LONG OVERDUE!
Hey all! Man it sure has been busy these past few months! I pray and hope all is well with each and the everyone of you!
The hightlight of this year is the Lunar Eclips! It is an amazing event to watch!
In my last update I did a video...but for somereason not many watched it (I can tell by the views on the video). But though my blog many more people seen to check out the pictures...so for now I will go back to just posting pictures!
This is the church building where we meet! Just this past weekendo now we are starting the construction! Praise the Lord we finally have most of the material (lacking a few things but God has been faithfully providing!) so we have started it! Next weekend 15 to 20 men will be going out to work on the floor and put up the walls (mostly half walls)! Pray for us that God will protect us and that work will not be hindered!
After 2 years meeting in this building we will doing it permant! Many tears have been shed and many prayers have been said and it is finally coming to past! Thank you Lord!
The hardest part was leveling the floor!
The first brick laid! Next weekend it will go up fast!
This year we have received several groups which has been a joy for my wife and I as we live in the jungle and miss having personal contact with friends...
We get together with the kids every now and then to play, sing and tell a Bible story. Pray for us so we can develop this ministry with the Kids in other tribes because they are the future generation of the tribe. WE must teach them and bring them up in the ways of the Lord so when the get older they will teach and train their kids!
As the years go by they are losing more and more their culture and costums...but they still have a few cultural festivals that they do. The main one is log races!
The ending of a festival...it is only the older ones that do it...most of the younger generation don't have any interest in their culture...it is sad because little by little they lose their Idenity...they still speak in their language but mixed with a lot of Portuguese. Most of the little kids speak in the dialect but with the invasion of TV and tecnology they lose interest in their own culture. We share with them, that which is not good must be left behind but that which is good doesnt have to be forgoten...only teaching them and sharing with them the Word of God will they know what is pleasing in God's sight and what is not. Who are we to tell them?
The end of the Mat festival where they fatten the kids up so they can be prepared for adult life...
Me with my name sake's...we all have the same name in the Language...Crowareh!
Here is a beautiful family who has a desire to know more of the Lord and constantly seek Him, through the Word, getting toghther with the believers....
Oli and I making round around the village...
Another beautifl family... =)
An Indian lady making Indian food...
A tipical Inidna house...simple...
This year we had a lovely wedding of a young couple who are believers...during the day they had a cultural wedding and at night a religious wedding....
Preparing the decoration!
Dad and I...
Oli was in charge and did the planning and decorating...
The bride!
The groom!
Simple and Lovely!
They both love the Lord, sing and have a desire to serve Him...Pray for them that God will guide and direct their paths.
After the cultural wedding there was a soccor turnament.
A friend of mine is working on a chicking production project! Pray for him that God will be albe to bless him because one of the greatest struggles in this place is the poverty leval! They have so much land but they produce almost nothing...but gardens that last pretty much only 6 months! It is sad to see so many missing out and depend heavely on Government funds to help them get through! I have been working on teaching them that we must be faithful in what is God's, tith...but if we have nothing invested how can God bless us? If we have no production how can we increase? For many generations the Indians have been depending on the jungle life and they never lacked anything...but with the invasion of white man, Indian land has been come limited and the unability to keep moving to new locations when resources run out have cause a hard impact on Indian life....with the 'globilization' and the economy the past generations are so use to never lacking food that when the deal with money they have a hard time comprehending that money has a limit! So working with principles and learning to say no and living with what you have is really hard for them! Pray for me to help them to become prosperous and for them to be able to grow and learn the Truths of God's Word!
Another hightlight of this year is the youth confrence! We hosted once again the Teens at my parents house but this time over 70! We doubled from last year to this year! Pray with us because we do not have a structure to really be able to host these events with this size of a group! We need more sleeping space, a place to cook...a place to be able to sell snack (it is a holiday and most stores are not open).
A little glimps of our structure on the front porch!
A lot of work!
Devotional time!
With small groups! A great time to help them grow and desire to read more of the Word!
........
This was a big investment that we did so we can host 50 people in hammocks in the back yard but it still is not finished...
We covet your prayers in every area of our lives...health, safety and wisdom and all that God has given us. We are stewards of that which God has given us and are blessed to have many people like you in our lives that have been praying, contribuiting and encouraging us in this Calling God has called us which is not always easy!
Blessings!
Denis and Oli for the Bailey family!
