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We are a fickle bunch. We often talk of God's blessings and rightly so. He blesses us daily and moment by moment. Each breath and heartbeat are blessings from our father. We talk about how we trust in him for our guidance and strength. We are very confident and bold in our proclamations of faith, when all is well.  But let something go amiss and watch out. We forget the blessings and want immediate attention and action. We become the focus of our universe. There is none more important than us.  Maybe I am talking to myself here. Maybe I am the only one who feels like this. However, I don't think so. We even see this atitude in many of the people who were cured by Jesus. They came in desperation and fell at his feet, needing something that only he could provide.  I sometimes wonder where all these people were on crucifixion day? Where were the 5000 and the 4000. Where were they all when Jesus needed them? The eleven? What happened to them? They didn't even stay awake when ...

This is not about: Chip, Robbie or Mike. It isn't that nice of a dysfunctional family. But how about these names: “See, a son”, “One who hears”, “Attached” and “Praise”. Oh wait, that is four names. Again I return to the strange family chosen to birth the nation of Israel. Theirs is a sad story. Jacob is fooled into “marrying” Leah, the older, uglier daughter of uncle Laban. He was such a nice uncle. He always looked out for... number one. You know the story, right? Jacob fell in love at first sight with Rachel. He decided to accept Laban’s offer of working for seven little years to earn her as his wife. Those years passed SO fast that he almost didn't notice them. Then came the big wedding night. Finally it was payday. But early the next morning, there was Leah! Can you imagine his surprise as he sees his beauty for the first time with her veil removed. Her crossed eyes looking in two different directions. It was jaw dropping fun. I am sure that there was shock, sadness and th...

The seller is very anxious to sell and we are anxious to buy but our lawyer friend has the level-head and we are proceeding cautiously. Purchasing land here can be a tricky venture. I will be meeting with the seller this morning to put down a sizable deposit on the two lots and I should learn more about finalizing the purchase as well. We would appreciate continued prayer protection on this important event in the history of our young church!

The time between Christmas and New Year’s Day is weird! Just a week ago Sunday we had over a 100 in church to see our Cantata 2010 . This past Sunday we had 19. What was that all about? Was your church service sparsely populated too? We attributed the lack to the Holidays. Tomorrow we will be taking a group of 21 Juniors and Teens on a hike . Our Omega group from Bible Club earned this hike by doing their best in their Bible memory work. We’re going to a farm about an hour away where we’ll spend the day. We discovered this farm via our Cantata. One of the ladies who was watching at the supermarket was really thrilled with our kids. We made a visit on her and she and her husband offered the use of their farm for a day. So, we’ll be spending Wednesday with this family and an American guest who is staying with them. This will give us a great opportunity to share Christ with them. Friday night we will be going to Calvary Baptist Church to pray in the New Year. We will also be baptizi...

Saturday was Green Day at Bible Club! My team worked really hard and because of their excellent effort we finally WON first place for the day. With that win came our first Gold Star! The only problem was that it was the last day of competition before the graduation ceremony to Delta Sector. That happens next Saturday. The kids memorized Ephesians 6.10-17 and all that can say it next week in front of everyone will be promoted to that new level of fun. Mother’s Day was special too. We had a great attendance for the second annual Dessert afternoon. There were sixteen mothers present and several family members. Dawn counted eighty-four total! The above pictures the kids giving their moms little presents that Joelma and Dawn had made for them The Lord is at work but the news is not all good. A mom raised her hand at the invitation on Sunday, two kids came to talk to me about accepting Christ on Saturday after club. Those are good signs. The bad news came when one of our faith...

Our Bible club has been exciting recently after nearly dying. We were down to around 25 kids when Alexandre came up with the idea of changing our theme. We went from “normal” club to Sector Alpha! Just like that. As I mentioned in a previous post we have a weekly Mission that we have to work on as a team. Last week’s task was to bring five kids with the same name to earn our 5000 points and complete the mission. Even though we fell one kid short we still had TWO Grazieles and TWO Jonatas. Three of the four were nearly yanked from their homes by our own Graziele (left). She is our little missionary and always ready to seek out that unknown kid. GREEN came close to winning our first Gold Star but the blue team took the day again. We had over 60 kids at club. The mission has already been given for this week and it included a bombshell for Sunday. All of the kids that came to club on Saturday had to return Sunday morning for Sunday School. EVERY ONE OF THEM or NO points were giv...

Yesterday, Tuesday, we had our first Bible study with Marcia (left to right: Dawn, Jonatas, Marcia and Joelma, our coworker). She had informed me earlier that it was her birthday and so Dawn made a birthday cake. She celebrated her ___ years with the FIRST (yes first!) birthday cake she has ever had! Man that is hard for me to believe. I’ve been spoiled with about 56 in my lifetime! During the study she related time and again how confusing her religious past has been. At one point she said, “ I have been in church since childhood and NONE of my pastors have ever told me how I could have the Holy Spirit’s peace until you all shared it with me just two weeks ago !” She also had many good questions about spiritual things. Marcia has four sons. It was her teen son João that got baptized just three weeks ago and we are seeing God begin to move in this family. The oldest, Josué (Joshua), is a big 250 lbs teddy bear and is in my juniors Sunday school class. He just LOVES his teacher and...

  We had a great weekend of activities at Faith Baptist of Sorocaba. Saturday night we took six teens to a youth rally at Hope. There were over a hundred teens there to hear a great challenge from the Word. Earlier on Saturday afternoon we had over fifty kids at Bible Club. Many had participated in club in the past but had left for one reason or another. The club's new theme has a "Mission Impossible" type emphasis. Each week the three teams get a "Mission" that they have to work out during the week. On Saturday they come with either a successful or a failed mission. Success brings boo-cu points and failure brings latrine duty! The Green team (mine) did really well Saturday but we were edged out by the blue team 1300 to 150. The Red team got latrine. During club a little boy showed up that I wasn't exactly excited about having. He is a little "demon" or at least that is what I've heard. His name is Alex. He lives next-door to our newest ...

We had a wonderful week! It's great to be able to spend this special time of the year with good friends.  Wednesday we visited João’s mother Marcia. João was baptized last week and his mother was touched by the message. During the visit our coworker Joelma shared her testimony and Marcia made a profession of faith! That was a VERY great start to the Easter weekend. Friday we showed the film Thief in the Night . Do you remember that movie? It was hard for me to get over the goofy clothing and old cars. Did we really look like that back in the 60s? Our group, however,  thought that it was a very interesting film and they had questions about Christ’s return. It was a rainy night but we still had ten that watched and ate popcorn. Saturday at Club we had about 38 kids and teens on another rainy day. Bible  Club is in a bit of a transition. We now have three teams in what is called the Alpha Sector ! The teams will compete for rewards, special outings and a promotion t...

Just a few days ago I posted our 2005 Nissan Quest for sale. I want to thank those of you who prayed for that sale. It was completed on Sunday. The story of this car is one of God's willingness to bless us. I shared it with a friend so I thought that I should share it here. So, here it is. The car story is just a "simple" story of God's care for people like me. About a year ago when I sent a prayer request to my e-mailing list about our need for a car, my sister responded and wondered if we would like to use her husband Bruno's Quest. He had passed away and the car was setting unused in her driveway. I quickly accepted her offer. Because of our need to insure it here in Michigan she had to sell it to us (she "sold" it for a token amount of $1.07 with the seven cents being New Jersey state sales tax). We have driven it for nearly a year and loved it. It was the best car that I have ever owned. When the economy went sour I wondered (doubted) if we would ev...