They're Back!

I can't tell you what a blessing it has been to have James and Christen back.  We've had many, many conversations, often late into the night, and that's just in the first week.  It is so encouraging to have family who are our close partners in ministry, who love Jesus, who share our love for the people we work with, and value the things we value. 

The day they arrived, David, Gabriel and I headed to the airport to pick them up.  We were right on schedule and had planned to stop at a church member's house to pick up his car since not everyone would fit in ours.  It was raining, and about 10 minutes into our drive, our car broke down.  Thankfully, this ...

... is the place we broke down in front of.  Rough translation:  "Did your car break down?  Badu fixed it."  However, the sign does not include the disclaimer that if it's between noon and two, Badu will not be available to fix your car.  So David called a friend to come pick him up and Gabriel and I got a city bus back home to wait. 

Gabe enjoying the bus ride

6 people and 2 suitcases and several carry-ons fit into this car

Both David and Neguinho missed James' company :)

 

Big cousin Hannah has lots of fun stuff for Juju to play with

Brazilian pizza for their first night back

The next evening, our church group surprised James and Christen by all showing up at our house, serenading them with a couple of songs and bringing lots of food for us all to eat.  It was their idea and I thought that it was a really special way to make James and Christen feel welcome.

 (you'll never guess what that cake is made out of -- layers of sandwich bread with beets, carrots, ham and chicken salad, all covered with mayonnaise "icing" and decorated with peas and tomatoes -- it was delicious)

It was great to have a good group of people out for our Sunday services the next day.  Please continue praying for us and our work here in Brazil.

Random Thoughts

Life has been keeping us busy these days.  David is preparing 8 messages to preach at a youth retreat next week, and we are getting things in order for James and Christen's arrival this week (yay!) and the transition that will follow as we get ready to leave for furlough. 

We have been blessed with the arrival of three new families in our church.  They are believers and are already jumping in and helping where they can -- music, cleaning the church, taking care of the nursery, and this week the men are going to help David clear off the empty lot beside the church building so that it can be used.  It has been so encouraging to see them embracing our little group of new believers as their brothers and sisters in Christ, even though they didn't know them until about a month ago.  The body of Christ is awesome. 

On Saturdays, David goes out and does some door-to-door witnessing.  Usually he goes alone, but this week he had someone unexpected join him.  They came to one house and clapped (the Brazilian version of ringing the doorbell), and then they clearly heard the lady of the house yell to her daughter, "I don't want to speak to evangelicals!"  David was ready to walk on, but Roberto, who was with him, suggested he wait a minute.  When the woman saw Roberto, her expression changed as she recognized him as the photographer who had recently taken some family pictures of them.  She invited him and David in, and listened while David presented the gospel to her.  She said that she plans on taking her two teenage children to visit our church sometime, so please pray that she does.

Thank you letters were given to the parents of the kids who came to our club a couple of weeks ago, and in the letter was the address for the church website.  One girl, who has been coming to our services since the club, left a comment on the website saying that she loved our church and that her life is already being changed and that she wants to accept God.  Please pray for Duda, that she will understand the gospel, place her faith in Christ, and be transformed by God.

I was recently giving a gospel presentation using the worldless book bracelets to my Wednesday night children's class.  Larissa, a little girl who has been coming with her family for almost 2 years now, asked me how does someone place their faith in Christ.  She and I talked after class about it, and after our conversation, she said that she would like to place her faith in Christ and prayed, asking God to forgive her of her sins and asking for His help to trust in Him.

Larissa, on the right



We are so glad to have James and Christen and their kids back with us.  We've had a lot of good conversations, but there's a lot to catch up on after 8 months apart.  Their arrival here deserves its own post, so I will blog about that later this week. 



Cousins Juliana and Hannah getting reacquainted

God of Wonders: 2012 Kids' Club

In my last post, I mentioned that we had had a special prayer time at church for our upcoming kids' club and asked that you all join with us in prayer.  The first day of club, the rain came pouring down and the weather forecast was for pretty much nonstop rain the next several days.  We were somewhat discouraged and came up with a backup plan to have the club that day and see whether any kids came.  If none did, we would postpone the club until the following week.  But God was testing our faith, I guess, and He graciously brought out almost 30 kids that day even though it was still raining and the next days were beautiful and sunny.  There were 50 kids total who came to at least one day of the club and follow-up visits are already being made to their homes.  

We rented a trampoline for a couple of days and it was a big hit ...

Lots of fun games ...

Reciting the memory verse

Song time

Story time ... Our theme was God of Wonders and we taught about creation, the fall, and the Savior

The puppets helped emphasize the main point of the story

Snack time

Being silly

We have much to thank God for:

* answering specific prayers regarding the weather
* bringing out a good number of children
* our neighbor who graciously offered to watch Gabriel and Juliana so that I could be freed up
* two teenagers whose family has recently joined our church.  They were a huge blessing to us, helping to give out invitations, get the decorations set up, help with game time, music and puppets
* a lady at our church who made yummy snacks for the kids
* a 12-year-old girl who has come back for services and brought along a cousin of hers
* supporters who give generously to us so that we are able to host these kinds of events
* people who lift us up in prayer; God hears and answers
* the opportunity and privilege to share the gospel with children who have never heard before and hopefully have an impact in their lives that will last forever

Coming Together for Prayer

This past Sunday our church group had a potluck lunch after our Sunday morning prayer time.  We wanted to encourage our people to come out and pray together, something which has been very difficult.  It was also a way to welcome a couple of new families of believers who have joined us recently and get them to interact with our regulars in a more informal way.  These families have already been such a blessing and a help to us and we are thankful God sent them our way. 

Here are some things we prayed for that you can be praying for us as well:

* That God will be glorified through the kids' club we are having at church this week

* For good weather during the kids' club (it ALWAYS seems to rain, regardless of what time of year we have the club.)

* That many children will come and be impacted by the gospel

* For good opportunities for follow-up visits

* Spiritual growth in the lives of our church group -- those in leadership as well as the newer converts ... we all need to continue to be transformed by the gospel

* Salvation of several who have attended our church, including the husbands of two of our ladies

* For several children who come regularly on their own.  They have little or no encouragement at home to be going to church.  In fact, recently the mother of one girl has prohibited her from coming.  Pray that God will save these children at their young age and use them as shining lights in their homes.

Thank you for your interest in our work.  Wherever you are right now, will you please just take a few minutes to lift some of these requests up before God's throne on our behalf? 



Year-End Activities

Here is a picture summary of the past couple of weeks around here ...

Six new puppies!

Having fun at the Christmas playground in the mall (Mom, do we HAVE to stop and take a picture?)

Making lots of Christmas goodies

Working on a 2000-piece puzzle (WHOSE idea was it to get a puzzle with so much blue sky?)

David's debut as master turkey griller

Christmas Eve meal (we're SO glad that David's parents could spend the holidays with us)

Our creative fireplace and opening stockings on Christmas Eve

EVERY year, there is the discussion: What IS that animal on David's stocking?

Christmas morning breakfast is not complete without homemade cinnamon rolls

Reading the Christmas story and finishing the advent calendar with baby Jesus in the manger

Fun opening Christmas presents

Fun playing with Christmas presents

Christmas service

Children's Christmas presentation

After service food and fellowship ...

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New Year's Eve get-together at our house

Several church people came by

Playing video games

Setting off firecrackers at midnight to bring in the New Year (a big tradition here)

Little fire poppers for the little boys (I don't know what they're actually called)

Bringing in 2012 with loved ones