Chapter 4: The Last House at the End of the World

In January 2025, Pastor Clenildo and a small team took a motorboat into an unknown stretch of the Guadaná River. With every bend, fuel burned, and the jungle closed in. At each house they passed, people said the same thing: “The last house is an hour ahead.”

Seven hours later—hungry and tired—they pulled up to a stilt house of palm leaves. Smoke rose from the cookfire. Chickens scratched the bank. A pot of capybara stew bubbled. The man of the house, Raimundo, welcomed them in and shared his meal.

When they told him they had come to bring Good News to the last man on the river, Raimundo said, “Then share it with me, too.” He listened like a starving man to bread. Before they left, he agreed to guide them. “It’s still a long way upriver.” 

They finally reached it—a weathered shack of gray boards veined with vines. The last house. Its owner, a 75-year-old nicknamed Mario (given name, Frank), had lived alone since 1975. Muscles still corded from a lifetime of cutting wood. When he saw the visitors, tears filled his eyes. “No one comes to visit me.”

Had anyone ever shared the gospel with him? He shook his head. People avoided him because of his reputation as dangerous. He invited them to speak.

They opened to Mark 16:15-18 and asked two questions: Why do we need the gospel? What is the gospel? Clenildo traced the story: creation’s goodness, humanity’s fall, sin breaking our fellowship with God, with one another, and with creation—and God sending His Son to redeem us.

Frank’s questions came fast—like the Ethiopian official with Philip. There, at the last house on the Guadaná, a forgotten man believed. Heaven rejoiced.

They left an audio Bible and gospel leaflets, drank passionfruit juice from his vines, and listened to tales of venomous snakes that had bitten him yet never harmed him. He begged them to stay the night, but duty called them back downstream.

That day is etched into memory: the day the gospel reached the last house. My friends’ eagerness reminded me how many people are hungry for God—not for religion, not for philosophy, but for the Bread of Heaven.

Missionary work always costs more than we expect, and takes us further than we plan — but in that resilience, God’s grace always flows further.

---

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine… and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”
—Luke 15:4
 

---

“There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
—Luke 15:7

Reflection:  Reaching the Last Man on the River

Jesus promised:

“No one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and for the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age… and in the age to come, eternal life.”
—Mark 10:29–30

Life with Christ is better in this present age—and then, as a bonus, eternal life.

I think of a moment in Northern Canada in the 1980s. Our church met in a home whose owner had installed a giant satellite dish to pick up a Christian channel. I commented on the technology. He sighed, “It’s such a trial.” I assumed he meant the dish. “No,” he said, “the Christian life is such a trial.”

I had just come from years among people chasing hope in camps and bars. I was blown away. His experience was so far from my reality. “If you think following Jesus is hard, try living without Him.”

Decades later—villages and cities, rivers and roads—the truth keeps shining: life with Christ, especially in a healthy local church, is simply better here, now. Hope displaces despair. Families begin to heal. Children laugh again. Young adults find purpose. Communities change. 

We’ve learned it over and over: resilience is rewarded. God’s work always costs more than we think—yet His grace always flows further.

This is why Deanna and I keep our compass pointed to the ends of the earth—so the last man on the river, and the last neighbor on your street, can discover the abundant life Jesus promised.

Prayer: Lord, strengthen Your church. From far-off rivers to our own neighborhoods, let Your life and hope overflow.

Resilience = Rewards

Jesus explained:

“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?” (Lk 14:28).

We don’t have enough. But we know who does. Our part is not quitting. Disciples who realize their Father will supply all their needs if they keep a good attitude and don’t quit are on the path to realizing rewards on their way to heaven.

Deanna’s Journey to Healing

Prayer Requests

• A Generation of Resilient Disciples who follow the Spirit and trust the Father to supply every cost (Luke 14:25–33).

• Servant-hearted leaders who don’t quit when they can’t get their way—often the sign of a spiritual promotion (Matthew 20:25-28).

• Complete healing for Deanna (Matthew 8:16-17).

Share / Respond

If this encouraged you, forward it to a friend or mentor.
Need prayer or want to talk? Reply to this email—we read every note.

To Support our Ministry