A Look at Sunday

One of the reasons for having this blog is to communicate what our ministries are like. I thought that it might be helpful to you faithful readers out there to know what our Sunday typically looks like - since it is our fullest day.

Our church family gets together in a network of house churches, so this may be a little different than what you are used to. Just to make this a little easier I will give you a run through of our day yesterday. Let's take a look....

Jennifer started yesterday by putting together a lunch with breaded chicken and tomato sauce, accompanied by a beautiful chocolate birthday cake. This last week Claudio (Claude) and Rute (Ruth) both celebrated birthdays. So, we decided to take them and their family (they have 3 girls - Keity, Jennifer & Lhaumar) lunch to show them how much they mean to us. After all was ready we got out the door at around 12:15pm.

We drove to Claudio and Rute's house which is in the little town of Cachoerinha. With little traffic and good driving conditions it takes us 30 minutes to get there. When we arrived yesterday we started off by introducing ourselves to C & R's neighbors. Their neighbors are a young couple with a 5 month old baby boy named Samuel. This little family has really struggled lately with health issues. C & R have really been making a great effort to get to know them.

Jennifer and Elisa went into the neighbor's house with Rute and the girls while I went in and visited with Claudio. Claudio and I talked about how last week went for us and about the neighbors. C shared with me that last Sunday night he and R went over to visit. They talked to their neighbors about our church family and told them that they would be praying for their health and various struggles. Then, Claudio prayed for them. He said that the wife cried the entire time they were visiting and the husband was on the verge of tears. C really felt that this couple had never been shown the love of Jesus before. He was very glad that he was making an impact on them already.

Once the girls got back we decided to start our meal. Rute made bread and rice to share with the chicken that Jennifer prepared. It was a wonderful meal. As we gathered around the table we also shared the Lord's Supper. We each went around and shared a way in which the Lord has been blessing our life. It was really good. Afterward we sang "Happy Birthday" and ate birthday cake.

Everyone enjoyed the meal and birthday cake.

We then had our worship time for about an hour or so. We normally have a Bible study and are currently working through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, but yesterday we just sang our hearts out! As we closed our time together we took up our collection and decided to give it to the neighbors to help them pay for some medications.

At about 2:50 (two hours after arriving) we were out Claudio and Rute's door and on the way home to prepare for our 2nd house church of the day. This one meets in our home at 4pm. We were already pretty tired on the way home, knowing that the day was only half way over. Little Elisa feel asleep on the drive home (this is rare! she usually gets her 2nd wind in the car).

I have no idea how Jennifer took this picture while supporting Elisa's head with my driving! Poor thing was exhausted!

We made it home at 3:30 or so. Within 10 minutes of getting home we had a knock at the door. Tiago (James) and Lili were at the door. They came in and took a seat on the sofa while Jennifer put Elisa down for a nap and I ran all over the house cleaning up the mess we had made earlier (clearing off the table, putting away toys, sweeping, etc). I also made the bread for communion since we were fresh out.

Soon the others had arrived - Paulo Renato, Leni and her son Jorge. Because it is so much hotter these days we met in our living space downstairs that is protected from the hot sun. We sang songs and fellowshipped. We picked up where we had left off in our study of the Sermon on the Mount (same study that we are doing with C & R). This particular lesson was on adultery. It made for some pretty interesting conversation. We questioned and shared and studied. Then we took part in the Lord's Supper together. Our collection normally goes toward the construction of the dormitory at the Chácara (sha-ka-rra).

Our 2nd house church of the day (from left to right: Paulo Renato, Jorge, Jennifer, Lili, Tiago & Leni).

Afterward, Paulo Renato, Tiago and Lili stayed and visited. We had refreshments and good conversation until a little after 6pm. It is not unusual to have people in this house church stay until 7 or 7:30. We were a little grateful by the early departure this day though - just because we were already really tired.

Usually Elisa wakes up and entertains us all with her participation. However, she didn't wake up yesterday until everyone was long gone.

Once the day has come to a winding down point we (Jennifer and me) reflect on the day and how it went; whether we see people growing and maturing in their faith. Some Sundays are great and some are frustrating and of course there are days that fall somewhere in the middle.

We are all learning and trying to do what the Lord is blessing. I am very pleased with how things are going in all the house churches. The Lord is teaching us and stretching us with each moment we share with our church family. We really feel blessed to be involved in such a great ministry.

Thanks, Eastside!

I wanted to take a moment to post a "thank you" on this blog. We have 6 supporting congregations and 1 main sponsoring congregation, Eastside church of Christ.

Yesterday, Eastside had a Missions Sunday. They took the time during their worship to listen to recorded reports and watch presentations from the missionaries that they support. We are very grateful to have been a part of that special time. We hope that Missions Sunday was beneficial to the different works that Eastside is involved in. We know that not every church family does a Missions Sunday, so this is very special to us.

We are blessed to have Eastside as our sponsor and to have all the other churches and individuals who give us support. We look forward to the time we will have in our upcoming furlough to visit with you face to face about the many wonderful things that the Lord is doing in Porto Alegre.

May He bless you in all you do.

Safe and Sound

A few days ago I had the wonderful opportunity to relax and watch a few hours of TV. We lost the remote to the cable box of our TV a couple of months ago, so once a channel has been selected it usually stays there. Luckily, we had turned it to the Discovery channel just in time to see a show that is called "I Shouldn't Be Alive". Each show is an hour long and is based on the true events of a person or people who have found themselves stranded in dangerous situations - looking death straight in the face. It just so happened that on this day the Discovery channel decided to show 4 or 5 hours of different stories. There were stories of people trying to survive a deadly wrong turn in the Amazon; people stranded on an inhabitable deserted island in the Sea of Cortes (surrounded by Hammerhead sharks); and of people stuck in the middle of a crocodile infested river (one guy was bitten, but survived).

I was glued to all of these stories. It was very interesting to see how these people made it through their different ordeals. It got me thinking about how people in the Bible survived difficult situations. I am specifically referring to David fighting wild beasts to defend his flock and Daniel being thrown into the lion's den (among other stories). Does God still protect His people in times like these? When we are in certain peril can we trust in God that all will be well? I'd like to think so. Whether we are lost in the middle of the Amazon or driving the dangerous streets of Porto Alegre late at night - God is watching us and is protecting us. Accidents happen all the time to all sorts of people, but trusting that God can, will and is protecting us is important in our walk. He watched after the apostle Paul on various occasions. I believe that when we are giving ourselves completely over to the Lord, He can keep us safe and sound if he chooses.

Celebrating Prayer

Last Sunday, August 26th, we had our normal last Sunday celebration. Our celebration services are a time that we all look forward to. Normally, our church family meets in 5 different houses each Sunday, but on the last Sunday of the month we all meet in a rented room at a Sports complex in town. This particular celebration was extraordinary (far from normal). On this Sunday we had a special family prayer time. We had couples to lead prayer groups in different parts of the room. As individuals and groups felt the need they went to the different couples for prayer. Some prayer groups were small while others were large. Whatever the size, the effect was the same - overwhelmingly powerful. The power of prayer can be revealing, healing, soothing and even freeing. Maybe everyone at the celebration had a stronger sense of family through our prayer time together. I think it is possible we all left last Sunday's celebration feeling truly blessed to have been in such powerful fellowship with our Christian family.


In addition to the wonderful family prayer time that we had, we celebrated the birth in Christ of Bronwyn Blume. Bronwyn is the eldest daughter of our teammates Kevin and Benay. She was baptized in July while their family was on furlough. It is our church family's tradition to present a gift of a new Bible to members of the youth group who choose to give their lives to Christ. Afterward, all the teens gather to pray for the new brother or sister.

House Church Video

Sorry it has been so long since I last updated this blog. I hope this video makes up for it. It is a run down of the journey that our church family has been through over the last couple of years and shows how things are for us now. I am pretty excited to be able to get it on the web for all to see! Feel free to give me some feedback if you are moved to do so.

God bless you all!

Chácara Dormitory Update

Here is a recent picture to show the wonderful progress that has been made since my last update on the project.

Over the past couple of months the men of the Chácara (drug and alcohol rehabilitation center) have been working on completing a new dormitory in which they will live. We hosted a campaign of Aggies here the first week of June to help us with some of the construction. Since the Aggies have left the men of the Chácara have really been working hard - with little assistance. Our church family has been providing most of the financial support to come up with the materials. This new dormitory has been a great blessing of hope and encouragement for many people associated with the Chácara.

Men's Retreat - "Seeking Adventure"

This past weekend the men of our church family had their first ever Men's Retreat! It was such a great time!

The theme of the weekend was "Seeking Adventure". We are gearing up for a new Men's study using the book "Wild at Heart" and this retreat was just what we needed to get us going. We had great fellowship, some talks on how men need to seek adventure, some awesome food and a fun tournament of "tug-of-war"!

The times that we shared together in our "break-out" sessions after each talk were probably the best part of the retreat. I heard one guy (whom I have known to have marital problems) talk about how he had always viewed his marriage and his relationship with his wife as "a mission". He said that he recognizes now that "a mission has a beginning, a middle and an end. An adventure, however, keeps on going." He continued by saying that he wants to start viewing his relationships and his marriage as adventures. Sure there will be ups and downs - but you fight and keep going.

Hearing guys talk like this really blessed and encouraged us. Not to mention that out of the 16 guys that went on the retreat, 5 haven't yet made a decision to follow Jesus. I think it shows what kind of things the Lord is doing when one-third of the guys on the retreat were not-yet Christians. Praise the Lord!

Please pray that the Lord continue to bless and strengthen our men's ministry. Please pray that the lives, marriages and souls of these men be changed and strengthened through the Holy Spirit.

Sascha telling one of his adventurous stories...

The guys listening to one of Sascha's talks.

Being macho in our "tug-of-war" tournament.

Matt & Sascha got drug through the mud, literally! At least they came in 2nd place!

"Tug-of-War" heroes: Tiago, Renato & Silvio.

Our much anticipated lamb feast. It was incredible!

Chowing down together... baaaaaaah!

Front (knealing): Regis, "Sausage" the dog, Lauro, Spencer, Alexandre, Paul.
Back (standing): Renato, Garigran, Paulo Renato, Matt, Roberto, Ricardo, Sascha, Silvio, Tiago, Jorge.