Grace Centre & the PAZ Brazil Trip

The Cranbrook Alliance Church Missions Committee has decided to make Grace Centre a fund-raising project.  We have already raised enough money for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors to be built (praise God!). Now we will be raising the $10,000 that is now needed to put the roof on, and $30,000 will then be needed to completely finish the interior of the centre.   You can donate to this project through the office, or by marking 'Grace Centre' on you tithe envelope. Another way to donate is to buy a coffee and/or snack at the Common Grounds Cafe - all proceeds from the Cafe go to the Grace Centre!

Grace Centre will be a resource centre designed to reach the poor and needy in a very under-privileged part of the city of Santarem. The centre will have three floors:

First Floor - Social Assistance

• Computer training
• Dentist office
• Doctor office
• Teaching bakery     

Second Floor - Children & Youth Ministries

Third Floor - Training Centre

• Training pastors from 162 daughter churches
• Lay people and church workers

It was ten o’clock at night, and everyone was getting ready for what would be a 18 hour boat trip down the Tapajós River (a huge tributary of the Amazon River), up the Arapiuns River to one of its tributaries, the Maró River. Our destination: Prainha, a little river town that can only be accessed by boat during flood season, when the rocks of the rapids are completely submerged by the waters.

The Maró River twists and turns its way through the thick jungle with its strong current rushing to meet the immense waters of the Amazon. Even though the villages on the Maró river are only separated by a tens of miles, these are very different miles than you find in the developed world. What takes 45 minutes to reach in an airplane takes us 18 hours to reach by boat. Welcome to the ends of the earth.

But in some of the hardest to reach places in the world exist people who are very close to the heart of our Father. It is His love that compels us missionaries and our brothers and sisters on the Canadian work team from Cranbrook Alliance to sacrifice our time, energy and resources to see God’s love reach and transform these precious people. There exists no thrill in the world that compares!

We arrived at Prainha at 4 P.M. on Thursday and immediately took advantage of the two hours of daylight we had left to unload the construction supplies, meet the townsfolk and get to know the village of Prainha. The people and the location were absolutely beautiful. The new church building was well on its way. We would join the work in progress to build the roof and finish the floor. This turned out to be a great challenge, as it rained every day. Before laying the floor, it was necessary for us to get the roof done: build and hang the rafters and then put on the roofing.

While work was being done on the church, several different Project AmaZon medical missionaries set up a health clinic outside the church. People from all over the surrounding area came into Prainha for medical attention. Missionary/dentist Edson Lee had 94 appointments in the time we were there! The townspeople were showing off their new smiles and oral cavities where bothersome teeth once existed. In addition PAZ missions director and nurse Becky Hrubik, along with missionaries Ruth Reutter and Silvia Ribeiro, short-termer Grace Hecker and other team members attended and treated many patients, giving valuable medical advice and inviting them to our nightly services.

Our last couple days in Prainha were a race to get everything done at the church. All the rain had made our work more difficult, and we found ourselves with 2 days left to complete the roof and lay the floor! A team of local Brazilians and North Americans led by Construction Supervisor Joaquim Bezerra worked late into the night to finish the roof so that we could lay the floor on our last day. Praise the Lord, it was our first day without rain, and we could finish our work on the floor, pack up and say our goodbyes. Local Christians and the team gathered in front of the church to pray blessings over the church and its people. Prainha solidified its place in our hearts.

Make an eternal impact and get involved with PAZ…

Pray for our brothers and sisters in Prainha

Give to our medical, water filter and church construction ministries

Serve with Project AmaZon on our next trip.