Now with the rain, people are struggling with colds, fevers, viruses, and more serious problems like the threat of denghney fever which is carried by mosquitoes. There was also flooding which destroyed roads.
Many people live in houses made of mud and thatch. There is a beetle that lives in the walls whose bite causes a rare tropical illness that usually kills you if you contract it. Their lives are very hard and improve very slowly. Two decades ago, only one in ten babies up to two years of age survived. Our friends told us that they watched an endless parade of small coffins being carried down the road. Today, a baby’s death is rare.
We worked with English missionaries, Davine and Mike, who have loved these dear people for over 21 years. They serve with the mission board that pioneer missionary William Carey founded. They have raised two daughters and one son in a place that you would find difficult to visit. For eight years they faithfully shared the hope of they gospel before one person believed. Now, there is a church there and local believers who head the different ministry projects. Their priority is to share Jesus, but they also try to offer a simple education to the children who have no chance for school. Davine has taught many classes for pregnant and nursing mothers. Jobs are scarce, so they have started a beekeeping project to generate business opportunities. They have repaired homes for widows and helped develop water sources. More important, they made sure that these people knew about Jesus Christ.
If you are reading this e-mail, I have a question for you. What are you investing your life in? If you are older, and have 21 years behind you, what story do you have to tell? How have you made a difference for eternity? It was an honor to work with people who have good answers for all of these questions.
THE CHILDREN
A dear young woman recently asked me, what was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I recited to her a list of places that everyone always says they want to see around the world. I have been to all of these places. I told her that none of these places were as beautiful to me as the faces of they children when they hear about Jesus Christ. This is certainly true in these places.
These children and adults had never seen the things that we brought with us. They delighted in every thing we did. They gave us their smiles and their laughter. Best of all, we heard may to recieve Christ as their Savior. Please pray for these dear children. God sees them when no one else does.
In Jesus, Linda for the team.