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We had a safe but slow arrival from Curitiba with baby and all. Just before leaving the city I stopped to put diesel in the van and got a bad batch. So for the last third of the 6 hour trip we could only go about 20 miles per hour. That was fun. But we arrived safe and sound. Ann and Jackson and Gabriel will be in Sorocaba for a couple of weeks (one of which with us). Sunday night we had a different type of service, we sang, had a message on worship, and roasted marshmallows (which none of the Brazilians had ever done before!). It was fun and well attended (54 present). One prayer request. Fenanda, a grand dauhter of one of our members has been visiting for three weeks now and will be leaving for her home in Sao Paulo this Saturday. Pray for Carilinhos and I as we make a visit on her Monday night. We will be presenting the Gospel and would like to see her come to Christ before her return home. Tuesday I will be traveling to Sao Paulo to help Annie and Jackson in the process of gett...

Isn't he so sweet! Here are a few pictures of our first grand son Gabriel Ty Azevedo born on Monday night. Does Jackson look like a proud papa? He is. After her surgery Ann was in the hallway for a couple of hours waiting for a vacant room. Abby is loving her roll as aunt! Ann and Gabriel, both tired. I think that he looks like me! Just kidding. Grandma is really pleased too.

In my journal I wrote "For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given..." Gabriel made his unexpected arrival on Monday night at just after 9:00. I say "unexpected" because we really were not expecting him to come on Monday. We had delievered Ann's ultra sound results to the Doctor and he had decided to keep her at the hospital. However, he had also told her that she probably would not deliever until Tuesday morning. We returned to the apartment expecting a 10:00pm return visit to the hospital and to leave Jackson there to be with Ann during the night. We went about our business, had a bite to eat and waited until about 9:45 to return. As we entered the nurse informed Jackson that the baby had "apparently" been born. We were shocked. How could she have gone from 2 cm to babe in arms in just four hours? It was then that we were told that she had gone cicerian section. Both Ann and Jackson had planned to go natural. They both had participated in cla...

I am at a little dingy cypbercafe, typing this note on a keyboard that sticks so bad I have to double click on the spacebar so as not to misspell everyother word. But, finally it looks as if Gabriel is going to enter the land of the living. We thought that he might be here for my and Ann's birthday. Then it was, the fourth of July, then July 9th (Annie and Jack's wedding anniversary). But as God would have it he will be born soon (either the 16th or early on the 17th). I was reading Psalm 139 just this morning about how that God has planned out our lives from the very beginning! He knows every step that we take and is very concerned with all of the details. Praise His holy Name! I gladly place Gabriel's future in Jehovah's mighty hand. Protect him Father and bring him soon into your family!

The yogurt here is different than the Stateside yogurt. The consistency is something like thick milk. Not milkshake thick but thicker than milk. And the flavor is usually strawberry. Everything strawberry! Along with that difference comes the different names that the products have. There is Coke, Sony, IBM. But, some times we find really funny applications of the English language in product names. We've seen: Snob paper towels, Bob napkins, a car battery called Crawl, a drugstore called Fartos, pop (or soda as you will) called Dolly. But as Dawn went for the yogurt today she said, "Do you think that this will be good?" And we all had a good laugh as we thought about the difficulty of milking a BAT!

A MK is a missionary's kid, a PK is a preacher's kid, and neither are easy roles to fill. Abby (Amy and Annie too for that matter) has the tremendous privilege of being both! Being a PK or MK, I believe, is apt to bring on the BIG-shoes-to-fill syndrome. It is the pressure and trauma of having an aura to fulfill. The same thing happens to movie star's kids (would that be a MSK?). There is the mistaken idea that because the parents are "huge" personalities, the kids are different, and have to be huge too. I grew up in a "normal" family (though some would definitely debate that!). I had a normal job at GM for 22 years. Dawn and I spent many years in "normal" ministry at FBC in Lake Orion, MI . It so happened that God worked in my life to the degree that my family and I became missionaries to Brazil. It wasn't until after our second term that I became aware of the fact that we had an "aura". I never saw it in the mirror for sure! I...

The old joke goes something like this, "Is there a 4th of July in Brazil?" The answer? Of course! Do they celebrate it like the Americans do? No. Their Independence day is on September 7th. So, there are no fireworks, no flags waving, no parades, no "Star Spangled Banners". But, there were some fireworks at the Mormon church last night. What does the Mormon church have to do with the 4th of July? Let me explain. Dawn and I went to make a visit Tuesday night. Guilherme had missed the last two week of my Sunday school class and a visit was long over due. However, as we arrived at his house we couldn't get anyone to answer the door. We clapped and clapped and clapped (no we were not giving a standing ovation because no one was home, in Brazil one has to clap to get peoples attention; iron gates are difficult to knock on). Anyway after clapping several times with no response, even though the house lights were on, it was suggested that we go to the Mormon church to s...

What is a "normal" missionary letter? When you read a missionary prayer letter what are you expecting to see and hear? Someone commented to me the other day that my letters are not your "normal" missionary letters. As I thought about that I wondered, "What makes up a 'normal' missionary letter?" and "Do I want to write a 'normal' letter?" First of all I realize that we are living in a world where reading is becoming a thing of the past. Ask most young people if they like to read and you will have very few that say they do. Throw into the pot the words "Missionary Prayer letter" and the percentages will drop drastically. Missionary prayer letters are interesting to those involved in the ministry. Not just pastors, but people like you who read letters (or in this case Blogs) like mine. Though you trudge through names like Zelha, Alenildes, Itapetininga, or Barueri, as you might when reading the book of 1 Chronicles you are...