Raquel and Yasmin
Ephesians 4:11 & 12, "So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up"...
Last evening, Jeff and I were privileged and blessed to spend some time with our Brazilian family, the Joias, at their "Dia de Ação de Graças", Thanksgiving Day, service, as well as with the congregation. It had been such a long time since we'd spent some time with them!
Earlier this month, we met a young couple, João and Carol, at a retreat at which we had spoken, and discovered they are attending this church that Andre Joia pastors. They invited us and we couldn't wait to reconnect with everyone!
We have a great love and respect for this beautiful family! As foreigners and missionaries here in Rio, they have showed us the love of Christ and have always tried to help us when we have difficulties living in a foreign country.
This amazing body-of-Christ is involved in various mission works and is also active in reaching out to the children of a nearby community.
They have a heart to reach out to the group of transvestite prostitutes that work in front of their church building and invited Jeff and I to come and speak at their church next year about our work with transvestite prostitutes near our home and also to teach them what we have learned about working with this lost people group.
We're honored and excited to share what we have learned, walk with them, and help to motivate more brothers-in-Christ in this body to reach out with the love of Christ to a group of people that society shuns and that Jesus loves.
Walking where Jesus would walk,
Jeff and Diane
Jeff commented to me the other day, "this attack from the enemy is worse than our car accident."
For those of you who didn't know us back in 2007, after arriving here in Rio 5 months previously, we suffered a serious car accident in which, between the three of us, Jeff, Hannah and myself, we broke 18 bones.
It was, we believe, used by God for various reasons, one of them being for us to strengthen our faith and depend completely on Him. It was horrible, painful and yet joyful, as we saw God work in so many miraculous ways! We give Him all glory and honor for it!
We have now been passing through an intense time here. I won't go into all the details. I will leave those for future blog posts. I do try to keep these blog posts short and to-the-point. What I will share, however, is that we are seeing the enemy trying to destroy many things in our lives here and I want to ask you all if you would please join us in prayer...as this is all for His glory alone! We can only guess why we are being attacked at this time. Here is one possibility....
...during the World Cup we began making friends with a group of thirty transvestite prostitutes 3 blocks from our home here. We go out each week to further these friendships and show love to a people group that is ostracized by society. We have invited a couple of them to come to our home to learn English.
Last evening, as we walked into the neighborhood in which they work, doubts came to my mind and I thought, "we have absolutely no reason to be here." We are so weak. We are simple people. My faith is that of a child's. No reason.
Then I heard Him---"the voice of truth." This song by Casting Crowns came to my mind and I remember Pastor Scott Davis from Johnston Evangelical Free Church singing it during our commissioning service as we were being sent off to Brazil.
********************
THE VOICE OF TRUTH
Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes to climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown where Jesus is
And He's holding out His hand
But the waves are calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again, "Boy, you'll never win!"
"You'll never win!"
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
Oh what I would do to have
The kind of strength it takes to stand before a giant
With just a sling and a stone
Surrounded by the sound of a thousand warriors
Shaking in their armor
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand
But the giant's calling out my name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
Time and time again, "Boy you'll never win!"
"You'll never win!"
But the voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
But this stone was just the right size
To put the giant on the ground
And the waves they don't seem so high
From on top of them lookin' down
I will soar with the wings of eagles
When I stop and listen to the sound of Jesus
Singing over me
The voice of truth tells me a different story
The voice of truth says, "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says, "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth
I will listen and believe
I will listen and believe the voice of truth
I will listen and believe because Jesus, You are the voice of truth
And I will listen to You
You are....
*******************
We will choose to listen and believe that this is for His glory. Only for you, Jesus....
Coveting your prayers,
Diane and Jeff
This past weekend Jeff and I had the privilege to be the guest speakers at a youth retreat here in Brazil in Santo Aleixo , Magé, with over 90 youth!
The theme of the retreat was "Transformers" and we shared how, as we offer ourselves to His service, to transform lives, Jesus as well, transforms us to what He wants us to be.
We spoke about our mission work here in Brazil to motivate the youth to become even more engaged in missions and gave practical ways we use to share the gospel and encourage fellow Christ followers.
As well, we shared our testimonies of faith, our call to Brazil, our call to leave the church building and reach out to people on the street, the homeless, transvestites, prostitutes and children in high-risk areas.
The picture above is of a beautiful young Brazilian woman who, with tears of joy, shared with Diane that she felt God transforming her during our 2-hour talk!
We spoke about different ways that we street-evangelize, using skits, the evangecube, conversations and asking good questions.
We made "Story Ropes" that we learned from Marge Malwitz as an artistic way for people to share their life stories and testimonies.
We met a young couple that are friends of our "Brazilian Family", the Joia's!!!! A true blessing from the Lord!
We praise God for the privilege it was to speak and to meet this young body-of-Christ that desires to learn practical ways to work together to see more and more lives transformed by Christ!
Raising up missionaries here in Rio,
Jeff and Diane
Acts 4:13, "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus."
