RODRIGUES NEWSLETTER

Novo Demini
February 25th 2009
Dear Friends,
Hope this finds you all well!  On February 5th we completed four years since first arriving here at Novo Demini. I still remember it like it was yesterday, and yet so much has happened since then.
Christmas came and went and now it is 2009. We had a really nice Christmas and New Years. We had one more family of missionaries with us and so did a few fun things together. Of course that included some good food, Ha!!!!! Nathan really enjoyed our small Christmas tree and the blinking lights.
A day or two before the New Year we had a very sad thing happen. An older man had been complaining of an upset stomach and a few other symptoms for several days, but it didn't seem to be anything serious. All of a sudden in the middle of the night they called the government health workers as he was
in terrible pain. The health workers called our co-worker, who is also a nurse, to help them as it seemed like the man was seriously ill.  They did all they could, but unfortunately he passed away. It seems to have been a severe appendicitis attack. He went fast and even if they had tried to call a plane to get him to the hospital there is no way to get a plane here at night. The next morning there was a lot of crying and mourning. This time they burned him instead of hanging him in a tree first.  He is from a different people as they say. His people do it that way, so that's how they chose to do it. Since then they have gone on two different hunting trips and called visitors from other villages to come to the mortuary feasts.
Things are pretty calm around here these days as a lot of the Novo Demini theli (inhabitants) were called to a mortuary feast a couple of days down river for another Yanomami man.
Please continue to pray for your Yanomami brother's and sister's in Christ. Especially remember to pray for Braz and Ademar. They are the two pastors who have been teaching their people God's Word. Ademar used to be a witch doctor. He is truly a new creature. He is a living example of 2 Corinthians
5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new."
Praise the Lord our family has been well. Some of us are getting over a cold, but it doesn't seem to be anything to bad. The boys are both getting big. Nathan will turn 4 in June and is already looking forward to his birthday. Ryan is 15 months and is always trying to keep up with his older brother. He already walks all over. It's cute to see him trying to keep up with Nathan and his friends when they are all playing together out on the airplane strip. It looks like dry season has finally gotten here. The river
is going down and the boys enjoy going down for a little swim at the end of the day.
Thanks again to each of you for your prayers and financial support of our ministry! Thank You!!
Because of Him,
João, Hope, Nathan & Ryan