On the 28th of February 2001, Buck and Luciene moved to the Amazon Basin of Brazil. We lived in Macapá, right on the equator. Why would a web designer give up his career and take his family from their comfortable life in Columbus, Ohio, USA, to live on the Amazon River? We came with a vision to save the Amazon, to tell people about Jesus, and plant a Vineyard church. We have planted a church, and we are turning it over to the national leaders, heading back to the States in Sept. 2009.

 
At church tonight, another drunk guy, Albino walked in. He was crying, and said that he wanted prayer. I sat with him, and prayed with him. He talked during the whole service, earning us some dirty looks. He kept saying that he wanted to leave this life of drinking. But at the end of the service, he wouldn't go up front for prayer. He said it wasn't his time yet. I think that there was something demonic holding him back. But he kept asking me not to abandon him. I took him home. A little wooden shack, small, close to church.

Pastor Nilton, a Brazilian pastor, and Ronaldo, who was only mildly drunk, a huge improvement over last week, went with me. Ronaldo was funny, telling Albino that he was just as drunk as him the week before, but don't worry, we were cool, and God would help him. Ronaldo said that he has been reading his Bible every day.

Pastor Nilton and I plan to go back to Albino's house on Monday, when he gets off of work. He works for the city, doing asphalt, on the road crew.

Please join us in prayer for him, and his family. He told me that there are no Christians near where he lives, and that he was in a truck just driving by the church and told them to stop and let him out. He felt God calling to him. Pray for deliverance for him.

The accelerator cable of the Volkswagen Bug broke in front of Albino's house. I stuck the carburetor open to get back to the church, and then managed to rig up a wire to get home. We dropped some kids off on the way home, and I turned the car off. We couldn't get it started. The battery was dead for some reason.

So, we called to the kids, and had about 20 kids pushing us down the road. It took a long time, they pushed us almost a block, but it finally started, and I gunned it, and the gas cable came loose again. There was just enough power for us to putter home, and get the car in the garage. I'll have to get it looked at tomorrow.
posted by Eduardo Buck at Monday, August 18, 2003