When Rain Interferes with Ministry

I love rain, don't get me wrong. During these hot summer months, the frequent afternoon thunderstorms are a welcome relief. But there are times when I beg God to hold off the rain, at least for a couple of hours. I think rain is a bigger deal here in Brazil than in the States because it has more of a direct effect on people's lives here. For example, a lot of the ones who come to our services have to walk, so when it rains, more than likely they will not come, especially if they have small children. It has rained every Sunday for a month or more now, so the rain can have a direct influence on church attendance.


Brazilians also have a certain fear of the rain, that it can cause sickness if you get caught in it. When we had our kids' Bible club last July and again in October, it rained almost everyday. Parents don't want to let their kids be outside if they know there's a potential for rain.




Last week, the day of our women's Bible study was a beautiful, sunny day. As we were sitting in Valeria's living room having our study, dark clouds started rolling in from nowhere. One of the women started fidgeting a little and looking preoccupied. "I left my clothes hanging on the line to dry" she said, "and I don't want them to get wet if it rains. I think I'll send my son to go home and pull them off the line." Just then, Valeria's husband came home from work and heard what was going on and offered to take the boy home so he could pull the laundry off the line. So back to the study we go, but then the bottom dropped out, and the rain started pouring. Valeria immediately jumped up to grab her clothes off the line, and since there was quite a bit, I got up to help her too. "It's so hard to do the laundry when the clothes won't dry," she said. I agreed, thinking of my own laundry hanging on my line at home, wondering if David had remembered to take it down.

So back to the study, only to be interrupted yet again by the return of the lady's son who had gone home earlier. "Did the clothes get all wet?" his mom asked. "No, Aunt Andresa had already pulled them off the line for you." His mom smiled with relief. Back to the study ...

When I got home, the rain had stopped, but the laundry was soaking wet on the line. David apologized, but he had been in the middle of a good conversation with a young man he had just met that afternoon. It wasn't a big deal to me because unlike the other women, I am blessed with a clothes dryer.

Argentina

This past week I took a trip to Argentina along with my father-in-law and a student from the seminary. Our goal was to share Christ with as many as possible, even without a grasp on the language. Even though the trip alone consumed most of the time we had available, we did have several opportunities to share Christ. Here they are:

1. A group that call themselves "Sem Terra" which means "without land". There are several pockets of 80+ people like this all over Brazil. These folks have decided that the government owes them land, so they go and live on someone else's land until they get what they want. This particular group had been waiting for 4 years on someone elses land of course.



My father-in-law saw their tents and decided we should try to share Christ. God blessed our efforts and at least 30+ came over to hear the gospel. They were very grateful we had come and invited us back! My mind goes wild wondering what might happen if someone was available to visit them once or twice a week. They have nothing to do and live 10 kilometers from the nearest town.

In speaking to their leader, I learned more about them. I encouraged their leader John to remember that even land on this earth is perishable, but that there is an imperishable world for those who repent and believe in Christ. He was attentive.

2. God presented us with an opportunity in a public square in La Cruz, Argentina. We made rounds inviting several to come here a simple presentation involving an open air painting, a drama and some music. 10 or 12 showed up and they heard of their sin and a need for a substitute to pay for sin. We met one young man from a baptist church in town and had good fellowship with him.

3. One on one's. We were able to have several personal conversations as well. I spoke to Alva who believed it was ok for man to kill another man as it would serve as an example to others of what not to do and maybe God's intention was that God take this mans life using another human being - so it must be ok. WOW! I've never had to convince someone that murder is sinful!

This trip was filled with the unknown. Where to go, what to do, how long to stay! On the other hand, the message we shared is fully known in the person and work of Christ! I am so glad we have no doubts as to what we should say to the lost. May God bless his word and cause repentance and faith in the hearts of those we spoke to.

It's Been a While

I read recently that if a blog is not updated frequently, it's like a plant that isn't watered enough -- it will wither up and die. I'll start a blog update, and then get distracted (I have 2 small children, after all),

get interrupted, the internet goes down, the pictures won't load, or any number of other things that keep me from finishing and posting the update. So this post is just to bring you up to speed on our current events.

Today will be the third Bible study that Christen and I are having with our small group of women. We gave each woman a copy of the book "Feminine Appeal" based on the virtues of a godly woman found in Titus 2. It was great to discover this book translated into Portuguese. Our goals with this study include teaching and encouraging the women to be reading their Bibles daily for their personal growth, to learn how to pray on their own, to promote fellowship between them, and to begin the practice of memorizing Scripture. This might seem overwhelming, but we are taking small baby steps with them and the response from them has been extremely positive.

Last Saturday night, we had an informal service at James and Christen's house. We would like to start having these meetings at our church people's houses to encourage them to invite their unsaved family and neighbors to attend. I know James and Christen invited many of their neighbors, but none came. However, most of our own group of believers came, which was encouraging since for several weeks now, our attendance on Sundays has been very low, and one woman also brought her unsaved sister-in-law. It was a great opportunity for all of us to be together to worship God with singing and to be reminded through James' short devotional that we were once God's enemies and yet He loved us enough to send His Son to die for us. Two of the women expressed interest in having a meeting like that at their houses, perhaps next month.

Yesterday, David, my dad and a seminary student (Adriano) left on a trip to Argentina.


I guess you could say it's kind of a survey trip, but mostly an evangelistic trip. They took lots of tracts (in Portuguese and Spanish) and wordless book keychains and bracelets to give out. I'm excited to hear about their adventures. Please be praying for them, that God will give them safety as they travel long distances, that God will keep them healthy, and mostly that God will provide many witnessing opportunities for them and that people will be saved. I'll make sure to ask David to post a blog about his trip next week after he gets back.

Changes and Growth

Here we are, almost 2 weeks into the new year. If you're like me, the beginning of a new year makes us think about how we've changed or grown (or haven't) during the past year and how we'd like to continue to change and grow.

In 2010, we added a daughter to our familybought a piece of property and began construction of our own house.
We had many different outreach events in which we met many new people and saw a handful of these place their trust in Christ. We got a new dog that we wish we hadn't and I learned how to make doughnuts from scratch that are pretty good. :) We read books, watched movies, saw new places, made good decisions, made wrong decisions ... all of which in a small way shaped whom we became last year.

In teaching the kids' Sunday School class last Sunday, I asked them what new thing they learned about God and the Bible last year. "You mean what we've learned since coming here?" one of them asked. "Yes," I said, since we had met them for the first time last year. They started spouting out what they had learned and I was amazed by their answers.

"I didn't know Jesus died for our sins." Rafael said. "I knew he died, I just didn't know why."

"I didn't know Jesus rose from the dead." Larissa said. "I thought he just stayed dead in the ground."

Larissa in the middle

"I didn't know the Bible existed" said Guilherme. And Ricardo and Rafael added that although they knew about the Bible, they had no idea there were books in the Bible with chapters and verses and now they have memorized the order of the books and have fun playing sword drills.

"I didn't know God created the world." Ricardo said. I asked him how he thought the world was created. "I had never thought about it before," was his answer.
Ricardo and Rafael in yellow

They went on to list attributes of God they've learned -- He's Creator, Savior, self-sufficient, incomprehensible, love, holy ...

It was encouraging to know that God is using us to teach these children wonderful truths about Himself and His Word. It also was a question I've been considering myself ... what did I learn about God in 2010? I have some answers, but I want to spend more time getting to know my God in 2011. I want to learn new things about Him and His Word for myself this year. For by doing that, I know I will grow and change and start to look more like Him.

Servant Evangelism and Christmas Service

On Saturday and Sunday we handed out a Panetone (Traditional Christmas Bread) and a church calendar to contacts we had made over the past year. It was great to see the converts getting involved as well. It is truly more blessed to give than to receive. Some were hesitant to recieve a free gift, but all in all people were surprised and grateful. We also handed some out to folks we had never seen, and several spoke of their intentions to visit the church! May God use this simple gift to draw many to Himself.


Currently doing a study with this family: Giliarde and Elizete (Eloisa and Gabriela)

A freind of Roberto's: Bruno

A friend I have done many Bible studies with: Adelar. His wife will not allow me to come to their house, so he has to come here secretly.

A neighbor that has a construction store: Samuel. He gave me a tape measure right after I gave him the bread.

It was so good to have a good group in our service Sunday night! Sharon and Christen spent several weeks teaching the kids some Christmas songs many of the parents came to see their kids perform. My brother brought an excellent message from Luke 2 reminding us of the greatest joy of Christmas! James went deeper with some facets on God's grace, while keeping the message clear and understandable. After the service, Roberto told me he was really affected by James message! May God grant him saving grace!




After the service we gathered around for some food and fellowship. It is so good to start seeing God's church being edified. Last year we had a party among many unbelievers, but this year - the body (though small) was gathered in Serraria (Saw Mill)! That is priceless!

Thank you all for you prayers as God is doing a work here. We are having a couple studies and contacts are developing. It is so good to see some progress.