Ricardo

One-on-one Bible studies is something that I enjoy immensely. I have grown lasting friendships with many of the people that I study the Bible with. For the last 13 months I have been studying and working through the book of Acts with Ricardo. Yesterday we finally finished Acts! Next week we will begin studying the life of David, starting with Samuel and Saul.

Ricardo first came to our church in June of 2005 to participate in LST (Let's Start Talking). He was really reclusive and I percieved that he didn't have much confidence in himself. A year ago, Ricardo would act surprised if you treated him with respect or if you were friendly toward him.

Over time, and I believe through our study, Ricardo warmed up to those of us he interacts with at the church building. He is a completely different person than he was when I first met him. A few months ago Ricardo asked that we end each study with a time of prayer. I love that I didn't need to bring prayer up in conversation and then suggest that we try it. I love even more that we saw responses to our prayers almost immediately! He saw how it worked for the Christians in the book of Acts and he wanted to experience it. He wanted to grow his relationship with God.

Ricardo has allowed the Word to touch him. He always acts very intrigued with what we are reading. Whenever he sees something powerful that the Lord did in the book of Acts, while he is reading, he will say "bhaaa!" in mid-sentence. It is great! I praise God for my friendship with Ricardo. Over the last year and one month he has taught me to be patient and to let the Word of God speak. I pray that the Lord would continue to bless my life with people like Ricardo and that I would in some way be a light to him and to others. Studying with Ricardo has been so fulfilling and fun that I hope I study with him for the duration of my life in Brazil.

Baptisms!

We have had several baptisms this year! Four of them have been within the last month! Miguelina and her daughter Daniela were baptized by Matt Rehbein on July 30th and husband and wife, Roberto and Moema, were baptized by Kevin Blume this last Thursday, August 17th. We had 2 other baptisms in April; Ygiani and Adriana gave their lives to Christ!

Benay speaks to Moema before Kevin prepares to baptize her
and her husband, Roberto.
Their Growth Group was there to give encouragement.
August 17,2006

Matt hugs Daniela after baptizing her and her mother, Miguelina.
July 30, 2006

Kyle reads scripture before baptizing Ygiani and Adriana. Friend and church member, Leni, gives encouragement.
April 9, 2006

New Blog...

Hello! My wife, Jennifer, and I were pretty consistent in sending out monthly newsletters via email to let everyone know what was going on with us here in Brazil. Needless to say, that hasn't happened in quite some time. I have decided that creating a new blog might be just the thing to keep you all up to speed with our ministries and lives. I hope it works! Stay tuned for posts and changes as I get this blog up and running.