Harvest in the Southern hemisphere is similar but different. Pouponha is like a mini coconut, but you eat the hull part. So delicious it makes my mouth water as I write about it. We boil it, peel off its thin outer skin, and eat it with sweet coffee. Inside is an oily fruit wrapped around an acorn-sized seed. It tastes like a mix of boiled buttery potatoes and hazelnutsâonly better. And when you wash it down with sweet, strong coffee, and you are starving… words fail me.
In January 2025, Clenildo and a select team set out to evangelize a completely different region, one they had never visited before. Their story starts here. Today I am writing the last episode, for now.
(I adjusted names and details, but the story remains true.)
Story 11: The Harvest is Ripe. Now.
Title: “The Jungle Is Fertile Soil”
Weeks later, a friend asked Pastor Clenildo the question that mattered most: “How did that trip change you?”
He paused, searching for words to capture something that felt too big for language. “It wasn’t just a trip,” he finally said. “It was an outpouring of the Spiritâon them, and on me.”
Why do Clenildo and others do this work? Because they belong to the King. They live for His Kingdom. When the King speaks, they go. When the King signals, they move. It’s that simple and that profound. Some people think they’re foolishâspending so much time, money, and energy on remote river communities the world has forgotten. But God has not forgotten. He knows each one by name, counts each tear, hears each prayer whispered in the darkness.
If you could see what they sawâfaces lighting up as they received the Good News, families praying together,âit would become clearer why they go.
The Amazon rainforest is fertile soil, not only for coconuts and bananas, but also for towering trees and for the Kingdom of God. Isaiah promised that God’s Word never returns empty but always produces fruit. Paul wrote that some plant, others water, but God gives the growth.
The seeds have been planted in dozens of hearts and homes. Now it’s time to water them, tend them, watch them grow into a harvest that will echo through eternity.
The Kingdom of God is coming to forgotten places.
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” – Isaiah 55:10-11
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.” – 1 Corinthians 3:6
A Photo, a Friend, and a 25-Year Story
I took this photo a year ago at a pastorsâ retreat, three hours outside of Altamira. Clenildo first met Careca decades ago out in the jungle. He helped him prepare manioc, and they talked. When Careca got home, his brother asked,
âWhy did you invite a pastor to your house?â âA pastor? I would never do that!â
But the âhelperâ that day was indeed a pastor.
Second from the right in the photo is Midge Shaw, a pastorâs wife from a Vineyard church in Oregon. Her husband has diabetes, so she travels the Amazon without him. For years, she brought us plastic tubs full of school suppliesâmeeting real needs. She also introduced us to Kelsie and Clyde Bergquist, who later became full-time missionaries.
Midge has made more trips to the Amazon than anyone I know. She wrote some of her stories down here.
Three Things: A Dream
In October, I had a vivid dream.
I was a seasoned desert traveler, about forty years old, resting by a small oasis.
Scene 1: I was stressed, pacing, trying to figure out how to water a camel that sat nearby, content and chewing its cud. A voice said, âItâs a camel!â Then I noticed a rock pool five inches deepâplenty of water for today.
Scene 2: I was still at the oasis, now astride a super-powerful 1,000-cc dirt bike. I was learning to control it, maneuvering it over boulders toward higher ground.
Scene 3: I passed a small child holding a leaky water balloon. The child asked for help. I tied a knot to stop the leak. At first, I questioned whether it was possible. Could I do an improv fix like this? I took the initiative, tried it, and it worked.
The meaning was clear:
We already have what we need to go forward.
We have more power than we realizeâand we grow into it as we use it.
Help wherever you can, even if it seems small or silly. Thatâs who we are.
My Hope for You
Spend time each morning walking with God in the Garden. From that place of abundance, step out into the desertâbecause His rivers are already flowing there.
We have plenty of water for today.
We have fun learning to use our power.
We enjoy helping others.
Thatâs who we are.
Deanna’s Journey to Healing
Deanna prepares to step into the unknown. Surgery.
Surgery completed! Another milestone passed! Check!
We left home at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, October 31st. Everything went well, and we were home eight hours later. That evening, all our children and grandchildren came to celebrate Deannaâs courage, faith, and healing.
Prayer Requests
For a quick, safe recovery from Deannaâs surgery.
That the pathology results will come back clear.
For Godâs movement among the remote people of the Amazon.
That believers everywhere will rediscover the joy of following God into adventure.
In Abbotsford
Our friends Art and Rosabelle Birch came for coffee Thursday morning. They were my parentsâ pastors for the last twelve years of their lives at Ross Road Community Churchâa tremendous blessing.
My mom was a member of that church for over 75 years, ever since the plant began when she was fifteen. Artâs parents were missionaries in Borneo at the same time as my Uncle Henry and Aunt Edna, and once helped them escape danger during wartime.
Faith Like a Child
Children overflow with wonder and hopeâand thatâs Godâs design for His people. Some grow older and heavier with criticism, as though God needs help noticing whatâs wrong. But God invites us to grow lighter with joy, not heavier with cynicism.
Jesus said God cares for the sparrows (Matthew 10:29â31). Otherwise, theyâd be wiped out in a single hard year. Yet He provides for them, and Heâll provide for you.
âTrust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.â â Psalm 37:3â4
May God increase your capacity to enjoy His abundance this week.
Itâs the shortest route to a better life.
Closing Prayer
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
Partnering in the Work
Our goal is to discover sustainable, reproducible ways to plant churches in the vast Amazon Basin and beyond.
Together, we can train leaders and plant healthy churchesâstill the most effective and enduring way to spread the Good News, so that Godâs Kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven.
