Living close enough to show Christ's love
After years of prayer and preparation, Elijah and Moira Hall and their five children are delighted to begin their ministry to the Mbya people.
The Halls moved in January. For temporary living quarters, they have rented a former hardware store in a little town about 14 miles from the Mbya village where they eventually plan to live.
This current home is split with their co-workers, the Reyes family, and originally consisted of three rooms and no indoor plumbing. “Elijah set right to work and thankfully … we now have cooking, bathroom and laundry facilities,” Moira writes.
Most of the people in the little town are transplanted from other countries. Moira explains, “We are hearing a lot of Portuguese, Spanish, Guarani and even some German. We are meeting with a group of evangelical believers who have welcomed us.”
It was interesting for Moira and their children to see, for the first time, the land that will be their future home. In best driving conditions, it is about 40 minutes’ drive from town. “Our first visit there, we spotted a four-foot baby python in the bamboo along the bank of the creek,” Moira notes.
Already building materials have been ordered to build homes for the Halls and Reyes families. “The plan is to pour the pillars for the Reyes’ home first and then ours.” After that, the shells will go up in the same order, Moira explains. They hope to be moved to their homes by winter (which begins there in June.) “It’s a lot of work for two men to do, especially in the heat that tops 100 degrees almost every day.”
Moira says their 9-year-old son, Elisha, works hard to finish his weekly schoolwork in three days so that he can go with the men to help. “He’s excited to have a part in what is going on,” she shares.
As they work at their homesite, the Halls see the Mbya people “walking barefoot … on little winding footpaths through the soy fields; women carrying babies in cloth slings, men with machetes, little kids trailing along behind.”
Many questions fill Elijah and Moira’s minds as they look to the future and begin to build relationships and invest their lives in the Mbya people. Moira quotes Psalm 67:1-2: “God be merciful to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine on us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.”
Since 2007, Elijah and Moira have been praying and preparing toward this ministry God has given them and, in spite of all the uncertainties, they are excited and glad to finally be there ready to begin. “One thing is sure,” Moira observes. “The God Who created both the Mbya people and us has reached out in His grace to all mankind and that is the message we long to share with them.”
Very soon, Moira hopes, they will be neighbors and the Halls will be able to live out God’s grace to the Mbya people in ways that demonstrate powerfully His love for them.
Do you want to be part of demonstrating God's love to people in remote areas of the world -- people who need to hear about God's love and the sacrifice He made for them? Find your opportunities.