SOUTH AMERICAN FOREIGN MISSIONS
P. O. Box 797
Jonesville, La. 71343
or
P.O. Box 180011
Richland, Ms. 39218
My pay pal is
janalvear@aol.com
Cash app is $feedbrazilschildren
ALL GIFTS ARE TAX-DEDUCTIBLE
Dear Friends in the Homeland:
Sweetest greetings to you precious folks in the saving name of Jesus. We hope this finds all well and everyone enjoying the blessings of our Lord.
We stay busy at our pace and even sometimes it seems we are slow like the turtle however we press on and try to bring light to those that have long sat in darkness.
Someone sent me a picture that was taken in the hospital when I had COVID to remind me how close I came to dying just 5 years ago and it was when I had one of the most spiritual experiences of my life visiting the gate of heaven and hearing the Lord say, I have one more thing on earth for you to do before this gate opens for you…and that was when the farm project was “born”.
It was a “new calling”. Neither Brother Alvear nor I know very much about farming however with all our hearts we have embraced His will and we sure are trying. The results have not been like the results from someone who has been a farmer, but the Lord and people have helped us and lots of people have been blessed through this work. It has helped us have food many times to take into poor needy areas and help the people that were in need.
I know how it is to only have air in the stomach. Growing up Sherry, Bobbie and I often remember being hungry and the blessing of someone caring for us.
In the favela area, they often say, “The daze of hunger is worse than that of alcohol…alcohol makes us sing but hunger makes us shake”.
There are so many in this area who wear the uniform of the unfortunate especially here in northeast Brazil.
Now rains and floods have set in and that makes their life even harder. The president has announced there will be a shortage of rice, beans, cereals, coffee, and many other things. We need to stock up to help our people and even those that would ask for help. The weight on our shoulders is heavy but He carried a much heavier cross.
While we are journeying toward the real city of God, may we go our way to those miles, beyond where many souls still live and die in utter darkness without the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Jesus has no hands, no feet on earth, but yours and mine. No voice to proclaim the Word of life but your voice and mine.
It is true that over the backlands of Brazil, there is the message in the sky. Hanging, as if it were a beacon. It is the beautiful Southern Cross. It stands out luminous, clear, and radiant speaking its own silent language of He who is the light of the world. What do these forgotten people of the immense backlands of Brazil know about the true meaning of the cross of Calvary? I cannot forget that they are lost without Jesus, can you?
There is only one power which can change these people, that is the secret of their freedom. At the mention of Jesus' Name, the power of darkness gives way, and the light comes in. But alas! The Name of Jesus never reaches many of them in message, prayer, or song. Their world is a prison with chains of darkness. Sin and superstition hold them until God's people move out to where they live.
Often, so often, I have wished the homeland supporters could have stood behind me as I talked to a crowd of people who had never heard of a Savior. How I wished they could witness for themselves the souls awakening in hopeless eyes. The saddest part of it is, that so many who would have received the good news gladly, never had a chance to hear. For this reason, we must work as never before to take the good news of our coming King to the lost. I am reminded of a little poem:
When we come to the reaping time in life,
And our harvest is full grown.
Will our hearts be glad, or our spirits sad,
As we view the things we've sown
(Author Unknown)
Not even a cup of cold water given in His Name goes unrewarded. He who sees the sparrow fall, dresses the lilies of the field, takes note of everything that is done to promote His kingdom. The road of time for God's people has been sacrificially marked. The first landmark, the cross, has become the guiding, lasting landmark for the Christian, where pardon, mercy, and grace full and free are found. But the cross is also the landmark of obligation, sacrifice, and service.
The length of the road is not as important as what is accomplished while traveling there on. Some know so little about the road of service. The way of the cross is choosing rather to go to the weary hearted and burdened heathen to whisper to them the words of love and hope. (
1 Samuel 3:9) “…Speak, Lord: for thy servant heareth…" I was just wondering how much greater the mission field would be if we paid heed to those precious words. From our hearts we have a growing desire that has entwined the roots of missions in our soul.
Blessings to all!
Bishop and Sister Janice Alvear