Paul and Sheri moved to Brazil in 1988. Paul arrived first while Sheri stayed with her parents in Bogotá where she began working on her visa to be able to join him as a permanent resident. During the process she was able to join him in the city of Araguaína where he grew up.
Paul and Sheri standing at the entrance to the Igreja de Cristo in the city of Araguaína, Tocantins, where Paul grew up.
José Mendonça was the reason Paul and Sheri began their work in Brazil. While Paul was visiting a small church that his father, Bill Moreland, had started many years before, José said, “We love God and are joyful about our new life in Him, but we need someone who can come and teach us more.” Paul returned to school with the promise that once he finished his studies he would return to teach there.
José Mendonça and his wife Leontina. He was the one that convinced Paul to start his ministry in the interior of Maranhão.
In mid 1988 Paul and Sheri were able to purchase an abandoned lot in the town of Balsas in Maranhão, about 90 km away from the area they were planning to work in. Balsas is the main town in the area and gave them a central place from which they could visit many other localities as well.
The lot had a hand dug well and a large number of citrus trees, most of which had to be removed so that they could build their house.The work of clearing the lot for construction was all done by hand.The plans for the house were drawn on a napkin at a restaurant by Paul and his dad Bill. They transferred the plan to a sheet of brown wrapping paper and obtained the building permit. You can see the basic floor plan by the lines of the foundation. The plastic pipes are where the bathroom and laundry room were placed. The kitchen was to the left of this picture.Here is a look in the opposite direction. You can see the drain for the kitchen in the upper right corner of the picture. The foundation was rock and concrete with solid brick laid to level it out. Then the floor was filled in and tamped solid before being overlaid with a layer of concrete.Special measures to safe funds were used, such as wooden beams of jatobá wood instead of the much more expensive concrete and ironwork. Also the exterior walls were cleaned and the joints carefully grooved to leave a nice appearance while conserving mortar. The roof was clay tile on a lathe grid.
There was an old abandoned hand dug well on the property. About 10 feet of accumulated leaves, branches and unidentified muck were removed to reach the bottom. This well had excellent water that Paul and Sheri used during their time there. It had originally been unlined so once it was cleaned out they put in a concrete casing to prevent cave ins.
At first there was no money for a pump, so water was drawn by a windlass. Sheri also washed their clothing by hand, like the neighbor ladies did as well.Eventually they were able to buy a pump and acquire a 1,000 litre water tank to install on a tall post. Bill Moreland helped them build the tower and erect it by hand. Once it was vertical they poured a concrete base. The plumbing was preinstalled so no need to climb up and do it. This supplied water by gravity feed to the house and provided a good supply at excellent pressure, as long as the pump was able to fill the tank.
