May Flowers

 

May?  How can it be?  March winds have blown us right past April and threw us into May without a thought.  Yet, here we are. 

March was full of crazy Covid restrictions here that changed every week and were different here and there.  It seemed the rules were modified according to the breeze of the day.  Now official curfews and travel limitations are based on the percentage of available ICU hospital beds.  That number fluctuates but at least it isn't so random.

Currently we are on the road every Tuesday and Friday.  On Tuesdays we go to one community named Abreus.  It's about two hours down dirt roads.  The distance is only about 50 miles, but the roads slow down the ride.  We usually go in our 4x4 Mitsubishi Pajero and take 3 - 5 young people along from the congregation in Sobradinho.

It's a community with about 60 houses.  Recently the skies have been beautiful with big clouds as our rainy season has been trying to hang on a little longer than usual.

This past month Byron started recorder lessons for the kids.  We had no idea that teens and adults would also be interested.  We've had a quite an assorted group lately!

Each afternoon we present a Bible lesson, teach and sing Sunday school type songs, and review a memory verse.  After the Bible time and recorder class, the teens that  go along play games or walk down to see nearby creek.

photo by Vinicius

Sometimes dealing with all the little kids, the long ride and the burden of delivering the Word of God well can be quite overwhelming, but we press on and continue to pray for the people of this small interior place.

photo by Vinicius

On Fridays we are making 6 stops on our 150 mile route. That is on a good day with no cancellations!  Sometimes with Covid mess and just the fact that every day life often moves things around, we can't make a particular visit.  Our ministry is different on this big trip.  We visit in homes and Byron presents a Bible study lesson following the books with the Good Soil Evangelism project of ABWE.  

At one house, I keep my eyes open for kids out and about and tell Bible stories on the porch.  Some children are starting school work via their parents' cell phones!  So kids have been scarce for the past three weeks.  

Soon, soon, I hope to finish the study with one family that I visit in the small town of Lage and use that time to start Bible stories with children near a big soccer field where lots of kids gather in the late afternoon.  Help me pray to that end - soon!

We thank God for our continued health, and pray for missionaries and friends who are sick right now this week here in Brazil.  May God bless in the crazy mess and allow for the sweet fragance of May flowers to touch our hearts and remind us of His goodness.