Skip to main content

João's BACK!

I walked into Sunday School Sunday morning and set my bible down to begin setting up chairs. As I looked up I saw a tall skinny kid walk across the platform. He was helping put out the chairs that needed to be set up.

My jaw dropped as I realized that it was João. I couldn't believe my eyes! I stood there in shock. As I glanced at Alexandre he smiled and said something that I couldn't hear because of all the chairs scraping the floor. He then walked over and said, "João told his dad that he wanted to come back to church and his dad said, 'Do whatever you want.'" With that interaction between João and his dad came the answer to many our prayers!

We were SO disappointed when he was taken from us and now he's back! We're excited. He lead the teens in a flute special this evening and it sounded wonderful. He's on our missions team too (more about that in a second). We're thrilled with God's intervention in his life and we're still praying that his mom, Marcia, will be able to come back too. Pray for Marcia. She is a new Christian that is a bit confused by the whole mess and we'd love to see her back with her son.

team Missions Trip? What missions trip? We are a small church with a Big vision. We are planning on making a trip in July to the small city of Peruíbe, São Paulo. It is a beach town but don’t worry we won’t be swimming much because July is the dead of winter in Brazil. We will be heading down to help a struggling church by putting on a Vacation Bible School. We’ve heard that in past years they have had as many as 250 kids during VBS week. So, there will be work to do. But it is fun to see the excitement on our kids faces as they contemplate the big trip. We’re scheduling it for July 21 – 24. Would you pray with us about those special days?

We are hoping to take the following team: Alexandre, Samuel, Joelma, Dawn, Graziele (not pictured), Michele, Cris (not pictured), João, Maicon, Guilherme and me.

Ann and Gabe Update

They’re still here! Jackson sent the needed paperwork express mail on Wednesday but to this writing (Sunday night) it is still not here. Please pray for God’s timing.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Daughter and dog...

About six months ago we discovered that Ann was pregnant and were very excited for she and Jackson. We will have babies on this side and that of the Atlantic. We weren't prepared for that news and we we were even less prepared for the news that our little dog is pregnant. To date we have spent more on the dog than on Annie (don't tell her... Ann that is). Ann has yet to discover whether her baby is a boy or girl. Both ultrasound images were inconclusive. Though I did some further investigation of my own and was startled with what I found. to me it looks as if the baby is definitely a boy and has some resemblance from both sides of the family. Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think.

Urgent Prayer (part 2)

Does God ever give you a gut punch? He did that just a few days ago when I watched a missionary story from the other side of the world. It was short but poignant, and it punched me in the belly button and brought a few tears too. One thing that shook me was the final statement that the missionary made. He was questioning himself and said, I wonder if what I have done will make a difference. This question comes to a missionary's mind now and again as they ponder how vast God's world is and how tiny one’s work is. As I thought, and identified, with his sentiment, the Lord brought a verse to mind that I had used recently in a youth talk. It was this one in John 12:24, “ Very truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. ” When, in Matthew, the sower sowed his seed, it was the Word of God. Here in John, Jesus indicates that the seed is the life of the servant. Jesus talked of his comi...

Living Up to Expectations

walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called (Ephesians 4.1) I’m sorry but I cannot imagine being primped to be a duke, prince or king! I have always thought of Prince Charles as a big wuss in waiting. His whole life has been spent preparing to be “the next king of England.” This poor guy has gone above and beyond the call of duty in being groomed for a position that Elizabeth II, his mom, doesn’t seem to want to give up. Elizabeth’s mother, the Honourable Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon, lived for 101 years for Pete’s sake! Does Charley have a chance? Doubt it. Why this talk about princely preening? Well my friend it is because we as God’s children are in a similar process. In Ephesians 4.1 Paul goes into some interesting details. He tells us the following. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, The word vocation trips us up. I went through my career at GM working my best so that I would plea...