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.



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.