Missionary Conference in the Sertão

Yesterday Pastor Francisco and I returned, safe and sound, from a whirlwind tour of the states of Piaui, Pernambuco, Bahia, and Ceará. The occasion was the annual conference of MAB, the Baptist Auxiliary Mission here in NE Brazil. Pastor Francisco is a MAB missionary, and I am on the advisory board.

This year’s conference was hosted by the churches in the São Francisco Valley. On the first night Pastor Francisco and I challenged the folks at the Juazeiro da Bahia church about the opportunities here in São Luís. It was also an unexpected treat to spend time with Pastor Domício and his wife, Adriana–friends from our seminary days (pictured above).

The cool thing about going to the São Francisco Valley is that I always run into people who knew me “way back when”–and by “way back” I mean 1989, when I first set foot in Brazil. This is the case of the couple pictured above, who were members of the youth group of the Casa Nova church in those days.

A trip to Casa Nova on Sunday brought another “blast from the past”, this one in the form of Pastor Francimar (above), who studied with Itacyara. Francimar is now the pastor of the Casa Nova church, which was the first church I ever visited in Brazil.

After the service at Casa Nova, all the MAB missionaries got together at Afonso’s, which features Grilled Goat as it’s main menu item.

The above picture shows Pastor Francisco with other MAB missionaries, board members, and people from the Casa Nova church.

With some time to kill, we drove around Casa Nova for a while. We were surprised at the number and variety of Fuscas (VW Beetles) we saw.

It was also a time for me to reminisce a little. This is the house where I stayed on my first Brazilian adventure, back in the ’80s.

___________________

Did you enjoy this post? Consider making a donation to our ministry in Brazil.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that clicking on these Amazon links and making purchases is one way you can help our work.

And be sure to read the action-packed adventures of Missionary Max: Missionary Max and the Jungle Princess and Missionary Max and the Lost City.