The day after helping Joaquim and the short-termers with the finishing touches on our new church plant in Iruçanga (see the last article), I went out with Joaquim again, this time on the flooded Amazon River to go visit another church construction work in progress. The community of Piracaoera lies along the Amazon River and is completely under water. PAZ has been helping this area recently because of the devastating floods that have destroyed many homes. In the midst of these floods, we are also building a new church! This church was recently featured in a video I put up on the PAZ website – click here to see it. The purpose of our trip was to prepare for the next work team that will be helping soon.
We piled into the little speedboat and went out into the great Amazon. I was amazed by how high the water is, even after it’s gone down by about a meter. So come with us now on the flooded Amazon River. Just click the first picture below and advance the slideshow with your arrow keys. ?????? ?????? ????? ??????? ?????? ?????
The floor of this church isn’t even done yet, and people and fisherman are already using it for shelter! It’s one of the only places for miles around that is above the water. Because the church has opened its doors (that aren’t even hung yet), good will in the community has grown greatly, and by God’s grace we will see this church grow greatly because of it.
Thousands of years ago, Noah built a wooden ark as instructed by the Lord. It was a refuge to him, his family and all sorts of animals. Today we are still building arks as instructed by the Lord, but now for people. These arks are called churches and are a refuge for those in the flood; a place to find salvation in Jesus Christ.