You never want to lose any; you want to keep them all.

Sometimes you lose them because of failure on your part. You don’t provide the proper mechanism to incorporate them, ground them and grow them. Sometimes you lose them because of circumstances beyond your control. Sometimes you lose them because the Enemy was on his game and you weren’t.

Whatever the reason, you don’t like it when you lose them.

Ubaúna is no exception.

While we may have helped folks decide to follow Jesus, we have not been able to give them the means of continuing to do so successfully. With no church, leaders, materials or resources available, we’ve helplessly watched “fish” we’ve caught escape our “net.”

Until August of last year.

Áudrey and Andréia’s arrival has tightened the net. There is an all out effort to keep what is being caught.

It doesn’t just happen, however. It takes intense effort. But the results are well worth it.

I watched two families, united in marriage and now in Jesus, holding tightly to each family member during a worship service. Eyes closed, holding hands or arms wrapped around each other, heads bowed, lips moving fervently, imploring God’s blessings. These families would have had no chance, none. They would have been statistics. Casualties.

For the husbands to be participating was nothing less than miraculous; to have them actually leading their spouses and children in worship was an act that could only have occurred by an act of heaven.

Visiting with families in Ubaúna who have been followed up on and ongoing teaching/consolidating is occurring, you can easily see the difference of the stability of their faith. There is still much ground to cover, but they are on the right track.

If you’re in the fishing business, you definitely want to get back to shore with a large catch.