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I hate planting seeds. I want to see plants with foliage, flowers, or fruit. Waiting for something to grow is time consuming and boaring. But Paul reminds us that someone has got to plant and someone has to water (see 1 Cor. 3.1-8) and in the end it is God that gives the increase (or really makes things happen!) Last week a short sentence by one of our coworkers set off a series of events that allowed for some serious seed planting. The sentence was this one, "There was a terrible bus accident early this morning and a Canadian family was killed. Only their baby was saved. I think that we have an opportunity here." Fellow missionary, Jan Santos, alerted our mission family, who had gathered in Avaré, SP for our annual family conference, to a tragedy and an opportunity. Earlier that morning Jan's father-in-law, Reg Santos, had suffered a stroke and had been taken to the clinic in town. Jan's husband, Dave (Reg's son) had accompanied his dad and in relating Reg's ...

Pastor Moreno always says that “Every Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday”, (meaning that, as servants of God Almighty, it is the highlight of our week in the proclamation of the Gospel and the Name of our Great God. Sunday is rarely a “travel day”. However, this last Sunday was one of those rare exceptions. I left at 9:15 AM from Calvary to take two families to Curitiba to begin their Bible college experience. I've written about these families before and so this is more of an update than a testimony about how they came to this juncture of their lives. Ronaldo and Adailza and their three sons: Mateus, Lucas, and Tiago, will spend the next two to three years studying for the ministry. Sandro, Gislene, and their sons:Juan and Josue will spend the next five years in that pursuit. As I mentioned in my previous note on these two couples their move is a huge step of faith in God. They will prove His faithfulness in the coming months as they train to serve Him. On the trip down (Ronaldo and Sandr...

Do you remember that famous line from one of the Three Stooges sketches? I realize that most of my audience is above the Three Stooges but I get a kick out of watching them from time to time. Anyway, as the sketch goes a famous lion hunter is about to tell his story, “And there I was...” when SMACK he gets a pie in the face. He begins again, “And there I was...” SMACK another pie and on it goes. It was kind of like that on Saturday night as we began the evening service at our annual Carnaval retreat (this year there were 65 teens who participated). During the week I had put some ideas for my message on paper and had worked out an outline which I printed out to take with me. The retreat theme this year was Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. The messages and devotionals were to revolve around our spiritual walk using these theme elements. My message was on Wind (I guess that someone thinks that I´m an expert on that subject). I meditated on a comparison of the Holy Spirit and Air. My point wa...

I went to do some odd jobs at the church last Thursday and as I worked I noticed four raggedy little heads peering at me from the crumbling fence that separates the church property from the "house next door" (the words are in quotes, because if you saw "the house" you would probably place the words between ? Marks). "Pasthdoor, comeer!" Thadeu, is three years old but he is still sucking a pacifier which makes his "three-year-old Portuguese even harder to understand. "Can we wide your bike?" I had ridden Jackson's bike to work and Thadeu and his siblings: Marcia, Eduardo, and Edson were enthralled! "Our dad had two bikes, but one of them boke and he gave the udder one away." For the next half an hour seven kids (Edson, Marcia, Eduardo, Samuel, Mateus, Jacklyn, and Maria Julia) took turns taking the Schwinn for a spin around the parking lot. I winced a few times as they whizzed by on a rapid rush down the ramp that runs beside th...

January is our very wet, rainy, month and invariably we seem to “fight” the downpours each year during our VBS week. This year God blessed us everyday with just enough sun to keep us dry and going. In fact, every day, He held off the rain until just after our Bible School time. Only on the third day did it look like we were not going to escape without getting drowned. The clouds were ominous (and only if you've experienced a Brazil rain do you know what I'm talking about. Remember the storm scene in the Wizard of OZ?)! It was funny too because our theme was Adventure at Sea! and all of our games were water games. I told Ben, “It can't rain! If it does the kids won't want to play in the water!!” With our trust was in The God who controls the rain clouds (cf. Job 26.8) we got just a few sprinkles at the very end of game time on Saturday (and some blamed those on my weak prayer life! But, if you could have only seen those clouds!)! Praise His Name! Just as we were doing th...

The Dog days of summer are upon us and VBS happens tomorrow! We're going to have an Adventure at Sea and take a look a the life of Paul in the process. Water will be a big part of our game time and we are praying for God to work mightily in the lives of the kids who will visit the church in the next four days. The simple mention of the phrase Vacation Bible School brings back interesting and exciting memories from my childhood. It was (and still is) a BIG deal at First Baptist Church of Lake Orion. In those days Pastor Walter Balagh out did himself each year with strange skits, funny costumes, and neat tricks, to attract more and more kids! We always had cool crafts, fun games, and great themes. It was during those, seemingly less complicated, years that I came to understand my need for a Savior. That was the 50s this is the... what do we call them? The 0s (zeros)? Life is different in so many ways. Kids are so much more "street savvy". That's a bad thing. We all know...

“Dear friends and family, We want to thank you for your prayers and support for our ministry....” How many times have you read those words in a missionary letter? They seem so... general, so impersonal, so emotionless. But here is the missionary's (my) dilema, I want to communicate with each person on my support team. I want that communication to be personal. I want that communication to seem vital and important. I want it to be written personally to you. I want you to know that you are a part of our team; that what we do, we do for Christ, and because of you. I want you personally to know that without you we wouldn't be able to keep doing what we are doing. I would love to put your name at the head of every email, Dear Jack, Wilma, Kent, Sandra, Juan, Steve, Bob, Sylvia, Vicki, Jim, Martha, Rick, Sherry, Ron, Del, Glynn, Greg, Mike, Guy, Tim, Adam, Jeff, Andy, Dan, .... But I can't. I was recently verbally spanked for not communicating more. “What about the people who don...