End of April

As we come to a close to April winter approaches here in Brazil and the drought season begins in this area. The weather is dry and hot during the day and cold at night. It has been nice to have cooler nights to sleep in!

This past week we had five different evangelistic events in the rural communitees. All went well and we figure some two hundred adults, teens and children were impacted. God has continued to open some great doors so that we can go in with Bible teaching events. Thanks for your prayers!

Real Easter

This week we visited three rural elementrey schools and spent four hours in each teaching the real Easter story and coordinating fun activities related to Easter. It was awesome and all went well. It was great to see kids and parents get a better grasp of all that Jesus did for us on the cross. For the next couple of weeks we will be visiting schools in the rural area, coordinating Bible studies in town and in rural area and working on a small irrigation project for around June. Please be praying for wisdom, protection and fertile ground for the Gospel to grow in.

Guess who showed up?!?

God blessed us on tuesday (15th). Telma was getting dirty clothing out of the laundry basket when all of a sudden she saw a scorpion in the middle of the clothing! If she had been bit it would of been a painful experience similar to childberth with no anestetic! Not to mention how dangerous it is for the little ones. We all got together after the scare and thanked God for His protection!!!

This month we had carnival holiday which means that nothing works for 10 days. We made visits to friends we have made in the rural areas we have visited and worked on material for the next series of Bible lessons for the kids in the rural schools we will be visiting.

The theme for the next series of classes has to do with Easter. We want every child to understand that Easter has nothing to do with easter chocalate eggs or a bunny that lays them?!? Any ways the material is ready and we are set to go.
It has rained a lot here these past days and the dirt roads have become strips of mud. We had to cancel 2 events this week because of mudslides on the roads. Next week we have 3 events scheduled so we are praying for no mudslides on roads. Thanks for your prayers!!!

February flying by!!!

Mens gathering at remote village

This month of February we have visited many houses as we work alonside a local association that promotes childrens rights and tries to help families in the rural areas. This year their goal is to promote family values and we are working alongside them as event organizers and Bible teachers in the visits and in the events that involve children, mothers and fathers.

Telma has given Bible studies in various womens meetings in the rural areas and I have worked with he visits to these families homes and with the events for the fathers.

This work is very hard since the men in these rural communities are very closed to outsiders and are very suspicious of anyone who visits them. We have had success though and many men have participated in the "social events" we have organized for them. These are gatherings where they get to play dominos and cards and after a small snack hear the gospel, presented in a very smooth way of course. The results have been awesome and the association we are working with has been very glad with the never before seen results! Praise God.

Anyways that is what is going on these days. For next month we will continue with these visits and be working on five childrens evangelistic events at 5 rural area elementry schools.

Thanks for your prayers!!!

Prayer letter February 2011

Dear friends and family,
Our life is like a cheese. Trouble is that there are mice that want to eat away at this cheese called our life. These mice are sent by a thief whose only aim is to steal and kill and destroy (John 10:10) our lives. These mice have different names such as vice, fear, hate, disobedience, bad words etc. Each time we let one of these mice come into our lives, they start to chew away at our life. Slowly they destroy us and make us ugly and filthy. But that is not the end of the story! There is a person who wants to save us from these foes! This person is Jesus and He comes to give us life and life in abundance (John 10:10)! As we read the Bible we set mouse traps around our lives so that when these mice come they get caught as the Truth we learn from the word of God catches their lies. As we pray we let cats into our lives and these chase the persistent mice away. As Jesus helps us to purge our lives from these mice the pieces they tore away are replaced by God’s forgiveness! Who wants Jesus to come into your life and chase the mice that are chewing away at it? Jesus wants to give you life in abundance today!

This was the Bible story we used for the entire month of January as we visited 13 villages and spent the day with kids, teens and mothers from these areas. Over 500 people were impacted and all heard the clear message of the Gospel. We would arrive at these distant villages in the morning and leave in the late afternoon.

Not only did we give the Bible lesson and teach Bible songs but we also organized group games, individual challenges and ate lunch and dinner with these dear people. For most of these children this was the only time during vacation that they would hear a Bible story and participate in a day of fun and games! It was a very busy month but God was faithful as always and took care of us.

We are adjusting well to our new home and the Boys have started school already. We traded the car that had been loaned to us for a 2001 Land Roved Defender 110. This vehicle has proven to be a huge blessing since roads here are very bad and our other car could not withstand them. We have carried up to 18 people in it!!!

We have many challenges ahead of us for this year; working on evangelism in distant villages, me finishing my Moody Bible Training (Final tuition need 1,500), us joining Pioneers Mission Brazil and furlough in the US (Airfare need 7,000). As you know we postponed the furlough trip to the US to the end of this year. We plan to be in the US from November 2011 to February 2012. Together we will conquer all these challenges with God’s help!

God bless you and your family and thank-you for your participation in the work here!!!

Great January!

Yesterday we finished our 13th childrens event for the vacation month of January. It was a very busy month since we are still getting used to our new town and were gone 3 days a week running these day long events. We averaged 40 to 50 kids per event, plus some parents that were present. So out of 13 events we were able to share the Gospel to over 500 kids from distant rural areas! The games and activities we also developed for these kids were also a highlight of their vacations. Thanks for all your prayers for these events!!!

At full speed.

The visits to the rural comunities has gone very well and produced many fruit. It has been great to travel the dirt roads to eventually get to these small villages were 20 to 50 kids are waiting for you to arrive. Many parents are present in these programs and also hear the Gospel. Our goal is to sit down in February and choose five to eight of these comunities visited to be visiting several times monthly working with kids, teens and mothers. Continue to pray for the rest of the events we have for this month.

Back in action.

After spending the holidays with family and friends we are back to our new home.
We were gone for 10 days and were pretty tired from the 16 hour drive up (split in 2 days).
A big blessing was that Telmas brothers let us use a Land Rover Defender 110 for the work we will be doing up here. We left the other car they loaned us there and drove this more reliable vehicle for dirt roads up. It has already been a big blessing as we have to drive out to little comunitees that are hard to reach due to bad dirt roads.

Matheus and Max remained with my parents to spend the month of January with them. They will be attending camp and spending lots of time with grandpa and grandma.

Telma and I are busy with 13 days of Vacation Bible school in 13 different small villages. So far we have had two of these events and the results were great. The theme is John 10:10. It has been a privaledge to teach these children. Telma and I run the recreational activities, then Telma plays the guitar and teaches the songs for the Bible lesson, after that I give the Bible lesson and after that we pray with the kids.

Please pray for protection and for the Holy Spirit to touch the hearts of parents and children as only He can.

Merry Christmas!

We are at my parents house. It was a 16 hour trip.
It is great to be with them and see my two brothers and new niece.
It has been a couple of years since all three of us have been together.
We will be here until the 27th then we go to Telmas family for several days. We hope to be back home on the 31st. For January we have 13 day camps scheduled in 13 different villages!

May you have a great time celebrating the birth of our Saviour!

We made it!!!

After four weeks of intense preperation and lots of work we are finally here in Virgem da Lapa! The move went very smoothly and we are thankful for all your prayers! The house is pretty much assembled and the Kids and Telma are doing well!
Next week we will be giving a training for the staff od 3 local organizations that work with poor folks from the vast rural area of these parts!
I will try to put some pictures up o the blog for you to see later on this week!