Annual Ladies Meeting

Every August the annual Ladies Day is held here in Rio amongst our sister churches.  Each church gets a turn to host the event.  It is a wonderful day packed full of food, fellowship and the chance to sit quietly and hear from God's Word. 

You would think that living in the same city we would see each other often, perhaps run into one another at the grocery store.  However, when there are eleven million and nine hundered and ninety nine thousand other people milling around, the chances of seeing one another are slim.  This annual meeting is when friends meet up, sometimes for only the third or fourth time that year!  What a reunion it is!!

The day starts out with breakfast and from there we head right into singing and a session from God's Word.  This year our speaker came from the deep south of Brazil.  She was a blessing to all.

After our first session we divide up into prayer teams.  This year the hosting church did a great job of mixing up all the churches so we had a chance to branch out in our friendships and prayer partners.  This is always a special time to hear the burdens these ladies carry and then to lift them straight to the Burden Bearer!

Each church brings a special number to share with the ladies.  Even more beautiful than the special music is hearing all of us sing our praises to God together.  It was an extra big blessing for me this year since our own church is so small, I have been really missing the joy of hearing many voices raised together in praise!

After lunch we divide into groups of highschool/college and ladies.  One group goes to a craft area while the other group goes to a session with the speaker geared toward their stage of life.  At the end we come back together for some fun door prizes and laughs and then share afternoon coffee and last conversations before heading home.  Already we are looking forward to next year and the blessing of being together again!

Winter Youth Camp

No, it wasn't snow camp, although there was intricately cut blue snowflakes adorning the walls and while it did warm up enough in the afternoon to open the pool, it was chilly enough at night to gather around a bonfire for testimonies and good ole american s'mores with marshmallows freshly imported just a few days earlier by Pastor Robert's daughter. 

A new group of thirteen year olds entered the world of youth group and camp.  Youth camp with teens from age thirteen up into the mid-twenties and even thirties can create an interesting dynamic.  No matter the age, God works in hearts just the same. 

This year the theme was I Timothy 4:12.  Four of the local pastors brought messages from God's Word.  BJ was able to share the importance of being an example in the faith.  Each pastor spoke on a different part of the theme verse. 

Some highlights for our kids were helping to set tables and ringing the dinner bells.  Myla was made an official kitchen helper by one of the pastors so she enjoyed drying dishes with the teens after meals.  All of the kids roamed the grounds picking flowers, chatting with the teens, watching game time and just having a good time out in nature!  As Daniel said, "when you are at camp, you play lots and lots of games!"

As many pastors and their families that are able to, come out for the camp.  It is such an important thing for the teens to see christian families in action and for our families to see the importance of serving in every area, not just at church.

Opportunities...

Thursday night we had a unique opportunity.  Two doors down from the church is an auto school that has been in that location for the last 44 years with the same owner.  His name is George.  He has cancer.  He knows this neighborhood like he knows his auto school manual. 

George has come to church several times when he feels well enough to sit through a service.  He loves to say "hello" to our children in english.  George likes what we are doing, likes the impact we are making on the community.  In fact he told us that the whole neighborhood is talking about us and they all finally came to the conclusion that our church being there was of God.  Interesting that unbelievers would come to a conclusion like that.  He said before our building was the church, it was a bar and before that it was a night club.

Violence was the reputation of the building, now we are trying to establish a reputation of peace. 

Thursday night was George's birthday.  True to culture, he threw his own party complete with soda pop, cake and salgadinhos (fried appetizers served at EVERY party!).  Also true to culture several speeches were made.  George had asked BJ ahead of time to please come and do a small church service.  He wanted to use his birthday as a way to share the gospel with his auto school students.  George himself is not sure of his salvation, and yet he wants to share with others. 

Please pray with us that God would bring some of those students to our church.  George made sure each one knew exactly where the church is located!  It was an interesting experience but afterward we felt certain it was exactly what God wanted us to do and so we trust Him with the results.

Youth Rally

Tonight was the big night...the youth rally we had prayed for, planned for, passed out invites for. A sister church drove an hour or more with seven young people to help us pass out invitations, share special music and be an encouragement to those who would come from our neighborhood. The famous hotdog sanwiches, cake and pop for 25 people had been prepared.

 And we sat down to start the service...with just ourselves. Swallowing my tears I let the song service put my focus back where it needed be...on Christ Alone. My ever optimistic husband stood to preach a message he spent hours on geared for the skeptical unbelieving teens we had faith would arrive. Said he was not discouraged because we had planted seeds and seeds do not grow overnight.  Why do I always forget that, think that with miracle gro they will be flowering bushes the next day?

Praise the Lord for the faithful ones who came to help, support and be a part of. Praise the Lord that His ways are not our ways. Praise the Lord that someday we will see and understand all the twists and turns the road of church planting takes. Praise the Lord that He is in control no matter what!

ps - we forgot the camera...hence no pictures!

Bible Conference 2012

Word of Truth Baptist Church had its first Bible Conference today!  It was a great day of preaching from the Word of God by Pastor John Victor of the First Baptist Church in Jacarepagua. 

The most exciting event was that a couple from Pastor John Victor's church came to church in the morning bringing someone the husband works with who lives in our neighborhood! What a great contact!! She came with her little boy and wants to come back!! Please pray that she will come back! Her name is Cacilda.

We enjoyed lunch as a church together with lots of yummy food and desserts!  It was also a great time of fellowship and people getting to know each other better!

As you can see everyone enjoyed our first Bible Conference.  May it be the first of many to come!

Ladies Meeting...

Today was our first ladies meeting at Word of Truth Baptist Church!  At first it seemed like no one was going to come, but slowly they came and we ended up with a group of nine ladies and one little boy!!  We enjoyed singing together, the gospel was clearly presented, we learned a new craft and of course enjoyed food!  It was fun afternoon being together and having the chance to get to know the ladies better!

Organization...

Thursday night we had an official unofficial organization of Word of Truth Baptist Church.  My first thought as we started the service was "this is ridiculous!  there is NOBODY here!" but then I had to tell myself to look around and really verify if that was true.  We were there, our co-worker was there, the pastor of our mother church was there and the family of five that came from the mother church to help us with the new church plant was there.  What I really meant was that nobody who had been coming from the neighborhood was there and it was, well, really disheartening to say the least. 

And then the pastor began to speak about his first church planting experience and how for weeks he preached to empty benches and then finally one day...a horse arrived to hear his message!  He had the chance to preach a conference in another part of Brazil and while there was able to visit a booming church plant.  He was curious to see what had made this church grow so rapidly when his own had, well, no one.  As he sat through the service on a Monday night with 300 people, it became very obvious how the church had grown so fast.  Those in charge had completely distorted the truth of the Bible to appeal to what people wanted to hear.  As he left that church and was on his way home, he asked the Lord, "what was the purpose in being at that church?"  And it was as if the Lord spoke to him and reminded him that preaching the truth and staying faithful to God's Word was the most important thing even if it meant your church was small. 

That was exactly what BJ and I both needed to hear!  The last few weeks have honestly been super discouraging, but we were renewed and reminded by the pastor's message that numbers is not what matters, sticking by the truth is!

So Word of Truth Baptist Church has been officially unofficially organized as a congregation of Baptist Church of Campo Grande.  (it is officially unofficial because we are a congregation at this point and not a church in the eyes of the government)  And I have finally come to recognize that starting a church is exactly like having a baby - exciting? yes. painful? yes. worth it? yes.