M is for Mud Guy

TRANS Rio Grande do Sul

2012-01-29T17:59:00.008-02:00

The Brazilian Baptist Home Mission Board (JMN) sponsors an annual evangelism project called Jesus TRANSforma (Jesus Transforms). During the "TRANS," Baptist volunteers throughout Brazil spend two weeks investing their lives in another part of the country. They do evangelistic surveys, pre-scheduled home visits, Bible studies, small groups, worship services, etc - basically whatever the local church or church start needs in the way of evangelism.

Only about half the number of volunteers the churches were planning for signed up, so there will be more than enough work for those who are here!

Our team of missionaries (www.teamgaucho.net) is helping with the TRANS project over the next two weeks in three different cities in Metropolitan Porto Alegre (Porto Alegre, Guaíba, and Eldorado do Sul). Please pray for safety, stamina and supernatural fruit as a result of this outreach.

The photo above is of the kickoff service before the volunteers scattered out to the various churches where they will be working.

Brazilian Baptist Convention

2012-01-27T20:45:00.004-02:00

I had the privilege this past week of attending the Brazilian Baptist Convention meeting in Foz de Iguaçu. More than 2,200 Baptists from all over Brazil gathered to worship, discuss, and report on what God is doing all over this vast country.

There are currently 1.5 million members of Brazilian Baptist churches and more than 2 million people regularly attending worship. As far as churches go, there are 7,900 constituted churches and more than 12,800 buildings where Baptists meet (churches and or church plants).

It was tremendously encouraging to hear about the incredible things that God is doing in and through Brazilian Baptists. Drug addicts are finding freedom and salvation (see previous post), missionaries are being sent out to places where missionaries from other countries cannot go, home and foreign mission agencies are working together (even presenting their reports on stage together in t-shirts representing each other's agencies!), volunteers are going all over Brazil to share their faith (see posts on the TRANS), and churches are being started and strengthened all over this vast nation.

Much has been accomplished in the last 100+ years, and it was a tremendous privilege to get to see the "big picture" view of Baptist work - so often, I am caught up in the details of our local work. However, there is much work left to be done. Brazil is big, and the needs are still huge. Please join me in praising God for what He has done in Brazil, and ask Him to raise up workers for the Harvest and pour out His Spirit to bring light to the dark places of Brazil and to use Brazilians to take the light to a darkened world.

Brazilian Baptist Convention - "Christland"

2012-01-26T20:59:00.000-02:00

As I attended the Brazilian Baptist Convention this week, one of the big highlights was hearing about the drug treatment centers in "Crackland" which are rapidly becoming a reference as "Christland." To hear the stories about men being reunited at the convention with their mothers after years as prodigals was incredible, as was the chance to see a former transvestite stand up with his girlfriend and share his dream of becoming a missionary. Two immigrants from Africa who ended up as drug addicts on the streets of São Paulo got saved and delivered and are currently being trained to return to Africa as missionaries. It was a joy to see them leading their fellow recovering brothers and sisters in dancing and singing to the Lord. The above picture is of the choir from Christland.

I sincerely hope that I will never forget the sound of 200 former crack addicts singing at the top of their lungs "I am free, I am free. Only through the blood of Jesus I am free!" It was musically one of the worst sounding songs I have ever heard, but it was one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. It sent chills through your spine, and the sound of it is still ringing in my ears days later. The picture quality on the video is poor - but listen to the voices!

September Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People

2011-10-01T01:00:00.000-03:00

The Metropolitan Porto Alegre area of South Brazil is home to more than 5 million Urban Gaúchos, less than 1% of whom have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. September is an important month for the Gaúchos, as it marks the anniversary of their civil war against Brazil which shaped their distinct cultural pride and fierce independence. Millions of Gaúchos turn out to celebrate their culture and heritage in civil war reenactments and celebrations this month. The Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People recognizes the spiritual significance of this month and draws together believers across geographical, cultural, and denominational lines to declare that September is a turning point when through prayer, the Gaúchos who have lived in darkness WILL see a great light, and that the gospel will take firm root and spread throughout this spiritually needy land. Pray that God would raise up more prayer warriors to stand with us and the Gaúchos before the throne of God and declare that God will raise up His church and that His light will shine brightly in Porto Alegre!

September 30 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-30T01:00:00.001-03:00

As the Whitentons begin to find their place in ministry in the city of Porto Alegre, please pray that they would develop a deep love for the Gaúchos and find creative ways to share the gospel. Ask that they would develop relationships with the Gaúchos that will lead to the reproducing of disciples, and that the Lord will provide opportunities for them to be a part of Bible studies in the homes of Gaúchos that will lead to the planting of new churches.

September 29 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-29T01:00:00.001-03:00

As you continue to pray for the Whitenton family, please pray for their adjustment as a family to a new culture, schooling situation, and language. As they begin homeschooling their children, pray for their successful learning and for a positive experience for everyone, to the glory of God. Pray that they will adjust to the many changes they are facing and that they will grow according the will of God. Also pray for their marriage to be strong and healthy and that it will continue to grow to be a witness to others around them, as well as asking that each member of their family will be protected spiritually, psychologically and physically from the attacks of the enemy.

September 28 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-28T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for IMB missionaries Joel and Tamara Whitenton and their family who have also just arrived in Porto Alegre after a time of Portuguese language study in the city of Riberão Preto. Please pray that each member of their family would become fluent in Portuguese as they continue to learn the language with tutors. Pray also that they would grow in their knowledge of the Gaúcho culture so that they can live and minister effectively.

September 27 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-27T01:00:00.001-03:00

As you continue to pray for the Ward family, please pray that a new Bible study or house church forms as Dee and Laura form new relationships. Ask God to assist them in developing friendships as they learn the language and that He will open the hearts of unbelievers to be receptive to studying His Word in small group settings.

September 26 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-26T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for new IMB missionaries Dee and Laura Ward, who have recently arrived in Porto Alegre. They are currently studying the Portuguese language full time with tutors. Please pray for quick language learning and the ability to recall what they have learned while speaking with people in the city. Also, please pray for their three young children, two of whom are attending Brazilian schools. Pray they make new friends quickly and that their transition into school goes well. Ask that this family will grow to love the people of Porto Alegre and will be used by God to spread His Good News.

September 25 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-25T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for the Dunson family as they serve as missionaries with the IMB in Porto Alegre. Pray that their home schooling goes well, as both boys and Cam are adjusting to new curriculum this year. Pray that they would learn well and that their school and outside activities would all be done to the glory of God. Pray for spiritual, physical, emotional, and financial protection for the Dunsons as they live and serve in an environment full of witchcraft and false religions. Also ask God to grant them His wisdom, courage and power to proclaim His Word and the fullness of His gospel as they should.

September 24 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-24T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for IMB missionaries Jeff and Cam Dunson and their sons Blake and Parker. Jeff serves as the Team Strategy Leader for the IMB missionaries in Metropolitan Porto Alegre and works with Brazilians to help start new, reproducing churches. Jeff and Cam are also the mentors for the new missionary couples in the city. Please pray that God will give the Dunsons wisdom to know how to join with God in what He is doing in Porto Alegre. Also pray that they will know how to guide and help their new colleagues so that they can adjust well and move seamlessly into ministry in this desperately needy city.

September 23 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-23T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for the ministry of the IMB missionaries of Team Gaúcho in Metropolitan Porto Alegre. There are currently three missionary families on the team, and there is an ongoing search for two more families. Pray that God would lead the right families to the team at the right time. Pray that God would pour out His Holy Spirit on these missionaries and that they would bear much fruit. Ask Him to lead them to the right people to work with and to influence for the Kingdom.

September 22 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-22T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for the church planting efforts throughout the Metropolitan Porto Alegre area. Over 5 million people live in this area of vast urban sprawl, and there is only about one Baptist church for every 125,000 people. Ask God to raise up workers for the harvest who have a heart for starting and multiplying new churches. Pray that God would pour out His Holy Spirit in a way that has never been seen before, and that a tremendous spiritual awakening would sweep through the area which would bring lasting Kingdom transformation.

September 21 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-21T01:00:00.001-03:00

During the Summer months of December-March, millions of Gaúchos escape the heat of the cities in Metropolitan Porto Alegre and head to the coast. E. is leading a church plant in the coastal city of Tramandaí. Pray that E. would have the favor and anointing to reach both the permanent residents of the town as well as the tourists who flood the area in the Summer. Pray that God would use the light of the gospel in the lives of the believers to push back the darkness in this town which serves as a center of idol worship.

September 20 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-20T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for P., who serves as an evangelist in the city of Novo Hamburgo, in greater Porto Alegre. P. has a passion for evangelism and church planting, and has started two new small Baptist church starts. Please pray that these small groups will thrive and grow, and that God would raise up more leaders to walk alongside P. and his wife and daughter and to give them more support in their work. Pray that God would bless P. and his family both spiritually and financially.

September 19 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-19T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for A.L. and his wife I., who are serving as the leaders of their local Baptist Association and revitalizing a church in the city of Guaíba. A.L. has a passion to lead his Association to have a vision for evangelism and church planting. Pray that God will give him strategies and the wisdom to know how to cast a new vision for expansion in an area where there has been little growth of new churches up until this point. Pray that new churches will be started and will thrive throughout this vast and needy area. Pray that God would bless their family.

September 18 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-18T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for L., who is serving as the bi-vocational pastor of the new church in the Rubem Berta neighborhood of Porto Alegre. This church started strong under the leadership of a Baptist Home Mission Board couple, but shrank rapidly after their departure. L. has taken on the difficult task of winning the trust of the neighborhood and investing in the lives of the people. Pray that God would give him grace and favor with both God and the community. Pray that God would keep his marriage and his family strong.

September 17 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-17T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for the church planting efforts in the Vila Jardim neighborhood of Porto Alegre. Pray that God would raise up church planters who can dedicate the necessary time to evangelizing the neighborhood and conducting Bible studies. Pray that God would push back the strongholds that hold the neighborhood in darkness and that the gospel would take firm root. Pray for much fruit and a strong, solid, and reproducing church to be firmly established in this neighborhood.

September 16 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-16T01:00:00.001-03:00

Pray for M., a new Brazilian Baptist Home Missionary in the city of Arroio dos Ratos. M. has a tremendous heart for evangelism, and has become known throughout the city as the “man of faith with the bike,” as he rides his bicycle around and plays Christian music and preaches over the built-in sound system. Pray that M. would remain faithful and that God would bless him and his young family with much fruit. Pray that the church would be firmly established very quickly and that this church would become a base for starting new churches in the surrounding cities of Triúnfo and São Jeronimo.

September 15 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-15T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for the community development work of Mont’ Serrat Baptist Church on the “Island of the Flowers” in the Guaíba river in Porto Alegre. Pray for S. as she leads this project and reaches out to the poorest of the poor who live off the scraps of garbage from the city. Pray that God would show her how to prioritize her time and where to focus her energy in the midst of so many overwhelming needs. Pray that God’s love would shine brightly and that many lives would be transformed as God’s people serve as His hands and feet to those in need.

September 14 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-14T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for the new church plant in the Lomba do Pinheiro area of Porto Alegre. This church plant in a shockingly destitute slum was started by the church plant in the Partenon neighborhood and is outgrowth of several years of social outreach in the community. Pray that God would bless this new church start with growth and physical and spiritual protection, as well as provide them with the financial resources to help effect positive physical change in the lives of those in this needy community.

September 13 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-13T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for G. and R. and the church plant in the violent, drug-ridden Porto Alegre neighborhood of Partenon. A large witchcraft center with a gruesome idol out front is located just yards from the front door of the church building. This new church has lively, vibrant worship and an active outreach to the families of inmates and the poor and destitute around them. They are currently planting another new church. Please pray that God would keep G. and R. strong and holy, and that He would continue to grow the work in Partenon and expand their vision for starting new works and reaching more people for Christ.

September 12 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-12T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for E., who serves as the Executive Director for the State Baptist Convention of Rio Grande do Sul. E. left the business world, and took the position at the State Convention during a leadership and economic vacuum. His skills brought fiscal and administrative stability and accountability. Despite some serious health difficulties, he has been a tireless advocate in favor of church planting in Rio Grande do Sul throughout the nation of Brazil. Please pray for E’s health and ask that God would give him tremendous wisdom and vision as he leads the Baptists in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

September 11 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-11T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for A. and S., who are starting a church in the downtown area of the city of Gravataí on the outskirts of Porto Alegre. The church meets in a storefront and draws a mix of people from both the downtown area and the outlying slums. Ask God to bless the efforts of A. and S. to plant a relevant church in a strategic location, and to give them wisdom in knowing how to move forward and meet the spiritual needs of a diverse group of people. Also ask God to bless their young family.

September 10 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-10T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for B. and B., a young couple with the Brazilian Baptist Home Mission Board who are starting a new church in the Bom Jesus (good Jesus) neighborhood of Porto Alegre. Pray that God would anoint them with wisdom and maturity, as well as great favor with the people in the community they are trying to reach. Ask that God would multiply their efforts and give them His power and grace as they face opposition from spiritist and other religious groups.

September 9 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-09T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for E. as he serves as the outreach and missions pastor of a strategic church in Porto Alegre. Pray for E. as he supervises and recruits church planters and leaders, and ask God to give him a clear vision of His mission for the church. Ask God to bless his dedication with a flood of new churches spreading through the Metropolitan Porto Alegre area.

September 8 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-08T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for G. and his family and who are planting a church in a large slum in the city of Gravataí near the capital city of Porto Alegre. The church meets in the small open courtyard of a local public school. The church has excellent relationships with school officials and has more children than adults, but has not seen much numerical growth since their initial beginnings. G. and his family are also involved in helping another church plant more than two hours away. Please pray that the church would grow in maturity and numbers, and that God would raise up more leaders to come alongside G. and his wife.

September 7 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-07T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for R. and A., church planters in a desperately poor slum on the outskirts of the city of Porto Alegre. The church plant started several years ago, and has met in homes, a public school, and rented facilities. They are currently meeting in a former grocery store. R. and his wife A. have moved into the community and immersed themselves in the struggles and day-to-day lives of the people. Please pray that they will be able to build relationships which will enable them to share the gospel and establish a solid foundation in Christ for the work. Pray that this church plant will soon begin to birth other church plants and that R. and A. will be encouraged and stay strong and holy in the Lord.

September 6 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-06T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for E., a young believer in the Italian community of Alto Caraá on the outskirts of the Southern Brazilian megacity of Porto Alegre. E. was won to Christ as the result of the ministry of a new church plant in a community several hours away, and was the first believer in Jesus Christ ever in his community. E. has remained faithful despite misunderstandings and persecution, and continues to learn how to reach out to his community and a nearby Indian tribe. Please pray that he will remain strong in the Lord, and that the Holy Spirit will bless his testimony and life with great fruit.

September 5 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-05T01:00:00.001-03:00

Praise God for what He is doing in and through the lives of F. and A. This young couple is leading the new church plant in the Menino Deus neighborhood after having planted another church on the outskirts of Porto Alegre. They have faced a series of health situations, but have persevered despite the difficulties. Please pray that God would completely heal all the members of their family and that He would use what they have gone through to help them to reach out to others.

September 4 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-04T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for the brand new church plant in the Menino Deus neighborhood of the city of Porto Alegre. Missionaries have prayed and planned for years for a church plant in this area, but it has never taken root until now. The neighborhood is strategically located in the heart of the city and the residents have shown openness to the gospel as it is presented within the context of relationships with trusted friends. Two home groups are in place and the church will be holding its third monthly celebration service this month. Pray that the gospel will firmly take hold and that this church will grow strong and healthy.

September 3 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-03T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for the church planting efforts among the urban poor in the city of São Leopoldo in the Southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. A. and T. were trained by IMB missionaries and are leading a group in their home with the principles they learned. Please pray for A. and T. as they work bi-vocationally and lead this group, and ask the Father to give them time, courage, and wisdom to know how to reach out to their unsaved neighbors. Ask God to multiply their efforts and to use both them and their church plant as an example to other leaders of how to plant new, highly reproducible churches.

September 2 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-02T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for R. and I., who are in the beginning stages of starting a new house church in the city of São Leopoldo on the outskirts of Porto Alegre. Ask God to give them the time they need to build relationships and evangelize, even as they work and study. Ask God to lead them to people of peace and to have the wisdom to know how to disciple them and bring them to maturity in Christ.

September 1 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2011-09-01T01:00:00.001-03:00

Volunteer Team Log - Day 4

2011-07-05T16:43:00.011-03:00

After a long day and night on Monday, the team had a quick turnaround to start another full day on Tuesday. We met at their hotel 8:00 to head out to the neighborhood of Rubem Berta on the North side of Porto Alegre. The church we were working with was planted just a few years ago and experienced a bit of a slump after the much beloved founding pastor left to assume a new ministry.

Leandro is the new bivocational leader of the church. Leandro's enthusiasm, love for the Lord, infectious smile, and obvious sincerity more than make up, for his lack of time and formal training. Leandro scheduled a number of visits for the team and left several church members to guide us to where we needed to go.

The day was cold and windy with a persistant soaking rain, but we all struck out on our visits anyway. During the day we evangelized, discipled, encouraged, and prayed for the sick and had the privilige of seeing a number of people come to Christ.

After a snack of bread, jelly, and Gaúcho Chimmarrão (green tea drunk out of a gourd)at church that night, we assisted Leandro and his team in a worship service. Both the local church praise team and the volunteer team led worship.

My son Blake (11 years old) actually played keyboard for the first time in a church service along with the volunteers (yes, I was quite proud of him!). Several of the volunteers gave their testimonies and Pastor Chris preached on bringing people to Christ through our everyday influence in their lives.

At the end of the service, I had the privilige of seeing a couple that I and one of the volunteers visited come forward and reconcile with the leadership of the church after having gotten their feelings hurt and leaving some time before - it was a beautiful moment!

After the service ended, Pastor Chris, Brad, and a bunch of local church members had an informal jam session up front - it was cool to see brothers and sisters communicating across cultures through music.

After a long and cold, but fulfilling day, we headed home for some much needed rest!

Volunteer Team Log - Day 3

2011-06-16T22:03:00.007-03:00

On Monday, we got an early start. We met the team at 6:00 am and headed down to the juvenile prison in the Menino Deus neighborhood. We got there a bit early and waited for Adriana, the Brazilian Baptist Home Missionary who has been working there for the past several months. Once we got through the front gate, we left everything in the van (hence the fact that I have no pictures from the prison - sorry) and headed in. We had to wait for quite a while once we got in. We finally figured out that instead of being together as a group, we would be split up into 4 separate groups, each going to a separate wing of the facility. We each grabbed some breakfast stuff that Adriana brought and headed out.

I went with Brad, and we went in and laid out a small breakfast for the eight or so "monitors" (guards) who were present. They gathered around and told us that nobody had ever done anything like this for them, and that they frequently get blamed for anything and everything that goes wrong with the inmates. Brad shared a bit of his testimony, and then we got to talking with one of the monitors. He told us that this is where the worst offenders in the state come, especially those who have caused so many problems in other facilities that they could not be controlled. He took us upstairs and showed us the cells, bathroom, etc. We got a chance to witness to him some and to lead him a step closer to a relationship with Christ.

We waited for a while longer, and then, after the inmates came down out of their cells, we were able to go out into the yard with about 15 of them and to share some with them. Brad told his testimony and sang a song, and I was able to share with them a bit about their value in the eyes of Christ. We finished up there, and then went over to one of the other wings and were able to share with them as well. We were all well received and the staff told us to come back whenever we could.

After leaving the prison, we headed to the public market in downtown Porto Alegre. We walked around the market and I was able to show the team a bit about the spiritist religious influence in the heart of the city.

We then headed out to Menino Deus to meet Felipe and Ana, church planters who are in the beginning stages of a new church that we have dreamed about for many years. They asked us to help them develop some relationships they have been working on. We went to eat at a restaurant where the church will begin meeting in a few weeks. After our meal, we gathered the restaurant staff, thanked them, and prayed over them. They thanked us and said that nobody had ever done anything like that before. After we thanked them, three of the employees came up to Felipe and asked him what they could do to get involved with the church! Go God!

After lunch, we split into two groups. One group went to a hair salon run by a member of Felipe's core church planting group. They got haircuts and their nails done, giving them a chance to witness to the workers. They also witnessed to several other workers at businesses on the block. The rest of us walked to a natural foods store. The ladies at the store received us very well and we helped Felipe develop the evangelistic relationship that he has been developing.

After a snack back at the same restaurant, we all headed back to the natural food store. I now know more about lactose, gluten, and sugar free products than I ever cared to know!

That night, we split up into groups and went to pray over people and/or do small group studies. One group went to a nursing home, another went to visit the owner of the hair salon's parents who have been resistant to the gospel, and another went to still another home. During the time with the team, the hairstylist's parents who have been so resistant to participating asked for the next small group meeting to be in their home! At the end of the night, Felipe was so happy that he was practically floating. He said that the group advanced the work of the church plant as much in a single day as they had been able to do in a year (probably an exaggeration, but still good to hear!)

It was an unconventional day of ministry - going into prison for breakfast, eating in a restaurant for an evangelistic purpose, getting nails and hair done, drinking organic tea and nibbling on sugar free treats, sharing in people's homes, etc. However, God worked in great ways, and we were able to mesh with the needs of the local church planter - it was a good day.

Volunteer Team Log - Day 2

2011-06-14T17:46:00.006-03:00

On Sunday, we held a training for the volunteers and translators at the common room of our apartment building. It was an opportunity for us to meet each other, eat Cam's homemade cinamon buns (yum!),review the coming week, and to get on the same page with the local worldview and evangelism method we would be using during the week. We use a Brazilianized/Catholicismized version of Billy Graham’s “Steps to Peace With God” tract. We’ve added verses and illustrations to make it specifically address many of the key world view issues in the lives of the Brazilians.

After the training, we headed off to the mall food court for lunch and a few shopping opportunities. After wandering around for a while, we met our new van drivers and headed to the local craft fair/open air art market. Unfortunately, we were in a big rush because ofthe need to get to church, but we were able to spend half and hour or so, bought some goodies, and checked out this guy playing a leaf (yes, from a tree), a guitar, and a tamborine all at once - he was pretty good, too!

After tracking our van back down, we took Cam and Parker home and then headed out to the city of Guaíba on the other side of the river. There, we met up with Pastor Andre Luis and had a time to talk with him about his ministry. We then had a snack dinner at the church and then participated in their worship service, with several of the team members giving their testimonies and Pastor Chris bringing the message.

It was a good first day of ministry, and the next day promised to start very early in the morning!

Volunteer Team Log - Day 1

2011-06-13T16:21:00.003-03:00

Over the next few days, I'll be posting a log with pictures and information about last week's time with the volunteer team from Hebron Baptist Church in Hebron, KY.

The team arrived on Saturday after a 24 hour trip. We decided to eat lunch at the airport before checking into the hotel. Some of them went to a buffet, while the rest of us got pastries and met them in the restaurant. Blake (our 11 year old) and Parker (our 6 year old) ordered chocolate strawberry pastries which they managed to evenly spread all over the table, their faces, their clothes, and their hands - worthy of a picture, to be sure, but we didn't take one. There's nothing like getting the illusion of the nice, neat missionary family out of the volunteer's heads early!

After cleaning up, we headed to the hotel and got them checked in.

That night, Blake and I picked them up and took them to the Galpão Crioulo Churrascaria (Brazilian Steak Restaurant with a Gaúcho cowboy show) for dinner. We had a briefing there, and then enjoyed all you can eat steak and the boleiro and dancing shows.

After a long trip and a late night, we finally let them get in bed to get ready for the next day!

Hebron Baptist Volunteer Team Back in the USA

2011-06-12T14:53:00.000-03:00

Our volunteer team from Hebron Baptist Church in KY is finally back in the USA. It took a day longer than expected and involved a good bit of flexibility on everyone's part, but they are home safe and sound.

Thanks so much for your prayers!

God is AWESOME - Testimony of Your Answered Prayers About the Volcanic Ash

2011-06-11T11:09:00.003-03:00

Yesterday, we were in crisis management mode all day. The volcanic ash shut down our airport, and 203 flights were cancelled.

We asked you to pray that the ash would disappear. At that time, the ash cloud was expected to stay over our state at least through Sunday, and the airline was saying that THE VOLUNTEER TEAM wouldn't be able to leave until next Thursday.

I figured that if Jesus can control the storm on the Sea, that he can control volcanic ash. I spoke directly to the ash and commanded it to disappear, and we prayed that God would send a strong wind to blow it away, just as He separated the waters of the Red Sea with a strong wind. We also prayed that the team would still be able to leave on Friday.

During the middle of the afternoon yesterday, I was reading a chat with a meterologist talking about the conditions here, and she said that very strong winds of 150 Km/hour high in the atmosphere were blowing the ash cloud out to sea. She also said that satelite images of our state didn't show any more signs of the ash cloud!

Shortly after that, we were able to reschedule all of the flights so they would fly out on Friday, spend a day doing tourism in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, and fly to the USA Saturday night. If it all works, they are getting a bonus day in Rio!

So, we got just what we prayed for - the wind, the ash disappearing, the team getting off on Friday, and the bonus of a day in Rio!

THANK YOU FOR PRAYING! Prayers and declarations work! God is still in control of the planet, and even the airlines!

The Volunteer Team Is On Their Way to the USA (Sort of - keep praying!)

2011-06-11T10:53:00.004-03:00

Thank you so much for your prayers for the Volunteer Team from Hebron KY, that has been working with us for the past week.

Their last day was supposed to be restful (after a exhausting week of ministry), with a nice late start, lunch, and an afternoon flight. However, instead of being restful, it turned out to be stressful! At 7:30, I got a wake up call from our van driver telling me that the airport was closed because of ash in the atmosphere from a volcano several countries away that none of us have ever heard of.

After numerous phone calls, skype calls, trips to the airport, negotiations, changed plans, prayers and declarations, God miraculously opened the way and the team finally got away at 9:10 last night.

The plan (which I don't know yet if it worked or not!!!) Was for them to fly to Rio de Janeiro to meet some Brazilian friends of some Brazilian friends of a couple of our Brazilian translator friends here in Porto Alegre. They would pick them up from the airport last night, take them to a place to sleep, and then take them around and show them Rio de Janeiro today in the church van, and then get them back to the airport tonight.

Please pray that this plan will actually work! Thank you so much to Paulo and Jaques, our faithful Brazilian friends here who stepped up BIG TIME in the middle of a crisis yesterday to make something happen that I never could have pulled together!

HERE are some photos of how things looked at our during the shut down at our airport.

Pictures of the Volcano

2011-06-10T15:00:00.002-03:00

The volcano in Chile that "modified" our volunteer team's plans threw ash so high in the atmosphere that it is stretching all the way to Australia! It shut down airports in Argentina, Uruguay, and of course, Rio Grande do Sul (bummer for us).

We can't see anything except haze, but HERE IS A LINK to some very dramatic photos from the volcano itself and the ash layer in nearby cities. After seeing these, I feel much better about how light we got off!

Volcano Ash Closing Down Airport

2011-06-10T08:00:00.002-03:00

Hi, folks,
We have an emergency prayer request. Our team of volunteers from Kentucky are scheduled to leave on a 3:50 pm flight. We just got word that our airport closed last night due to volcanic ash from Chile. It's 8:00 am now.
PLEASE PRAY FOR A STRONG WIND TO BLOW THE ASH AWAY IN TIME.

In other news, the team had a great week! They had a great reception, great results, and many prayers to receive Christ. Everyone stayed healthy and safe, but they are really tired and ready to get home.
You can follow their adventures HERE

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Hebron Baptist Volunteer Team Daily Updates and Photos

2011-06-09T23:45:00.001-03:00

If you would like a daily update and photos on the activities of the volunteer team working with us from Hebron Baptist Church. You can read about it from their perspective HERE

Volunteer Team from Hebron Baptist Church, KY

2011-06-02T22:23:00.003-03:00

On Saturday, we will be receiving a group of five volunteers from Hebron Baptist Church in Hebron, KY. They will be coming to work with us for a week.

We covet your prayers for the group while they are here. Please pray for their safe travel, health and safety, divine contacts during their time here, for everything to work smoothly with the translators, and for God to richly bless the ministries that will be receiving the team.

Here is our tentative schedule (which always ends up having some modifications :)

On Saturday, they will arrive and we'll spend some time doing some general orientation and introducing them to good Brazilian beef!

Sunday, the team will meet their translators, and we will have a time of training in the morning in the evangelism method we will be using during the week. Sunday afternoon, we'll go to the craft market, and then on Sunday night, the team will be giving testimonies and bringing the message at Second Baptist Church of Guaíba.

Bright and early on Monday morning, they will be ministering to the workers at a juvenile prison at an evangelistic breakfast, as well as the juveniles in the prison. After lunch at the central market of Porto Alegre (also the hub for Afro-Brazilian spiritism - it's a very educational place!), they will be ministering through evangelistic visits in an upper-class church plant in the afternoon, and leading small groups at the church plant at night.

Tuesday, we will be in the neighborhood of Rubem Berta, helping the church plant there through evangelistic visits and an evangelistic service.

Wednesday, the team will pair up with our Canadian missionary friend Lyndell and her husband Paulo at their church plant in the neighboring city of São Leopoldo. They will be doing evangelistic visits and leading a church service in a home that night.

Thursday, the team will be doing in-depth evangelistic visits at the church plant on the Ilha das Flores.

Friday will be for wrapping up final details and heading for the airport.

Thank you for your prayers. Stay tuned for updates and photos!

Prayer Requests for our Family During the Volunteer Team

2011-06-01T22:53:00.000-03:00

On Saturday, we will be receiving a group of five volunteers from Hebron Baptist Church in Hebron, KY. They will be coming to work with us for a week, and will be doing various evangelistic ministries alongside one established church, at a juvenile prison, and four of our local church plants.

We covet your prayers for the group while they are here, as well as for your prayers on the home front during this time. We have seen a pattern over the years that we frequently suffer physical and spiritual attacks during the period immediately before, during, and after hosting American volunteer teams. Just in the past week, my mother has been hospitalized, I have gotten a severe cold which I’m still trying to get over and have now passed to Cam, and I am having severe muscle pain in my back for no apparent reason. We know that these attacks come because of the tremendous spiritual benefit that volunteers always bring when they come, but we also know that it is a battle that can be won in prayer. Please pray for spiritual, relational, emotional, and physical protection over our immediate and extended family, our volunteer team, our translators, those we will be ministering alongside, and those to whom we will be ministering.

Your prayers are essential to keeping us up and running in the battle!

"I Care" Evangelism Impact in Guaíba

2011-05-09T21:43:00.004-03:00

Saturday was our monthly "I Care" Evangelism Impact, this time in the city of Guaíba, where I have had the privilige of spending a good bit of time lately.

We started off the day by separating into men and women and having separate morning studies. As men we ended up talking about purity and having a good witness through our lives, and we had a good prayer time together.

After a roast chicken and potato salad lunch, I got a chance to spend some time chatting with one of the church planters in the association and got to know him better.

In the afternoon, I led one of a number of small teams that went out to make pre-scheduled evangelistic home visits. Another team held an evangelistic children's program at the church building, while still another team looked for opportunities to witness in the streets.
At the first house my team visited, we met a delightful elderly couple who were extremely open to the gospel. After explaining God's plan of salvation, I asked them if they would like to receive Christ, and she exclaimed that there was nothing more that they would rather do, and they were just waiting for someone to explain it all to them and give them a chance to respond!
Our second visit was with a couple who had recently received Christ, and we were able to encourage them in their new walk.
Our third and final visit was with the aunt of the new believer on our team. She was about thirty and ran a hair salon. We arrived late, to find that she was not there. However, there was a lady there from another church who began to talk non-stop about how her husband had left her twenty some years before, why did bad things happen to her, etc., etc. The guy with us went to go get his aunt, and returned with her and a friend of hers who had been doing studies with the Jehova's Witnesses.
What followed was one of the more "dynamic" witnessing encounters I've had in a long time. The lady from the other church would break in with random comments, the girl studying with the Jehova's witnesses would break in with comments like "What? Hell is a real place?," the new believer with us would jump up to show her about Hell in the Bible, and then grab the kids and pull them down on the couch, the aunt would get up and go grab the boyfriend to come hear, people would come to the door, the aunt would bring up some sort of spiritism, my cell phone would ring with the impact's leader trying to figure out why we weren't back for the closing service yet, etc. The lady with us would later tell me that she spent the whole time praying her guts out!
Despite all of the "dynamism," God's Spirit shone through bright and clear. By the end of our time together, everyone in the house ended up making a decision to receive Christ - it was truly amazing to see how the atmosphere in the house changed during our visit (probably due to the prayers of my silent partner).
We left our visit half an hour after the closing service (which I was preaching at!) was supposed to start. We raced back and arrived in time to Andre Luís' introduction (see picture below), give our team testimony and for me to preach on being an ambassador for Christ. What a day! God is good!

"I Care" Evangelism Impact in Arroio dos Ratos

2011-04-03T21:07:00.010-03:00

On Saturday, we had our monthly "I Care" Evangelism impact in the River Baptist Association. This time, we went to the city of Arroio dos Ratos, literally translated as "Rat Stream" - catchy name, isn't it?

As you may be able to tell from the picture of the archway at the entrance to the city, apparently Rat Stream is seeking to be more known for their watermelon than their rodent namesake. I didn't get a picture, but the street signs were shaped like wedges of watermelon and the trash cans like verticle watermelons - pretty neat.
We rode on a bus that went around to all of the nearby churches and picked up those who would be participating in the impact. When we arrived in Arroio dos Ratos, we were greeted by Murilo, the Baptist missionary who is planting the church. As you can see from this photo with Association President Andre Luis (on right), Murilho has a pretty cool bike. He rides it around the city playing Christian music and preaching the gospel (the speaker on the front of the bike says "Christ is the only hope"). Everywhere we went, people knew Murilo as "the guy with the bike!"

We spent the morning spreading out through the city, distributing evangelistic tracts, looking for witnessing opportunities, spreading the word about the church, and inviting people to come to the afternoon activities.

That afternoon, there was a anti-drug talk by the local police in the church sanctuary, as well as games, activities, and snacks for kids in the neighborhood.

Three of us ended up going to visit a lady and her elderly mother, who was confined to her bed with a leg injury. It was neat to see how God used each one of us during the visit. Murilo's wife came in the room and immediately started to encourage the mother, exhorting her to not give up with tremendous energy and enthusiasm. I began to evangelize both the lady and her mother, and they both ended up receiving Christ. The third member of our team later told me that as we entered the room, she could feel the spiritual oppression in the room. As she prayed, Murilo's wife encouraged, and I evangelized, the atmosphere turned to one of hope, joy and encouragement. Thanks be to God for how he uses different gifts to build His Kingdom!

We closed out the event with a closing service, testimony time, and clothes bazaar.

Small Group Study at the Ilha das Flores

2011-02-15T21:03:00.000-02:00

During the Summer Holiday season, the church plant at the Ilha das Flores has transitioned to more of a small group study. Here's a shot of Cam, Parker's head, and some of the volunteers at our Friday night study in the side yard.

Evangelistic Bible Study at the Ilha das Flores

2011-01-30T20:59:00.001-02:00

For the past few weeks, we have been leading an evangelistic Bible study series at the Church Plant / Community Development project on the Ilha das Flores. Sometimes we have a large group, sometimes a small one - sometimes I stand in the front, at other times, we sit in a circle - we try to be flexible depending on the situation!

Flooding in Porto Alegre

2011-01-17T20:14:00.005-02:00

Many of you have probably heard about the devastating floods in the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo that have left hundreds dead. We haven't had anything like that here in Porto Alegre this year, but we did have some torrential rain and flooding the other day.

Cam and I were trying to get to the grocery store the other day, and ran across this flash flood in action. We took these pictures from our car windows....and we never did get to that grocery store!

Church Visitor

2011-01-09T16:58:00.004-02:00

We had our regular Bible Study time at the Community Development Project at the Ilha das Flores this morning.

We changed rooms a couple of times because of the heat and some workers who were there. We came back into the regular room where we hold worship serveces at the end to lock up, and discovered that we had a visitor! While unexpected, she was at least very well behaved!

You never quite know what challenges you are going to face each day on the mission field!

Lord's Supper and Community Meal at Ilha das Flores Community Development Project

2011-01-01T16:38:00.001-02:00

On December 30, we held a joint New Year's Dinner / Jesus Film Showing / Lord's Supper at the Community Development Project at Ilha das Flores.

We showed the part of the Jesus Film from the healing of Bartimaeus until the crucifixion, and then I gave a short overview on the meaning of the Lord's Supper and an invitation. We then went into the next room, where we took the Lord's Supper together, and then we served everyone a meal of fried fish, rice, fish sauce and salad. It was a great time of fellowship. Enjoy the photos!

Community Development Project Inauguration

2010-11-15T17:38:00.008-02:00

On Saturday, November 6th, the Community Development Project on the Ilha das Flores was finally inaugurated.

The week was a testimony to God's ability to move on the community to pull together and get a seemingly impossible task done. A host of people painted, organized, cleaned, laid tile, hung decorations, prepared food, etc.

Leaders and officals from the mother church, other denominations who have been active in the project, the Porto Alegre City Government, the water department (clean water is a big problem on the island, and many residents have diseases related to unclean water), and the food safety department all witnessed the grand opening of the community kitchen. The kitchen will train local residents to prepare food, which will then be sold at low cost. This will help the nutritional needs of the community, as well as providing jobs and job skills. There will also be a project to minister to the children whose mothers are working in the Community Kitchen.

The Community Kitchen will be a valuable addition to the ongoing church planting project, as well as the currently running programs teaching local residents how to make crafts and sell clothes.

While the kitchen was dedicated, it is not quite finished yet - food had to be made in the back without any available water or gas, which was a bit of a challenge :) Please pray that everything will click into place and that the sinks and stoves will be installed very soon!

Evangelism Intensive Seminary Course

2010-11-15T17:29:00.003-02:00

I had a good weekend at the seminary teaching an intensive course on evangelism. We had students representing the Baptists, the Assembly of God, and the Christian Missionary Alliance. Some of the students are seminary students, while others were interested lay people wanting to learn more.

Please pray that the students will be able to put what they have learned into practice, and that God will use it to HIS glory to win many to Christ, both here and around the world.

Just Another Day on "The Island"

2010-11-11T16:28:00.000-02:00

Sometimes I think that our ministry would make for an interesting TV show, with no shortage of comedy and unexpected twists and turns. On the otherhand, some days are so out there that they couldn't fit into just one episode. The other Sunday out at the island where our family works with the community development project and church plant was a great example.

Cam wasn't feeling well, and the boys had been up late at a sleepover, so I went to the island by myself. I arrived to find chaos - kids were everywhere, and there was the usual confusion of what needed to be done and how it was going to get done. "S" who is over the project, wanted to talk to me. We went into the room where we hold services on Sunday mornings, and she began to tell me about the spiritual warfare that has knocked out numerous people who have initially wanted to help on the island. People having panic attacks and almost driving cars off the bridge across the river, freak car accidents, nervous breakdowns, depression, marital and family problems, and stalled construction work have almost been the norm. While she talked, aa large rat strolled back and forth across the floor in the room behind me. Since we didn't have any way to deal with it, I shut the door - out of sight, out of mind :)

"S" proceeded to tell me that she had just gotten back from visiting a lady who had been a model, but who went missing several years ago. Everyone assumed she had abandonded her family, but it turned out she had been kidnapped and held in captivity for years and forced to work as a prostitute. She managed to escape out of a high window and then was chased down and severely beaten by the other prostitutes as she ran away. She managed to get to the home of a relative, where she had to be taken directly to the hospital for emergency surgery on a cyst on her back. [We later found out that she finally arrived at home only to find that her family has converted to Christ. As the neighborhood children gathered around the house and chanted "hey, hey, Jesus is our King" (which rhymes in Portuguese), her family showered her with the love of Christ.]

As we started the service, we found out that there was an 11 year old child from the community who was missing. An angry relative had shown up at the house with a gun, and she fled into the night and never came back. We prayed for her safe return, and then continued with the service. As usual toddlers, dogs, and mothers freely came and went. In addition, we had several boyfriends/fathers present who were also workers on the kitchen construction project. I was storying through Nehemiah 7 and then helping them draw spiritual truths out of the text for themselves. The lesson was absolute chaos. I was emphasizing integrity and fearing God, and several of the women kept punching the men when we mentioned being faithful (in general). It's hard enough to get them to look at the Bible without constant talking, confusion, babies, and punching going on.

During the study, we heard that the missing child had been found. We stopped and thanked God for answered prayer.

We finished up, and one of the grandmothers (she's 34) said that she wanted to dedicate her new grandbaby. "S" asked me to talk about dedication vs. baptism, said she was going to get someone (who I assumed was another baby) and disappeared. I got up and explained what dedication is, that we don't baptise babies, etc., and then proceeded to dedicate the baby (I figured hey, I'll go with the ministry opportunity that's in front of me at the moment). "S" came back in some time later and said that it was time for the dedication! It turns out that she had gone to get the father, who was one of the construction workers who had left during the Bible study.

Meanwhile, a little girl comes into the room and tells us that the missing child is still missing and didn't come back after all. After some confusion, I (who have no idea what's going on and don't know any of the people involved) am asked to go figure out what's going on. I go out to find a distraught lady outside with a crowd gathered around her. I finally get her to tell me that someone said that her daughter was with the police, but she didn't really know. Someone came and got her and brought her inside, where I prayed for her daughter's return and "S" witnessed to her and leads her to Christ.

[We later found out that the child had been found by the police and turned over to her older sister, and noboby bothered to tell her mother where she was or if she was alright. So, God answered our prayers and she was returned home safely.]

Then, the father of the baby I have already dedicated came back in under considerable duress, and "S" prayed over the parents. All the while we were praying, one of the other construction workers is motioning for him to get back to work, and he is shrugging his shoulders and rolling his eyes....

It was one of those days. I teach church planting and missions, and this is not how I tell people to get it done, but sometimes it's what happens despite our best efforts. I got home mentally and spiritually worn out. However, in retrospect, a missing mother was found and ministered to, a missing child was found, a lost mother came to Christ, and a child was dedicated to the Lord. All in all, not a bad day!

Lay Leadership Course

2010-11-02T17:33:00.003-02:00

I'm now half of the way through the evangelism/discipleship/church planting course that I am leading for area for lay leaders. We are meeting on Monday nights, with a mixture of students from various churches and denominations, as well as a mix of ages and genders. While the group is fairly small, they love the Lord and I'm optimistic about all that God is doing, and is yet going to do through them.

Please pray that God will greatly use these laypeople as they grow in their knowledge of how to minister.

Missions Strategy Intensive Seminary Course

2010-10-18T17:21:00.004-02:00

This past weekend, I had the chance to teach an intensive course on missions strategy to the students at the local seminary. We had a good group and great discussion time as we worked through material on missionary small groups, Church Planting Movements, and church planting.

Please pray for these seminary students and ask the Lord to give them the passion, the annointing, and the strategies they need to start a wave of new churches throughout Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and beyond.

Weird Spiritual Conversation Sunday

2010-10-16T18:02:00.000-03:00

Sunday was the day for weird spiritual conversations.

It started off Sunday morning out at the island. The four of us walked into the community development center for to help with the Sunday morning activities. Cam and the boys stayed with the kids, and I went to talk with "S" who is the director of the work on the island. She told me that there was a couple waiting in the next room and she wanted me to talk with them. She also told me that the guy had been baptized at the mother church of the work on the island.

I walked into the next room and found a blind guy and his blind girlfriend sitting alone. I began to talk with them, and immediately began to spiritually perceive that something wasn't right. The guy told me proudly that he had been baptized, and then a time later, told me that he had a problem with the evangelical church (as a whole, none in particular) because they thought they were the only way to God. He said he was visting around to various places. His girlfriend them told me that he had been going to the Afro-Brazilian witchraft meetings. He said that he liked to go there because he had friends there. I began to share the gospel with both of them, and as I finished, "S" came in and also witnessed to them. Shortly after, the worship service began and I watched with a heavy heart as this couple proudly sang (from memory) evangelical Christian songs proclaiming their love for and commitment to Jesus. I wasn't able to talk to them after the service and they left. I later found out that he had been coming to Church and was at a baptismal service at the mother church and decided to be baptized at that very moment, without any opportunity for the local leadership of the chuch plant to intervene in any way...this is a perfect example of syncretism in action - there are better ways to do this, and we'll be working on helping them work this out!

Sunday night, Blake and I went back out to the church where we had the evangelism impact a week before. After I preached and lead in communion (surprise! - they sprung that on me about one minute before the service started - you gotta love Brazil), one of the deacons asked me to speak with a lady. He said that I needed to tell her that she needed to be in the church. I didn't really understand what was going on, but as I got to talking with the lady, she told me that she was a Christian and had been a member of the church, but that she had been attending Spiritist worship services for years. However, she assured me that she didn't particpate in the casting of spells, and that she was there to be a witness to those in witchcraft. She claimed that she had won two people to Christ from within the Spiritist community and that she felt led to be there. As we continued to talk, she told me that she had a son who was addicted to drugs and who was telling her that that they needed to rebuke his addiction in the name of Jesus and to go back to Church. She also told me that this was the first time she had been in church in years, and that she was feeling strangely led to return. It was a long, weird, complex conversation. I was encouraging her to get back into church where she could have spiritual covering, fellowship, and prayer. From that base, she could then witness to those in witchcraft from the outside and not the inside. I don't know how much I was able to convince her...We left and Blake and I talked about it on the drive home - it was interesting that Blake (11 years old) had the exact same reaction and solution for her that I did - out of the mouths of children...

So, it was a weird day, but it was also good for Blake to be able to learn about and process some of these very heavy spiritual concepts in a safe environment.

Please pray for this blind couple to be truly saved and to come out of the works of darkness into the true light. Also pray for this lady who is engaging in a very dangerous way of life to come back to the worship of the One True God and to stop playing with fire.

"I Care" Evangelism Impact in Eldorado do Sul

2010-10-07T15:35:00.006-03:00

We held the latest edition of the "I Care" Evangelism impact, this time in the city of Eldorado do Sul on the other side of the river from Porto Alegre. This time, my son Blake (11 years old) went with me to help out. After we found our way out to the church that was hosting the impact and got set up, I spent the morning leading an evangelism training. Blake ran the powerpoint for me and took pictures (it was interesting to see what he took pictures of!).

After the training, we had a chicken lunch, and then divided up into teams to go out and visit unsaved contacts in the community and put the training into practice. Our team was made up of myself, Blake, an older lady from the church hosting the event, and a middle aged lady from another church in a neighboring town.

We had a bit of a time finding our way, as the older lady didn't know her way around her town very well. Once we finally got into the slum and to the first house, we discovered that nobody was home, and that it was just a couple of doors down from where the older lady lived. She suggested that we go visit her son and his wife, who live in the house behind her. I was pretty reluctant to do this, as I've been in situations before where it turned into a person lugging around an evangelism team to show them off to family and friends. I finally agreed, and I was trying to encourage the middle-aged lady with us to take the lead on the visit. She didn't want to take the lead, as she had never shared her faith before, and asked me to lead out in the first vistit.

We tromped through to the back yard and found a small wooden home and a young couple with a newborn baby. It was obvious that the daughter-in-law did not like her evangelical Christian mother-in-law and that the son, who worked as a motorcycle delivery boy, had completely walked away from his Christian upbringing. We wedged ourselves into the tiny kitchen and I shared my testimony and the gospel with them. The young man was in an obvious spiritual struggle as he heard the gospel. You could see the harshness and hostility slowly melting away from both of their faces I continued to share about God's plan for their lives. The young man rededicated his life to Christ, and while his wife did not make any kind of commitment, she was touched as she heard the gospel in a contextual way from someone close to her own age for the first time, as opposed to only hearing it from her mother-in-law.

After our first visit, we went to the other side of the slum and found a small wooden shack with a middle-aged lady who obviously had a lot of struggles. Our middle-aged partner took the lead, shared the gospel for the first time in her life, and had the privilige of leading her first person to Christ!

It was a wonderful moment, and we arranged to pick the lady up for the service that night. Since there wasn't room for us in the house, Blake and I hung out at the door, and he kept the dog from coming in and interfering with the visit. Afterwards, we headed back to the church for a snack and the closing service.

After a time of worship, the team gave their testimonies about the day. "I", the associational president's wife, who is normally a quiet, reserved person in public, shared about how they went to a home where it became obvious that the person was possessed by a demon. She wasn't the lead person on the team, and it was hilarous to hear her tell about how she was thinking to herself "well I wonder what our team leader will do now!" Then, God gave her courage, and she began to rebuke the demon and command it to leave. They expelled the demon and led the lady to Christ. As they were getting ready to leave, the newly freed believer asked where they were going next, and told them that it was a witchcraft worship center. It was another funny moment as "I" told how she thought, "well if this house was this bad, what's a witchcraft center going to be like!?" However, when they got there, the people inside refused to come to the door, and appeared to be afraid of the believers at their door. Despite their reservations and fears, the team was more than a conquerer and caused fear in the enemy camp!

All told, during the afternoon, 13 homes were visited, 30 people heard the gospel, and 14 of these made decisions to follow Christ as their Lord and Savior.

After the testimony time, I got up and felt led to embolden those present that we do not need to be afraid of the enemy - they should be afraid of us! I encouraged them from the book of Jonah to do BIG things for God and to believe HIM for BIG things (just as Jonah was singlehandedly used to bring revival to an entire city).

It was a great, but tiring day all around, and it was great to have Blake along to help! We got an email a couple of days later inviting us BOTH to come give an evangelism training at a nearby church - that was fun!

Answered Prayer from the Month of Prayer Part 2

2010-10-06T20:42:00.000-03:00

God continues to answer your prayers offered up during the Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People. On September 15th, you prayed for the following:

"Please pray for the social outreach efforts of the church plant in Partenon and Mont’ Serrat Baptist Church on an island in the Guaíba river in Porto Alegre. The project has involved women from the churches going and providing food, love, and practical help to the poorest of the poor who survive off of the scraps of recycled organic garbage dumped on the island for pigs to eat. Pray that God would enable His servants to show His love and care for those who have been cast off by society in such a way that they would embrace His love and come to salvation. Pray that a church would be established on the island in short order, and that it would become a shining example of how a community can be transformed by the love of Christ and His church."

Our family started going out to the Ilha das Flores a few weeks ago to see how we could help the church plant there and community development project on the island. The needs are astounding. The residents of the island have little self confidence and tremendous physical, financial, psychological, and spiritual needs.

Cam and the boys have been helping to minister to the children (there are a lot of them!) and I have been working with those who come to the church service. Many of them are coming from a variety of backgrounds and have little understanding of Scripture and how to use the Bible. We are orally storying through the book of Genesis and then helping them learn to read and understand the Bible by asking simple questions and helping them find the answers and application for their lives for themselves. We are also trying to lend a helping hand wherever possible and trying to help steer the project to be as strategic and organized as possible.

The homeless are finding shelter, malnourished children are being fed, women who have been cast off by society are being valued and empowered, and the Word of God is sinking into the hearts of a desperately needy people - thank you for your prayers!

Answered Prayer from the Month of Prayer

2010-10-02T20:37:00.000-03:00

It has been exciting to see how God is bringing answers as a result of your prayers during the September Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People of Brazil. On September 7th, you prayed for F. and E., who had been church planters in Porto Alegre, then moved away, and have since returned to Porto Alegre and are searching for God’s will for their future. On September 9th, I met with F. to catch up on what God is doing in their life. He told me that on the 7th, he had an interview with a mission board about coming on staff as a Baptist missionary in Porto Alegre, and that it was astounding how things came together – a process that normally takes months took just a few hours. He was amazed and very grateful to learn that you were praying for his family on the very day of their interview.

"I Care" Evangelism Impact in Barra do Ribeiro

2010-10-02T14:00:00.000-03:00

A few weeks ago, we held another "I Care" Evangelism impact, this time in the city of Barra do Ribeiro. Barra is a small town with a rural feel about two hours away from Porto Alegre.

I got up early, met the Associational President and his daughter at the Highway Patrol station along the road, and we headed off to a gas station to meet the rest of our team that would be riding with us from the city of Guaíba. As we were waiting, the rain rolled in and it started to pour - not a good sign on a day when we're going to hit the streets to do home visits! We drove out to Barra, and then had some trouble finding the church - we ended up going across two different rickety one-lane wood bridges to get there.

When we found the church, I spent the morning leading an evangelism training for the members of the various churches in the association that had come to participate in the evangelism impact. They had been doing impacts for a year now, but had never had any training in how to present the gospel in a comprehensive and contextual way.

After the training, we then had lunch, and then split up into teams to go out and do pre-scheduled home visits. Despite the rain which poured off and on all day, we were determined to go out. I got paired with the pastor of the church's pre-teen daughter, the associational president's teenage daughter, and an extremely elderly gentleman. My goal is to always have them do the evangelism after they've spent hours being trained, but they were all jittery, so I said that I would do ehte gospel presentation in the first visit.

It turned out that the first visit was in the home of a man who had just gotten home from the hospital with severe pain in his kidney and obviously needed to go back - he was groaning in pain the whole time. I gave a quick testimony, then we prayed over him and left. Our second visit was at a house where nobody was home.

Our third visit turned out to be the house next door to the pastor's house. The pastor's daughter was all fired up and said that she was going to do all the talking. We walked in the (back) door and interupted the mother cooking supper. She called her husband and we all sat down, and I was waiting for the pastor's daughter to start giving her testimony. Instead, she and the associational president's daughter dissapeared into the rest of the house to go witness to the 3 boys of the house and left me with the couple! I was able to have an excellent conversation with them, and they both made decisions to follow Christ as their Savior. The girls ended having a good witnessing experience with the boys as well. Please pray that this family will stick with their decision and grow rapidly in their faith in Christ.

We headed back to the church building after our visit for a snack and the closing worship service, where people shared their testimonies from the day, we worshipped the Lord, and were inspired from His Word.

A middle-aged lady who participated in the training and who had never before shared her faith was deeply impacted by the training and her first evangelism experience. She wrote me a note and said "Dear Pastor Jeffry, I'll never forget this day - thank you!"

Please pray that the people who made decisions for Christ will be integrated into the life of the churches in Barra do Ribeiro and grow into strong, mature disciples.

September Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People

2010-10-01T01:00:00.001-03:00

The Metropolitan Porto Alegre area in South Brazil is home to more than 5 million Urban Gaúchos, less than 1% of whom have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. September is a key month in the history of the Gaúcho people, as it serves as the anniversary of their failed civil war against Brazil many years ago. This war has marked the psyche of the Gaúchos, and millions will turn out to celebrate their culture and heritage in civil war reenactments and celebrations this month.
The Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People recognizes the spiritual significance of this month and draws together believers across geographical and denominational lines to take a stand and declare that September is a turning point when through prayer, the people who have lived in darkness WILL see a great light, and that the gospel will take firm root and spread throughout this needy land. Pray that God would raise up prayer warriors this month to stand with us and the Gaúchos before the throne of God.
Please check this blog each day throughout the month of September for fresh prayer requests on behalf of the Gaúchos.

September 30 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-30T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for the Whitenton family who have just begun a year of Portuguese language study in the city of Riberão Preto and are scheduled to arrive in Porto Alegre in July of 2011. Pray that God will give them the wisdom and patience to learn the language so that they can be able to communicate and minister to the Brazilian people. Please pray that they will be able to continue to learn about the Brazilian culture and people so that they can better understand how to relate to them. Pray that the recent friendships that have been formed with Brazilian nationals can materialize into opportunities for ministry. Pray that the Whitenton family will continue to grow strong in their relationship and walk with the Lord.

September 29 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-29T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for newly appointed IMB missionaries Dee and Laura, who are preparing for service in Porto Alegre. They are currently in training in Virginia and will be going to mega-city training in Canada the first of October. Pray for smooth transitions with their 3 young children and for their family to grow together even when facing adversity. Their visas are still in process, so pray for God to place government officials where needed to expedite their visas and approve them without hesitation. Pray for easy language acquisition as they will be immersed in full time language learning once they reach Brazil. Finally and foremost, pray for them to have boldness to share their faith and that Christ will be glorified in all they say and do.

September 28 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-28T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for IMB missionaries Mike and Donna and their two children as they serve in the city of Caxias in the mountains on the outskirts of Metropolitan Porto Alegre. Ask that God would bless their relationships with their Brazilian colleagues and give them great fruit in their work. Also ask for God’s blessing on the schooling of their children, protection over their family and blessing on their marriage.

September 27 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-27T01:00:00.000-03:00

God is at work in the greater Caxias area on the outskirts of Metropolitan Porto Alegre, gathering 10 missionary couples from 4 different Baptist agencies in the last two years! We expect 2 more couples to arrive before the end of the year. Since most of these couples and agencies do not know each other, we recognize that this is not a coordinated human effort, but God at work. You have prayed for laborers in the harvest fields of Rio Grande do Sul. God is answering that prayer! Pray that the missionaries, the established churches and the new churches would sense God at work among them, that they would work together in unity, and that God would bring great fruit from their labors.

September 26 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-26T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for D., a new believer planting a church in an area on the outskirts of Porto Alegre. While still unsaved, D. had a dream in which he built a church to which people fled from danger. He quit his job and began to build a building, and then shortly after, met a missionary who led him to Christ. D. is now growing in the Lord and leading a small group of believers. Please pray that D. would grow quickly in his faith in Christ and that this church plant would grow strong and reproduce other churches.

September 25 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-25T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for IMB missionaries Bill and Cheryl, who work with upper-class professional Gaúchos in the Metropolitan Porto Alegre area. Pray for protection over them, and ask that God would give them clear direction in where they should focus their efforts and with whom they should work. Pray that God would enable them to group their evangelistic contacts together for evangelistic Bible studies, and that these would bear fruit in professionals receiving Christ and growing in their faith in churches spreading throughout the area.

September 24 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-24T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for IMB missionaries Jeff and Cam Dunson and their sons Blake and Parker. Jeff serves as the Team Strategy Leader for the IMB missionaries in Metropolitan Porto Alegre and works with Brazilians to help produce new, reproducing churches. Please pray for spiritual, physical, and financial protection for the Dunsons. Ask that God would give them tremendous supernatural wisdom in knowing how, where, and with whom to work. Also ask God to grant them much fruit for His glory and His power to proclaim His Word and the fullness of His gospel as they should.

September 23 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-23T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for the church planting efforts throughout the Metropolitan Porto Alegre area. Over 5 million people live in this area of vast urban sprawl, and there is only about one Baptist church for every 125,000 people. Pray that God would raise up workers for the harvest who have a heart for starting and multiplying new churches. Pray that God would pour out His Spirit in a way that has never been seen before, resulting in unity that would propel His Kingdom forward in dramatic new ways.

September 22 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-22T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for E. and the church plant in the coastal city of Tramandaí. This church has tremendous potential to impact not only the permanent residents of the town, but also the millions of tourists who flock to the coast during the Summer months of January-March. Pray that E. would be able to provide solid, stable leadership, and that God would give Him innovative strategies to spread the Gospel and grow God’s Kingdom on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul.

September 21 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-21T01:00:00.000-03:00

As part of a seminary class assignment, V. started an evangelistic Bible study with a group of elderly Catholic ladies a number of years ago. The ladies all ended up giving their lives to Christ as they studied the scriptures. Pray that this group would continue and that more would join and give their lives to Christ. Also pray that God would provide solid leadership and transform this Bible study into a self-sustaining and growing church.

September 20 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-20T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for P., an evangelist and church planter in the city of Novo Hamburgo, in greater Porto Alegre. P. has a heart for evangelism and church planting, but has received little support for his passions from those around him. Despite this, he has started two new Baptist works. Please pray that these works will thrive and grow, and that God would raise up more leaders to walk alongside P. in his work. Pray that God would bless P. both spiritually and financially and would continue to grow his desire to see the Kingdom of God spread throughout his city.

September 19 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-19T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for A.L., the pastor of a church in the city of Guaíba who has a passion to lead his local Baptist Association to have a vision for church planting. Pray that God will give him strategies and the wisdom to know how to cast a new vision for expansion in an area where there has been little growth of new churches up until this point. Pray that new churches will be started and will thrive throughout this vast and needy area.

September 18 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-18T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for V., a church planter in the city of Sobradino. V. started this new church a year and a half ago with evangelistic Bible studies. Pray that V. will be filled with God’s Spirit and will have wisdom and courage as he proclaims God’s Word. Also pray that the group will grow in numbers and maturity and will be firmly established in a short period of time.

September 17 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-17T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for R. and the church plant in the Vila Jardim neighborhood of Porto Alegre. This church plant started several years ago, but has struggled to take hold in an area saturated with voodoo-like spiritism and drugs. Pray that God would push back the strongholds that hold the neighborhood in darkness and that the gospel would take firm root. Pray that R. would be able to dedicate the necessary time to evangelizing the neighborhood and conducting Bible studies. Pray for much fruit.

September 16 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-16T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for E. and T., who are planting a church in what used to be a carpenter’s shop in the neighborhood called “The Place of the Skull” in the city of Gravataí. E. gave up a career as a physicist to go into the ministry and is working bivocationally so that he can devote as much time as possible to the ministry. Please pray that God would bless E. with wisdom, patience, and a vision for multiplying the church throughout the rapidly expanding area where they are located.

September 15 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-15T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for the social outreach efforts of the church plant in Partenon and Mont’ Serrat Baptist Church on an island in the Guaíba river in Porto Alegre. The project has involved women from the churches going and providing food, love, and practical help to the poorest of the poor who survive off of the scraps of recycled organic garbage dumped on the island for pigs to eat. Pray that God would enable His servants to show His love and care for those who have been cast off by society in such a way that they would embrace His love and come to salvation. Pray that a church would be established on the island in short order, and that it would become a shining example of how a community can be transformed by the love of Christ and His church.

September 14 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-14T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for the new church plant in the Lomba do Pinheiro area of Porto Alegre. This church plant in a shockingly destitute slum was started by the new church in the Partenon neighborhood and is the result of several years of social outreach in the community. Pray that God would bless this new church start with growth and physical and spiritual protection, as well as provide them with the financial resources to help effect positive physical change in the lives of those in this needy community.

September 13 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-13T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for G. and R. and the church plant in the Porto Alegre neighborhood of Partenon. This church started several years ago in a neighborhood which contains one of the largest prisons in the state and is dominated by spiritism, drugs, and violence. The church has been characterized by vibrant worship and an active outreach to the poor and destitute around them. This new church plant is currently planting another new church and has a social action project in another area of the city. Please pray that God would keep G. and R. strong , and that He would continue to grow the work in Partenon and expand their vision for starting new works and reaching more people for Christ.

September 12 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-12T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for E., who is currently serving as the Executive Director for the State Baptist Convention of Rio Grande do Sul. E. took office during a period of chaos in the Convention and brought fiscal and administrative stability and accountability. His vision for church planting has helped push the Baptist Convention forward. He will be stepping down because of health reasons as soon as his replacement is found. Please pray that God will heal E., and will guide those who will be selecting the new Executive Director to choose someone with strong ethics, good interpersonal and organizational skills, and most of all, a vision for church planting and the expansion of the Kingdom.

September 11 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-11T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for A. and S., who are starting a church in the downtown area of the city of Gravataí on the outskirts of Porto Alegre. When they first started the work, they sold homemade baked goods out of the trunk of their old car just to have money to eat. The church currently meets in a storefront and is drawing a mix of people from both the downtown area and the outlying slums. Ask God to bless A. and S.’s evangelistic efforts, and to give them wisdom in knowing how to move forward and meet the spiritual needs of a diverse group of people.

September 10 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-10T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for B. and B., a young couple with the Brazilian Baptist Home Mission Board who are working to plant a new church in Porto Alegre. Pray that God would give them wisdom and maturity, as well as great favor with the people in the community they are trying to reach. Ask that God would multiply their efforts and give them His power and grace as they face opposition from spiritist and other religious groups.

September 9 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-09T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for R., who was involved in helping start several new churches in greater Porto Alegre. He is currently on staff of a church and seeking to recruit and mentor new church planters in the city. Pray that he will maintain his vision and focus on church planting and that God would bless his dedication with a flood of new churches spreading through the Metropolitan Porto Alegre area.

September 8 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-08T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for G. and his family and who are planting a church in a slum area in the city of Gravataí near the capital city of Porto Alegre. The church has been meeting for several years in the open courtyard of a local public school. The church has excellent relationships with school officials and has more children than adults, but has not seen much numerical growth since their initial beginnings. G. and his family have sacrificed much and are involved in helping another church plant more than two hours away. Please pray that they and the church would grow in maturity and numbers, and that God would bless them with more strong leaders to come alongside G. and his wife.

September 7 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-07T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for F. and A. This young couple planted a church in a slum area on the outskirts of Porto Alegre and then handed the reigns over to another couple and moved on to a staff position at a large church in another state. They have since returned to Porto Alegre and are searching for God’s will for their lives, including whether God would have them plant another church in the Gaúcho capital.

September 6 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-06T01:00:00.000-03:00

Please pray for E., a new believer in the Italian immigrant community of Alto Caraá on the outskirts of the Southern Brazilian megacity of Porto Alegre. E. was the first believer in Jesus Christ in the history of his county, and has since been involved in leading a few of his neighbors to Christ. He is being discipled and is learning how to lead the new church that God is forming in his community. Please pray that he will remain strong in the Lord, and that the Holy Spirit will bless his testimony and life with great fruit. Also pray for the new believers as they are facing persecution from their Catholic neighbors.

September 5 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-05T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for R., a new church planter in a poor slum on the rural outskirts of the Southern Brazilian megacity of Porto Alegre. The church plant started several years ago, and has met in homes, a school, and rented facilities. They are currently meeting in a former grocery store. R. and his wife A. moved into the community and stepped into leadership at the church plant a few months ago. Please pray that they will be able to provide stability and build relationships which will enable them to share the gospel and build a solid foundation in Christ for the work. Pray that this church plant will soon begin to birth other church plants and that R. and A. will be encouraged and stay strong and holy in the Lord.

September 4 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-04T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for the church planting work in the Menino Deus neighborhood of the city of Porto Alegre in Southern Brazil. This upper middle class neighborhood is strategically located and the residents have shown openness to the gospel. Several church small groups and outreaches to athletes have proven to be successful, but actual church planting has not yet gotten off the ground. Please pray that God would raise up workers for the harvest, and that in short order, we will be able to celebrate in how God has raised up a vibrant, reproducing Christian community in Menino Deus.

September 3 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-03T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for the church planting efforts among the urban poor in the city of São Leopoldo in the Southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. A simple church was planted under IMB leadership several years ago that ended up not surviving long term. However, one of the leaders who was trained in that church planting effort later started a new group in his home using what he learned. That group is now thriving and has twenty people participating in weekly Bible study and church life. Please pray for A. and T. as they lead this group, and ask the Father to multiply their reach and to use this group both as a mother church to other simple churches and an example to other leaders of how to plant new churches.

September 2 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-02T01:00:00.001-03:00

Please pray for L and L, a church planting couple in the unreached Mega City of Porto Alegre, in South Brazil. After completing an internship in a simple church plant on the outskirts of the city, L declared that he would “plant a church in Porto Alegre or die.” This couple and their young child are now looking for the most strategic place in the city and the best way to plant to make the biggest potential impact. Please pray that God would lead them to the right location and strategy, and that they would have tremendous wisdom to go along with their passion to reach this vitally important city.

September 1 Prayer Request for the Gáucho People

2010-09-01T01:00:00.002-03:00

The Metropolitan Porto Alegre area in South Brazil is home to more than 5 million Urban Gaúchos, less than 1% of whom have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. September is a key month in the history of the Gaúcho people, as it serves as the anniversary of their failed civil war against Brazil many years ago. This war has marked the psyche of the Gaúchos, and millions will turn out to celebrate their culture and heritage in civil war reenactments and celebrations this month. The Month of Prayer for the Gaúcho People recognizes the spiritual significance of this month and draws together believers across geographical and denominational lines to take a stand and declare that September is a turning point when through prayer, the people who have lived in darkness WILL see a great light, and that the gospel will take firm root and spread throughout this needy land. Pray that God would raise up prayer warriors this month to stand with us and the Gaúchos before the throne of God and declare that Porto Alegre will become a place where God is greatly glorified.

"I Care" Evangelism Impact

2010-08-13T22:23:00.009-03:00

I got a chance to participate in the "I Care" evangelism impact in Guaíba last week. Guaíba is a city of nearly a hundred thousand people with just a few small Baptist churches. Believers from around the area showed up to minister alongside and encourage a small congregation which meets in a converted house in the Cohab neighborhood. The neighborhood is crowded with small houses with a very dense population.

We got there in early afternoon and divided into small teams. I led a team with two ladies, one of whom was switched onto my team at the last moment. As she looked at the slips with the names and addresses we were to visit, she exclaimed "that's one of my relatives!" We spent a long time searching for the first house, and finally found it, only to find nobody at home. We went straight to the second house, and found the young woman who was the realative of the lady we were with ready to receive us. I walked her through a presentation of the gospel and she received Christ on the spot with no hesitation. When we talked to her about speaking to her husband, she said that he was already a believer, and that he used to go to the Four Rectangular Church (she meant Four Square, but it was hard not to laugh, especially when she was so sure of the name). We got a chance to talk to them both together at the end and encourage them to begin walking together in their faith.

It was so touching to see the lady I was with, who was not originally scheduled to go on that visit, begin to cry as she told her relative how much she had prayed for her over the years, and how God was so faithful to answer her prayers - it was a priceless moment!

After we got back from the visitation time, it was time for a snack (coke and hot dog pieces cut up in sauce on a bun), and then the service.

After the music, everyone gave testimonies on how the afternoon went, and then I got a chance to bring a message from Matthew 4 on how we need to catch Jesus' vision and methods for reaching our people with the gospel.

There was a lady in the service who had been visited by one of the teams who has cancer and had an oxygen tube taped to her face. I felt led to encourage her to believe God for her healing, and we gathered around her at the end to pray for God to do a miracle and bring her complete healing.

Another wonderful moment was when Andre Luís, the president of the association, brought over the evangelist and his wife who lead the congregation and blessed them and prayed for them.

It was a great day of ministry, and I'm looking forward to doing it again soon!

The "key" to keeping your cool

2010-07-27T23:02:00.004-03:00

Thanks to Cam's tireless efforts involving about 12 solid hours of work, a technician coming to the apartment, the purchase of a new modem, and multiple phone calls, we are now online - yay!

This whole process illustrates smething that we have observed time and time again - everything takes longer than we think that it should. Cam's car key is another good example. For some reason, her key did not start the car any longer. We spent a good bit of time going from alarm store to alarm store looking for someone who could help, and finally ended up at a car key technician (yes, there is such a thing). After spending quite some time there, he told us that the transponder in the key was totally wiped - he had never seen it happen before, but with the proper key code that came with the car (which of course, I didn't have with me), that he could fix the key in about 20 minutes for a bit over 100 DOLLARS - ouch! That was half a day.

A few days later, I took Cam's keys (with the key that didn't work) and my keys and drove to the key tecnician. When I got there and parked, I discovered that I forgot the key code at the apartment. I drove back to the apartment, got the code, and drove back to the technician. Whereupon I spent the next several hours with him struggling to first remove, and then reprogram a transponder about the size of a watch battery. While I was leaving Cam called and wanted to know where I was, because she was locked into the apartment building and couldn't get out of the building to let the lady who was going to look after our cat while we were away into the front gate. I finally got back and went to get another building/gate key made :) That was another half day.

Altogether, I spent an entire day just trying to get a car key to work. It's days like this that are reminders of the importance of walking in the Spirit at all times. Sometimes the missionary life is just about finding the "key" to keeping your cool:)

Porto Alegre is still on the Table

2010-07-26T22:41:00.002-03:00

We are back in POA after our meetings in Atibaia, SP. We made it through with only minor injuries - Blake got a pretty significant scrape on his chin from a bamboo stick while sword fighting (hey, he's a ten year old boy - it happens :). He’s healing well.

The short version of our meetings is that our mission in the Americas is in the middle of a massive transition. Everyone is up in the air with what is happening. What we are hearing now is that the Brazil cluster will be dissolved. This means that almost all of our missionaries currently working with Portuguese-Speaking Brazilians will be reassigned to other people groups or areas of the world. Eight mega-cities in the Americas will go into an “Urban Cluster.”

Even though Porto Alegre is on the borderline as far as the current definition of an unreached mega-city, they are going to make a special exception because of the lostness in the area. They are calling us “Special Ops.” We will probably have five missionary units on our team, two of whom will be new (The Whitentons, who got to language school two weeks ago, and the Wards, who are about to start orientation in the USA). There is a possibility that another couple currently in language school could also be assigned to Team Gaúcho. We will be responsible to mentor and lead these units when they arrive in POA. Depending on when we personally transition to the new structure, our new boss will be in Mexico City. So…it looks like we still have a job offer for the near future, but with a new boss, structure, etc. We’ll see what happens!

Blake and Parker got to enjoy a VBS with a cowboy/Western theme put on by the folks from FBC, Oviedo, FL. Their closing program was last night, when Cam and I also received our 10 year service pins from the IMB.

Getting ready to head North to the Southeast

2010-07-15T10:32:00.002-03:00

We've been back in Porto Alegre for less than two weeks, and we're getting ready to head back out. Things are slowly coming together, but we don't want to make any long-term commitments to anything here until we know more from our mission leadership about whether or not they want us to stay in Porto Alegre.

We're leaving tomorrow for a week or so of meetings in Southeast Brazil (a thousand or so miles North of us - hey, we're in the deep South here). The first two days will be at a hotel with the other Team Leaders, and then the rest of the week will be at the Word of Life Camp in Atibaia, São Paulo with the other missionaries working with Portuguese Speaking Brazilians in our area of Brazil.

We know that there is a lot of change going on, including changes in structure, leadership and strategy. Hopefully, after this next week we will have a better idea of what leadership sees as the future for our mission in Brazil.

On a good news note, we got a phone line today - we're still waiting for internet, although now that we have a phone, all of the local internet providers are peppering us with phone calls telling us that they are the provider for our internet service that we don't have and that we can't get it if we don't sign up with them RIGHT NOW! - it's hard to know who is telling the truth.

Back in Brazil

2010-07-09T10:24:00.003-03:00

We're back in Porto Alegre and working on getting settled in.

Since we left our apartment locked up for a year, we came back to the same things out of place, pictures on the wall from the kids that we hadn't seen in a year, etc. It's been sort of a weird time-warp kind of experience.

We got to enjoy nice cold baths the first day (we used to do that all of the time in North Brazil, but it was never Winter there :) Fortunately, we got a guy to come out and fix our water heater the day after we arrived, which was a real blessing!

Our friends the Blumes got our car started, put food in our house, and picked us up at the airport, which helped A BUNCH!

There's still a lot left to do to get life here restarted, but we're getting there!

Thanks so much for all of your prayers - we both need them and appreciate them!

Getting ready to go back to Brazil!

2010-07-02T18:55:00.001-03:00

Dear Prayer Partners,

As many of you already know, we have been enjoying a wonderful furlough here in the US. It has been a great time of re-connecting with friends and family and we are so blessed to have each and every one of you in our lives.

We are frantically packing now to return to Brazil tomorrow night. We will fly out of the Philadelphia airport around 7 p.m. to arrive in Porto Alegre, ironically, on July 4th.

As far as we know, we are returning to our same assignment. Despite major structural changes at the IMB, we are—at least for the time being—headed back to Porto Alegre to our same position.

We ask for your prayers as we return to Brazil:

--for our families as we say goodbye,
--for Café, our cat, as she makes the trip with us,
--for our trip through Brazilian customs. Ideally, we’ll just walk through without any delays, searches, notices, or charges,
--for our arrival at our apartment, which has been closed up for a year in a semi-tropical climate, and
--for our internet and phone service to be connected quickly.

We also ask for your prayers as we return to our ministry in Porto Alegre, that our steps would be ordered by God towards His assignments for us.

And, finally, we ask for your prayers for our mission leadership as they make difficult decisions and announcements in these times that are trying for most people and organizations.

We are so thankful for your prayers. Truly, they enable us to continue to live, serve and minister on the mission field.