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Showing posts from May, 2007

As Promised

The ladies (Abby adn Dawn) are home from their visit to see Annie and Jack and here are three pictures of the adventure. The first two are of the shower held by their home church Salem church. There was a great turn out (even Kristen Alexander was able to be there) and Gabriel got a lot of nice things. It was a wonderful show of love. The third picture is self explanatory. Do you think that she will last until July? I hope that she has it on our (Annie's and my) birthday which is June 30. That would be neat. Of course a 4th of July baby would be ironic and Dawn's birthday is July 27. We'll see what the Lord has in mind in just a little while.

Seminary Excitement?

Seminary and excitement are two words that don't seem to go together. Unless, that is, you are really excited about serving the Lord. Ronaldo has really been realizing God's call on his life lately. His salvation story is really incredible and I'll have to have him share it with you in a future update. God brought this man from the brink of destruction to Salvation as only He can and Ronaldo is seeking God's perfect direction and will for he and his family. He lacks two years of seminary training and would like to complete that at our seminary in Curitiba as soon as God opens that door. Currently the family is living on a shoestring ($384 per month!) so God's provision will definitely be needed. The other day he called me and said, "Pastor, I had the day off today and said to myself, 'I'm not going to just sit around and do nothing today. I'm going to hand out tracts in my neighborhood!'" So for the next few hours he did just that and had t

Delivery Day!

No it is not what you might expect. Annie's baby didn't arrive early, that delivery is not until July. Yesterday, Carlinhos and I took our Juniors class to Carapicuíba (try saying that one with a mouthful!) to deliver the Bible that we bought two weeks ago. We were able to participate in their Junior High youth group which was fun for our kids. And when we presented the Bible, Lucio told us that just a couple of weeks ago both his and his wife's Bibles had been stolen! We were all amazed to see God's timing in our missionary gift presentation. Sorry that there are no pictures of the event but I gave the camera to Dawn to take to Curitiba so that she could take pictures of Annie's baby shower. More on that later.

FANS!

While the Bob Jones soccer team was with us last week I noticed how often the girls were attracted to different members of the squad. Not that any one of them, the team members that is, sought that attention, it just happened. In the video below you will notice the pandemonium at one of the schools in the after game autograph session. One of the girls asked me, "Are they soccer players or are they models?!" Another one said, "I think that the number one qualification for being a part of this team is that you have to be cute!" In the excitement of having a whole team of young men from the United States I even heard the the lady director of the one of the schools say, "They are lovely!" My take on this seeming undue attention of course could be attributed to many and differing factors but a large part of it, in my opinion, is the lack of a father figure in the lives of most of these kids. They're starving for attention. When the teams come and the studen

Coach

Gil Fremont is the coach of the Bob Jones Ministry Soccer team that was with us for a few short days last week. Gil and I had opportunity to talk a bit during that time and it was a refreshing conversation. Gil has a heart for missionaries and missions. He longs to be here with us ministering to Brazilians. He has brought young men here as a part of the soccer ministry for the last seven years and during those visits God has laid Brazil on his heart. "I have had players go to various fields all over the world but none to Brazil. My burden is here! I'd like to start an orphanage or home for girls who live on the street." We would love to have a man like Gil and his wife working with us. Pray for God's continued direction in their lives.

We SURVIVED the BJ Team!

It is always an exciting but exhausting time when the BJ Soccer ministry team of seventeen arrives in Sorocaba. It was three action packed days of ministry and fun. At our estimate they were in 25 different classes in the public school system, they played I don't know how many games of soccer, they "talked" to numberless (or so it seems) kids and adults, and kept us running right along with them. It was a good time of seed planting and we pray that the Holy Spirit's work will bring a future harvest of souls because of it. Pray for them as they minister in three different cities in the next two and a half weeks. In the photo Eddie gets his picture taken by one of the girls with a cell phone. In the video below Dave Doran jr. gets robbed by one of the blind players!

BJU vs YMCA

The Y here in Sorocaba is a college for students wanting to further their education in the area of physical fitness. They also have activities for anyone interested in joining the association. It is a far cry (as is the Y in the States) from the original organization started by D.L. Moody back in the late 1800s. I jokingly call it the Yoga Meditation Club of America. Sad but true. The BJ Uinversity team played the Y team and beat them. They sang and shared testimony too. They also spent the afternoon in another public school where they spoke to over two hundred students. Friday night they played various make up teams of teens and adults that showed up at church. Tomorrow they will be playing a blind team at the other chapter of the Y in the center of town. After the message on Friday night given by Dave Doran Jr. Bárbara came to me expressing doubts in her salvation. She later bowed her head and asked Christ to save her!

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer!

In fact our day was NOT spend playing soccer as you might have expected with the Bob Jones University soccer ministry team here with us for four days. It was spent in ministry. The team ministered all day in the public school just meters away from our church. They sang in English, Portuguese, and gave testimony of Christ saving love in fourteen different classrooms in both the high school and the junior high. They played several games of soccer during the break time between classes. Hundreds of kids came to the court to watch the games and cheer for the Americans. It was amazing to realize what was happening. The Gospel was being shared and kids were paying attention. I had the privilege of translating for several of the classes and was blessed to be able to help these young men share their hearts with the Brazilian people. Pray for us tomorrow as we enter another public school near the church. This evening their ministry paid off with around a hundred kids present at church to watch..

Special Week

The weekend was a special one for two reasons. On Saturday we stood up for Juliana as she married Mario at Calvary. The wedding was lovely and we praise God for the miracle that only He could have orchestrated in putting this young couple together. Mother’s Day was very special at Hope. We had good attendance both morning and evening. Abby has been working on a cookbook for the last few weeks as a school project and she gave it out to each mother present last night. Along with the book full of their own favorite recipes they received a photo that I had taken of their family yesterday morning. The mothers and daughters sang as a choir and there were special numbers by Kristen, Emily, and Hana Alexander (trio), the bell choir, and Adailza and Jan on the piano. It was Adailza’s first “solo”. Abby and I took Mom out to Chinese for dinner (three Americans, eating Chinese, in Brazil, talk about a cosmopolitan meal!). We each got a “Fortune cookie”. Two of the three were right on: “All of you

Carlinhos and Mara

We are in our sixth month in our study with Carlinhos and Mara. We have seen growth and are pleased with what God is doing in their lives. Last night Carlinhos told me that he can't get the idea of becoming a part of a church planting team off his mind. With his past as a preacher hater that is quite a transformation! We will be finishing our study in just three weeks. Both he and Mara are in the process of becoming Sunday school teachers.

Missionary Work!

For five months my Juniors have been saving their nickels, quarters, and dollars, to buy a special Bible for a missionary. It is the Child Evangelism Bible, recently translated into Portuguese, with tons of resources in it. It is an excellent tool that every missionary (or Sunday school teacher for that matter) should have. The cost? R$98.00! That is more than most of them have ever seen in their young lives. During the weeks of saving it has been fun to watch them counting the change, adding it up, and being anxious to give more. The day finally came, last Sunday, when we reached our grand total goal of R$101.50! So, I set a time for the class to go into town to pick up the special gift. There is a really nice little bookstore called Imago Dei (the Image of God) which has many good books and several that I would love to be able to purchase for our class library. We're praying to that end, that God would open someone's heart for a book purchase. Anyway, we went to the store an

No Guarantees!

I talked with Annie this morning. She and Jackson are doing fine. They are experiencing the rush of a semester filled with papers and tests as well as the coming of little Gabriel in July. On Monday morning Ann called about “Lamaze” classes and was told that they started that night at 7:30 and if they weren't a part of that first class that Jackson would not be able to witness the birth. She panicked as she thought about how they would get to the class but as the day went on the details were worked out and they left that evening for the hour-long journey. When they arrived they noticed that there was no one in the waiting room but they waited for further instructions. At 7:45 Ann asked when the class was to begin, “O there is no class tonight. The lady who was supposed to lead it didn't show up. Sorry about that.” Welcome to life in Brazil. So, Annie had the receptionist sign her name to the list stating that they had tried to be a part of that “First, all important Class” and