After two years of planning and facing difficulties due to the pandemic, we were finally able to take two boats, tied to each other, to the Juruá river to serve the work of the missionaries there. We also were able to do some mission research along unknown rivers that, certainly, have brought and will bring fascinating results to the mission work in the Amazon.
We left the city of Lábrea/AM, going down the river Purus until its discharge into the Juruá river, arriving at the city of Cruzeiro do Sul/AC. It was a trip of more than 4 thousand quilometres, with all the inherent challenges of this journey, including passing through the red zone of the Solimões, that registers the presence of pirates and pilagers. But God is with us. His angels camp around us and, through His grace, nothing happened to us.
We went from village to village doing a research for the Frontier Project II, mapping the whole area, gathering images, relating to the different localities of latitude and longitude. The images and information will be compliled and in future, will be able to be visualized on the Projeto Fronteiras II (Frontier Project II). All this effort will enable churches and organizations to make plans for the advance of the mission work.
Is the effort, sacrifice and expense worthwhile? Yes, it is, because we have a biblical understanding that one soul is worth more than the whole world.
God moved and we did His will. Each village and each house along the riverside received a portion of the Word of God. We handed out bibles, literature, 1.000 units of the Cartão do Céu (Card from Heaven - cellphone memory that contains the Bible on audio, 500 hymns, radiophonic programmes for men, women and children, launched by HCJB Brazil). We held and joined meetings that gave us opportunities to share personal evangelism and testify of the love of God for the riverside folk. We initiated two new EMAF bases, with groups of missionaries and cooperators who will be recruted to continue evangelizing along the Juruá river and its affluents.
Future Plans: We are seeking resources so that the couple Oscar and Mariles, responsible for the expansion of the ministry along the Juruá river, can travel regularly throughout the region and solidify the new implemented bases. We need at least, two couples of workers at each base for its advance, structuring mission polar regions that will serve for the evangelization of the families that live along the Juruá river.
By way of your gifts and prayers, you have cooperated toward the expansion of the Kingdom of God to the Riverside folk and the artesian fishermen that live far away, calling for help. Thank you so very much for joining us, as an answer to this cry, following the Master in the mission of making Him known.