The Church ~ Christ's Bride

This was the theme for a three day conference celebrating eight years of existence for the church in Vargem Bonita, Minas Gerais.  One state north of us is the beautiful state of Minas Gerais where our dear friends Pastor Ricardo and Helena moved in January.

BJ was the speaker for the conference and our family tagged along to "matar saudades" (I've yet to find an american phrase that carries the same meaning, but literally it means to kill the feelings of 'I miss you'). 

The church is located in a small town of 2,000 people.  The headwaters of the San Francisco River are there.  Years ago the area was a huge diamond ranch.  So many people were panning for diamonds in the river they were changing the course of the river, so the government shut down the diamond operation.  Now it is illegal to pan for diamonds in that river. 

From there we traveled home and two days later headed to the far north, Belem (Bethlehem) in the state of Para.  This state is famous for Brazil Nuts and we were able to see many of the large, towering trees.  The cool, green mountains of Minas Gerais behind us, we entered the hot and steamy jungle where literally cities have been carved out of the mass of green jungle.

We visited the site of a new church plant to be started this coming year and met many Brazilian pastors.  It was exciting to see how the gospel has spread through that area and hear the burden the Brazilian pastors and missionaries have for their own people.

                                   These guys were our morning wake up call, bilingual parrots!

Graduation

Tomorrow is the big day!  BJ graduates with his Doctor of Ministry degree.  Eight years ago in June this journey started.  He faithfully took class after class every time he was in the United States and by video here in Brazil. 


A year ago April he did what everyone said could not be done.  He wrote an almost 200 page dissertation in less than two months!  This past February he passed his oral defense with flying colors by telephone. 


The Lord has seen us through this journey to the end and we are so thankful!!  The Lord has a plan in all of this, may He find us faithful to carry it out.

Happy Birthday!

When BJ wrote in our last prayer letter that he had taken up a new birthday party ministry, he wasn't joking!  We literally just had three birthday parties in the last seven days, two of which he preached a gospel message.  This past week we celebrated all ages ~ 30, 15, and 3.

The biggest one by far was the 15th birthday party.  This is the party to beat all parties here in Brazil.  I realized just how big it was when I asked a girl at the party if she was next in line for her 15th.  She replied she had already celebrated her 15th.  I then asked her if she was turning 16 this year.  Her response was, "I think so, maybe 17.  I don't really know, after you turn 15 nobody keeps track!"


There is really nothing to compare it to in the United States.  It is a mix of Prom, Sweet 16 and Graduation Open House all rolled into one giant party.  Most parties cost more than our entire wedding cost!  This was a smaller scale party we attended.  Enjoy the pictures below.

Holidays

Six Christmases and five Easter's later I still want to curl up in a ball and disappear until the holiday is over.  Somehow I thought that with the passing of time, holidays in a foreign country without family would get better...it hasn't.


Christmas with sweat dripping off your forehead and the thought of adding more heat by baking cookies?  No thanks!


Easter in the fall with no new spring dresses and no ham dinner?  What!?


Days like these I watch my culture run head on into the culture I am living in, and I don't like it one bit.  I want my white Christmas sipping hot chocolate with marshmallows in it.  I want my ham dinner with asparagus for Easter. 


Today Myla noticed a girl taking pictures of herself with her cel phone.  I told her it was the new fad, selfies.  Then I told her, but really it just says, all I think about is me. 


My selfie is coming through strong and clear this Easter Eve.  All I am thinking about is me and what I want and what I am missing out on. 

The truth is none of it matters one bit in light of eternity. 

 

The truth is, my sacrifice of the comforts of my culture are hardly a sacrifice worth mentioning. 

 

The truth is I need to get my focus off myself and onto my Lord and Saviour who gave me

 LIFE.

Let this mind be in you,

which was also in Christ Jesus:

Who, being in the form of God,

thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

But made himself of no reputation,

and took upon him the form of a servant,

and was made in the likeness of men:

And being found in fashion as a man,

he humbled himself,

and became obedient unto death,

even the death of the cross.

Philippians 2:5-8

Anwered Prayers

So many of you have been praying day and night for our family, calling, emailing, messaging your love and encouragement.  We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 


While our water and electricity situation continue unstable at best, BJ's health has had a dramatic improvement!  The doctor is very pleased with his progress.  He is running two last tests to make sure he has covered everything. 


I am happy to announce that BJ passed his oral defense for his Doctor of Ministry last night by telephone!  We give God the glory for all He has done these last seven years BJ has been working on this degree and know that He will see us through these last few months as he does his finishing touches on his dissertation. 


Next week we have the opportunity to attend a week long conference for missionaries.  We are very ready to relax and be fed by God's Word daily!!

Hope

"We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed,

we are perplexed, but not in despair;

Persecuted, but not forsaken;

cast down, but not destroyed...

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,

worketh for us a far more exceeding and

eternal weight of

glory."

2 Corinthians 4: 8-9;17

Dear Friends,

Though we know these verses to be true, when you are living them it can be difficult to say "our light affliction, which is but for a moment" when it feels like years.  Isn't it funny that when things are good, the days fly by and we hardly notice the passing of time.  But the moment things go wrong, life seems to slow down and those moments turn into years. 

These last forty days have felt like we were experiencing in some way Jesus' forty days of temptation in the desert.  One major difference...we aren't coming out of it without having fallen.  Yes, I have cried over the kitchen sink and told God, 'no, Jesus isn't worth all this.'  When life leaves you more wounded than winning, it is hard to keep your perspective. 

So many of you have written us such encouraging emails and messages.  Your prayers, love and concern for us has been such a help to us during this time.  We thank each one of you for the part you have had in encouraging us. 

BJ has been diagnosed with a hiatal hernia and erosive gastritis.  With medicine, diet and exercise we are working on getting them under control.  The other tests came back negative for the most part. 

Heavy stresses and anxiety have compounded the health issues.  We have had to step away from some ministry commitments at this time to allow BJ the time necessary to regain his strength.  With prayer, rest, time and letting the medicine take its effect we hope to continue. 

Thank you in advance for your continued prayers for our family as we take this journey down a road we have never traveled.  

Confessions of a Missionary Wife

*WARNING:  What you are about to read is an unedited excerpt from the life of a missionary wife.

December 25: Christmas is here!  I am so tired from all the preparations for this day as well as the parties and activities that have seemed to last the whole month.  While we are opening presents, BJ excuses himself to lay down.  He is not feeling well at all, hasn't been since the beginning of the month.  He sleeps for three hours.  I am worried about him, this is not normal. 

December 26:  BJ didn't sleep well last night and continues to feel terrible.  I am in a time crunch to get this house cleaned up.  We are expecting our summer intern to arrive on the 28th.

December 27:  BJ had such a terrible night last night he asks me to take him to the emergency room.  This is not like him at all.  I call Joy first thing in the morning and she graciously drives out the 1 1/2 hours to our house to stay with the kids while I take him in.  The hospital seems clean and fast to get you in, but I am not impressed with the doctor.  He seems more interested in speaking English with us than actually helping us with BJ's health!  Once he had heard enough symptoms, he just waved off the rest.  He took some basic blood work and a cardiogram.  Both come back clean and he tells us BJ is just fine and prescribes an anti-depressant!

December 28: BJ continues to feel awful but life moves on anyway.  He heads to the airport go pick up our summer intern.  He calls me on the way to the airport to wish me a happy anniversary!  We have been married for 13 years today!  I bought us a candy bar that has dark chocolate on the bottom and white chocolate on the top.  Perfect for us, his favorite is white and mine is dark.  He doesn't feel well enough to open it and try some so it sits on the desk for another week.  The summer heat has arrived with the summer intern.  Thankfully they are able to borrow an air conditioner from Joy to put in his bedroom here at the house.

December 29:  BJ forces himself to keep going and preaches Sunday School as normal after translating the intern's testimony to the church.  He still can't sleep at night.  Too many nights of not enough sleep is really taking its effect.  This afternoon Flavia has explosive diarrhea three times in a row.  BJ heads out the pharmacy to pick up some medicine for her and I stay home from church tonight with her and Daniel. 

December 30:  The medicine seems to be working and Flavia seems to be just fine.  BJ on the other hand seems worse and worse.  We head to another hospital, hopefully better than the last, to see if he can get some relief.  The intern stays with our kids here at the house while we go in.  This hospital is cleaner and the doctor is much better, but still no answers.  He says he can't run any tests without admitting BJ to the hospital and he is not sick enough to be admitted! He suggests BJ sees a gastro doctor.  We are both feeling frustrated that our only options these days seem to be emergency rooms since most doctors are on Christmas vacation.  We get home at  3:00 pm.  I wash the mountain of dishes that has accumulated and then shower up the kids and get them ready to go.  By 5:00 pm we are heading for the mall to grab something to eat, buy presents and then head to church for a birthday party.  BJ is preaching at the evangelistic service for the party plus it is a great cultural experience for our intern.  Otherwise, I wonder if we would really go.  It continues to be very hot.  We get home at midnight. 

December 31:  BJ continues to feel awful and at 4:00 pm asks me to make him an appt. with a gastro doctor for this week.  I look at him incredulously!  It is New Year's Eve, nothing is open, especially a doctor's office.  I search the internet for some doctors.  The first one doesn't answer.  The second one does and schedules an appt. for January 2!  Praise the Lord!  Later I find out that they were never open that day, the secretary just happened to be passing by to organize a few things and decided to answer the phone and it was me!!  Tonight at church is the big New Year's Eve party.  A big dinner has been planned and it will last until the wee hours of the morning.  BJ insists on going for the intern's sake as once again it is a great cultural experience.  I had already decided to stay home with the kids.  They are exhausted from yesterday and another late night won't help anything.  BJ and the intern head out around 4:30 pm to visit a young couple and take them the traditional panetonne bread for Christmas.  He has plans to take the intern by the new church property but ends up stopping by home first as he feels so terrible.  After a short rest, he decides he can still make it to the property.  At 7:30 pm they are still not back and a terrible storm comes in.  The rain is torrential and unrelenting and then the power goes out.  At that time I realize the back porch is flooding.  I quickly try and pick up the littered toys then try and push the water out with my long handled squeegee.  I am soaked to the bone and stressed out after spending ten minutes straight pushing water out.  Meanwhile the kids are alone in the house with candles going.  Just as the storm dies down BJ and the intern arrive.  I ask him to please not go the party tonight, I just can't handle it, plus he just feels awful.  I make us a quick dinner by candlelight.  We finally decide to all go the party as the church has power and it would be miserable to stay home with no power and the kids by myself.  We arrive at church at 9:30 pm and things still haven't started.  During the church service, the kids start dropping off like flies sleeping on the tile floor to stay cool.  The service ended close to midnight.  We eat dinner at 12:30 am.  Finally after 1:00 am, BJ says he needs to go home.  The church people are disappointed as they still have the gift exchange to do, but understand that he isn't well.  We get home at 2:00 am and still no power.  The storm did bring in some cooler air so opening the windows gives some relief.  The kids are so exhausted they fall right to sleep.  The power comes back on at 5:00 am.  I am relieved as this is just the time the noisy bird chorus starts.  Now the kids will sleep through it with the air conditioner running in their room. 

January 1: Everyone is exhausted and we don't eat breakfast until noon!  The day continues very off because of our weird night last night.  It is very hot out and BJ doesn't feel well, but he and the intern get to work on building me a screen door for the back door.  He decides to run the kids and the intern to the beach for about an hour before dinner to fly Danny's kite he got for Christmas.  Traffic is terrible and they arrive much later than planned.  While they are gone I cook up a big Brazilian meal of beans and rice, beef steaks, pao de queijo, vinaigrette and farofa.  My pressure cooker is getting too small for our large family and it is evident as it spews bean water and then beef water all over my stove, the wall and floor!  Dinner is ready but they are still not home so I sit for a rare few moments outside enjoying some quiet and ice tea.  I am learning these days to be thankful for the moments.  In this moment I feel peaceful and calm.  Around 7:30 pm they arrive home, much later than expected.  I meet the kids in the front yard with clothes, towels and shampoo in hand.  As I shower them up with the hose we notice lots of black ants.  Both Daniel and I get bit several times and they hurt!  We try to avoid them as we finish showering up.  Finally the last kid is done and we head inside to get dinner on the table.  I step in the house and start screaming for BJ.  The downstairs is crawling with those same black ants.  We don't know where to step!  I send the kids to the couch to wait while I haul the entire dinner upstairs.  BJ runs around with Raid spray to get the ants.  They all seem to be heading for one corner in the house and then disappear into the wall.  As fast as they have come, they are gone, so we bring the dinner back down and sit down to eat a lukewarm meal with pounding hearts after the experience.  The kids end up getting to bed late again.  Finally I get the dishes cleaned up and head to bed.  Just when we are about to drift off the sleep, another huge storm comes roaring in.  I am too tired to care about what is flooding so I ignore it.  BJ remembers that they left the door frame they had been building on the back porch.  When he comes back up from getting it, he tells me that the water flooded in under the back door into the kitchen, but he cleaned it up.  That reminds of another spot the water comes into the kitchen so I run down to clean that up and get towels set out to soak any more rain that comes.  We just settle back into bed, when Ellie comes into our room, "Daniel is throwing up in his bed."  I feel frozen with disbelief that this many things could be going wrong on this day.  The moment I strip the bed and drop the sheets in the hallway, the power goes out.  I feel like crawling in my bed and never coming out.  I try to find the candles and matches but they are not where I left them.  My frustration is mounting, the kids are upset because of the dark and BJ feels too sick and weak to do anything.  Finally I find them and get lights for everyone.  I just hang the sheets on the line outside hoping the rain will wash off the puke.  Daniel continues to throw up and Flavia is scared of the dark.  I set up beds for both Daniel and Flavia in our room and try to sleep as best as I can.  The power comes back on at 4:40 am. 

January 2 - BJ has an appt with the gastro doctor this morning in Copacabana.  This is at least two hours away from our house.  I had planned to take Flavia and Daniel with us and just leave the girls with the intern as they need to start school back up today.  I don't feel like I can take Daniel after the rough night he had.  I knock on the intern's door to wake him up.  I explain what happened and ask if I can leave Daniel home with him too.  He had no idea of what had happened the night before, he slept through it all.  Before we leave, BJ runs out and purchases medicine for Daniel and then we hit the road for his appt.  By the time we get to the doctor's office, he feels like he is going to pass out.  He came to this appt. fasting, hoping they would do an endoscopy today.  When we get in to see the doctor, he apologizes for not getting out of his seat to greet us.  He woke up with a slipped disk and can hardly move.  He does manage to get up to do a basic exam of BJ and assures us it is nothing serious.  He prescribes a ton of meds and says we need to come back tomorrow for an endoscopy.  I ask him to consider doing it today, he says he will try to do it.  We wait in the waiting room during his next appt., but by this time  his back has locked up and he really can't stand up, so we head for home without doing the endoscopy.  On our way home we stop to get some intensive blood work done while BJ is still fasting.  By this time it is early afternoon and he is not doing well going so long with out food.  We also try to get his abdominal ultrasound done as well, but it doesn't work out. On our way home we work out a plan with our collegues to bring our intern over that night to stay for a few days to get a break from the craziness we are going through and to do some sightseeing with a Brazilian friend who speaks excellent English.  At the same time we work out with Joy to take the two older girls for a few days as well.  When we arrive home, BJ lays down for a few minutes and then plans to take them over to our collegues house.  He wakes up with a migraine and doing worse than ever.  I end up taking them.  We leave at 5:30 pm, head to the mall to do some banking and get some supper.  Traffic isn't too bad so we make it in about an hour.  I call BJ every hour to make sure he is okay.  While I am gone, he forces himself to get up and do the pile of dishes and get Flavia and Daniel in bed.  I get home close to 9:00 pm.  I am exhausted.  I make preparations for the four of us to leave at 6:00 am the next morning for his endoscopy.  Tonight the power goes out at 10:00 pm.  The neighbors are still awake and very upset that we have lost power three nights in a row and has a very loud conversation with another neighbor about it.  We try to sleep anyway.  No storm tonight, so the air outside is much hotter than inside so we keep the windows closed.  Flavia sleeps through the whole thing, thankfully.  At one point the power flickers on and off  four times in a row then stays off.  Daniel wakes up crying.  I go to sleep in their room.  I beg God to please put an end to this craziness.  On the nights when it seems BJ will actually sleep then we get storms and power outages and he still can't sleep.  I don't know what time the power comes back on, I am too tired to notice.

January 3 - I wake up at 6:30 am.  We are late!  We hurry as fast as we can to get out the door and encounter rush hour traffic and a bad accident, but still manage to get the appt. on time.  I try to keep the kids busy and quiet while we wait in an office no bigger than a walk in closet for several hours with other people.  At least it is air conditioned.  The diagnosis is hiatal hernia and erosive gastritis. After the procedure, we head for the car.  BJ is unsteady on his feet because of the anesthesia.  We walk through a grocery store to buy something for BJ to eat while heading for the car.  He wants to walk up and down every aisle to see that they have and contines to say loudly in English, "I feel really good, I feel great!"  I keep telling him to be quiet and that we have to go.  The wait in line seems forever and when I finally get to the front, the cashier takes my basket and dumps it upside down.  Everything falls on top of the nectarines I had carefully placed on top!  I am dumbfounded!  BJ insists on driving home, but I finally convince him that he is in no condition to drive home.  It takes several hours, but we finally get home early afternoon.  Everyone is so exhausted we crash for a few hours.  It is so nice to only have two kids to deal with today and tonight! Tonight the power stays on all night!  The neighbors have a loud party. 

January 4 - Today we need to pick up the girls and the intern.  BJ insists on going so I let him.  After lunch and a rest he says he is feeling good so jumps in the car with the intern to show him the many false religions around.  They arrive home earlier than expected.  The clutch on our car has finally gone out for good.  It happened in the next city over in front of a repair shop, so they didn't have to push it far.  They come home by bus and van.  BJ is not doing well, feels more agitated than ever, like he can't concentrate.  When he tries to sleep he wakes up with parts of his face and arms going numb.  At least we eat a normal meal at home tonight, go to bed on time.  Once again the power goes out.  Ellie wakes up scared and I make her a bed in our room.  Flavia wakes up crying so I go to her room to sleep.  Daniel wakes up next.  The power comes back on quicker than normal so I send Ellie back to her bed and crawl into mine.  BJ wakes up feeling nauseous and numb in his face and arms again.  I hold his hand and cry out to God to heal his body.  We decide that it is the meds that are doing this to him and decide he can't continue on them.

January 5 - BJ wakes up feeling good.  It is slightly cooler, at least not over 100.  We cannot all go to church today.  Our other car only seats five and BJ couldn't bring the car seats home on the bus yesterday.  I stay home with Flavia and Daniel and crash for a few hours this morning.  I make tacos for lunch and begin to feel somewhat normal.  I cry when BJ walks in after church and says "hi beautiful" to me.  I feel like I am getting my husband back!  He is still not 100 % but much better than the last two days.  They had to weave around burning tires to and from church this morning.  There was a revolt last night because of so many nights without power in this terrible heat.  The people started a riot and burned tires, the police shooting at the rioters.  Thankful for the Lord's protection and that we didn't know anything about it until after!  BJ, the intern and Myla have to leave at 5:00 pm to go to the church on the Governer's Island tonight.  Before leaving BJ and the intern head to the mall to do some banking.  All the ATM machines are out of money.  After church, BJ drops the intern off at the bus station to catch an all night bus to Sao Paulo. BJ does not sleep well at all tonight. January 6 - We receive an unexpected phone call from some friends who are moving out of state. They want to stop by to say goodby. I am so glad that the night before I put away the Christmas decor and cleaned the living room and dining room. We are sad to say goodby but our exhaustion holds our emotions at bay. After trying to make plans for childcare for BJ's two appointments tomorrow, we find out our car is fixed, so cancel the plans. We leave the three older kids home while we drive BJ's little old, or should I say vintage, car to the repair shop. That car is an oven and I am sweating in places I didn't know could sweat. On the way home I make a much needed grocery stop and then fill up with gas for tomorrow's trek to the doctors. We eat a late dinner, get kids showered up and head for bed. BJ has his worst night ever and almost asks me to take him to the ER. This is totally out of character for him. I take his pulse and it is completely normal, but he stll feels like he is going to black out. January 7 - We leave the house at 7:30 am and head for his abdominal ultra sound. I have brought along plenty of snacks to keep the kids occupied. Amazingly enough we arrive early to the appointment! The results will be in on Friday. From there we head to a Family Doctor who is supposed to be the best in Rio for finding out what is wrong you. His office "happens" to be one block down from one of our sister churches, so we are able to park our car there and leave the kids with the pastor and his family. The doctor spends more than one hour with us just listening to the symptoms then doing a thorough exam and another ekg. It was normal. He requested a few more tests, which BJ will do this week. We are confident that this doctor will really help us.

Girls Retreat

November 8 and 9 the pastors wives held a special mini teen girls retreat complete with nail polish and chocolate!  In the days leading up to the retreat, emails and phone calls were flying faster than frisbees between all of us.  When it seemed like only half the amount of girls we had planned on would actually be able to come, the first reaction was a sinking feeling about how things would turn out.  The next thought was, 'the Lord is in control'.  And He was, in a mighty way. 

In the end we had between 10 - 12 girls ranging in age from 12 to upper 20's.  We had such a sweet spirit.  Inevitably when a group of young people are put together there is always at least one who wants to cause a stir.  That was not the case this time at all!  The group was made up of girls who had grown up for most of their lives in Christian families and in solid churches.  This gave us as pastor's wives the unique opportunity to take what we had to present to them one notch higher. 

 

After everyone arrived by bus, train and car we relaxed with some games and snacks.  We repeated the taco dinner we served at winter retreat this past winter, as they all loved it!  (tacos is NOT a normal food here in Brazil contrary to what you might think).  We started off the night with a talk on integrity in internet and media use. 

 

 

Next we went into modesty and how it really is something we as girls need to take to heart in consideration for our Christian brothers.  The girls were so receiving of everything I had to say on the subject.  We divided by age groups at the end of this talk and watched an excellent video by CJ Mahaney reading letters from college age Christian young men to Christian young women about what modesty means to them.  Wow!  If you ever thought modesty was only for your granny, think again!  As Christian young (and old) women revealing our bodies in ways that are acceptable by the world's standards, we are killing our Christian brothers around us.  We ended this discussion with a beautiful story about a purity bracelet given by parents to their 16 year old daughter.  One of the pastor's wives made bracelets as remembrances for each girl.

 

 

The next day, this lovely pastor's daughter came and spoke on the importance of having a heart right with God no matter our circumstances.  She knows firsthand as she is still recovering from an aneurysm behind her eye.  She has experienced in a powerful way the grace of God in a very difficult situation.

 



 

We ended the day with a fancy tea.  The girls absolutely loved it!  (so did we!)  It was so fun to dress up, eat mini food and learn about proper etiquette from this lovely lady (below).

 

 

The final talk came from a beloved pastor's wife (below) who just recently had her first baby and has been called with her husband to help a struggling church about six hours north of Rio.  She challenged the girls to stand up for Christ in their schools, workplaces, colleges, to not be ashamed of the Gospel. 

 

 

As the girls headed back into the lion's den of a city gripped with evil, our prayer was and is that they will be firm in their decision to stand for Christ in each aspect of their lives and that they will impact their generation in such a way that would bring much glory to God!

 

 

 

Educating MK's

Living overseas is exhausting.  The dollar menu, Hungry Howies, Meijer and Horrocks are all just a dream.  Driving anywhere raises the stress level to high as you dodge people, buses, bikes, motorcycles, horse drawn carts and other cars.  Defensive driving takes on a whole new meaning.

Add homeschooling to that and it is exhaustion overload.  This our third year of homeschooling solo. We are still working out the kinks, but this may prove to be our best year yet.

Two things have changed: we do school in the afternoons and for the first time we have a school room!

We live in a country where everything happens late at night.  It is a rarity to be home from anything church related before ten p.m.  It took two years to figure out that doing school first thing in the morning was not the best plan for us!

What a difference having a school room has made!  No more setting up and taking down!

 

Myla is in fifth grade this year at Abeka Academy.  Upper elementary is a whole other level and can be tough for her to focus on all the work required when everyone else is in lower elementary or kindergarten.  She enjoys her science and history classes and is an avid reader.  She also enjoys writing poetry.  She is in her second year of piano.

Ellie is in second grade at Abeka Academy.  She is super good at staying on task and has beautiful penmanship.  She is very creative at recreating what her class makes at art time with our limited arts and crafts supplies, nothing stands in her way.

Daniel started kindergarten this year with teacher mama.  He has no favorite class because he likes it all!  He was quite worried if he was even eligible to enter kindergarten since he did not know how to read or write!  He is having an excellent start to the school year.

Flavia thinks she is in kindergarten and we all just play along.  She loves to join in and is constantly asking if it is school time yet!

Please pray for the teacher (mama) that she would remember to be calm and patient with her students.

Shining Moments

These are proud days if you are Catholic and Carioca (person born in Rio).  The Pope arrives in Rio tomorrow.  Traffic proves that an extra two million people are in the city.  Everywhere billboards have been transformed into pictures of the Pope with the Christ Redeemer statue.  The next two weeks will be shining moments for the youth who will follow him around the city and at some point honor him with the world's largest flash mob. 

Shining moments.  We all want them.  Those who trust Jesus Christ as personal Saviour want Him to shine forth in all His truth into this world.  As missionaries we want the truth of His life changing Gospel to shine into our religion darkened city. 

As we walk the path of church planters it is becoming more and more obvious that shining moments are happening less and less here on this earth.  When the gates of Hell seem to be storming through the church doors four out of the seven days in a week, it is hard not to wonder what is happening. 

When we drive past a beautiful, bigger than big catholic church crammed to capacity on our way to a faithful Gospel preaching church in existence for 16 years to find barely fifty people there, it's hard not to be disappointed. 

When we read glowing reports of missions in other parts of the country, it is hard not to compare.

And then we have to take a step back and look at the life of Jesus.  In His greatest shining moment, completing His Father's mission on the cross, it looked anything but shining to the world. In fact, it looked like a big mistake.

That's the thing, we don't always understand how God works, but in the end it will come clear.  In fact, we have an eternity of shining moments waiting for us.  An eternity to discover every single little and big way that God wove His plans while we labored here on earth. 

These next two weeks will be the biggest shining moments for some people, but in the end that is all they get, nothing more. 

May the Lord find us faithful~ no matter the cost, no matter the circumstances, no matter.

Helping Blind Men See

Monday we were on our way to a monthly pastor's meeting.  We were excited to get there and take part in the surprise baby shower that was being hosted for one of the pastors and his wife who are expecting their first baby.  Suddenly without warning our car just stopped working.  We were on a very busy stretch of city traffic loaded with buses and cars.  BJ was able to get the car off to the side of the road just in front of a bus stop. 

Our first reaction was, "What?  Why today!!"  We hadn't been stopped for more than 10 minutes when a blind mad stumbled into our car, then past us heading into oncoming traffic and was nearly hit by a bus before our very eyes.  BJ sprinted from the car to rescue him and find out exactly where he was going so BJ could help him get there.  Come to find out, he was not only blind but drunk.  A deadly combination on the stretch of road he was on.  After helping him get to where he wanted to go, BJ took off for some help for our car.  The Lord protected the kids and I as we sat in the car waiting for him.  Busses careened past us, mere inches from our car, while foot traffic on the other side streamed past.  After a mechanic did a few things in the engine we were on our way...only to have the car die again about ten minutes later. 

At this point we were questioning whether we should even try to continue to the meeting.  After another very long walk for BJ and some gas we were once again on our way and arrived safely, but several hours late, missing the baby shower.  It was a great lesson for us and for our kids that God sometimes chooses to use us in unexpected ways and that everything doesn't always work out the way we want it too.

After a not so cheap car repair, the car seemed to be normal once again, only to die on Thursday night late on the highway just minutes from the exit for our house.  BJ had been taking a seminary student home from our church that night so he was by himself, thankfully.  Moments after he called me to relay what had happened, a tow truck "happened" to be passing by and towed him home.  BJ had the chance to share the gospel with the tow truck driver.  He doesn't see himself as a sinner since he does some many good things to help other people.  After all, he has chosen for his profession to be an all night tow truck driver that just drives up and down the highway looking for stopped cars that may need his services.  He has been blinded to what his true condition is.

This morning the car went back in to see what could be happening and why.  The mechanic said there was nothing he could do until it died again and then he could diagnose the problem.  He gave BJ his cel phone number and told him to call when it died again and he would come to us to figure out what the problem was.  We decided to make the Walmart run we've been trying to make all week and see how the car would do.  We arrived at the parking lot without a problem!  After shopping and loading up on chicken nuggets and smiley face fries for a certain seven year old's birthday today, we tried to head for home as it was already past lunch time.  The car would not start!  A phone call to the mechanic and an unexpected lunch at the restaurant inside Walmart while we waited is what followed. 

Turns out it was the fuel pump.  The mechanic took our whole family and our groceries home from Walmart and then went back with BJ to fix our car right there in the Walmart parking lot and then gave us a discount on top of that!  Once again BJ had the chance to explain the whole gospel to another blinded soul. 

God turned the frustration of a car repair into two one on one gospel encounters. 

Life and Death

I am the kind of user that facebook probably hates.  I log on, check my messages, scan through the posts for anything life changing and log off.   There are days I have probably logged on for the grand total of 2 minutes and 53 seconds.  I can only take so much screen time.  I am more of your real life, face to face, read it in a book kind of person. 

Yesterday was different.  The kids were happily playing outside and I was having some quiet moments, twenty-two of them in fact.  So I followed my sister-in-law's link to a utube of a teenage boy who just died of cancer and what he did in his last days. 

It was tear jerking listening to him and his family talk about his life.  The biggest tear jerker for me was hearing him talk about death at the end.

 "...yeah, it's scary, but the only reason it's scary is because you don't know what's next or if there is a next, so it's kind of like sitting in the dark, so you can either choose to be freaking out in the dark and thinking, 'okay, what's out there?', or you can just relax and fall asleep."

While he was talking about death, a pop up came up saying he passed away on May 20, 2013.  Flavia turned three on May 20, 2013. 

While we were celebrating one more year in our sweet baby girl's life, he was staring death in the hard, cold face.  Death for him was hopeless. peaceless. joyless.  The thing is, I do know there is a next and I know what that next is. 

On the utube, one of the producers makes the comment that he didn't know he would have his life changed by a 17 year old boy.  If someone who does not know Jesus as their personal Saviour can change someone's life for the better, how much more should my life and your life, who do know Jesus as our personal Saviour be changing other's lives for the better?!?!

In this last year, within one week, my paternal grandmother and BJ's maternal grandfather passed into eternity.  While there was sadness at their going, there was greater joy in knowing that we will reunite one day with them because of the common bond we share in the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Death is not scary for me because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is ABLE to conquer death and sin in my life.

My silent prayer in the last twenty-four hours has been, "O Lord, help me to be bold with the message of hope and peace and joy that your Gospel brings."

Birth Days

We will always remember the birth day of Word of Truth Baptist Church ~ Daniel shares it!  Our first services were held March 3 - 4 and Daniel's birthday is March 4!

We celebrated one year of services on March 3.  As a church group we met the week before to flood the neighborhood with tracts and special invitations to our service.  Special letters were personally delivered to all the visitors who had come throughout the year.  We prayed for people to come out to hear the gospel.  And so we arrived Sunday night with great expectations of what God would do. 

From a human perspective, it was disappointing that no one out of the normal group that comes, came as a result of our invitations.  The neighboring nightclub did not cancel their show to join us.  All the people that said they would come, needed to come, didn't come.  Despite these facts, we had a special time remembering all that God had done in the remodel of the building to get it ready to be a church, in the faithfulness of those who have come from the begininng and continue.  The joy of baptising our first church member who was saved as a result of our initial Bible studies. 

The most exciting part was, the girlfriend and daughter of a young man one of our deacons has been discipling, came for the first time!  What an answer to prayer.  Please pray with us that they would come back and realize their need for Jesus Christ.

As usual, one of our church ladies made a beautiful and delicious cake for the celebration and even brought a candle for Daniel to blow out for his birthday.

 

We praise the Lord for all that HE has done in this last year, the first year of life for Word of Truth Baptist Church.

To the Amazon (and back)

To the Amazon Dear Friends, Lord willing, early tomorrow I will board a plane with fellow missionary Nathan Patefield and we will fly to the Amazon region of Brazil for a ten day trip to visit our friend Rober Guerreiro, a Native Brazilian pastor. Pastor Rober has invited his tribe and other tribes along the river to attend a three day conference which his church is hosting. Between Nathan and I, we will have the opportunity to preach about 8-10 times and hold question-and-answer workshops with pastors and leaders of several tribes. Pastor Rober has also set up opportunities to visit other villages along the river's edge. Our goals for the trip are the following: 1. We hope to use this trip as an opportunity to encourage Pastor Rober and his family as they have just completed their first year of ministry and have faced many difficulties (malaria, rejection, delays, etc.). 2. We want to give a series of biblical messages in areas that will be helpful to the growth and edification of the churches there. 3. We want to learn from the people and discover practical ways that we as the body of Christ can help them with theological training, construction projects, etc. Please pray for wisdom and strength and that God would be glorified there among the people of the Amazon Rainforest. Please pray for the safety of our families while we are away too. More when we return............... Love in Christ, Brendan Holmquist

My Brazil

I'll be honest, Brazil doesn't always feel like home to me.  I mean, I grew up eating peanut butter and jelly, drinking water out of the faucet and running barefoot in the grass.  I forget that Brazil is home to our four little people.  Myla was three and Ellie 10 months when we first came to Brazil.  Danny and Flavia were born here.

 Myla and Ellie can't understand why on their homeschool videos it's all about America.  What is so great about America, they ask, what about Brazil?

Peanut butter and jelly?  Not interested.  Grilled chicken hearts and grilled goat cheese?  Fights break out as to who gets the most!  Comfort food for three of them is beans and rice. 

Did I ever once check the shower drain for centipedes when I was a kid?  Nope, not once!  They do it everyday!

I thought it would be fun to interview these bi-lingual, bi-cultural missionary kids on why (or what) they love Brazil.

Myla:  I love Brazil because we get to go to conference (our yearly missionary conference with the BMM missionaries).  There is a park about 15 minutes away from our house that is called Parque Madureira.  It has a children's park, gardens, a skate park and every other thing you can think of.

 


Ellie:  I love Brazil because it is so large and beautiful and because there is everything.  I like conference.

Daniel:  doors, houses, mountains, christmas trees, beds, tv, books and toys

Flavia:  She just gave me lots of shy smiles and giggles, so I take that to mean she loves Brazil. 

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.