We’re Robert and Vanessa, and our story is one of God’s calling, grace, and obedience. We met in Brazil through a shared passion for missions and a growing desire to take the gospel where it had not yet been heard. Both of us had long sensed that God was preparing us for something beyond our comfort zones. As we prayed, doors began to open through Celeiro Missions, a sending organization focused on equipping believers to serve among unreached people groups.

After we were married in 2022, we joined the Sent Out training program with Celeiro, completing several months of classes in theology, missiology, cross-cultural communication, and hands-on service. During that time, God made our calling unmistakably clear: He was leading us to serve among the Jarawara people, an indigenous group in the western Brazilian Amazon. Their community had a small but growing church, a completed New Testament translation, and a deep hunger to learn more of God’s Word.

In early 2023, we arrived in the village of Água Branca with our daughter, Esther, and began learning life from the inside out—participating in daily rhythms like making farinha (cassava flour), fishing in the Purus River, and washing clothes in the stream. These ordinary moments have become sacred opportunities to build relationships and share the gospel. As language learning deepened, so did trust. We began leading small discipleship studies and reading Scripture together in Jarawara and Portuguese, often with laughter, questions, and prayer echoing under the trees.

Each day reminds us that transformation happens slowly but powerfully through presence. The friendships forming here are teaching us as much as we could ever teach others. We’re deeply thankful for the pastors, families, and supporters who walk with us from afar. Your prayers and partnership allow us to be the hands and feet of Jesus here in the heart of the Amazon.