Chris and Jane Weins came for the tenth time to Brazil! He is the president of Xtreme Mercy Canada. Dan Thiessen, also on the XMC board, came for the first time, and brought his Dad. Dan was raised in Borneo, was a missionary in Israel is now based out of Canada.

PS We decided as a team to change our name Xingu Mission to Xtreme Mercy all around.

We've done several survey trips. We have identified some areas that have a lot of need for missionaries. The questions remain...Who should go? When? How will we start over? Which of the three primary locations, Marabá, São Felix do Xingu, or Ituparinga, should come first? What will the XM leadership look like as we expand to more bases? While we all feel the task is enormous we cannot yet see our next steps. We look forward to secondary survey trips to these places after our furlough. Please continue to pray for direction for us and the team here.

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“But there is another urgency before me now. I feel compelled to go to Jerusalem. I’m completely in the dark about what will happen when I get there. I do know that it won’t be any picnic, for the Holy Spirit has let me know repeatedly and clearly that there are hard times and imprisonment ahead. But that matters little. What matters most to me is to finish what God started: the job the Master Jesus gave me of letting everyone I meet know all about this incredibly extravagant generosity of God."

Peterson, E. H. (2003). The Message : The Bible in contemporary language (Ac 20:22-24). Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress.

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Cowboys here move cattle in a slightly different way than I was used to from Alberta. Here the lead cowboy has a long "berrante" horn, which is made up of several cows horns glued together. When he blows in it, it makes a long, deep sound, which the cattle will follow. They lead the herd. The church wagon and cook go ahead and park on the hill tops to slow traffic. Several other cowboys encourage the stragglers to keep going. The cowboys often make rope corrals along side the road where the cattle spend the night. On our trip to São Felix I think we drove through about seven herds, several of which had 1,000 cattle.

When we were doing a survey trip in a town called São Felix do Xingu, I asked the surgeon at the hospital if they had lots of shootings. "Lots." Then I asked him were the shooting drug related, or theft related, or gangs, or what? His reply surprised me, "One hundred percent of the shootings here are disputed over land boundaries on the ranches."

End.

When I grew up in Canada, every four years or so my Uncle Henry would come home from Borneo on furlough. He was a missionary there, with his family, for about 25 years.

I never imagined I would one day be translating for him in the Amazon. The local people loved his stories about bringing the gospel to the cannibals, and loved the way he taught the Bible.

Many of the joys and difficulties of missionary life are similar. It was very encouraging to have him come out for 16 days.

End.