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Dear Folks,
Autumn greetings from Sobradinho, Bahia, Brazil. I trust this letter finds you well and walking in the light. As
things are cooing off there, they are heating up here. We’ve already had a couple of 100° days and may have
to start using fans soon.
In the last couple of weeks we have attended two burials: one of an 83 year old invalid, the other a 3 year old
girl who drank agricultural poison. It was difficult to console a church member who had witnessed many times to
her father but never saw a visible decision. It was also difficult to console the unsaved parents of a child who
died, indirectly, because the father stopped his wandering ways and stayed home to plant. Pray that the Lord may
use even this to work His will in the lives of these families and that the door may be opened to the Gospel.
Though much less serious, death has also touched our island camp. One of the rheas (like a mini ostrich) died,
as did the younger, stronger horse and a large, apparently healthy bull. There was a local mini-epidemic, but I
had always believed we were fairly safe from infection as there is 5 miles of water between us and the nearest
up-wind land. We were relieved when the bull carcass was burned to avoid contamination and a wad of plastic bags
and rags bigger than a beach ball was found in his stomach. We now suspect the same cause of death for the horse
as symptoms were the same.
The cool season this year was unusually long, cold, and windy. This affects fishing (one commercial fisherman
set 4 ½ miles of net and caught 3 fish), travel for the caretaker and campers, and water sports which is
the majority of the activities of the camp. As a result of low registrations we canceled the midyear retreat. Two
other church retreats were also canceled for other reasons. Interestingly there was an engine failure in the boat
the very next time I used it. The wind blew us and the anchor didn’t catch until we were just a couple of yards
from power poles and cables running to a pump in the lake. It was my biggest scare yet.
In our last letter I told of looking for someone’s lost fish. We have found out that the 23 year old daughter of
the person who called me is in need of heart surgery. This can be a complex and drawn out process with socialized
medicine. Please pray for Ana Paula’s physical and spiritual health.
While my mom was here we took a short trip to where they used to work. I drove the worst roads I’ve ever seen,
but the trip was uneventful with only a half dozen breakdowns including the mandatory running out of fuel (the
needle stuck - honest). We took a projector with us and had several opportunities to show evangelistic films, mostly
the life of Christ. It was encouraging to see the work there growing under a national missionary. This also was
a good learning trip for the boys who had never been to the jungle regions of Brazil. They got some funny looks
when they jumped out of the car and ran up to a tree and started taking pictures like some kind of desert-billies
(similar to hill-billies). I must admit the tree WAS rather big. My picture turned out pretty good. Maybe I’ll
show it to you on furlough. Until then we are . . .
Yours in Him,
The Athas in Brazil,
Byron, Michele, William, Dalton, and Greyson
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