We're Still Here!

I'm sorry for the lack of blog posts recently. There has been so much going on, and besides that, we were without internet for about three weeks. So I'm going to try to be concise and fill you in on the different things going on around here.

1- We moved out of our rental house on April 28 into our own newly-built home. It's not quite finished, but things are falling into place and we are loving it. Christen wrote a great blog about our move which you can read about here. We are so thankful for all the help we got during our transition from James and Christen, my parents and some of our church people. We couldn't have done it without them. Someday, when things are a little more organized, I will post pictures of the inside of our house. Give you something to look forward to. :) But here's one for now of our main living area: living room, dining room and kitchen all in one.

Mom was SUCH a great help, taking care of the kids (and cooking and cleaning and doing laundry...) so we could pack and move.

Dad worked HARD to help us prepare the yard for grass and to get the garage cleaned out for our first service in our new house.

2- Mother's Day -- we didn't have a special program for the women, but we did have a little gift to give them and the kids sang a little song for them. We are very thankful for these women and the evidence of grace in their lives. Christen and I are doing a weekly study with them on 1Peter and it has been so encouraging to see them learning and growing in their Christian walk.



3- Baptism -- A Baptist church in a neighborhood nearby graciously lent us their facilities for us to hold a Sunday afternoon baptismal service -- our very first one! Four people took this very important step of obedience in identifying with Christ.


David gave a short message on the symbolism of baptism, being careful to explain that baptism does not play a role in our salvation, something that many churches here teach. James performed the baptisms and it was fun to see the people's reactions. Many had never seen baptism by immersion and commented on what a beautiful service it was. It's interesting because there's not much that's beautiful about someone being dunked under water and walking out soaking wet, but the joy on their faces was so obvious as they understood what their baptism meant. Buried with Christ and raised to walk in new life!


4- Church services -- Not too long ago, we moved our Sunday morning Bible study hour to Wednesday nights. The main reason was low attendance on Sunday mornings, and after a month-long trial period of offering the same study on Wednesday nights and having that service be very well attended, we made the change. Sunday mornings we meet for prayer at our house. This has turned out to be a very special time of fellowship with the ones who come as we seek God's help and guidance together. Sunday night services are also held at our house in our garage and this is working out well enough, but please continue to pray for us to find a more suitable meeting place.


Wednesday night Bible studies are currently being held in the homes of different church people. It has been a little tight to fit people in at times, but it always works out.


5- Upcoming transition -- James and Christen are wrapping up their first term here in Brazil. Praise God that everything went smoothly with them leaving their rental house and moving their belongings into a storage space. They are currently staying with us until they leave for furlough on June 6. This means that we will be on our own in ministry responsibilities and we ask that you be praying for us during these next few months.


We are thankful for Agostinho and Cristine, the Brazilian Christian couple God brought to us about a year ago, who will be stepping in to help out with some of the teaching responsibilities.



So I think you're pretty much up-to-date now. Things are happening and God is working. This morning, David is flying out to João Pessoa, the city where we worked our first year here. He was invited to be the speaker for an evangelistic conference at our old church. Please be in prayer for him when he comes to mind.

Church Outing

God blessed us this past weekend with a gorgeous day for our church picnic at a beautiful resort on the island of Florianopolis. There were all kinds of fun things to do and so much of God's wonderful creation to enjoy. With the exception of one lady who is traveling, all of our "regulars" were able to go and we had a couple visitors as well.

Our cabin was right across from this pond full of ducks and geese

Lots of fun things for the kids to do ...

Fun playground underneath a huge grove of bamboo

Friends

Lunch preparations

Mmmm ... churrasco!

Time to eat!

Gathering together to sing and have a devotional from the book of Psalms

The gang (except for James who is taking the picture)

Our littlest member. His parents professed faith in Christ shortly before his birth. How neat to think that this little guy was born into a Christian home and can grow up learning about Jesus.



This couple represents a couple of answers to prayer. The first one is that she professed faith in Christ several months ago, and then chose to leave our group to start attending a large church nearby that preaches the prosperity gospel. Even though we warned her about the doctrinal errors of this church, she joined them anyway. We cried tears over her and sent up many prayers for her. Just last week, she came back, saying she saw things at this church that she didn't agree with and that she will be rejoining us. The second answer to prayer is that her husband came along on this outing. This is the first time he has attended any of our church programs or events, and we pray that God will soften his heart so that he will join his wife in the Christian faith.

Juliana is 1!

On March 11, our baby girl turned 1. I know all parents say this, but time has gone by so fast. We are so thankful for this precious daughter that God has entrusted to us. She has brought so much joy to our little family with her sweet, calm, happy demeanor. I remember wondering before she was born how her birth would change our family dynamic. God knew just how well and easily she would find her place in our lives and now I can't imagine our family without her. My heart's desire for little Juliana Noelle (Juju) who can walk like a pro already and says "no, no"and "goal", who blows kisses and tries to growl at the dog, who right now is sitting in her high chair throwing her snack on the floor, who is so fascinated by everything she is discovering about this big world, is that she will love God and believe in Jesus at an early age. My prayer for her is that God will guard her heart and protect her from living a life that doesn't glorify Him. May God give us the wisdom we need to nurture and instruct her as she grows. We love you so much, baby girl!

How You can Pray

Pray through these as you read them!

1. Spiritual growth for those who have professed faith in Christ- specifically in regards to fundamental christian disciplines such as Bible reading and prayer. Here are the names:

Anderson and Valéria
Roberto and Viviane
Terezinha and son Rafael

2. Genuine Conversion

Silene
Claudio and Lilian
Vera
Silvana

3. Conversion/Repentance

Andreia - Claims she has professed Christ, but is living in the flesh - indifferent to the truth. Has told us she is leaving our ministry.

Kelly - Claims to be a Cristian - has left us to join a prosperity theology church.

4. Patience and Grace

David and Sharon - We have spent a lot of time with these people and it is extremely difficult to get an e-mail saying they will be leaving us. This can have a very dis-heartening affect on our emotions. Pray that we will continue to believe what is true about God and his timing.

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.