"Until Soon"

For the past two years, we have been blessed to work as a team in ministry with David's brother and sister-in-law, James and Christen. I don't know how we would have done much without them. God knew we would need each other in a brand new place, starting a brand new work. There's no price that can be put on having someone close by to work with, laugh with, talk to, share burdens with, encourage you when you're down, help when things are harder than usual, share birthdays and Sunday dinner with ... Everyone should have friends like that in their lives.

This Monday we said "goodbye" to them at the airport as they left for furlough in the States. We will miss them greatly during these next 8 months, but such is the life of a missionary -- always saying goodbye, it seems. One of the church women here pointed out that they will be back, so instead of saying "goodbye" she said, "até breve", which translated literally is "until soon."

Jer and Gabe

Juliana and Hannah

At the airport

A little farewell party after the service Sunday night

Enjoying Brazilian pizza one last time

Sisters and Coffee

I love my sisters. I have three of them. It's been over three years since I've seen them. For a while after we were all grown and married, we all lived in the same city. One of our favorite things to do was to spend an evening at a coffee shop, flipping through books and magazines, talking and laughing our heads off, and drinking fancy coffee drinks. I miss my sisters a lot and I miss those fun nights talking and laughing over coffee.

My sisters and I a few months before I left for Brazil.

For the past four months, Christen (my sister-in-law) and I have been having a weekly Bible study with our little group of church women. Since this was Christen's last study with us before leaving for furlough on Monday, we decided it would be fun to take the women to a coffee shop and do our study there. The women were so excited because they had never been to one before. Plus, it was a chance to get away without any of our kids and THAT doesn't happen very often.




It was so fun to introduce them to cappuccino and whipped cream. We had a great time and laughed a lot over our delicious drinks.



We were able to do our Bible study because even though we were sitting outside and the place was pretty crowded, our tables were in a back corner and there weren't very many distractions. I think we were all challenged and convicted about sins we need to be putting off, and to be longing for the pure spiritual milk, which is God's Word.




Not to sound corny, but I am thankful for this new group of sisters God has placed in my life. None of us are biologically related, but because of the blood of Jesus, we have God as our Father, and that is a family bond that will last forever.

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!