Detours in Life

Itapuã do Oeste is about 100 kilometers from Porto Velho, which is the captial city of Rondônia. The ONE road that goes into Porto Velho from here collapsed about a week after we arrived, leaving a 50 meter crater in its place! At first it was just one side of the highway, and they were still using one lane to funnel traffic through. Last week on our first trip back into Porto Velho, we were about five cars back from the spot when they blocked it off completely and said no one else could pass over it because that side was collapsing also. 

There is only one road before this crater to turn on, and so we took a detour through a really rough neighborhood and tried to find our way back to the highway on the other side of the hole. By rough neighborhood, I mean that it is mostly all dirt roads (mud, rather) full of huge pot holes in a very underdeveloped area of the city. We made it around though, and by the time we returned they had marked a detour back through this same area. This is the only way around the hole in the highway. 

This week we took another trip into Porto Velho to do a little shopping and also drive around the city and learn the neighborhoods and roads. By now it has been a week of ALL traffic from this major highway weaving through this area of town. In just one week the roads are becoming nearly impassable from all the huge trucks and large quantity of traffic passing there every day. On our way back home it took us over two hours just to go through the detour, then another hour and a half back to Itapuã. 

Later we heard that the people who live in that neighborhood are protesting because of the havoc that is being caused. The citizens have blocked all traffic and aren’t allowing any one through.

We don’t know what will become of this situation. We know from experience that situations like this can take months to be resolved. We have heard that there is a military bridge being installed this week to allow traffic to cross over the damaged area of the road.

It is already difficult to look for housing from over an hour away, but with all this mess, it becomes even more challenging. We are beginning to wonder…is the Lord trying to keep us from going there?  We are praying for wisdom in choosing a location in which to live and minister.

We went to a real estate office and the prospects of housing were not very encouraging. Due to a rapid increase in population in the city, the cost of rent has doubled. It is more expensive to rent a house in Porto Velho than it was in São Paulo, the 3^rd largest city in the world!

We have also learned since arriving in this area of a few cities where there are no churches at all. We would like to visit these cities, and see if perhaps the Lord is leading us to a different city in the same general area.

If the Lord wants us in Porto Velho, then we know that He can provide a house and the resources to live there. If He wants us in another area, we are willing to do that also. Please help us pray!