the Family in Porto Velho

From April 2-7 Mario, Lucas and I spent a week in Porto Velho (north Brazil) to attend YWAM the yearly leadership meetings. It was Lucas' first time on an airplane! He was such a good boy!

 After about 3 hours of flying plus to layovers we finally arrived at the YWAM base in Porto Velho. Just recently YWAM added to their property by buying the land that belonged to Wycliffe. The base has a big focus on work with indigenous tribes and includes a small airplane. They also work in partnership with MAF (mission aviation fellowship or Wings of Mercy, my brother's mission).  It was also the base where the documentary about infanticide  "Hakani" was filmed.

Lucas meeting some of the other MK's who came to the meetings with their parents.

 The base also has a school...off they go!

 This is the building where we had the meetings. Luckily it was air-conditioned because it sure was hot there!

 and this is the house where we stayed with 2 other families. It used to belong to two Wycliffe missionaries.

 I'm not sure what insect made this, but I thought it was pretty interesting...

We had meetings every day...morning and afternoon.

 The leader of YWAM Mozambique was with us for the week and I had the privilege of translating for him one of the days.

 Lucas spent a good amount of time like this under the fan to cool off from the sticky heat.

 I was able to participate of most of the meetings when Lucas was sleeping or "talking" happily in his baby car.

 I took along his sock bunny that I made for him. I am trying to get him used to it so that he has something familiar for when he is not home. It's kind of ugly, but it's something I can just throw in the wash real quick and it doesn't matter if it gets ripped and tortured to shreds because I can just sew him up again.

 We had some wonderful times of prayer for some of the leaders the Lord showed us needed some encouragement.

 Mario, Lucas and I also went out one day for lunch to have some of the North Brazil's amazing amazon fish! Delicious!!

 Here are some pictures we took around the base...

 This is a very popular amazon fruit called "Cupuacu". It's great blended with milk and sugar!

 Mario was able to share about what God is doing in Goiania. We were so happy to share that in February we were finally able to pay off the land!

 is the leader of the Acre base (extreme north of Brazil). He has worked for almost 30 years among an indian tribe in that state. During this occasion some of his disciples (who were teenagers at the time they became believers) were present and shared a bit of their testimony and prayed for him in their native tongue. The lady speaking in the mic. is the leader of the Porto Velho base who hosted us.

 Gilberto (in the Jesus T-shirt) and Wellington (next to him) are the national directors of YWAM in Brazil. They are amazing men of God and have been with YWAM since it's beginning in Brazil 30 years ago.

 We felt led to wash their feet to honor them for all they have done during the years they have served the Lord in YWAM.

 On the last day the cooks that were serving us all week prepared a wonderful meal of fish, rice, salad and yucca root...it was wonderful!

 Fried...

 Baked...

 It rained several times later in the week and it was like going off-roading with Lucas in his baby carriage.

 Another fruit there was alot of at the base was "Jambo" it grows on the branches of the tree and looks a lot like an apple but in a pear shape and has a unique taste and texture...something like dense cotton soaked in water with some sugar....not bad.

This used to be a Wycliffe school.

 By this picture, nobody can say that he is not getting enough milk!

It was a great time! Thank you for your prayers, especially for safety against mosquitos. We praise God for window screens, fans and some air conditioning who were our greatest allies against those nasty bugs.  Even when we were outside there didn't seem to be that many. I did get some bites on me, but somehow Lucas didn't get a single one! Yeah!!!