Kubacki's in Brasil

The Amazon flood waters in this region are higher than they've been for over one hundred years.  The amount of flowing water that floods this river basin in a normal year is beyond comprehension and this year it is more than a meter higher than normal.  We are accustomed to seeing two and three meter poles on which sit the river homes disappear in March and April and this over hundreds and hundreds of square miles.  This year the water is up to the windows on most river homes (in June!).  Many people have fled to higher ground but many remain in their homes because of preference, fear of theft, or no means of moving. 

A team of 12 men and women from the Columbus Vineyard arrived at the peak of this flood.  They just "happened" to arrive when so many people on these rivers were in crisis.  Food was in short supply and many folks were displaced, causing several families to live together in small river houses.

We traveled with them to the region of the Una River, a very poor region about 12 hrs from Porto de Moz.  We took with us 70 "cestas basicas", sacks of about 50lb of food that can feed a large family for about two weeks.  After arriving in the area, we struck out on two large canoes to visit homes, deliver the food, pray and share with the folks, and invite them to an evening worship service that would be held in a central location.  Over the course of three days, we delivered all the food and saw many people for health concerns.  At every home, we prayed for the family and for any particular needs that they shared.  Each person seen medically was prayed for, as well, following an interview and prescribed treatment.  The evening services included worship, teaching, and a time for praying for each person.

We visited several couples in their seventies and eighties, living alone, and moving about their flooded houses quite precariously.  One couple had several large fish trapped in their bedroom (in a foot of water), keeping them there until they were ready to eat them!  They still slept in their bed at night!  It is such a joy to see the pleasure in the faces of especially these elderly couples when visited by a group of people from another country.

It was a week of prayer.  Especially in this region, it is easy to realize one's limitations to really help in any situation.  Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing and this team lived this out by demonstrating dependence on their Father, exemplified by their devotion to conversation with Him.  Everything was taken to Him in prayer.  There was prayer in the morning, prayer in the evening, and prayer at each interpersonal encounter.  We certainly did what was in our power to do but there was also an honest acknowledgement that any real help could only come from Jesus.  This team's motivation to pray and bring people to their Father was an obvious love both for the person being prayed for and for the One being prayed to.  I've heard it said that when one prays, he is drawn closer to the One he prays to, to the one prayed for, and to the one prayed with.  This team demonstrated this beautifully.

It was a joy to see the local people receive the love and service provided by this team of sweet, sweet people.  It was also a joy to be on the receiving end of their love, prayer, and encouragement.

While traveling with this team, I was motivated to love more sacrificially and to pray more dependently.  Our work in this region is a work of love and I desire in me more of the Father's love, as demonstrated in these men and women.  My desire to live more dependently also grew as I observed this dependence lived out through this team.  We want to meet real, temporal needs, but we desire more that our work draw people to our Father and this can only be done through His Spirit.  I was reminded that God is always at work, drawing each and every person to himself.  To live with an ear to hear His voice and eyes to see His hand, will put us in the right place at the right time to be His hands to touch those He desires to touch today.  This team was evidence of being in the right place at the right time because they were a praying team, a listening team, and a team dependent on their Father.  It was such a blessing to be able to work with them and to learn from them. 

It's a given that the yearly visit from Columbus, led by our dear friends, Craig and Linda Heselton, is one that our Father delights to use to bless, encourage and challenge all who come in contact with them.

We haven't had internet forever and as soon as we are able to hook up again, I'll post some pictures.  We try to keep up with email at a public internet site.  Thanks for writing!!!

It’s early on a Friday morning and we will be returning home following a week on the rivers, delivering water filters and consulting with health. We are on Mojo River, north of the Amazon River, across from the town of Gurupa. We stopped in Gurupa to pick up Antonio and Pepetua, our Vineyard Pastors in this town of about 15,000. They are a special couple, who have ministered alone in this town for six years. They travel on the rivers surrounding Gurupa in a small boat sharing about Jesus’ love to all who will listen. They have beautiful, humble hearts, just the kind of people that we want modeling the Kingdom of God.

We met an 89 year old man, living alone, who has lived in the interior all of his life. Brazil had a “rubber boom”, similar to the “gold rush” in the States, in the early to mid 20^th century. Rubber trees are plentiful in the Amazon Basin and many men during this time were hired to extract, process, package, and export the rubber. This man worked extensively with the rubber and told us all about it. It was a difficult life, living in the jungle and working long hours. But it was a steady job which is still difficult to come by in this region. The Rubber Boom continued until synthetic rubber replaced the natural product in the mid-1900’s. The trees still bear the scars of the extraction and the rubber is a thick, white, stretchy material that “leaks” out of cuts made in the bark of the tree. We received a demonstration of how it was extracted many years ago.

These folks living on the rivers love having visitors, without exception. They revel in sharing about themselves and their lives, work, and experiences. Our initial ministry is always asking simple, open-ended questions and listening. Isn’t this the same anywhere? So many Christians just want to talk, even about Jesus, but asking questions is honoring and demonstrates interest, which is a necessary part of love. We are called to love first, before preaching, teaching, and “witnessing”. Therefore, we are called to ask questions and to listen. Who can you minister to today by asking questions and listening?

We are in the midst of the rainy season and the mosquitoes are pretty thick on the rivers. We met one family that puts a pot in the middle of their one-room, wood house and they burn wood in this pot through the night. Because there is no opening in the roof, the room is filled with smoke all night and this keeps the mosquitoes out of the house. The young mother of three small children laughed when she said that they cough all night but have no mosquitoes!

Isaiah Kiener and I were installing one of our 400lb filters in one house and the kitchen floor completely collapsed. We fell three feet to the ground, uninjured. A broken board “caught” the filter about 6 in. above our feet, preventing certain serious injury to our feet. All of the filters are numbered and one of the guys on the team noted as we loaded the filters into the canoe that one of the filters was numbered 666. He suggested that perhaps we should dispose of that one. This same guy noted subsequently that it was this filter that fell through the floor, destroying a significant portion of this family’s house. This gave me the opportunity to use this as a simple illustration to share with the men that the motive of the enemy is certainly to destroy, but that “greater is He who is in us than he that is in the world”. The floor was destroyed and we were spared. I fell through the dock of the same house, uninjured. These types of occurrences are common in the work of delivering filters and all who have visited us can appreciate that there are some risks involved in our work here.

I saw many people with very high blood pressure, some minor illnesses, and a few significant illnesses, including juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatic fever, a kidney stone (no pain meds for three days prior to our visit and we helped with ibuprofen!), and osteomyelitis. We gave away many pairs of reading glasses to older people who were thrilled to be able to see up close again. I saw about 250 people and our help was received with much gratitude.

Luke and Isaiah had a great time working and horsing around with the younger guys on the team. They “worked hard and played hard” and it was a joy to watch.

We had a time of listening to the Lord, worshipping, and “chewing” on a passage of the Bible each morning. This bunch, for the most part, is hungry for more of God and I look forward to seeing how God uses these trips to mold these young men.

We pray with each family as we install their filter and I pray for each person that I see medically. We had several people shed tears as we prayed for them as they had never experienced anything like that in their lives. Seeing God so touch people is a joy and is why we are here. There were also two men that I talked with at length after I told them that I saw that God had a special “calling” for their lives. They both agreed to pursue God’s heart for them.

What a pleasant afternoon!  On a recent filter trip, we stopped to deliver a filter at a house of an elderly couple living alone on the river with one neighbor within sight.  They had lived there for 48 years, had eight children, and still lived independently, both nearing 80 years of age. 

They raised sheep!  It was so nice talking with them for several hours about many things, including raising sheep and how they began doing so.  Of course, those that know me are aware of my "expertise" in this area.  They were a unique couple in that they had screens on their windows and a large canary feeder on their front porch (with 20-30 wild canaries constantly bustling about).  They loved receiving a filter and stopped everything to talk with us all afternoon.  It was one of those opportunities where God shows us where we are to stop and spend some time.  While we talked from a deck behind their house, we watched the sheep graze near us.  They were funny, intelligent, loved life and loved God.

They told of the region and how when the water rises each year, certain animals migrate to to same islands, leaving them stranded until the water recedes.  There's a crocodile island, a jaguar island, a monkey island, a tapir island, a cutia (small mammal, the size of a big cat) island, etc.  The river folks hunt on the islands through the winter (rainy season) and fish during the dry season (when the fish are concentrated within the banks of the rivers).

I don't know why I continue to be surprised to see people loving life and loving God in such simple, difficult conditions.  When I asked her "secret", she said, "Work hard and sleep little."  We have the opportunity to meet many different people on these trips.  The disposition of those who know Jesus is striking in comparison to those who don't.  Light certainly becomes more clearly defined in dark, difficult environments.

These folks obviously enjoyed our visit and we did, as well.  It was nice to be enjoyed. 

We recently held our annual youth retreat outside of the city at a camp owned by the mission, called Monte Verde.  It went very well.  We had 120 youth and adults from the city meet around the theme from Isaiah, "Here I am, send me!"  The retreat was completely organized by the youth leaders of our local church and they put something together of great value that will be remembered by many for a long time. 

We had worship and a message each morning, free afternoons for play, and worship and a message each evening.  The only missionary involvement was a message by Richie on each of us having a call to minister and me sharing a message with the married couples.  All the messages were clear and challenging, there were several dramas that communicated powerful messages, the worship was beautiful and God-directed, and the free time was full of fun.

On the last day, we baptized 12 people who had recently given their lives to Jesus.  Among them was our 14 y/o Ellie.  It was a beautiful, sober time and all seemed to fully appreciate the significance of living with a real sense of forever being "washed" because of what Jesus had done for them.  It was such a joy to watch and participate in Ellie's baptism.  She is becoming such a beautiful young woman and it's becoming more and more apparent that her heart is to walk intimately with Jesus.  She seemed thrilled with the experience and the significance of her baptism.

There is an obvious maturity among many in the Vineyard church here in Porto de Moz and this is demonstrated by this outward focus, this desire to have an impact for the Kingdom on their community and beyond.  Many left this retreat motivated to love and to invite others freely and boldly into the Kingdom.  It was clearly a meeting that involved many potential leaders and it will be neat to watch these leaders walk out God's call on them.

As missionaries, we are more and more committed to the balance of pouring into these few while still continuing to cast the net for many.  Our hearts are being drawn especially to love, support, and equip the local people who will actually do the work of the Kingdom in this region.  Please pray for us for wisdom and power in this ministry.

The Resurrection. The knowledge of it and its reality changed my life. It took God from abstract philosophy to reality. To consider even the possibility was, one day many years ago, presented to me as a choice. Imagine encountering one dead, then several days later alive. It would shake one to its core. Wasn’t this the intention of God? He took on human form and did something that no one but deity could do; after dying, He came back to life.  This demonstration was motivated by kindness and the same love that brought Him here. We often struggle with doubt and, if you’re like me, you have asked God to make Himself clear, to eliminate doubt. He did. He did the one thing that could surpass all others in revealing His reality and eliminating doubt. He died and became alive again.

No matter when in history it occurred, only a handful of people could be eyewitnesses.  The rest would hear and be invited to believe what had happened.  The behavior of the eyewitnesses completely supports the occurrence. They supported the truth of this incredible fact with their lives. Their lives changed as dramatically as you would expect any to change when confronted with such a reality. Nothing else mattered. They encouraged others to believe the same but their assurance of the truth of the resurrection did not waver when confronted by many who refused to believe and called them fools for believing so. They left for us a legacy of faith, a demonstration of what it would be like to encounter such a circumstance and such a Man.

No longer could Jesus be described as a “good teacher”, or a “wise man”. No longer could God be an abstract unknown. We don’t have that liberty of choice after the resurrection. He put on skin, revealed a personality, and did what no mere “man” could do.

Either the whole thing is a lie, a scheme, a monumental deception that many men and women were willing to die for, or it is the truth. We have no other choices. Many speak of the difficulty in believing such a story. It is, however, quite a logical leap to believe that it was all concocted by simple men who gave their lives teaching about honesty and sincerity of belief. They were stoned, beaten, and lived lives without any earthly benefit for their belief. They did not gain any of the things that would typically motivate a lie. Paul spent years in prison and would have won his freedom by simply renouncing this “lie”. His writings in chains reveal a remarkable, unwavering, sincerity of belief, even writing to “rejoice always” because, in spite of all suffering, God was real and had demonstrated His reality in the resurrection. He suggested over and over that Jesus had demonstrated that God could be known, that He had a heart “for us” like that of a good father. He suggested that all doubts as to the nature of God had been settled in Jesus, and supported by the resurrection.

I remember my first encounter with this resurrection as a young adult and the choices that followed, leading me to begin a relationship that is still transforming me, with the one, Jesus, who still lives, still leads, still forgives and still loves all who come to Him, as they are (flawed, skeptical, doubting and needy).

It is so good to remember all of this today as we celebrate Easter.

We spent a week on vacation at the ocean, about 1000 km east of Porto de Moz.  We took a boat for two days to Belem and taxied the remaining three hours by road.  It was a very nice week.  One thing that is difficult in this part of Brazil is to find leisurely activities that everyone in the family can enjoy.  This vacation fit the bill.  The beach was nice, clean and quiet.  The hotel was nice, as well, and we met several good friends there and enjoyed the fellowship.  I'll try to get some pictures up this week.

We return to busy.  Bets spent a weekend on the river at a leader's retreat with leaders from Altamira and Porto de Moz.  I will head out on the river this week and be in Altamira the following week.  The kids had some time off school and are diving back in.  We are attempting to catch up on emails as our internet has been pretty lousy for the past three months.  It seems to be working well now.

Thank you for your support for this work.  Many people are blessed by your financial and prayer support.  We have a very real sense that we are entering a special season.  There has been some real maturing in many of our young leaders.  The church is packed each week with many new people.  The work on the rivers has seen many people touched by God's love in depth and in life-changing ways.  Whole communities have been impacted by God's Spirit during our visits.  We are seeking the Lord as to how to manage this harvest.  We are trusting His leading.  It is a nice time to be working in this region.  God is up to something and it is a joy to be in a position to participate.  We could not be here participating if you would not have chosen to participate, as well.  If you haven't "joined in" the work here yet, you can contact us, contact our Father, or send support to the address to the right.  Thank you. 

We have had some down time with our Internet, and I will be out of town for the next 2 weeks.  Sorry if there have been delays with email, but I will try to catch up on email upon my return.

Thank you for all of your support for us and for the "river people".

tim

I saw perhaps fifty people today for health concerns and we delivered about 25 water filters to individual homes.  We are deep into the interior, north of the Amazon River, on the river Paru.  We visited many houses, ranging from incredibly simple and broken down ("shacks") to simple but well cared-for.  Almost without exception, the people were warm, welcoming, friendly, hospitable, and grateful.  I've heard it said that people and cultures have two "hurdles" to climb over to reach "relationship".  Most have one short hurdle (easily scaled) and one tall hurdle (more difficult to traverse).  The people of this culture have an incredibly short first hurdle, as they are so warm and inviting initially.  Their second hurdle, to gain real trust and friendship, is taller as the relationship will tend to remain warm but superficial without effort.  Some people and cultures have a tall first hurdle, appearing cold and aloof initially, but once "invited in" to relationship, after some effort and time, it is but a short second hurdle to intimacy.  A fascinating observation of cultures that I think has some merit.

After delivering the filters and ministering to the peoples' concerns, it occurred to me that we will likely not "see" the fruit of our labor here.  I listen, examine, diagnose, and treat each person.  I pray with each, for God to resolve their problem, that they would seek Him, they would hear His voice and really know His affection for them.  We deliver filters, conversing and praying with the recipients.  Then we leave, and with the geography in which we work and the slowness of travel, we likely won't be back for a while. We are forced to trust our Father's continued pursuit of each person to the point of a real response to Him. It is such a part of our human nature to desire to see the fruit of our labor.  We seek to justify our work by measuring and analyzing results (fruit).  But in this work, the real fruit will be measured by our Father, and from His perspective, not ours.

Trusting God is so much a part of missionary work.  We can seek certain measurable results (converts, people saying a prayer, immediate healing, etc) or we can do what we hear God ask us to do and take our eyes off of the "fruit".  I think it would be reliable to say that the more we seek and value measurable results, the less we are focused on taking instructions from our Father, and vice versa. 

We westerners have a tendency to think linearly, such as "a+b=c".  We can be so shortsighted.  Nothing in life is so simple.  It is more like a+g+q+w+k+s+u+b+z+m+l+r+t = c.  Our part ("a") in any equation is small.  Each contributes a little, but each part is used by the Designer to produce fruit ("c").  How often have you seen a person contribute "t" to the equation and take credit for "c", simply because they are the last contributor or appear to be a significant factor?  I see this in health care and in the church all the time.  Many factors (circumstances, microbes, one's general health, etc) are involved in causing depression or infection, and many factors will be involved in the resolution of the same.  In the Kingdom, God uses many factors to open our eyes to who He is and who we are, and He uses many factors and people to lead us to Him.  We err in simplifying life to understand and in relying heavily on our shortsighted perspective.  Seeking instant gratification from our work (even good work), in fruit that we can measure, can lead one directly away from our Father's will for us.

Also, prosperity and knowledge can create an "illusion of control" that is common in the U.S. and fascinatingly absent in the river people here.  Here they know that there is so much in their lives that is beyond their control.  Trust is such a huge part of their lives; trust in others and trust in a God that they know little about though they easily recognize His reality and their need for His kind intervention. 

We must remember to trust the One who creates and measures the fruit.  We must remember that we are but one small factor in a large equation (a person's journey).  Like a child, we can operate in response to His delight in us, playing whatever part He gives us, and leaving the rest of the equation, and final result (fruit), up to our Father.  Indifference to results and the fruit of our labor is very healthy when replaced by listening ears and availability for what small role that our Father is asking us to play.

What small part of someone's "equation" is God asking you to play today?  What "fruit" is He asking you to trust Him with?

The "proverbs" posted previously were a partial list.  If anyone would like to read a more complete list of my "observations of life", please email me at kubacki6@msn.com.  I would be glad to send you a copy in either English or Portuguese!

tim

Attitude is everything.  How many times we've all heard it.  I met a living example last night.  This incredible couple, in their late seventies, live about eight hours from any form of civilization, in a very simple house with no electricity or running water.  They live on the Jaurucu River and own only a canoe for transportation, hitching rides with others when needing to go into "the city".  They've lived in this same area all their lives.  Their kids have moved away and visit from time to time.

Our visit was the third time that our mission team has visited them.  The first two were to deliver and follow up on a water filter for their home.  We stopped in with some of the VCDC team and it was like their favorite people in the world were stopping in to see them.  They invited us in, made coffee, and talked and talked and talked.  Their conversation was full of joy, animation and gratitude.  There was much laughter.  It was obvious that they loved each other, loved life, loved this region, and loved our presence in their home.

What made their attitude so incredible was the setting.  Not only are the conditions in which they live so simple and difficult, but the disabilities that their age and their health problems create do not lend to an atmosphere that would typically yield their joyful attitude.  Neither have but a couple teeth (dentures haven't "arrived" on the rivers yet), she has severe arthritis in multiple joints with marked swelling, to the point of not being able to even take a step without severe pain.  Her one knee, in particular, was markedly swollen and was quite deformed from the many years of this arthritis.  He had fallen off of their dock three years ago and broken his hip.  He didn't have it repaired because, though the surgery would be covered in their government health system, they couldn't afford for him to be away from home for so long.  His affected leg is essentially withered and any movement causes pain.  He walks with the aid of a crude wooden crutch, tolerating pain with every movement.  He has severe sciatica, likely from his markedly altered gait, which also causes pain with every movement.

They live day to day, without ability to store food.  Today's work yields today's meal, whether fish, fruit, or meat.  Rice and beans are their staple (typical among the river folks), mainly because this can be stored dry without going bad.  If anyone has the right to gripe!  They hurt with every movement, they have to work for every meal, and there is no hope for change.

Well, we sat and talked with them for about two hours.  We talked about many things, laughed and mainly listened.  I injected her knee and we left them some simple pain medicine.  As a group, we prayed for both of them, individually and together.  As we were leaving, they said that this was the most special day they've had in a very long time.  They were so grateful and so humbly appreciated our presence, our encouragement and our praying for them.  They are so obviously our brother and sister and their love for Jesus in the midst of their circumstances greatly encouraged all of us.  They were a striking example of the beauty of humility and contentment with little.  A striking example!

They then showed up for our service that night, paddling in their dugout canoe fifteen minutes in the dark with a dull flashlight and arriving early (arriving early never happens in the Amazon!).  They were so full of joy and when asked by Kate, a member of the team, how she could pray for them, they went on and on about God's goodness to them and what a beautiful day they'd had.

God's Kingdom is a very different place.  A place where such joy can be present in the midst of pain and very difficult circumstances, where one can have treasure in the midst of "trash", where gratitude and grace reign in darkness, where the power of the unseen triumphs the seen, and where love rules over bitterness.

We tend to think that God is glorified most by victory, healing, and happiness in His people.  But I think that God is glorified most when people "witness" to His love while suffering and to His power while weak, trusting Him when they don't understand, and joyfully worshipping Him when confronted with despairing darkness.  A little Light continues today to be most visible in complete darkness.  We are called to be light in the darkness rather than to change the darkness to light.  This beautiful couple is light in a dark, religious, lost culture and the contrast is "glorifying".