Fourth time lucky

The end of our visa for Brazil is approaching, so slowly we are getting ready to leave this country again.
The past few weeks have been tough and challenging. It was a combination of climate, cultural differences, and very variable attendance at the training school, which is apparently quite normal here. It made us wonder: what are we doing here? But the Lord is a great Encourager, and He had some encouragement in store for us.

Capybaras live in the wild in the area around Paraty. You know, those oversized guinea pigs, as big as pigs. But last year and also during this stay, we hadn’t seen a single one (except for a dead one on the road). So Amanda prayed: Lord, You’d better hurry, because we’re leaving here in two weeks.
A few days later, we suddenly saw four capybaras grazing with a young one by a river in the evening. A local told us that it was truly an answer to prayer, because he always passes by there and has never seen a capybara there before. Praise God! He is so good to His kids!

During the training school, we talked about Jesus’ commission to heal the sick. Before the lesson began, a woman with her daughter appeared. They had come for the special women’s service that had been held in the church the day before. They had gotten the day wrong. But God had not made a mistake.
The woman asked if she could join our lesson, since she had been given special time off from work.
At the end of the lesson, we asked who needed healing. The woman immediately raised her hand and said she had severe back pain due to a vertebra.
The students were still nervous about ministering healing on their own, so we stood around her and spoke to her back together. After the prayer, the woman was so surprised. She said with thanksgiving that the burning pain was completely gone.

Now it was her daughter’s turn. She had a toothache.
One of the students had now gained the courage to minister healing on her own. She began a long prayer. She prayed to God, asked for a blessing, and shed some tears. When she was finished, there was no difference in the toothache. It may have looked good, but it was a textbook example of how not to do it.
We had just looked during the lesson at how Jesus (our Example) healed the sick and how we now send away sickness and speak life in His name and authority. Short but powerful. Like God’s police officers.
After this was pointed out to her, she briefly addressed the inflammation in Jesus’ name. And there appeared the girl’s smile. The toothache was gone, and the student said she had learned a big lesson: a follower of Jesus simply does what Jesus did. Nothing more and nothing less.

The church of Uiliam has several house groups in the area during the week. There is also a house group on an island off the coast. The fishing family in this group had invited us three times since last year to come and speak, but each time it was canceled at the last minute due to heavy rain. Now we made our fourth attempt. Fourth time lucky.
Anderson unexpectedly joined us. Anderson is a special man. He lives on the streets, struggles with addiction, and is now temporarily working for Uiliam until he goes to a rehab clinic in a few weeks.

As we drove to the small harbor to be picked up by a motorboat, it started pouring again. Once again, it seemed that the appointment would be washed out. But we said that nothing would stop us from going to the island now, because there were people who needed to be saved, set free, and healed. Patricia, a student at our training school, joined us. Armed with a leaky umbrella and ponchos, we boarded the motorboat and headed for the island in the dark.

In preparation for the evening, the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15 had been laid on our hearts. When we talked about this passage together, Patricia told us that on that very same day, her sister had announced that she wanted to claim her inheritance from her father (who is still alive). How remarkable that this was dealt with in this story. The Holy Spirit was at work.
And Anderson was also touched by the father’s love in the story.

At the end, someone asked for prayer for kidney stones. After a short prayer, she felt it getting hot. The Holy Spirit was burning away the stones! When we left that evening, all the pain was completely gone.

During the evening, we had also talked about the importance of water baptism. That it is a cutting off of the old life and that the power of sin and the devil is broken. Anderson was convinced; he wanted to be baptized. Outside, there was a rainwater tub, and Anderson gave his life to Jesus, left his old life behind, and was filled with God’s Spirit. He was as happy as a child! And Patricia was moved, because it was the first time she had baptized someone.

It was a celebration. We ate delicious fish, and then Uiliam got into conversation with the host’s adult daughter. She too was convinced, surrendered her life to the Lord in tears, and was also baptized and filled. The celebration was complete.
The Holy Spirit had prepared everything: people were built up, saved, set free, and healed!