We are doing survey trips, and looking for key people who God are ready to be blessed by God.

Last week we drove out to Porto Novo, a 2,000 person fishing village on the Tucurui Reservoir. A fellow came to talk to us after lunch, thinking maybe we were interested in buying an island as a fishing get away. Apparently fishing is very good here. As we got to talking, he has separated from his wife for the last sixty days. Then we met his wife, Silvana, and their two cute little girls on their floating restaurant / bar. Elvis also owns a bar up in the center part of the village. He got a boat and took us out for a couple of hours on the reservoir so we could get a feel for the place.

I am planning to go back this week, to see if we can get something started here.

We feasted on fried fish and açai in Porto Novo.

We checked at about three places that looked like eating establishments, but no one seemed to be open for lunch. Finally we stopped at Tia Lú’s.

There was a lady, later we found out she was the owner, getting her toe nails painted by another lady. They were sitting on a chair and a stool, blocking the entry way. “You want lunch now?” It was 11:30. We offered to wait, but she got up with one foot painted and one not. Three of us wanted fried fish. Marques doesn’t like fish. “No problem. (Wink). I’ll fix you up with a good lunch”. She ended up cooking us a feast. We had a big plate full of beef, more than we could eat. Plus another plate of cooked chicken. She fried us three bass, one after the other. Plus huge bowls of rice and beans. Then she offered us açai. And it was good. Thick and cold. She gave us a couple of litres in an aluminum pitcher, with four bowls, lots of farinha, and a plastic tub full of sugar on the side. We were stuffed. And for a very low price. Others came in while we were eating, and they ate too, offering us their food, two came and sat at our table, and they finished off what we could not eat. It was a fun experience, one I am hoping to do again soon.

Four of us, Ivanildo, Marques, Elismar and I, left Marabá early in the morning, praying about where God wants to plant another church. This village where we ate lunch is called Porto Novo.

Sixteen years ago two teen-agers from our church were at the gate of our home in Altamira. Ross and I were in my office on a Saturday morning, working on a newsletter. Ross ended up flying to Água Preta with Vagner and Jefferson with his floatplane.

Simone and Jefferson are ordained as pastors for one year.

“Can you drive us out into the bush to get my mom? She fell and broke her hip.”

“Where is it that you want to go?”

“It is an hour or two down the Amazon Highway, then you turn off onto a small dirt road for another hour. We’ll get a boat and cross the Xingu River, hike 2 kms into the bush, and bring her out.”

“Can we get there with an airplane with floats?”

No one at the shore there had seen a floatplane before. Ross heard them speculating whether the president of Brazil was sending someone to their village.

The young guys hiked into the village, and brought out Lourdes in a stretcher. When she saw Ross and the airplane she said (in Portuguese), “I saw you in a dream last night. You came to get me in a really fast speedboat. And this voice behind me said, ‘Only by the God of the Bible will you get healed.’” Lourdes got better for awhile, and she became quite an evangelist. Unfortunately her hip still is a problem and she is now waiting for another hip replacement surgery.

Over time both of these young men fell away from the Lord. Their first love grew cool. But Jefferson came back. Last month we ordained him and his wife as the senior pastors of one of the city churches in Altamira.