Inspired by the Bagbys’ report of the needs in Brazil, Eric Nelson began work there in 1891. Once there, drawn to the spiritual needs of the vast Amazon region, Nelson, with his wife Ida, moved 1,000 miles up the Amazon from Belém to Manaus to establish work there and plant the first Baptist church. Not content to leave other areas of the Amazon untouched by the gospel message, Nelson paddled a canoe hundreds of miles to reach remote villages. In 1919, First Baptist of Murray, Kentucky, gave $3,000 to provide an oil-burning launch, The Buffalo, that facilitated Nelson’s ministry for the next twenty years.