Category Archives: Culture

Update on Flooding

Several weeks ago, I wrote about flooding that is going on in our state. The flooding still continues and is causing more problems. Nearly 2,500 families in the capital city of Porto Velho have had to be relocated to schools and other places. The river has hit a record high. As imagined, this has made travel very difficult.

Next month I will traveling to Porto Velho. I will be catching a plane to Rio Branco. The stretch of highway between Porto Velho and Rio Branco is flooded for miles. This is the only access road from this part of the country. Below are some pictures that show what is going on. These pictures were taken around the 21st of February. The water has risen another 4 feet since then!

Please pray for the churches in Porto Velho! Though we are not aware of any directly in the flooded area, there are definitely families and lives affected by the problems caused from the flooding.

— Jeremy

Ponte que atravessa o Rio Madeira na BR-319, em Porto Velho

Distribuidora de botijões de gás foi tomada pela água do Rio Madeira

Botijões boiam em distribuidora de gás, após área ser tomada pela cheia do Rio Madeira

Casa foi tomada por água do rio na Comunidade São Sebastião

Casa tomada pela enchente em Porto Velho

Casas na Comunidade São Sebastião estão inundadas por conta da cheia do Rio Madeira

Comunidade São Sebastião foi tomada por água do Rio Madeira

Galpão da Feira do Cai N'água no Bairro Baixa União, tomado pela cheia do Rio Madeira

Moradores chegam de barco em suas casas no centro da capital

Comércios tomados pela enchente na Avenida Rogério Weber

Acesso ao Tribunal Regional Eleitoral tomado por água do rio

Moradores se arriscam ao atravessar rua tomada pela cheia do Rio Madeira

Pictures are links from THIS NEWS SITE

Thoughts About the Rainy Season

Having recently moved to this part of the world, we are yet to get the full effect of the rainy season. When we arrived in Northwest Brazil over six months ago, we were at the end of the rainy season. We experienced the rain every day and the mud that was caused by it. We lived on a dirt road with a dirt yard and had mud on our feet almost every time we entered the house.

Within a few months, the dry season came and we started fighting the dust. You can clean, wash, wipe, rinse, dust, or mop, but when all is said and done there will be a red layer on everything you have just finished cleaning within a couple of hours.

Slowly, things begin to change. Our grass was all brown from no rain. I had not cut the grass in two months. Then just about two weeks ago we started getting rain. Several places around us had received some rain, so we knew it was on the way.

It has rained about three or four times in the last two weeks. The grass is all green, the weeds are high, the mud is back, but there were a few things we did not expect. These things come by surprise because of being in a different house.

Storm

The Storm

When the first storm hit, it hit between 3-4 in the morning. We were sleeping quite well until the wind woke us up. Then all of a sudden, we got out of bed to see the rain. I walked into the kitchen and stepped in a puddle of water, as I was trying to get that mopped up, Amanda called from the bedroom and said there was water in there! Wow! Our bedroom became a small swimming pool!

Though it did not rain very long, it took us nearly an hour or an hour and a half to mop up all the rain. We were able to get back to sleep just before needing to wake up and begin our day.

Yesterday, we received another BIG storm. This one we were ready for. We placed rags under all the doors that would let water in. We closed the windows and got out the rags. The wind was once again very strong and blew the rain right against the bedroom window. We were prepared for water to come in, but a little more than expected came in. When we pulled the curtains back, here is what we saw…

Waterfall

THE WATERFALL

So, with a strategically placed thumb we were able to hold back quite a bit of water. It did not keep it from coming into the house, but it did prevent it from shooting out into the middle of the floor.

The good thing about this last storm is that I found where the problem is in order to try and seal it up. When the storm hit in the middle of the night, I was not awake enough to figure out what needed to be fixed.

Spiritually speaking, we are in a dry season here in Brazil. Yes, we get a few drops here and there, but we are looking for the rain. All over Brazil, in the large cities and in the remote scattered places, the story is the same.

It is amazing to me that we live in such a remote place, but at the same time, we have so many modern conveniences. We have indoor plumbing, electricity, high-speed internet, cars, microwaves, online shopping, and much more. Yet, at the same time, within just a few minutes I could take you to places that have absolutely none of these modern conveniences. There are places near here that you could not get to in a car during the rainy season. They have no internet. They still use they use outhouses and may or may not have electricity.
Yet in all of this, God is to be praised! It is by His grace that any of us lives another day. With or without the modern conveniences of the hour, our Lord is the one who holds the world in His hands. We will either see His hand working around us, or we will face this world on our own and get frustrated, confused, and materialistic about it all.

My heart breaks when I stop to ponder the reality of our situation today. In this day and age when we have the most modern conveniences of any period of time in history, there are more people out there who have never heard a clear presentation of the Gospel than ever before.

Truth is, the statistics are even more warped by the fact that religion obscures the Gospel. You can be a part of an evangelical “Christian” church for many many years and never hear the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Many statistics now reflect Brazil as a Christian nation. Just because it is a very religious country, the second largest missionary sending country in the world, most everyone you meet seems calls themselves a “believer”, and a good part of the population holds a copy of God’s Word in their hands, does not mean that they have heard a clear presentation of the Gospel.

“Christianity” and religion have become some of the largest hindrances to the Gospel here in Brazil. In almost every city in Brazil, we are not winning the “heathen” to Christ. We are simply reaching out to nominal Christians who have never been saved. They use the same Bible we do, they use the same language we do, and some even have higher standards of dress than we do. Yet, they do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

The good news in all of this is the Gospel!!!! God’s Word is able to divide asunder between soul and spirit. It can also discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Bringing this back to the story related above, we are praying for rain!!! I personally am praying for revival in Brazil. It seems as though we are in a dry season where many are discouraged about serving the Lord and few are true disciples of Jesus Christ. Yet, if we are still serving and believing in the God of the Bible, then we have hope that the drought will end and the rainy season is on the way!

Please join us in praying that souls would be saved, that people would be baptized, but don’t stop praying for true disciples of Jesus Christ. Pray for truth to be spread and false religions to be revealed.

Pray for us as we seek to reach people here in this part of Brazil with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

— Jeremy

Blessing of the Jungle?

What kind of blessings do we get from being near the jungle? Well, below is a picture of one of the BIG blessings we have here in this part of the world. Giant Cicadas!!!! This particular one is about six inches in length. It was right outside our kitchen on the back wall. They also make a large amount of noise. Anyone want to come visit?

Cicada

Giant Crater

There are reasons to doubt that Brazil is a first world country. These doubts come to mind when you travel off the beaten path. We are now in a state that is little heard of by the rest of the country unless something big happens and hits the national news. Here is an example…

Since our arrival less than three weeks ago, a huge crater developed on the only road that takes you north and south through the state. This is not only an interstate highway, but it allows access from Brazil to Bolivia, Peru, Columbia and Venezuela. The washout has created some problems with these countries due to a large number of imports and exports.

There was one way around the mess through several neighborhoods. Because of the heavy truck traffic, these neighborly people are protesting. All their roads have been destroyed. Their electricity has been affected also. In protesting, they completely blocked access to the capital city of Porto Velho. Not even pedestrians were allowed to pass. The military police were negotiating in order to gain access for emergency vehicles to pass through.

Click HERE to see an areal view of the crater.

Here are a few links to more pictures of the mess…

You can also see a few more pictures of what this has done to the only bypass through local neighborhoods.

This is about 70 miles north of where we are and is blocking our access to the city. We were able to get in on Monday, but have decided to try and wait a few weeks until we go again.

— Jeremy

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