Jeff and I were so blessed yesterday morning with a delicious Minnesota breakfast at the home of our dear friends, Pam and Ron! While the food was fabulous, the fellowship was better! They always fill our friendship cups with so much fun and laughter! As well, they are always interested in hearing how God is at work in Brazil! Years ago I studied, "Experiencing God" with Pam. It's wonderful to see how God is at work in their lives. As well as serving on the mission board, Pam is a discipler of young women!
Afterwards, we were blessed to be welcomed at Maple Grove Evangelical Free Church, our home church of 12+ years where our children were dedicated to the Lord as infants and where we served and grew in our knowledge of Him! Pastor Jon Platek's sermon taken from Matthew 1:18-23, greatly encouraged us and fanned our flames to continue picking up our cross daily and to continue fighting the good fight!
It was also a special treat to converse in Portuguese after the service with a beautiful Brazilian woman and her daughter in this body of Christ! We're missing Brazil!
Muito obrigado, povo de Deus de Maple Grove!
Amamos voces!
Diane e Jeff
Sometimes God gives us an experience that is unforgettable. I have had opportunities to share the following testimony over the past years with many people. It's such a wonderful testimony of God's answer to prayers that I've decided to post it.
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One evening I had a dream that I was sitting on the curb of a street in Rio, having a great conversation with an elderly gentleman. I ultimately shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with him. This man had very distinct features...a mustache and bushy eyebrows.
I awoke after the dream, crying with joy because he had received Christ into his life as Lord and Savior after our conversation! I had difficulties getting back to sleep that night, I couldn't stop thinking about it!
In the morning as I was washing breakfast dishes, I told Jeff about this wonderful dream and how it left me feeling so full of hope!
Shortly after, we received a call from a colleague who invited us to attend the funeral of the father of a young man from our local Brazilian church. This young man had been attending the local church for years and had become a Christ follower at this church. We gladly accepted the invitation and prepared to go with to the funeral.
En route to the funeral, I shared with our colleague, as well, about the dream I had had the previous night.
We arrived and immediately went to the casket to comfort this young man for the loss of his father. When I stepped up to the casket and looked down upon the face of this man that I had never met before, I was shocked! It was the man in my dream!!!! I recognized him by his very distinct mustache and bushy eyebrows!!!
I began to comfort the young man for the loss of his father and didn't mention anything about my dream, but inside I was amazed! I had met this man in my dream!
After the funeral our colleague, a pastor, mentioned that he would go the the corner store to buy water for the three of us. I told him that I would go with him, while Jeff rested on a bench with his crutches. We had recently been in a car accident in Rio and Jeff was still using crutches.
On the way to buy water, I shared with my colleague that the man in the casket was the very man that I had dreamt about the night before! This colleague felt that if God had given me this dream, it was important for me to share it with the young man and his brother, who is also a believer in Christ, that day.
The burial was interesting, as three men shared a few words...a witch doctor, a priest, and our colleague, a pastor from an evangelical free church.
As we began to leave the cemetery, our colleague asked me to share my dream with this young man and his brother. As I began to tell them of my dream, these 2 young men began to weep!
They said that in their father's last days of life in the hospital they had shared the gospel of Christ and prayed with him. Although the father couldn't physically speak because he was taking heavy drugs for his pain, he had shed tears! They could only hope that he had repented, asked for forgiveness, and received Christ!
After his death, they began praying together for confirmation that he had truly received Christ! They believed my dream was an answer to that prayer!
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The ways in which God answers prayers are not always the ways that we expect. He does however, listen to His children when they cry out to him and answers in His way, in His time.
John 15: 7 & 8
"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."
In Awe of Him,
Diane
A few days ago, I stopped at a local hair salon here in the US for my semiyearly haircut. The stylist cut off 5 inches of hair! The Portuguese vocabulary terms used in salons have always made me nervous in Brazil! Miscommunication can mean a really bad cut!
When we are here in the USA and strangers ask what we do for a living, the term "missionary" can bring on some really strange responses from unbelieving people! So, into the salon I went, having decided beforehand to just keep quiet and let the stylist concentrate on giving me a REALLY good haircut :) Boy---was that a selfish thought!
But, God had a better plan..... When the stylist asked me where I was from, a client sitting close by chimed in that she was from the same place! That lead to the next question of, "so where do you live now", and then, of course, "WHAT do you do THERE?"
Well, when God gives you a divine appointment, there is no turning back and by the end of the haircut and our time together, when Jeff came in to pick me up, I had my stylist's hands in my hands, she was weeping and I was praying for her!
Opportunities to share the love of Christ are EVERYWHERE in this world and people need the Lord! We're praying and ready for more divine appointments here!
Blessed to be serving with you here in the USA for a few short weeks!
Diane and Jeff
Every day here in Rio we have opportunities to share the gospel. We are different and stick out here! People are curious about us and want to talk to us....
Such was the case the other night when Jeff and I took two short-term interns to the airport for their departure. I began a conversation with a woman in line at the airport, who was clearly anxious and was so happy to talk to me!
She is a 71 year old widow traveling to the USA to visit her daughter, son-in-law, and 2 grandsons. She shared that she was very nervous traveling alone. We soon realized that we live very close to each other in Rio.
I was able to share the gospel with her and learned that she believes in Jesus Christ, along with other spirits. She attends a spiritist temple in my neighborhood. However, she asked me for my phone number and wants to come to church with me in February when she returns!
As we celebrate the beautiful birth of our Savior, Jesus, we want to thank all of our friends and supporters who have enabled us to share Christ in this faraway land! Your consistent and sacrificial giving to our ministry is such an awesome testimony of God's provision to us!
We have a passion to share the greatest gift of all to everyone that we meet. THANK YOU! We couldn't be here sharing Christ without your partnership!
Please pray that the divine appointment I had with the woman at the airport bears fruit!
Privileged to serve,
Diane and Jeff
