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.



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.