Coming Soon, New Updates
Dear friends of M.R.N.,
As you all know 2008 was a year of lots of changes as we had to adapt to our original founder of the ministry Joe Novelo moving away to Brazil to start up a new venture in his life with his new ministry Amazon Reach. Orlando Arguelles was chosen to take over Joe’s position to lead the ministry along with a new team of leaders that will be focusing on continuing the awesome work that M.R.N. has been providing to missionaries around the world. We will also continue to provide the same help and assistance to local churches and those in need through all the other ministries that M.R.N. has to offer. We are currently working on updating our website to keep you informed of all the changes and all the new projects that M.R.N. has been participating in. We thank you for your patience and look forward to growing together once again for the equipping of the saints and for the advancing of the Kingdom of God.
Till next time, Lord bless you all
†In His Grace† Pastor Orlando
Amazon Project Special Update - Part 1
Greetings to our friends……
Jill and I have been battling through the logistics of getting ourselves moved to Brazil. Each time we have set a date, it seems that complications come. But we have sold our house, found a great replacement to take over Missionary Resource, and other things have fallen into place. Yet, we are hesitant to set a finite date until we actually buy our tickets. Currently, minor (we pray) medical issues need to be taken care of while we still have good medical insurance.
Our previous planned departure date of Feb 18th was cancelled, but I (Joe) flew to Brazil on Feb. 20th to the 29th. I had 4 major goals:
#1 was to meet with the federal customs agency at the exact port where we will be sending our personal items. The written law of Brazil says we can bring our “personal and Business” items in tax free. But we have had trouble getting clear answers from the consulate office in Miami. I did in fact meet with the “Afundega” 4 times and gained valuable information. But this whole issue will take much prayer. The consistency of these laws seems to be up to interpretation.
#2 was to secure a rental house to live in. The house we wanted in the Missionary community is being turned into office space so we lost our reservation. Our next best option was a house that is somewhat occupied now, By a thousand termites. (a problem in Brazil) Our prayer is that they will be evicted before we arrive.
#3 was to find out about boats in the area that can be used for ministry. I looked at a lot of boats and visited shipyards in the area. But the most important contact was made when I visited the Brazilian Bible society for the 2nd time. A year ago they were thinking about selling a boat but then opted out. The good news is they now lease this boat to other ministiries. This will allow us to host short term teams almost immediately. it will also give us a chance to learn special dynamics to this type of ministry.
#4 was to take enough video and pictures to produce a nice promotional video for the riverboat ministry. I am happy to say that the mission accomplished and the video is in basic production now. Once it is done everyone will get a copy. I had great fun doing this. I took a 9 hr boat ride up the Amazon and a 40 minute flight in a two seater plane powered by a snowmobile engine. The result was I got over 200 video clips and 200 still pictures.
Amazon Project Special Update - Part 2
Now knowing that God is bringing us closer to our departure date and ministry goals, our minds swirl with all the ministry possibilities, but we choose to focus on the main areas that God has shown us. The biggest focus of or missionary venture is the “Riverboat Project”. Our vision is to have a boat 65 to 85 feet long that can bring evangelism, medical care, education, construction teams, Pastoral training and real hope for communities along the Amazon River.
At the same time we will be able to use the boat for training missionaries for additional long-term work. During the summer months we will host teams of short-term outreach teams from the US to aid the Christian development of riverside communities. Our goal is to have 3 or more communities that we will consistently minister in until a church is planted.
We believe the riverboat will eventually consume all our ministry time and resources. The Amazon River is over 4000 miles long with 1100 tributaries. There will always be a need for this type of ministry. Until the riverboat is a full time dynamic, we will continue to do what first called us back to Brazil. Many of you will remember the story of Jill and I teaching about Missionary Care on National Christian TV. The response to this teaching made us realize the huge need there was for this type of training. Brazil is having strong spiritual growth in its population centers. These growing churches are beginning to send out missionaries without the proper training or the support needed to maintain missionary effectiveness. The attrition rate is something that needs to be addressed in Brazil. We pray our teaching will help change that.
The future also holds some name changes for Jill and I. First Jill will return to her native name of Edilma (say E’ju ma). I am sure some of you have heard me call her that. I will adopt the culturally relevant name of “Jo el” said in 2 syllables. This way if I am called Joe by friends it will only seem like a short nickname.
More updates to follow………….
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