Men’s Retreat in Porto Velho
The past week was an interesting week. I left last Saturday for a trip to Porto Velho, the capital of our state of Rondônia. It is quite a drive from our house considering the road conditions. The trip was about 450 miles one way. It took me around 10 hours to drive it.
On the way up, I stopped in Ouro Preto do Oeste the town in which we were previously working. It was about half way up and I was able to stay for the Sunday morning service and preach to the church people. Not only did Julie Kokenzie provide some great meals while I was there, but John also let me preach on Sunday morning. It was a huge blessing to see the church growing and to see the faithfulness of the people. We still have many friends there and enjoy every chance we get to see them.
Church in Ouro Preto
Bro. Brian Lawson met me in Ouro Preto and kept me company for the remainder of my trip. We had a good time of fellowship riding together, and he had a chance to visit a few churches and meet many people.
Shortly after lunch on Sunday Bro. Brian and I headed out to Porto Velho. We arrived in time to freshen up before the service. Pastor Adonias invited me to preach on Sunday evening in church and also at the retreat they were having on Monday. We had about 50 men at the camp retreat. The morning service was great, but it was worth the drive just to sit and talk to some of the men from the church for a good part of the day. There were different activities during the day including a soccer tournament. By the end of the day we were very tired, yet refreshed by the fellowship.
By late in the afternoon, most of the men were heading home. One particular man, who is in politics, drove us around the neighborhood of the camp and told us the story of how God supplied the money for the church to have the camp. He was able to help make the access to the camp a bit easier and also helped get electricity out to the camp. This has raised the value of the property. Some neighbors who were selling their property for 20,000-30,000 are now trying to sell for 250,000. Though it might not quite be worth all of that, the church has a great camp and the property is worth much more than when they bought it less than two years ago.
We stayed out at the camp until Tuesday morning, then made our trip back home. I dropped Bro. Brian off in Ji-Paraná and arrived at home at nearly 9pm. It was a tiresome trip, but worth every bit of it to spend time with God’s people around the state. God is doing a great work here in the state of Rondônia. There is much going on for His glory. Please pray that more laborers would join the work force and more churches would be started throughout the state.