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Our orchestra is growing and we took it on the road this past Saturday. Our goal was not fame and fortune it was to present our ministry and the need of funds for purchase of land or building. In those regards the journey was a success. We drove two hour and we arrived two hours early because of a miss-communication. Our untimely arrival meant that our final rehearsal would be in van. I say “our” rehearsal because I am now a budding member of the orchestra. Though the rehearsal was a tad cramped it was great to be able to work out some of the final kinks and squeaks. I didn't get an exact count of those present for our presentation but with our team of ten there must have been close to a hundred. Our musical package was short but sweet. Graziele shared her testimony and Alexandre showed a video presentation and preached a message on, “What is a soul worth”. All of these worked together for a poignant evening. There is no guarantee that Igreja Batista da Bíblia (Bible Baptist Chu...

Tais Give me just one job....  It was my job to fill the baptistery at Calvary. We used that church because we don't have our own yet. I was told that it, "takes ALL day long to fill up." I turned on the water at 11:00 AM and let it run. Later that evening I returned to turn it off. As I entered the darkened building something didn't look right. It almost looked as if the tank was empty. But I heard water running. I stuck my arm into the "empty" tank only to find it to the BRIM and overflowing onto the platform! Praise the Lord for wet-vacs. The carpet was still damp on Saturday but that didn't stop the girls from being baptized. The Word was preached and both sets of parents heard the Gospel.  We saw the Lord work in a special way earlier in the week too. Wednesday was Children's Day. It is a BIG deal hear in Brazil and we had an activity for the little ones. There were several kids who made decisions to receive Christ. The Lord gave us perfec...

Graziele / Cris Grazilele (hard to pronounce if you are not a Brazilian) and Cris are getting baptized on Saturday night. Baptism is a big step of faith and these young ladies are ready. Grazi accepted the Lord several years ago when Company C was in it's infancy. She was invited to club by a friend, who has since left, and not long afterwards she opened her heart to the Savior. She is a determined twelve going on twenty year old. When Grazi sets her mind on a task she usually gets it done. Dawn has been teaching her Bible lessons and sewing skills recently and she's noted Grazi's abilities. Grazi plays the recorder in o ur orchestra. Cris is Alexandre's youngest sister. She accepted Christ when her older sister Dani shared her own personal decision a few years back. Cris always has a smile on her face and is a ready helper too. She is quiet but gifted. She is learning to play the violin and is also a part of our growing orchestra. Both of these gi...

Desperate mesausre or "jury-rigging" might lead one to use a couple of pairs of Vice-Grips, some carpet padding and a Swiss Army knife to fix a cello. The Brazilians call it jeitinho Brasileiro which basically means that you use whatever you have nearby to get a job done. There are a shortage of cellos at the school where we are giving English class. One of the precious instruments literally came unglued recently. So Junior gave me the task of gluing it back together. I don't have C-clamps nor those handy little spring-loaded jobs from Home Depot. As I scratched my head thinking about what to do I said, "Father, what can I use?" At that moment my dad's Vice-Grips popped into my thought-cloud. I grabbed my trusty Swiss Army knife, some sandpaper and glue and off I went. I happened to have a piece of carpet pad and I had borrowed the glue from the school. The reconstructive surgery lasted about a half an hour. So, at this very moment there is a cello ...

Some of you have been asking about the land purchase. In fact I got a note from my friend Tom asking about it just this morning. So, I decided to respond to Tom's question and send the note to everyone on my list.  Tom Funny that you should ask about the property. We talked about it last night in our team meeting. We see three options.  We could buy a piece of land near the neighborhood and build.  We could buy a couple of houses that are side by side and remodel or  We could buy just one house and expand as we grow.  We have R$37,000 ($22,000) available to choose our option. We decided last night to pray and ask God for specific guidance as we proceed. We plan to talk to a man next week about option one . There is a huge piece of property next to our neighborhood and we will be asking him to sell us a 600 meter square piece. If he does we will have our land but no money for construction. If the man say, "No" we will consider that God is closin...

And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Acts 2.42 My Tingly moment yesterday was still stinging my neurons when all of a sudden José came up to me and out of the blue said, “Pastor, I want to accept Christ!” Talk about a jaw dropping moment! I had just experienced the Miracle of Music and here was a teen staring me in the face talking about wanting to make an eternal decision. It caught me by surprise and I said, “What? You want to accept Christ?” He shook his head and stared me straight in the eyes with a very serious look on his face. We went to sit down and found a place on the edge of the platform. I sat between Jefferson and Mateus. José sat beside Jefferson and Mateus was on my left. It was kind of a weird arrangement but there we sat. I said, “Is there a problem if we sit here?” Both Mateus and Jeff said that there wasn’t. I said to Jefferson, “You’ve already accepted Christ right?” He nodded that he had. I look at Mateus and said, “You’ve accept...

Have you ever thought about how it would have been to be present at one of Jesus miracles, say the feeding of the five-thousand? We read about the miracles and often don't stop to think about how it might have felt. I imagine that often the crowd didn't even see all of what Jesus was doing because it happened so fast. Think about it just now. You are in a remote place with your wife and three kids and the time has ticked by as you listened to the Master Teacher. All of a sudden you realize that it is late and a long way to the nearest Kroger Store. You are running the options by your wife when all of a sudden one of Jesus' disciples comes by and tells you to go and join that group of forty-five people over there. Scratching your head you comply. About a half an hour later you notice that Jesus' is praying and blessing the food. You can barely make out the source but it looks like a small basket. There's a lad holding it up to Jesus. Another ten minutes pass and t...

A missionary friend sent me the following information that might make your hair stand on end. These are proposals that the current president, Lula, made last November and could well become law during the term of the next president. Read and pray with care for ministry here in Brazil. If you'd like the website for this information drop me an email. Mike The Following pages from 98-100 Strategic Objective V: Guarantee respect for sexual orientation and gender identity. Supporting a bill that provides for civil unions between same sex.... Recommendation: We recommend the Legislature pass legislation to recognize civil unions between same sex. To promote actions aimed at guaranteeing the right of adoption by homosexual couples. Recommendations: It is recommended to the Judiciary to carry out awareness campaigns to prevent bias of judges in cases of adoption by homosexual couples. It is recommended to the Legislature in drafting a bill that guarantees the right of...

After months and months of incessant campaigning it is time to vote here in Brazil. As usual that vote will take place on Sunday. Praise the Lord, in the past the Sunday aspect of the vote has not affected our attendance and I don’t believe that it will this time either. The alarming fact of the voting this term is that Dilma, a former Marxist, is in the lead. She has been campaigning hard, as have all of her opponents. Her advantage has been that she has the full support of president Lula, the most successful president in Brazil’s history, during the entire campaign. With his help Dilma seems to have commanding lead. People that I talk to are NOT voting for Dilma but plan to vote for her opponent José Serra. However, most of the people that I talk to are in the minority both socially and spiritually. Thus theirs might not be the ruling opinion. The National poles show Dilma as a clear victor. As in most elections there have been rumors that if Dilma is elected she will shut down c...