The Beauty of a Newborn Babe!

Camilla is only 3 days old!

Today Jeff and I made visits to families in need with one of our Brazilian partners in a neighborhood close to our home.  We delivered food (rice, beans, flour and sugar) and diapers to the mothers and children that participate in the Genesis program.  The church also provided a refrigerator and a bed to families in need.

We also had many opportunities to pray with these mothers and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  The woman above is pregnant and on bed rest until her child is born.  We shared the gospel with her and she said she had heard about Jesus once when she was a child from her aunt.  

In February this local body-of-Christ will be starting a bi-weekly service and prayer time in this neighborhood and we desire to participate in this outreach.  Please pray for new disciples of Jesus Christ to be raised up in this neighborhood. 

1 John 3:17, "If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?"

Reaching out to the needy in Rio,

Diane and Jeff

Preach, Pray or Die....

You’ve heard the old missionary adage…”Always be ready to preach, pray or die”.

Tonight we went to visit our Brazilian partners in the Terreirao for their Wednesday night service.  We were anxious to spend some time afterwards with this pastor and his wife, as they are passing through some challenges at this time and we wanted to pray with them and encourage them.

As the congregation was waiting for the pastor to arrive,  Jeff felt led to begin to teach from 1 Samuel 16:1-13, which we have been studying in our morning daily devotions.  Before we knew it, we had worshipped, studied the Word, spent time in discussion and prayer, and closed the service.  The pastor of the church never showed up!

Upon leaving after the service, Jeff checked his phone for messages and received one from this pastor asking Jeff to lead the service because he would be unavoidably detained and unable to make the service.

We’re getting good at always being ready to, “Preach, Pray, or Die”!

Loving Brazilians and their spontaneous culture,

Diane and Jeff

Intensely Brilliant Lives for Christ!

Occasionally,  we are asked why we do what we do here in Rio.  Sometimes we are even asked what we do here in Rio.  It’s very simple….Why?  We love to see transformed lives because of Christ!  OUR lives were forever changed because of Christ!  What?  We bring the Good News of Jesus Christ!  That’s where our hearts are…

Okay, there’s a lot more strategy behind it and if you want to send us an e-mail to ask a question,  or meet with us when we’re in the States, we’d love to share it with you!

We live an intense life here in Rio.  That’s no secret.  As Midwesterners, it’s intense!  We see things that we NEVER saw growing up in Minnesota.  Daily, we see hurting people.  We see guns, prostitution, drugs and attempts from the enemy to destroy lives.   And I’m glad we live intensely here!  Because one day, every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! And we will have the chance to give account for our lives, how we responded to the gospel, and how we chose to use the gifts that the Lord gave us.

Revelation 3:15-18 says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked”.

We have NO business being here in the flesh in this strange land and many times we can feel that we are not wanted here.   However, we have EVERY business being here in the Spirit and in the authority of Jesus Christ!  And we will stay until our Commander-in-Chief calls us elsewhere.  We stand firm in the strong name of Jesus, and work hard at the work to which He has called us---to offer the hope that is found only in Jesus!

So, like I said, we see things here that we NEVER saw growing up in Minnesota!   We see God do the IMPOSSIBLE!  We see a beautiful people group that can shake a building with abandoned enthusiasm as they praise and worship Christ!  We see people come out of horrific circumstances and shine brilliantly for Christ!  He is the only one that is worth this!  We are privileged to see lives transformed from ugliness and despair into INTENSELY BRILLIANT adopted sons of Christ!

Please pray with us for lives to be plucked from death and into life as we work to spread the gospel here in this BEAUTIFULLY INTENSE city!

Feeling the warmth of His brilliant Sonshine today,

Diane and Jeff

Servants of the Most High

John 15: 4 "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itselt; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."

We had an awesome time studying God’s Word today and worshipping with our brothers-in-Christ from Freguesia!  We studied from John 15:1-11.

We hadn’t seen this wonderful body-of-Christ since our son, Andrew’s wedding in May, so it was fun to study together, worship together, fellowship together and have fun together!  We didn’t arrive home until almost midnight!

This family has loved, blessed, and supported us through good and bad times here in Brazil!  They visited us in the hospital after our serious car accident 6 years ago.  We have street evangelized together, served together, received short-term mission teams together and attended our children’s weddings together!

Now, they have found us a sister-in-Christ and a lawyer within their body who is willing to help us with our “BIG FINE MESS” this week!

Pray that soon we have closure on this, one way or another, and that God’s name is honored through it all! 

Pray that we can put this behind us and focus on building His kingdom!

Celebrating the support of our dear Brazilian family and REMAINING IN HIM,

Jeff and Diane

Yesterday morning at our local EF church, we enjoyed hearing from a 20-person short-term Brazilian mission team from the South of Brazil.  They shared how they had seen God work as they served in a community this past week in Rio with one of our partners, Atuacao Voluntaria.

In the evening we participated in a service of one of our Brazilian partners in the Terreirao (Big Earth).  We served our brothers-in-Christ communion and Diane gave a word of encouragement from the pulpit.

We met a first-time visitor to the church from the neighborhood and heard of her struggles with alcohol and of her son.

Please pray for “Lucy” (not her real name) who is questioning her salvation.  She has not been trusting in the Lord and now her son is using crack and she doesn’t know where he is living.  Diane spent time encouraging her and praying with her.

She asked that I would ask brothers- and sisters-in-Christ in the USA to pray for her.

Please pray with us that she returns to her relationship with Christ and finds a bible-teaching church.  Pray that she can find her son and that he, too, would begin to follow Christ!

In His grip,

Jeff and Diane

Visa Update

Diane and I just got back from the Federal Police.  All went well, though we had a close call.  They have a new procedure and you now need to schedule a day and time to submit visa documentation.

The first available date to submit our documentation was in December.  After some “sweet talking” and our answer that, “Yes, we have all of our correct documents with us today”, they squeezed us in and we are now approved for this year (until early May of 2013). 

Our next step is converting to permanent visas in early 2013.

Praising Him,

Jeff and Diane

Visas GRANTED!

Jeff and I received a telegram this week that our Visas were approved this year.  That’s a HUGE answer to prayer!

That means that next year when we apply in May, we can apply for permanent Visas!

We’re off to the Federal Police this morning.  Please pray for success today with our Visas, but most importantly, for chances to share Christ!

Serving together,

Diane and Jeff

Jeff and I traveled to Cascadura today to walk alongside one of our partners, Atuacao Voluntaria, as they received a 20-person short-term mission team from their home church in the South of Brazil.  Their focus was to facilitate a children’s program for the children of the local community. 

Atuacao Voluntaria is currently leading a children’s program at this church every Monday afternoon.  It was sweet music to our ears when our dear brother, Gilson, introduced us as a couple who “cares for them” here in Rio!  We have spent some wonderful time with this couple in fellowship and prayer and support them wholeheartedly!

What a joy it was for us to meet the pastoral staff and leaders of this church in Cascadura and spend some time listening to their stories of how God has and is working in the midst of their ministry.  Their land was given to them by a militia who ran off the local drug lords in order for them to take possession of their property.

The pastor has encouraged the whole congregation to be involved in the construction of this property, even with the donation of at least a stone to build the walls.  They truly are the body-of-Christ at work, using their gifts to glorify the Lord!

Thanks for your prayers, it was a very encouraging day!

Going where He leads us here in Rio,

Diane and Jeff

p.s.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GILSON!

Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Dear Brothers and Sisters-in-Christ,

Tomorrow begins a 2-day holiday here in Brazil and so children will not be in school.  We plan to travel to Cascadura and serve in a children’s program with our partner, Atuacao Voluntaria and a group of 20 Brazilian youth traveling here from the south of Brazil.

Please pray for God to prepare the hearts of these children (and their parents) to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, receive and choose to follow Him.  Please pray for fruit that remains.

Today we are praying and asking Him to go before us and prepare the way.

Coveting your prayers,

Diane and Jeff

My Aunt Arlene :)

Last week my dad contacted me to share that the health of his dear younger sister Arlene had taken a turn for the worse.  Later in the week I found out that Arlene had passed on to be with her Lord and Savior.  This brought back a flood of memories for me about Arlene.

I have many wonderful aunts who have touched and blessed my life, but Arlene has done so in a different way.  Let me tell you about Arlene...

Arlene grew up in a family of 10 (my dad’s family) and she was the 3rd from the youngest.  Arlene had a learning disability and this affected her entire life.  Life was not full of victories for Arlene, such as graduating from school, having children, a good marriage and so much more.  In spite of this, if you talked to her you would never hear failure in her voice, only joy, especially for others.

About 5 years ago Arlene was attending a strong Christian Church in Minneapolis and the Pastor there preached about being “all in for Jesus”.  Arlene had always loved the Lord but she realized she never was “all in”.  Arlene decided right there that she wanted to rededicate her life to Jesus so she could be “all in”.  She even got baptized.  Wow what a change happened in her life!!  Arlene always was a super loving person, but now that love went through the roof and she was always ready to share about her Jesus.  What an example to us!

Whenever Diane and I visited her when we were in the states Arlene always grabbed our hands and told us firmly, “I am praying for you guys in Brazil” and then she would tell everyone “here is my niece and nephew the missionaries”.  This humbled us greatly as we saw that Arlene was every bit the missionary we were, and that her love for others was unequaled.

Arlene lived her last years in a nursing home where she touched many lives, both the workers and fellow residents.  At Arlene’s funeral many of the staff of the nursing home wept over her passing.  With all the death that these people face it’s hard to imagine them getting this emotional over a person unless they were super special.

Through the years when something special was about to happen she always exclaimed “oh goody”.  So last week when I heard of Arlene going to Heaven I could just see her stepping into the arms of Jesus and shouting out “oh goody”!

May we all have the simple joy and love that Aunt Arlene had!!

Jeff

UPDATE on Last Night...

Jeff and I came home last night, walking from our Small Group meeting and Jeff decided to take Moses, our dog, for a short walk.

He quickly returned the dog and informed me that 5 or 6 policemen were surrounding the open lot 1 house away from our house.

They told him they were looking for a robber and they were NOT looking to just capture him….

5 minutes later, a loud shot rang out and we hunkered down and began to pray….we prayed that this person who was making bad choices in his life would not be killed, but have time in his life to hear the gospel and turn from his dark life and into the light of a life with Christ.

Today we have learned that a group of 6 men were on the road in front of our house, Avenida dos Americas, stopping vehicles and robbing people.  The police put up a road blitz (where they stop all the cars, one-by-one) and captured all but 1 man who ran into our neighborhood.

We don’t know yet what ultimately happened, whether he was apprehended or killed after that shot rang out.  We  continue to lift him up in prayer and  pray that if he was not killed, that he hears the Good News and chooses to follow Christ.

Lovingly sharing the gospel in Rio,

Diane and Jeff

2 Peter 3:9
 
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Another Opportunity to Take the Gospel to the Streets!

I arrived home in Rio on Saturday at noon after the blessing of taking care of our granddaughter for 6 weeks so that our daughter could go back to work and not put such a small infant in daycare.  Marissa is now smiling, cooing and supporting her own head much of the time.  She is starting to roll-over already!  What a blessing to be able to serve our daughter and son-in-law.

Saturday afternoon I was able to attend the baby shower of a sister-in-Christ who sang at Drew and Ellen’s beach wedding here in Rio.  I’m still learning much about Brazilian culture.  At a Brazilian baby shower, you bring diapers!

Sunday morning it was awesome to be back at church and reunite with the body-of-Christ!

Sunday evening we met with our Small Group and it was so wonderful to be back in the midst of these beautiful followers of Jesus Christ.  We reviewed the morning message that Pastor Frido gave, in English, and spent time in prayer and fellowship.

We have one new attendee that is just beginning to learn English.  He is a talented musician named Jon who is playing on the worship team.

The group had a new desire to take our meetings out into places in the city to evangelize.  This is music to OUR ears as we have a passion for evangelism!  They want to hold our English Meetings at such places as the beach, outside cafes, anywhere out in public where there are people around that would be attracted to the English so that we can invite them to join us and ultimately hear the gospel.

Please pray for our English Small Group.  Pray that we have countless opportunities and divine appointments as we “take it to the streets”!

Reaching the Lost in Rio,

Diane and Jeff

Please Pray for.....a robber?

Jeff and I just returned home on foot from our Small Group to find 5 police surrounding the empty lot near our house.  Apparently they are looking for a robber in the area.  As I am typing this, I hear a loud gunshot and it is our hope that he has not been killed and still may have a chance to hear the gospel!

 

We covet your prayers!

 

Standing in the Gap in Rio,

 

Jeff and Diane