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Greetings from North East Brazil.
I once saw a sign on a desk that said "Coincidence is God working under-cover". I liked the thought,
but later realized that the opposite is true, for those are the times when He is MOST evident. Some recent examples.
Soon after buying our new (’72) truck the injector pump started leaking and needed to be rebuilt. I thought the
labor charge to remove the pump was too high and decided do it myself though it was not a simple job and I have
very little experience with diesels. My 3 hour job turned into a 3 day chore to save $25. A colleague and I have
often discussed how much "common" work a missionary should do. When the wage here is $2 a day and a missionary
gets almost that per hour (smiley face) is it wise for him to dig a ditch? What if you have to stay and watch,
or re-do it when he’s done, or fix something else he broke? It’s a tough decision sometimes and I used the truck
incident as an example.
The end of June we left early for the regional conference to visit a missionary to survey the possibility of working
in that city. I had not gone to bed the night before and was trying to sleep in the car when Michele pulled over
and said Dalton was car sick. While stopped, I smelled fuel and discovered a large, growing puddle under the truck.
By coincidence Dalton got sick at just the right time to find the problem before it was serious and within minutes
of one of our missionaries’ houses, whom we called on a cell fone I happened to bring and who happened to be home
and happened to know a man who happened to have a tool I didn’t bring. The job required that I remove the same
injector pump for which the Lord had given me on-the-job-training and this time I did it in 30 minutes work time.
But that isn’t the end. We had a hard time finding the right road and lost a lot of time. I happened to hit a hole
that happened to knock a wire loose. When I stopped to plug it in I found that the water pump was bad before there
was engine damage. I happened to stop by a cell tower (in the boonies) that happened to have a small pond close
by to fill the radiator. We had not gone far (in spite of our efforts to the contrary) so it wasn’t far back to
a little town that happened to have a parts store open late who happened to know someone who could change the pump.
There happened to be a nice little hotel that happened to have a room for only one night on a busy holiday weekend.
The biggest surprise of all was that I happened to have enough money to pay for all this.
You can read more about this exciting trip and the providence of God in a letter Michele wrote that happens to
be on our web site.
Though we are not involved in the leadership, we visit our old church sometimes and were pleased to hear of several
decisions made recently. One family I don’t know, but several are members’ children for whom we have been concerned
for some time. Continue to pray for the new, young pastor and wife and for us as we still seek to sort out God’s
will for our next step. We visited 2 works and were invited at conference by the regional missionaries to help
with a ministry. We are close to announcing our decision. I’m also heavily involved in trying to get things caught
up on the school campus that I’ve almost ignored for sometime.
In Christ in Brazil,
Byron, Michele, William, Dalton and Greyson Atha
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