Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
(Php 3:13-14)

Greetings in Christ!!!!!

Our family has returned from the village once again, with another amazing trip behind us, we look forward to the things the Lord has prepared for us, knowing that He is faithful and just, having done such marvelous things in and through us in the past. We know that the plans He yet has for us are for good and will exceed anything we can imagine or think up. That is a hard thing for us to comprehend as He has been sooooooo good to us up until now.

We arrived at the mouth of the reserve at 11 pm, leaving behind the big boat and it’s melodious buh, buh, buh of the engine which you grow accustomed to after listening to it for 37 hrs straight, we pressed on into the darkness with a little lantern lighting the way before our speedboat. The rivers have crested and the waters are now receding in the Amazon Basin, but having just started lowering, there are no difficulties navigating the waters all the way to our jungle house, and we arrived there at slightly past midnight.

We were there for 22 days, ministering, fellowshipping, teaching, learning, doing our best to be one with the people, and being fully away of the vast differences in our cultures, we meet on the common ground of the Gospel of Christ, and build upon that.

The love that has been flowing out of some of our disciples is very humbling. Valdicis, who is the deacon in Vila Nova and also travels every week to Aldeia Nova to preach and teach, met us as we pulled up to our house. He wanted to bless us by meeting us and helping us carry our stuff up to the house.

You see, in the middle of the jungle, they are able to hear all the way out to the main river, 40 kilometers away, and can hear us coming in our speedboat. You can’t do that in Los Angeles, although if you have lived there long enough, you grow accustomed to the constant hum of the freeways all hours of the night and probably have trouble sleeping were it to stop. Here in the Jungle, we wake up to the sound of a boat even at long distances.

This is the first time any of the people have met us in the middle of the night to help, waiting up for us, and it caused me to break and shed a few tears, although they were hidden from others by the darkness of night.

We are now fully working in two villages, pastoring both the Church in Vila Nova where our Jungle House is and the Church plant in Aldeia Nova where we plan to build a 2nd house and Church building in the coming year.

On this trip, we divided our time equally between the two villages, but since we only have the one house, we made daily trips to Aldeia Nova while we were working there, returning nightly to conduct services in Vila Nova.

Melissa led all of the women’s meetings and studies in both villages, along with the weekly kid’s club in Vila Nova. She returned one day after the women’s group in tears, those of joy, sharing with me how the women said they had been praying for her non-stop every day. The thought of all of the people praying for her and us, from Los Angeles to Maryland, and Nebraska to Texas, Scotland to India, and even to the deep recesses of the Amazon Jungle was overwhelming.

Know this, your prayers have not been in vain as the people here are showing forth the fruits of love, joy, peace, along with the righteousness that follows evangelism, teaching, and discipling. And your prayers for us have filled us with wisdom and discernment, and unattainable knowledge at the most precise times to correctly handle difficult situations. Thank you, and don’t give up the good fight!

We hung a swing up in front of the house from the big mango tree and watched as the children played on it every day. We believe that they had never had a swing before, as they seemed to not understand how it worked until we showed them. We did have one accident with it as a little girl decided to walk under it and got hit above her eye, causing a small cut. Socorro! Socorro! Socorro! Oh, sorry, that means HELP!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melissa rushed to the scene and lifted the little girl to our kitchen table where she performed intricate triage and emergency room services, using steri-strips to patch her up again. Everyone stopped playing and were peering in from every window of our house to see what it was that Melissa was doing.

Can you imagine not having a hospital nearby and never having taken people there with cuts that could require stitches? Well, they got to see what happens behind those sliding hospital doors on this trip as that brave young girl laid on our table and allowed Melissa the opportunity to minister to her.

Has God prepared us to minister here in the Jungle? Yes, He has!

We have several projects that were started on this trip. In order to keep this update short, I will ask you to click on the following links to read more. https://millerstobrazil.com/ministries/apurina-tribe/ or here https://millerstobrazil.com/

Would you consider helping us as we minister the Word of Truth to the people here, Preaching, teaching, and making disciples?

Did you know that one hour a month of your work, could actually be done for helping spread the good news to the uttermost parts of the earth, multiplying the rewards that will be waiting for you as you enter into glory? One hour a month, work with the intention of knowing that hour is given to God and to His Kingdom, and donate those resources to help us here. That is 1 out of 160. Too much? Click here to help:

God bless you all in Christ Jesus.

May He make His face to shine upon you,

Brad and Melissa, Josiah, Veronica, and Benjamin.