Summer Prayer Letter [by Byron]

The Athas in Brazil Taking the Living Water 

to the desert Northeast  

R.Araras 12 / Sobradinho, BA / 48925  

+55 74 98806 9559 

bwaii@yahoo.com

Hello all.                                                                         August 2019

When I ended my last letter there was still plenty to tell, and as I start this letter I think I could fill 3 pages.  The good news is I don’t have that much paper on hand.  The bad news is that I don’t need paper to send this electronically.  BUT I’ll have mercy and stop when it’s time whether I’m done or not.  I just hope I’m better at stopping in letters than I am with sermons…  

I’m writing this now because I won’t have much time this month.  We are excitedly awaiting the arrival of our oldest son and newest daughter-in-law.  We have a pretty busy schedule set up putting them to work in some new ministries. . . . 

Oh, never mind.  They're gone now.   We had a great time together.  He got to be here for a friend's wedding and to see a lot of old friends as well as many ministry opportunities, some of which are still bearing fruit. 

In our winter letter we mentioned a ministry in a small group of houses and we continue going every week.  It's called Green Field, but sometimes it's more like Green Acres!  Though it's only 25 miles (14 straight line) it takes about an hour to get there.  We struggle with the effectiveness of our efforts but will continue to the end of the year.  A promising start died in a place called Bicas (BEE-kuz) near a wind farm though we still have 2 e-Bibles there (mp3 players).  But we are very encouraged with the Bible studies we have started in a small town farther south.  William and Kerri worked with us for evangelism at the weekly market and that night we showed the Jesus film.  Turn-out was discouraging, but near the end a couple showed up and after the film expressed interest in a Bible study.  It's only 75 miles (50 straight) but takes 3 to 4 hours each way.  

Our SUV has been whining lately (literally) so we have taken the sand rail some.  That's a car made out of metal pipes with an engine and 4 wheels.  We wear helmets because it has no glass, no doors, no fenders.  But it is faster because it is light, cheap to fix, and robust - even though right now it's ro-busted.  It's a real attention getter, and I even had some tracts made up that feature it as an introduction.  We are excited about how God is working there in Lajes (LAH-jeez) and hope it will serve as a base for reaching the surrounding communities. 

After several months of training, the church here in town has just begun a new evangelism outreach.  We are using a survey to find people who are interested in a Bible study.  We do a through-the-Bible in about an hour and then offer a more detailed study of the same material.  About half of the surveys so far have led to visits and about a third of those have opened the door to a longer study. 

On the down side, many members aren't as available as they once were.  School has gone to an all day schedule, some members have started school in other cities and a few have started technical/university courses. The biggest challenge the congregation faces, however, is a lack of men.  There are almost none and these few are all disqualified from being deacons.  The one man we had, he decided to move to another town.   

While on furlough, Michele attended a ladies workshop on prayer.  She got permission from the authors and after awhile translating and editing and perfecting the layout she called in a few friends.  She has since presented it to several groups, mostly in our town.  It has been a fulfilling ministry for her and several women who have attended continue to use what they’ve learned.

This past year I've spent a lot more time in the office than ever.  I've been prepping materials for the survey, writing tracts, recording for the e-Bible, translating, as well as studying for the Bible studies.  Last Thursday I did 4 in 1 day.  I even prepared an e-Bible in 3 languages for a Brazilian missionary I met on my trip to the Amazon - Portuguese and 2 Indian languages.  Several churches are without pastors and I've done some fill-ins and even missions presentations. 

But, it hasn't all been desk work. In addition to trying to keep the cars running, the old camp boat was rented out.  That brought in some maintenance funds for up keep and brought me into contact with some new people.  But the main reason was the project was not only going to take me up river where I could survey needs and opportunities in an area with difficult road access, but was going to pay me to do it.  I was involved for several months investing a little more time into it than I wanted then just when it was about to get interesting the renters cancelled the contract.  It may have been just as well as that's when company came and it would have been difficult to fulfill my obligations on the boat. 

The other big "hands-on" project is tilapia farming.  Once it gets going it's a sustainable source of income which I hope will "feed" some of our projects after we're gone.  I initially hoped it could provide income for some of the young men at the church but that was impractical - at least at this point.  The father of a large family in the church was out of work and he has done an excellent job with the fish.  Cool weather has slowed growth but we are beginning to harvest our first crop.  It's not a big operation.  You might even say it's small scale… 

I really struggle sometimes with how to balance some of this.  Like repair work.  I can usually do it myself, but sometimes lying under the car (usually when my  knuckles are bleeding) I think, "I should be doing something more important."  So then the next time I take it to a shop.  I pay someone to do the work and still spend the whole day at the shop and chasing parts, and then sometimes a second day doing it myself again anyway.  I've considered trading vehicles as ours is 20 years old and has 300,000km and parts are sometimes difficult, but I can't really think of anything that will serve us any better. 

Not sure where this fits in in the letter so I'll just throw it in here. When our last dogs were put down for Kalazar, a mosquito born disease that is most common in dogs but can be fatal in humans, we decided to not have any more dogs.  They are excellent protection of an empty house but it seems ours is a Kalazar factory and it seemed cruel.  What we didn't realize was that they also protected us from the neighborhood stray cat gang who immediately took over the empty "turf."   We couldn't keep them out of the kitchen.  So as stray dogs showed up we let a couple stay.  We only wanted 2 and joked that the 3rd was a spare.  When the inevitable happened we took her to be put be put down, but the vet suggested we try to save her.  There's a new treatment that's cheaper and she was acting happier so we are giving it a try.  I don't know how sustainable it is so, while she hasn't gotten a pardon, there has at least been a stay of execution pending appeals. 

Little white dog to the left is the sickie

Let me close by sharing a story from furlough.  Michele often gives out rubber bracelets with the colors from the Wordless Book.  At a missions presentation in a grade school she promised a second bracelet to anyone who gave away the first to someone who wasn’t a believer.  One boy chose a man who worked for his father, explained the colors and gave the man the bracelet.  Later the man told the father he couldn’t get it out of his head and after some questions got saved.  If we are faithful in sowing the seed, there will be fruit.  Even a child can do it.

Sowing and reaping in the Brazil field, 

The Athas