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.

This and That

Since our last post, we've had a few different things going on. Instead of dedicating a different blog post for each one, I'll just mention them each briefly to bring you up to speed.

About three weeks ago, the bulldozer came to clear off our little piece of hillside property and begin digging out the garage/basement. God has been so good -- it will take another post just to write about all of His blessings in getting us to this point.

Progress!

A couple weeks ago, we left for Curitiba after our Thursday night Bible study to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with our family and other missionaries there. Gabriel had been looking forward for several days to seeing his grandparents and playing with the other mk's. And of course it's always nice for us to see our family and missionary friends too.

For some reason, kids aren't nearly as interested in eating the Thanksgiving meal as the adults are ... :)

Our children are very privileged to be growing up in Brazil with both sets of grandparents living just a short drive away. Juliana is not too sure about the bite of blackberry pie Granddad Nunley gave her.

Juliana and her little friend, the daughter of my good childhood friend who is also working as a missionary here in Brazil.

Valeria, the girl on the right, is expecting her third child this month. She and her husband have been attending our services for a couple of months now and both professed to be saved. Christen and I offered to give her a baby shower, but it's a normal custom here for the expectant mother to throw her own shower. So we went to her shower to show her our love and support, and it was neat to see that there were more women from our congregation at her shower than her own family and friends. I think it was a testimony of the love of Christ that unites people into a family who might have nothing else in common except Christ Himself.

Enjoying plenty of good snacks at the baby shower ...

This week, Christen hosted an afternoon tea for the women with small children. She worked so hard for several weeks putting together advent calendars to give them to teach them to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas with their families. For most of them, it will be their first Christmas as believers and even though Brazil is a religious country, the real reason for Christmas is not emphasized.


The women have already commented about what a good time they had together that afternoon and one has said she wants to have everyone over to her house for coffee and a Bible study one day soon.

Our fun and creative advent calendars -- I even got one too! :)

Unbelievers Affected!

Last evening God blessed us with a good group - many unbelievers. My brother James preached from Colossians 4:7-18 on the New Family of God. The passage paints a clear picture of what it looks like to be part of God's family and how incredibly different this is from the worlds view of family and relationship! James was careful to communicate clearly the HOW one becomes a part of God's family. Selfless giving and concern for one another emanates from the cross and establishes communities of people committed to Christ and each other. May God grant repentance and faith to those who heard the gospel this past evening.


On a side note - one of the men that attended is a professional soccer player. I thought that was pretty cool. He came here - to my house in little old São José and heard of Christ!

Sheep before its Shearers

Two days ago a neighbor I have witnessed to several times invited me to help him sheer some sheep. My enthusiasm level as I left the house was pretty low. An hour at a coffee shop would have worked for me, but God had something else planned.

As we arrived, the sheep were scattered so they needed rounding up. An initial banging on a food bucket brought them out of the wood work. Now from the big pen to a smaller one. This move had the sheep going bonkers! Let's just say that sheep have "wheels" and "ups"! After quick set up of the electric sheers, Adelar whips a sheep into full submission tying up all four legs into one. At this point, the sheep lays there helpless while his eyes say hopeless. The sheep is as vulnerable as one can be. Each one just lay there quietly as my friend shaved it all off, sometimes cutting into the skin. Once he's done, the sheep gets up and wobbles off like one who has been humiliated. All I could think about was this verse:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth. Is. 53:7


This verse means more to me today than ever. Why would Jesus do that for me?

Thank you for the cross Lord!

Pray for Adelar to be affected by the cross!