A few days after the 12 Stone team left we were visited by Kevin, President of Moyo, Jason, a Moyo board member, and Stephen a media guy. We have known these men for years as we all went to the same church. It’s so wonderful to work in ministry with such godly men with a heart for missions. Well, calling working with Kevin “wonderful” may be stretching it a little. Just kidding.
In all seriousness, the men came to check on the ministry and encourage ministry partners and see the newest location in northern Brazil.
We were able to show them the new Vinde Criar building I mentioned in the last post. This building houses classes upstairs, while the carpentry, metal works, and auto bays are downstairs. The car lift was installed in May so you’ll get pics of that next month. The lift is so cool and high quality. The Krebs donated the steel for the building and the professional grade car lift. What a blessing. This is going to be great career training for out teens.
The men toured both the Sede and Imperial locations, along with visiting one of the favalas (slums) where many of our kids live.
We also met with various businessmen in the area and presented the vision for the ministry. The top picture is of the meeting held at David’s house in Campinas where several businessmen listened to Kevin explain more about Moyo. The bottom is of the owners of Casa Molina Cafe. This sweet couple run this cafe as a ministry opportunity, they graciously opened early for us to have a breakfast meeting there. They are also part of our Vinde Criar program for the teens for the food management class.
After leaving at 4:30 in the morning to make our flight, we arrived in São Luís that afternoon. São Luís is the capital city of Maranhão in northeast Brazil.
From São Luís, we took a four hour van ride to the city of Barreirinha.
From Barreirinhas, we loaded up into these trucks for the next hour and a half or so of the journey.
These trucks and four wheelers are the main modes of transportation in this part of the state as the low sea level, sandy roads, and rains, make for an almost boat like ride.
Atins, is a remote fishing village at the mouth of the Preguiças River. It has a population of about 1,500 to 2000 people. The nearest hospital is an hour to an hour and a half away. The town is isolated and rural, tucked between the Atlantic Ocean and the dunes of the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park. Getting stuck is a way of life. Luckily this wasn’t our truck.
We had nice accommodations at a local pousada (inn).
We came upon a couple with their four wheeler stuck. This is a common occurrence in these parts.
We visited the ministry there and we were able to talk with and encourage the couple in charge of this location, Reinaldo and Márcia. Daily tasks can be exhausting in this area due to the travel conditions.
The gospel was presented with a simple paper airplane version of the wordless bible which the kids really enjoyed it.
The kids had even prepared a song for us.
They also showed us a large scorpion and a snake they found on property.
We drove the road that looks like driving through a lake for some home visits. You really have to know the area to drive around here.
We met with several families, distributing water bottles with basic hygiene and school supply items and praying with these families.
The area of town where we stayed before the rain flooded parts of the roads.
At the evening church service, Kevin presented the gospel while Roberto translated. You’ll hear a small part of his clear message of Jesus in the video at the end of the post.
So Reinaldo’s truck, the one he chauffeured us and the kids back and forth to church, has a bad alternator. So in the evening, a friend of the ministry used a flashlight as his headlights. On our way to service, the road was washed at a bridge so we had to jump out of the back of the truck onto a nearby footbridge. I was in a dress, but luckily I was smart enough to pack a long dress. So I gathered it up and jumped.
Unfortunately, after Reinaldo got us back to our hotel, he went back out to take some of the kids home and got the whole truck stuck. Just another day for them. Becoming aware of this need, our ministry has sent funds to help repair his truck.
So this is a common sight walking down the main road in town. Well, not me making faces but the cows and donkeys that just roam around. With all the standing water and loose animals, no one was drinking the water from the tap. Bottled water only on this trip.
We took the missionaries there out for a nice dinner and fellowshipped with one another.
We took our last day there to visit Lençóis Maranhenses National Park. This place was on my Brazil bucket list of places to visit. I didn’t realize that the new ministry location was beside it until we were preparing to visit.
We were able to drive through the park and swim in the blue green lagoons.
Instead of taking a truck ride back to Barreirinhas, we decided to take a water taxi down the river. There is no dock, so this meant wading in the water with our luggage to board the boat. I’m glad I had my Chacos strapped to my feet.
The boat ride was calm and scenic (depending on where you sat). Trev and I were upfront so we had a great view of both sides.
After the hour or so boat ride and the four hour van ride back to São Luís and our hotel, we walked the beach on our way to eat some açaí. This açaí wasn’t the same as what we have in São Paulo but it was sweet like ours, unlike the earthy unsweetened version further west. The hotel we stayed the night in happened to be the same hotel that some of the crew for the Guns N Roses tour stayed at as well. They were having a concert the following night. I don’t know if the band stayed there or not but we did see roadies at breakfast.
After breakfast we hopped a flight back to São Paulo. We left the guys at the airport for their flight back to the US and Roberto, Danny, Trevor and I headed back to Atibaia. Luckily our travels timed out for a holiday so we were able to go home and rest one day before more ministry the next day.
Here’s the video as promised.
The rest of the month will be in the next post. Until then, tchau.
NoHurryCains 
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