Carnival Camp

Thank you for your prayers for our teens at camp.  It was a very hot week and there were times without water and a swimming pool, but the living water refreshed and made anew many thirsty hearts.

 We were so thankful for our speaker, Pastor Ben (and wife Dani) who really connected with the teens in a special way.

 

The teens spent a lot of time in the Word attending two chapel services a day plus a special time set aside each day for them to personally dip into the well of God's promises.

 

 



 

 

There was also plenty of time for fun and games!

 

 

 

 

Please continue to pray for the teens that they will be firm, with God's help, in the decisions they made to live for Him.



Innocence

The doors are closed, the windows shut, the air conditioner running, but still the beat of the music and the blast of fireworks comes through. The official holiday is Tuesday, but the party always starts early. And I wonder, why must my children know that such evil exists, right on their very doorstep. And the questions come all day long about what is happening and why. Most of the time I answer that the Bible tells us to be innocent concerning evil so we don't need to waste any time thinking about what is happening out there. Except for church in the morning I don't plan to leave my house until Wednesday. The groceries are bought, gas supply replenished, we are bunkering down for a blizzard of wickedness.

When I think of what my kids know because of innercity ministry, things I would have never wanted them to know about, then I think about the children who are right there in the very midst of the Sodom and Gomorrah that is happening outside my door. Their parents have a lust and will fulfill it at all cost, even the cost of their children.

Recently we completed a course for Baptist Mid-Missions through Darkness to Light on child sexual abuse prevention. The stats are astounding and sickening.

I have no words except for the words of the apostle John in Revelation 22:20:

"...Even so, come, Lord Jesus."

Family Day

Today was family day, like every other Tuesday.  We have set this day aside each week just to be with our family.  BJ doesn't do anything church related.  The kids don't have school (they make it up on Saturday).  We just aren't available that day.  There was a time when our schedule simply did not permit us to take this day.  BJ was doing construction at the church and he had to be there on Tuesdays because our hired construction man was there and he needed BJ's help.  Not having that day really hurt our family.  I almost had an emotional breakdown.  After that time we have let nothing get in the way of this day.  We see it as a vital part of our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.  Most days of the week our kids wake up with the question, "Is it Tuesday?" 

Sometimes we go the beach.

Sometimes we go to the zoo.

 

 

Sometimes we go to the air museum.

 

 

Sometimes we go to the park.

 

 

Sometimes we stay home and play games, eat popcorn and watch a movie.  It's always something different, but it doesn't really matter what it is because we are together and it helps our kids feel important and part of our lives. 

 

 

Eleven and a half cents

It was a miracle really, not that I should have expected anything less than that. I had 23 reais in my purse (about 12 dollars). I carefully weighed in my mind which grocery items would be the best buy, make the most meals, etc. At the register I had my two or three items I held back to the end, thinking I would have to leave them behind. She rang up one and then another and then another and then I stood blinking at the total: 22.77! Once again I was floored at how God pays attention to the smallest details in our life and I set out on the walk home praising God for his faithfulness once again in my life.

Our future ministry plans look like a blank slate to us. We are open and willing to be used how God wants to use us, but as of yet, he hasn't let us in on the details. Honestly, I have no anxious feelings or thoughts, I know WHO controls the universe. I have no doubt that he has the perfect plan in mind and that in his perfect time and will, he will show us the next step to take.

No, my problem lies in the five short hours after my grocery story miracle when the
dishes
pile
high
and four squirrely kids aren't doing what they are supposed to be doing and the eyes bulge and hair stands on end and I am begging God for help.

Is this my calling?

I feel completely and totally inadequate!

Wouldn't I be of better use ministering to the street people?

And then the phone rings and it is my mom with just the encouragement I need and the reminders I need that YES indeed this is my calling and it is a worthy one. Yes it is exhausting and I feel inadequate most moments, but HE is able to get me through, one dish at a time, one diaper at a time, one squirrely moment at a time.

Spiritual Battles

The world is poised and panting, eager to enter into Sodom and Gomorrah and fulfull every fleshly lust for a few short days. The thought process, the planning, the money that goes into such an event is astronomical. Even the very air is electric with the anticipation they are feeling.

But what of the aftermath.
 

No one talks about the virginity that is lost.
 

The diseases that are contracted.
 

The fatherless children that are conceived.
 

As with any sinful activity, only the beauty and "you must have it now" side is advertised.

"The thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill, and to destroy; I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

~Jesus
 

Please pray for the believers. It is easy for us to close out the sights and sounds, we are foreigners. It is not always so easy for the new believers who may have participated in the past, but now they are on a new path.
 

"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."

~ Jesus
 

Our six churches and congregations have a teen retreat planned to counter attack the fiery darts of the enemy. Please pray for the pastors and wives who have put so much planning and prayer into this event, that they would have the strength and energy they need. Please pray for the teens themselves. No doubt there will be those that come who do not know Jesus Christ. No doubt those who DO know Jesus Christ will come also, but the world is whispering, enticing, tempting. Pray for recharged spiritual batteries. Pray for our speaker that God will use him in a mighty way!