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            Sunday Alexandre announced the first annual Music Recital for his students. He has nine who will be participating in either piano or recorder. For kids who didn't even know what a musical note was just a few months ago this is a huge accomplishment! Recital and Habiteto are such contrasting terms. The two words don’t seem to go together. Alexandre isn’t bothered by that misconception. He is so right. When you think about it Habiteto and Gospel don’t go together either. But it is just the Gospel that will make Habiteto a habitable place to live. We’ve seen that change already taking place.   I was talking to a music teacher the other day and he commented on what a change had taken place in Maicon’s life since he had started going to church. I told the teacher that it was the Gospel that had made that difference. It is making a great difference. Alexandre has been working with a group of kids over several months. He has had some pi...

Yesterday at our special Father’s Day activity we had several men. Granted three of them were from Hope and Calvary and three others were “pastoral” staff but it was SO good to have men! We were very excited to have eight from the neighborhood. They seemed to enjoy their time with us and the afternoon was a great time of fun and preaching. There was a puppet show, the kids put on a play; directed by Maicon. The children’s choir sang with the flute troupe and a cello violin trio. Sounds hard to believe but it was great. There also was food. How could it have gotten any better? Overall there must have been  fifty participants. It was fun. One sad aspect, however, was that some of our faithful kids had no family members at this important event. I heard from at least three little ones, “ How can I invite my dad to come when he is in prison? ” What do you say to that one? I said, “We’ll adopt you for the day!” but they didn’t come. Pray for us as we do follow-up on the dads that vis...

We met with the owner of the two houses on Seventh Street and the guy wants $40,000. That seems to have been a deal breaker because we were thinking more in the neighborhood of $20,000. So if you were me what would you do? Get mad? Be sad? Cry? Or, pray some more? No, I mean seriously, what would you do? We have saved half of that money and to tell you the truth we don’t think that the two houses are worth that much. It is the location that makes these houses ideal, however, and thus our dilemma. I remember an illustration years ago where Dr. Bob Gray saw a piece of property that he wanted for his College in Jacksonville, FL. There were some complications and it looked like the deal wasn’t going to happen. However, after reading the story of Joshua, Dr. Gray decided to march around the property seven times kneeling in prayer after each trip. He ended up getting the land.  I personally think that he got his dispensations mixed up but it made for a great story. Is that what...

We are going to be looking at a couple of houses in the neighborhood this afternoon. We are asking for God's clear direction as to whether to purchase them. They are located in what seems to us an ideal location. For those who have visited us, the houses are on the first street parallel to the main road leading to the neighborhood (Itavuvu). We were initially going to buy land and have saved around R$33,000 toward that goal. We are praying for God’s fair price on these two houses, which we think should be in the neighborhood of R$45,000. If you also would pray for God’s direction with us we would greatly appreciate your support. We will be meeting with the couple right after Bible Club which ends at 5:00pm. Thanks for your help. We truly appreciate each one of you!

For the second time in as many months our teens were invited to participate in a youth activity at Calvary Baptist . Mario and Juliana were there and in fact it was Mario who was coordinating the evening. It was great to see both Juliana and Mario in action serving the Lord with their varied talents. Mario had spend a lot of time during the week making up a, “Treasure-hunt, monster-chase, cops and robbers” type game that involved, a treasure map, hidden money and keys and a jail! And all of this in the dark. How much better could it get? Well how about throwing in a killer gorilla and about six policeman (one with a machinegun no less). The kids were very excited about the game as they were being divided into three teams and figuring out their strategy. The lights went out and the fun began. While all of this was going on Dawn and I chatted with Ju. She related how that she and Mario have moved seven times in the last few years since their marriage. They are back in Sorocaba and se...

Just after our five day trip to Curitiba we came back to a full day’s kid’s retreat on Wednesday. We had over 50 kids and adults from our three churches and had a blast. The kids always love the pool and even tough it was cold they spent hours swimming. Pastor Wendel from Hope Baptist brought the challenge from the Word and there was enough hamburger, French fries and beans and rice for all to fill our bellies. The retreat ended late Wednesday night and Vacation Bible School started the next day! Fun. We averaged 90 kids each of the three days. We had good singing and our theme was the Wordless book with each days story emphasizing a different color. Our games were nearly suicidal with that many kids and all of it was done in the outdoors. It made for some interesting background noise. Three boys and girls made professions of faith and we had four new visitors on Sunday because of the effort. MAN AM I POOPED!

Last week I did something that I have never done before. I went looking for support in a Brazilian church. This time, however, I was part of a Brazilian missions team. It was the handsome team on the left. Alexandre, Maicon, João, Guilherme and Graziele. Habiteto is a close community in a very different way. Many of it's inhabitants don't travel very much. One of our kid's mom hadn't left the city for twenty-five years. So when these kids were told that they had been picked to go on a five day long trip six hour from Sorocaba they were ecstatic! Each paid their own way and were required to share their testimony and play their flutes at several churches. It took a lot of work and courage but they each did a great job. While in Curitiba our kids had a rare treat. We went to the mall. Do you know a 13 year-old teen who has never been to the mall? It is rare in the States but not here. Guilherme had never been to a mall and between the others there were a total of three...