| The Ripe Harvest While we were in Portugal, Clenildo and a team of Brazilian missionaries ventured up remote rivers they had never traveled before. Clenildo recounted his adventure to me (Note: I changed the names of all the people except Clenildo). “I wasn’t ready for what we’d find at the end of the Guajará River.We set out with one goal: to bring the Gospel where it had never been heard. To ensure no one was left behind, we started at the farthest point upriver—from the end backward. Our journey took us to Iuliuí, Guajará, and the Curumini River, through narrow, twisting waterways under a searing sun.And there, in a remote clearing barely etched into the jungle, we met Ivaldo. “No one’s ever come this far,” he told us. He gave us shelter and helped us go further still.After hours of traveling up the narrowing river, we reach our goal—Marrudo, they called him—the “last man.” He wept as he gave his life to Jesus. The man before him had already surrendered, too. We realized then—we hadn’t missed a soul. But God wasn’t done.At a schoolhouse downstream, the entire class—students and teachers—gave their lives to Christ. In another village, a man named Evando, sick and waiting five years for prayer, was healed and threw away his crutches on the spot.By the time we reached the Curumini, we met Wanderson—another who had never heard the name of Jesus. That changed in a moment.In ten days, ninety-three people stepped from darkness into light.We came home exhausted… and filled with joy. There’s still so much more to do—but heaven is rejoicing, and so are we.” 📝 Pray with us for the follow-up: Now that relationships have begun, Clenildo and the team are returning to introduce Discovery Bible Studies (DBS) and Disciple Making Movements (DMM). In remote areas like this, it’s essential that new believers grow in faith in ways that don’t rely on constant outside input. Really, that’s true everywhere—and especially here. |
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