The Amazon River is a source of food and income for many.
As you travel along the river,
you can see many communities along the banks.
Here you will find one quarter of our planet's fresh water supply.
That's why boats are necessary for transportation.
There are entire communities
with either no knowledge of the Bible or no churches.
Adventists here found a fitting way to reach more than 10,000 communities.
Thanks to your past contributions to the 13th Sabbath Offering,
the Floating Church was built.
This custom boat is a church that carries the pastor's family.
It often works alongside the ADRA Luzeiro boats
to provide health care and hope to people.
The main goal behind the Floating Church project
is to reach places we typically find hard to visit.
The floating church offers an infrastructure
for a pastor or Bible worker, a captain, and others to live aboard.
There is also an auditorium
where the people from the community can come to listen to the Word of God.
The Floating Church has an auditorium that seats 120 people.
It's a comfortable space for people to come and learn about God.
I know what difficulties they face
and how hard it is for the gospel message
to reach the distant communities along the Amazon River.
This touched me in a special way.
I was moved by the prospect of this project.
It was encouraging to imagine how far this boat could go
to reach the riverside families.
This boat also has onboard apartments for the crew.
Reno Guerra is both the pastor and the captain of the boat.
He and his wife, Natalia,
accepted God's call to bring hope and healing to the region.
As soon as the boat docks, it's received with a lot of joy.
People are happy to see the Floating Church
because it is a beautiful and unique boat.
Pastor Reno sounds the horn to catch the attention of the people
who come curiously to look.
So the pastor invites the people to a church program.
He enters a community where work already has begun
and calls the people to come inside the Floating Church.
The boat is usually docked for 60 days
as they talk about family, health, and community wellbeing.
In the first year of service,
two new churches were established through the Floating Church.
This past June,
the Gutierrez church opened as a result of the missionary project.
This is the first daughter church plant of the Floating Church project.
The church that floats
is the mother of all of the traditional church structures
that are built along the banks of the Amazon river.
Indeed, miracles are happening along the Amazon.
We noticed that this project changes what people think about God
and about the Adventist Church.
There is change in their society.
People become calmer, happier,
more content, and united.
The church helps the community to realize how they can work together
as one body to develop social projects for themselves.
I believe many souls will be reached through this boat.
This boat can reach places
where even radio signals don't travel to reach hearts.
We pray that this will be managed and used well for the gospel to reach
the farthest places in the Amazon.
We have the opportunity to navigate rivers and oceans
as part of our mission to reach unreached people groups.
Please pray for the Floating Church and the many missionaries
involved in flooding the Amazon with hope.
And thank you for supporting projects like these
through the 13th Sabbath Offering!