Blast From The Past

In Deep Weeds, or Another Camp Workday

On Tuesday a group of men from the Kergima congregation made the two-hour trek from São Luís to Morros for another work day at our camp. What follows are some pictures of our progress.

Note: at the end of this post is a somewhat urgent prayer request, so be sure to scroll all the way down.


Arrival at camp, ready and eager to get to work.

The missionary, hacking away at the brush.

Alex, one of our teens, throwing his back into it.
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Water break. No plastic water bottles were left at the local.

Lunch on the grill.

Pastor Francisco does double-duty as cook.

The finished product.

Francivaldo and Alex testing the waters.

Burning off the underbrush. This was on purpose.

So was this.
In all, we were very pleased with the amount of brush we were able to clear out. There is still much area to be cleared, however, and we are already planning a mega-workday in January, possibly involving the renting of two vans to transport all the workers.
Urgent Prayer Request
Pastor Francisco and I took a break from the deforestation process on Tuesday to visit the man who wants to sell us the adjacent lot. He had given us a price, and that money has been raised–thanks to the generosity of folks back in the US. Our intent in talking to him was to set up a date for the sale. However, we were dismayed when he started to balk at the original price he had given us (and repeated over and over), and began to offer us “alternate options” which all involved us giving him more money. We got the distinct impression that he was not dealing straight with us.
A couple of observations:
1. This is not uncommon here, especially when there is an American (me) in the process. Despite the economic crisis, many Brazilians have the impression that all Americans are “loaded”. It gets old, but it is a fact of life.
2. We are not at all interested in playing this kind of game. He gave us a price, and we are going to hold him to that price, or we are not going to buy.
Our prayer request, then, is that this man (who claims to be a believer, and is actually a pastor in another denomination) will ultimately stick to his word and sell us all the property he said was available for the original price he quoted us. Also, pray for wisdom on our part as we navigate these perilous waters.
For those who contributed, rest assured that we have not accessed any of the funds as of yet. We will only do so when we have a bill of sale in hand.

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