Romans 1:11 For I long to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord.

Paul thought writing letters was helpful, but a personal visit was way more powerful.

This is why we came to Chile.

It takes Clenildo 48 hours to travel by boat to Gurupá.
It takes us 8 hours by car, then 16 hours by boat to Gurupá.
It usually takes us two days by car to visit Clenildo and Angelita in Santarem, as we stop to visit pastors and spend the night at someone’s house along the way.

We all met at Steve and Elba’s for the afternoon and evening.
For Leão and Edna, that meant a 27-hour ferry ride.

Steve took us to the Belem airport at 2 a.m.

We flew to Brasília, and then to Rio de Janeiro.

Belem is far from our homes.

Deanna and I flew for an hour to get to Belem.
Clenildo flew for almost two hours.
Edna and Leão rode on a public lineboat with 1,000 other passengers for 27 hours.

Rio de Janeiro is even farther from our homes. It was two more 90-minute flights, first to Brasilia, and then to Rio.

Santiago is even farther, another five-hour flight over the Andes mountains. Rio de Janiero to Santiago is almost like Vancouver to New York City.

We traveled from Belem to Santiago in one 22-hour day.

We arrived at our hosts in Chile at midnight, the same day.