A Close Neighbor To The Model Farm

Meet Francisco.  He is a neighbor of our Model Farm.  Francisco is pictured here before the strong rains harvesting some of our farm's grass for his animals. Carlos has visited him in his home and met his wife and kids.  Mr. Francisco is an example of a hard working man, who despite his only having one leg has an upbeat attitude. Pray for this man and his spiritual needs.

Needed Rains bring big problems to Outback

What a land of contrasts!  A land that has suffered from terrible droughts is now having heavy and record breaking rainfall. This is great for all the lakes and water reservoirs that are full and even running over.  The problem is that there have been crop loss and even houses overtaken with water.  Last count in three or four Northeast states was of 400,000 people affected. Our Outback was among the area hit.  We can usually get to the model farm driving over a near empty river bed.  It measured 5o meters across the other day. 

The Model Farm's Neighborhood

One of our objectives with the Model farm is to share the Gospel with our neighbors.  A lot of folks live in the rural communities and have been open to meetings in their houses. Our experience has been that they will round up other neighbors for these meetings.  One of the first converts in Ingazeira is Cicero.  Carlos now has weekly meetings in Cicero's house. Cicero has had ups and downs in his walk with Christ (as all of us) but not having many others around him who shares his faith has made it harder. Pray for his wife and children, that they would understand their need of Christ, as well as his neighbors.  

Pictures of the work being done

Ingazeira: Level The Playing Field

Carlos has begun to level an area for the children at Ingazeira to play soccer on the church property.  They have been playing a form of basketball in the auditorium for some time with Missionary Chico.  There has been this dream to have a covered court for the kids to play, so it all starts with a level piece of ground! Carlos said he teared up when a few local young people showed up equiped with tools to help clean the property. He later heard that they had commented at school to a teacher that they wanted to hang around that man, because they had a lot to learn from him. 

Missionary Carlos uses sports to reach out in Ingazeira

Carlos has played soccer all his life and still is pretty fit, despite his head of white hair.  He is pictured here playing with a team in Ingazeira. Along with the group that came here last year from North Carolina Carlos was able to "kick off" a soccer ministry in the community of Solidão. A young man from the local church there is leading that and has been pleasantly surprised at how God is using this to draw young people to other church activities. Carlos encourages him and mentors him in this outreach.

Model Farm Moves Forward

Yes, we are moving ahead with the model farm project. It is in the category of compassion work. Please check out our website to see our whole approach in the Outback:

www.missionoutback.com

Our missionary Carlos has been spending days in the Ingazeira work taking over where Chico and Dalva left off. And now he is starting up some needed improvements on the small farm in the Tabira area to get ready to bring in some goats, plant some passion fruit, and begin a bee farm. These are three areas that will need prayers and funds. We sure want to find the local people that God wants to lead us to for the help and care for each project. These projects have the people we network with as the prime targets for us to share the Gospel with each step of the way.

A new gate has been added and the fence is being fixed with new posts and barb wire. Next we will be looking at a new well to be able to irrigate. Pray about all the details and again, that we will be led to the right people to help us out - and ones we can bless with God's love.