It started out so well ...

When the road was dry, the 27-mile trip to the Ka’apor village in northeast Brazil would take three hours by jeep. But for eight months out of the year it was a seven- to ten-hour mule ride.

Sometimes, the church planting work among the Ka’apor people feels like the long mule rides -- with many stubborn obstacles along the way.

But that’s not how it began.

We moved to the Ka’apor village in August 1989, where Reuben’s parents, Robert and Dolores Schuring, had already been working for two years. Two months later, a Brazilian couple, Otavio and Cleunice Sória, joined the team. While the men studied the Ka’apor culture and language, the women provided health care and home-schooled the children.

Five years later, we were ready to begin writing evangelistic Bible lessons and started teaching 40-70 people four times a week. On Easter 1996 we presented the Gospel and believe that 50 people understood and placed their faith in Christ at that time.

We were overjoyed. God was building His church in Brazil.

Later that year, Reuben’s parents retired to the USA and another Brazilian couple joined the team. After a lot more teaching, we finally held our first baptism in April 1997. Forty-four Ka’apor believers were baptized. We were thrilled to be a part of what God was doing.

During the following years, Reuben and Otavio taught through the New Testament. Several Ka’apor families dropped out of the teaching. We knew that might happen, so weren’t unduly concerned.

Reuben and Otavio were a great team. They balanced each other and worked well together. They began training five men to teach alongside them and also began teaching evangelistic Bible lessons in a nearby village. Two of the five men were appointed as elders a few years later.

Things were going great.

Then Otavio, Cleunice and their three boys left the village for home assignment on February 12, 2001. Two days later, a friend brought news that all but the youngest boy had died in a car accident.

We were devastated. The Sórias had been like family for 11 years. Yet in the middle of our heartbreak and mourning, we experienced God’s grace and peace in a way we never had before. He gave us the strength to keep going.

After the Sórias’ 8-year-old son got out of the hospital and went to live with his maternal grandmother, we headed back to the tribe. The Ka’apors were stunned by the Sórias’ deaths, so it opened many opportunities to address their fears of death and spirits in a way we never could before.

But problems began cropping up.

Reuben now had to shoulder the whole heavy workload as sole teacher and translator, since our other Brazilian co-worker was struggling to learn the language. Then we began to see syncretism -- a mixing of traditional beliefs with Christianity.

We also noticed how hugely dependent the Ka’apor believers were on us as missionaries, instead of learning to stand as a church body, interdependent with other believers. But worst of all, more people dropped out of church.

Thankfully, NTM provided training that helped us see why these things were happening, and how we could address them. Reuben specifically studied areas in the Ka’apor culture that were issues and began teaching to show how their culture contrasted with God’s Word.

During these years, one of the two elders began to grow and mature. His gift of teaching was clear. He and Reuben began trading off the Bible teaching until finally, he took over all of the believers meetings.

But the other elder had many problems. He stole money, lied about it and has continued to do so. He was removed as an elder five years ago.

Then "progress" reached the village where we live three years ago.

Having electricity should have been a good thing. But the government also began handing money out to poor families, including the Ka’apors. Everyone was suddenly buying satellite dishes, boom boxes, motorcycles, fridges, stoves, beds, freezers, you name it, all on credit.

Then they got a big truck and started making trips into town every day. Having more contact with the city folks, now they began going to parties and drinking. Soon they were having their own parties and drinking in the village. This led to many fights between families and much more immorality.

The village upheaval brought us down to a core group of 20 believers in the church. But even they were not strong and struggled continually. They definitely understood salvation, but only the elder was really on fire for the Lord and truly dedicated.

Sadly, at this time, our Brazilian co-worker died from cancer, so his wife had to leave the work.

Meanwhile, the village chief asked our elder to help with a financial matter. We immediately saw "red flags" and asked him not to get involved. But he felt he needed to since the chief had asked him. So he got a motorcycle and began going to town. First it was once a day, then twice a day, and then for several days at a time. He would finally come home around midnight or 3 a.m. Then he was accused of sleeping with another woman.

Even though he explained to us and his wife why the accusation wasn’t true, we helped him understand how his activities looked suspicious. He admitted he was wrong and agreed that he needed to stay home with his family, work in his garden, and spend time in God’s Word.

Earlier this year, while we were on home assignment in the USA and Reuben was sending lessons back for the elder to teach, we received an e-mail from him. Once again he had been accused of sleeping with the same woman. His wife was understandably angry and the whole village was gossiping about him. We told him he could not continue teaching God’s Word until this is cleared up and the community is able to trust him again. So for now, the church is not meeting at all.

That is where we are today.

We have searched our hearts and have decided that we’re going to trust God to answer our prayers someday for this little struggling church.

In the meantime, God has given us a whole new team. Zilmar is a dedicated hard worker who joined us in January 2009. Gabriel and Rachel finished Portuguese language study and moved to the Ka’apor village this past January.

While the problems we face seem as stubborn and immovable as the mules we rode in on, we’re coming back to Brazil with renewed determination and zeal. God’s not finished here yet.