Gabriel is 4!

I became a mother four years ago yesterday. I was thrilled, exhausted, thankful, relieved, excited, scared, happy and clueless. I had no idea what being a mother to that baby boy would do to me. It has probably brought out the best and worst in me as I grow daily in learning who he is and trying to parent him in a God-honoring way. Somedays I am overwhelmed by how much I love that little boy and somedays I am ashamed of how impatient I can be as a mother.

For his birthday this year, we treated him to a Happy Meal at McDonald's. Yes, that is a treat here. I think he had a Happy Meal back around Christmas time last year. So it was a big deal for him to get that special little toy and have his own food to eat, instead of sharing Mom's (i.e., mine). As we were sitting there eating, he said, "Wow, this is a fun party!"

(Gabriel took this picture of his Happy Meal toy)

Then we took him to a toy store and let him pick out a gift he wanted. It took him a while

(maybe that was kind of mean of us to do, to give him all those options and say "you can only pick one."), but he finally settled on a Cars bat and ball set.

(Um, no, you can't have the $350 jeep)

Today, we invited our church people over for a little party. I made cupcakes and little hotdogs and we had a great time.

(Another picture I found on the camera that Gabriel took of one of his toys)

Mommy and Daddy love you, little son. You are God's precious gift to us. We had no idea what to expect when you arrived, but you have turned our world upside down. You have taught us what it means to love someone unconditionally, to set aside our desire to eat/sleep/shower/go places whenever we want to attend to your needs, to humbly admit we were wrong when (before children) we used to think "my kid will NEVER do THAT", to feel almost physical pain when you are hurt. We love your love for books, your facility in learning numbers and letters, your silliness that makes us and Juju laugh, your excitement over even the simplest things, your attention to detail. And while your insistence that things be done the same way every time can be a bit frustrating, that is part of who you are, and we love that too. But maybe you can ease up a little on having to have your blankets tucked in just so at night. :)

Tonight, after everyone had left, Gabriel said, "I got 4 now, but I'm not big! I'm still little!" I guess he was imagining he would have a huge growth spurt to show that he is now a big 4-year-old. He can never understand that to Mommy and Daddy, he is growing way too fast.

Let's Do Some Good Works!

I firmly believe that the Bible teaches that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ, not by good works (Eph. 2:8,9; Titus 3:4,5; Rom. 4:5, Rom. 10:4). I also believe that good works are emphasized in Scripture as a natural consequence of this transforming, saving faith and should be practiced (Matt. 5:16, I Peter 2:12, the book of James). Sometimes I wonder if we don't practice good works enough because our salvation is not dependent upon them. We have even been accused recently of not caring enough about people's physical needs. This is not true because we regularly help people out in tangible, material ways out of love for Christ and for them, but I can understand some of our accuser's frustration with religious groups who go door-to-door witnessing but whose churches are not known for their social helps.

Anyway, the point of this post is to tell you about an outreach event we are hosting at our church next month. We will be giving out bags of food and clothing to people in the church's area. We are encouraging our own church people, many of whom have limited funds themselves, to be contributing towards this event. After all, generous giving should be a result of salvation.


Last year, we had two of these events, and were able to have several follow-up Bible studies with some of the ones who came. Of course, most people came only to receive their food, but all who came heard the gospel. We have people in our church group now who are a direct result of those events last year.

I don't usually do this on our blog, but I'd like to see if some of you reading this would like to contribute towards this event specifically. The more bags of food we give out, the more homes can be affected by the gospel. For about US$20, we can buy a premade bag of food at a local grocery store that has many basic items -- rice, beans, pasta, flour, sugar, coffee, you get the idea.

I promise you that even a simple bag of food like this goes a long way in helping out someone who needs it. And there are many people we've come in contact with here who have serious physical needs. If you would like to help out financially, let us know. If you're State-side, you can mail a tax-deductible check to our home church, and they will get the money to us. The address is:
Grace World Missions
3305 Peters Creek Pkwy
Winston Salem, NC 27127

If you are Brazilian, we can give you our bank account information. If you cannot contribute financially, please be praying for this event. I know that sounds cliche, but if there's one thing I'm learning more and more, it's the truth that God works through the prayers of his children. We long to see people come to know Christ as their Savior, and maybe the simple fact that we are loving them enough to meet a physical need of theirs will open up their hearts to the true gospel.

Total Freedom/Liberdade Total

Because we changed our church name recently to Redemption Baptist Church (Igreja Batista Redencão), we decided to incorporate the idea of redemption and freedom in Christ in the theme for our kids' club. We played games involving being tied or connected to others (giving the idea of bondage), sang songs about God setting us free from sin and the joy we have in Him, and taught the story of the Israelites being freed from slavery in Egypt. I'd love to say that we had no distractions in preparing for the club, lots of help from our church people, beautiful sunny days, a big turnout for the club, and parents show up for the Sunday evening conclusion. The truth is we had to deal with a crashed laptop (which we use regularly for ministry purposes), a blown transformer, little help from our church people in preparing for the club, COLD wind and rain (it is winter, after all), small turnouts each day and no parents on Sunday night. As a missionary, it's often tempting to present only the bright, positive aspects of our ministry efforts. But we all know that things aren't always as wonderful and exciting as we'd like them to be, and we have to guard against being discouraged and frustrated when things don't go as we hope. However, we continue confident in the sovereign God we serve who uses even the cold wind and rain for His purposes and doesn't need a computer in order to accomplish His work. Here are a few of the ways in which God blessed us this weekend during the kids' club:

1) The few kids who came seemed to have a great time and several brought friends back the next day.

2) The gospel was clearly presented and the seed of God's Word was sown in hearts that probably had never heard it before.

3) My parents were able to come help us out. Mom was indispensable in taking care of our kids at home to free us both up, and Dad taught the lesson on the last day and preached Sunday night.

4) We did see many of the church people show up on club days and help out in different ways -- bringing snacks for the kids, helping out during game time and being an adult presence during song and lesson time. One older lady enjoyed it so much, she said she had more fun than the kids.

5) We have 15-20 new contacts and plan to visit these families soon. Pray that they will be interested in visiting our church and open to a potential evangelistic Bible study in their home.

6) Several kids returned Sunday night, and were able to see what a regular service is like.

7) Our crashed lap top was fixed, but only the day after club was over. We know God had a reason for that ...

Evidence of Grace

Last night we had a good group in our service. The regular group was there along with 8 visitors. The numbers certainly are encouraging, but they point to something much greater: evidences of grace. You might assume then that the visitors were believers in Christ, but most of them were not! The evidence of grace we are seeing is in the lives of those who have believed in Christ and are bringing their lost friends. Anderson and Valéria, a family of 5 picked up his sister and family - a family of 4. Can you imagine 9 in a 2 door Ford Escort?


Kelly shows evidence of grace in another way. She has begun to contribute a lot like the Corinthian church. She brought some clothes and the believers were all able to benefit from them. So she brought more along with a waterjug the church was needing. On top of that she had a ceiling fan that was not being used and thought the church could benefit from it. You should see the joy in her face as she contributes.

Several have offered their help to clean the church weekly, including Anderson who went to another man that has been attending and asked him if he would help him clean the church this week. Two men cleaning the church - can you believe that?


Last night, a 72 year old lady came uninvited. She has been looking for a baptist church close by and really enjoyed the service. She told me after the service that she will now be attending our church saying that she was affected by the message. "I actually understood the message because it was well explained and very clear". May God be glorified.


My greatest joy last night was to see the power of the gospel. The message centered around: "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." (Jn. 7:37) Adriano and Gislene were affected and commented on the message with me. May God awaken thirst within them and may they be saved. Lord willing there is a personal Bible study in the making there.


There were more evidences of grace - these are just a few. Glory to God.

What We Did the Last Two Saturdays

The past two Saturdays, I had the chance to attend a CEF seminar on evangelizing and teaching children with three of our church women. I'm so glad they were able to go. The younger two are relatively new in the faith, but are growing tremendously in their spiritual walk and they made a big effort to be able to attend this event.


One of the assignments of the seminar is to witness to two children and turn in a report about the experience. We all have to do this in order to get our certificate for completing the course. I think it was a great assignment because it helped these two women to see how important it is to share their faith with others, and that they can learn to articulate their faith so that a child can understand it. They both gave testimonies during the session today of their experiences and it was so fun to see their joy over giving the gospel to others.


I had given one of them some wordless book bracelets and key chains on the condition that she explain the meaning of the colors to whoever she gave them to. Today, she asked me for more because she has already given them all away. She said one of her teenage nephews who has been baptized at another church was shocked to learn that his baptism didn't save him from his sins. Pray that God will continue to use these women to be a shining light in their families and in their neighborhood.


On a side note here, we are really enjoying having a building to meet in. Even though they are currently in the States on furlough, Christen wrote a great blog, pictures included, of how God worked so many things out for us. Please check it out here.