whoa whoa, what's happening?!

Dear Friends and Relatives,

Right now, for the past week, I have been helping care for my Grandpa here in Parentins, who, two days ago, has gone to be with Jesus. I stayed up with him all night, during which he slipped into a coma, and stopped breathing around 8:30am. He was buried yesterday in Santarem in the same cemetary as my grandma and dad. I really respect him so much, because without Grandpa and Grandma, Project Amazon would not even exist. Please pray for my family as we lean on God all the more during this time.

In August, I moved from Santarem to Fortaleza (by motorcycle and boat--a five-day trip!) I am very excited because God has given me the amazing, rare privilege of being mentored by my Uncle Abe, who I respect very much as an uncle and also as a very amazing church-planter! The church in Fortaleza, which he and Aunt Andrea and their team started less than 3 years ago, has already grown to over 1,500 members. Before coming to Fortaleza, Uncle Abe was the main pastor in Santarem for about 30 years. He trained many other leaders, and even though he left to start a new church, the church in Santarem did not suffer--it contines to explode. You can see the latest developments there at: http://www.projectamazon.org/

Uncle Abe holds yearly conferences for hundreds of pastors who come from other cities in Brazil and even from other countries, to pass on to them what God has taught him about church-planting, small groups, one-on-one discipleship and leadership training. He is on demand as a speaker, and travels a lot to train others pastors and churches. I plan to learn all I can and fit right into the vision that God has given to him! I have spent several weeks in his home now with his loving family. He has been like a father to me. I have already learned a lot, and I plan to learn all I can, starting from the bottom up, with a servant heart.

Fortaleza is a city of about 3 million people. Uncle Abe wants me to concentrate on the youth ministry of the church, under the leadership of their youth pastor, Pastor Sandro. (Pastor Sandro was initially discipled by my dad, and after Dad died, has been being discipled for many years by my Uncle Abe.) There are thousands of youth in this city, and he is full of vision for how to reach them. I want to learn all I can from him too.In a couple of weeks, I will be leaving to the USA to try to raise some support for my living expenses and ministry here in Fortaleza. Obviously this is an amazing opportunity, and I really thank God! He is so faithful and good!

Much Love in Christ,Isaiah Huber