Phillipians 1:6, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

God has been teaching me lately a great deal about commitments.  He has reminded me how important it is that I follow-through on all the commitments that I make to others until completion.

God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  He is steadfast and true.  He is 100% committed to us! He does what He promises!  

What a great model we have in Him!  Each day we should be striving to become more like Jesus.  Jesus always stayed the course...even to a horrific death on the cross!

Some days I want to quit and forget about a commitment that I have made to someone.  Those are the days that my thinking is wrong!  I’ve started to think of how something isn’t going the way that I want it to go.  That’s the day I make it about ME and I need to adjust my attitude and make it all about HIM again and see the bigger picture! 

I love knowing that He will never abandon me.  That He is there 100%!  He will never leave me or even turn a little from His commitment to me!

Striving each day to be more like Christ,

Diane

Getting Creative in Missions

It's not too often that Jeff and I get to hear back how God used a short-term mission trip after the missionaries return to the United States.

As most of you know, we've been back in the States the last 4 weeks and we were blessed to have a cup of coffee with Lizzie and Derek, a young couple that served alongside of us and our Brazilian partners in May.  

They had recently married and wanted a honeymoon of a different kind---they wanted to serve the Lord together and not just waste the time vacationing!

Lizzie forwarded me a copy of the e-mail below that she had sent out to a few of her friends upon their return and has given me permission to post it.

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Hey Ladies,

Rio was great!  It was so fun to hang with Jeff and Diane (missionary friends) and see the work they are doing down there.  Their ministry is effective and solid. They work alongside of different Brazilian churches in training pastors and encouraging ministries.  They also apply the principles of "When Helping Hurts".  We were able to see a large portion of Rio, enjoy to the beach and experience an authentic churrascaria (Brazilian type of restaurant- if you have a chance to go to one in the states, Go :0) ). 

One church Jeff and Diane are working alongside is growing like crazy. They focus on making disciples that make disciples.  They have a small group and in the small group each soon have a mentoree and a mentor.  Since their start they have grown from 5 to 650 and the Church is about 6 years old.  Their goal is to have a small group in every small area community.  They recently split and planted another church body.  We walked around that area Friday night.  It was recently pacified by the Brazilian army.  Areas called "communities" are mostly controlled by drug lords.  Pacification is when the government goes in and takes control of the area, driving out the drug lords.  In hopes to make the pacification less violent the Brazilian government announces the day they will be entering the neighborhood to take over the community in their local paper, then they bring in tanks and troops taking control of the area.  

It's helped us see that the priority of making disciples can effectively grow healthy churches.  Often times here in the USA, we are too busy and make excuses, because IT IS time consuming.  I think it's the devils safest community to himself, those that are too busy. It's also hard to submit. You have to have a kind of submissiveness to reach out to be discipled or let be discipled.  Accountability and submissiveness can be hard for us to handle, because our culture screams, "you can do it your way", "whatever seems right to you", "you control your own", "you can do it by yourself" when we weren't meant for that. 

The devil manifests himself in main ways.  In Brazil there is a lot of demonic activity and devil worship.  There are spiritists, many spiritists.  Those that worship ancestral spirits "demons" and the earth.  In Brazil the dark and the light is very contrasted.  The dark and light isn't as contrasted in the United States.  We make other things our objects of worship that don't seem to be evil or indeed weren't meant to be idols, yet blessings.  

This church is a self-funded, growing, and evangelizing church.  One of the healthiest examples of a Church that I have ever seen.  It was truly a blessing.  And a super great honeymoon.  :0)  

Love you guys.

Elizabeth (E-liz-a-bet-chee) in Portuguese.

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We celebrate Lizzie and Derek's creativeness to use their honeymoon in this way.  We applaud and support these types of mission trips!

If you have that desire in your heart to serve with us in Rio or Sao Paulo, Brazil for 10 days, 2 weeks, 1 month or more, please don't hesitate to contact us at jeff.droogsma@efca.org!  The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few!

We believe that it's a great way to put your faith into action and it is God that places a desire to serve Him on your heart! Say, "Yes" to God!!!

Blessed to be serving,

Diane and Jeff

Experiencing God...

Last evening Jeff and I were blessed and greatly encouraged to fellowship with a brother- and sister-in-Christ with whom I had studied "Experiencing God" in the mid 90's.  The food she cooked for us was DELICIOUS, but the fellowship was even more satisfying!

One of the nuggets of wisdom that I gleaned from this book we studied together by Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby and Claude King was to find out where God was at work and join him!  This influenced our calling to Brazil in 2003. We clearly saw God at work in the South of Brazil and our English language gave us countless opportunities to speak with Brazilians about Christ.  We wanted to go to Brazil and join God at work!

It was wonderful to hear last evening that this same study was impactful for this dear sister and equally as wonderful to see how she has continued mentoring young women.  God has blessed and increased her gift of mentoring and she is impacting many young women for Christ!  She's all about making disciples!

As the World Cup and Olympics come to Rio in 2014 and 2016, our Rio City Team has a desire to raise up workers to fight against sex trafficking.  We have joined with Rennes and Bola na Rede to raise awareness through local churches in Rio.

We realized last evening that this couple and their son have experience and connections in this area.  Their son founded a non-profit organization called MATTOO (Men Against The Trafficking Of Others), that brings awareness to this horrific tragedy.  We are praying that God may be making a wonderful connection for us in this area!

Please pray with us that we can raise up workers to join us in the fight against sex trafficking in Rio as the world comes to our doorstep!

Diane and Jeff

 Marissa's 1st Birthday!

 The WHOLE Family Together!!!

It has been a wonderful blessing to be here in the States!  We were able to be here for our first grandchild, Marissa's, 1st birthday! We were able to enjoy the presence of all of our children and their spouses with us at the party!

We have had some down time to rest at His feet and do some bike riding and we can't believe we only have 2-1/2 weeks left! We are looking forward to making a few more visits with churches and supporters these last days and this week we are babysitting Marissa.

Last week we were able to have dinner with one of our "Rio Trio" Trek 7er's, Drew!  It was wonderful to catch up with him, laugh, reminisce, and listen to his experience of coming back from Brazil and how the trip impacted his life. 

Soon after we return to Rio we will welcome the two 6-month interns that are preparing to serve with us.  As well, we'll be offering Pathways Bible Training to our Brazilian partners at the end of September.

We're enjoying this time, yet starting to miss our Rio home and ministries!

Resting in Him,


Diane and Jeff

Hope for the Hopeless!

Jeff and I recently served together with a 5-man team in Sao Paulo at CENA.

We have never served with a short-term team that made so many connections with the homeless on the street!

One day we recognized a man that was at the Yellow House (rescue) downtown.  It was clear that he recognized us, as well.  

When we approached him and began talking to him, we discovered that Jeff and I had met him (Danillo) 4 years ago in front of the Yellow House and on that day he went to the CENA farm for recovery from a life of drug addiction.  He went through the program and is now back helping the homeless!

We wanted to hear from him what made the difference for him.  Why did he finally decide to get off the street?  He shared that he was impressed that people came from other countries to try to help people on the streets.  CENA has missionaries from other countries including Germany and the United States that go to serve there.  From all of the homeless shelters in downtown Sao Paulo, he felt something different at the Yellow House.

The difference is Jesus.  Only Jesus can change lives.  Only Jesus can transform hearts. 

CENA....a place where God is at work!  We invite you to come with us and serve where Jesus is changing lives and where the missionaries are making disciples of Jesus Christ!

Serving where we see God at work,

Diane and Jeff

Luke 12:33, "Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys."

DANGEROUS CURRENTS Require Passionate Prayer!

Drew, of the Rio Trio

(PERIGO Correnteza)

We recently finished a 6-week period of ministering with 3 gifted college students, the Rio Trio.  It was a fruitful time of serving God together and already we are hearing amazing things back from our Brazilian brothers- and sisters-in-Christ of how God used the three of them!  Soooo many seeds were planted!  Soooo many people encouraged by a cool glass of water from a far away land!

For me, a good indicator of effective ministry is if the enemy shows up.  And shown up....he has!  

After this mountain top experience with the Rio Trio, Jeff and I have felt oppression that only comes from the enemy.  He has been seeking to destroy.

A dear friend responded to my text this morning with this powerful prayer against the enemy.  "Lord, You alone are Diane's glory and the lifter of her head.  The enemy has NO foothold in her life.....he has no place to stand in any situation that she finds herself in, because you are guarding her every second of every minute of every hour of every day, EVERY single day of her life.  By Your power  Lord, we say to the enemy, "BE GONE"!  Thank you Father, for bringing your peace and your favor and your comfort.  You alone are God, there is not another like You.  In You alone is life!  I declare before the enemy that You are Diane's Father.  I declare today that nothing goes unnoticed by You, and that Diane is safe and protected in Your arms.  I declare rest for Diane today, in the incomparable name of Jesus!

How I appreciate her support and powerful prayer with words of truth and encouragement!

We recently arrived in the US for a month.  We're here for some training, to visit some churches and supporters, rest, and as well, it's our granddaughter's 1st birthday!  Wow---how time flies!  Our granddaughter is already 1 year old!  We're praising God for again providing exactly what we needed to make this trip!  We like to think that the inventor of Frequent Flier Miles was a missionary!

When we return to Rio, we'll be preparing to once again offer Pathways training to our Brazilian partners and receiving two 6-month interns.

Resting in the name of Jesus,

Diane and Jeff