Amazon memories

Today my family boarded a boat and headed up the Rio Negro, an enormous tributary of the Amazon River to visit a training camp for young Brazilian missionaries called Amazon Radicals.  We made so many memories swimming in the river, eating exotic native fruits, watching our friend climb an acai tree, hiking in the Amazon jungle, and swinging on vines, but there's one thing I want to remember  more than all of these things.  I am asking God to never let me forget the young Brazilian missionaries my family and I met today. Each one of them has committed themselves for two years to go through rigorous training in everything from jungle survival to church planting.  They began their three months of training this week at the camp, after which time they'll go out two by two up the river to communities that haven't yet heard the good news of Jesus.

One of the missionaries had a story that touched me deeply that came forth as he shared his testimony with the other racers.  He and his family first heard the gospel when Amazon Radical missionaries who'd been through this same training brought the gospel to his village 5 years ago. As he shared his story, he lamented the fact that no one had brought the gospel sooner so that past generations could have also been saved from a life of hopelessness without Christ.  Now that the gospel has taken root in his life, his passion has grown to make the name of Christ known among those who haven't yet been reached.

Another of them had already come through the training once but had not been able to finish the two year term after contracting malaria followed by an accident where he fell into a log in the river and broke his nose. This young man had to leave the program and was undoubtedly discouraged, but his passion for the lost wouldn't let him stay away.  This time, he's going back through the training, unwilling to stop until the lost have heard. He has put his hand to the plow and he isn't turning back.

That's what I most want to remember about today.  I want most to remember to pray for these young radical missionaries as they train and as they go, that their passion might catch fire in my own heart and the hearts of all others whom they touch.

As you see their picture and their names below, please join with me and intercede for them.

Thanks for joining us on the journey!