Raising Up Missionaries To Reach The World!

We have had the privilege these last few weeks to mentor and invest in the lives of two interns.

Kate, a 22-year-old ReachGlobal American intern from Illinois, is serving with us here in Rio for 7 weeks, and has a major in History and International Relations.  She is here serving the Lord by writing the story of Caju.  Kate desires to serve in missions after she completes her education.

It will be a blessing to record the incredible work of God through our partners Pastor Fabio and Lia and the Christ followers at the Caju Life Church, which has become a movement greatly impacting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and beyond!  

We have had the privilege to serve alongside this faithful body-of-Christ followers that makeup this discipleship and small group movement that has taken root in 10 regions of the city, outside the city and now in a city in the Northeast of Brazil! 

Bruno is a 27-year-old Brazilian young man that Jeff and I met through our brother-in-Christ and fellow missionary, Cassiano, who served for a year at Mission CENA in Sao Paulo.  

Bruno is originally from Rio and moved to the south of Brazil.    Bruno so much appreciated our ReachGlobal vision to invest in Brazilian leaders and churches that he wanted the opportunity to go through our internship program and is praying about continuing to work here with our ReachGlobal City Team!  Mission work is his desire for the future, as well!

We have also had the privilege to host Nelson and Marge Malwitz.  Nelson is from MissionNext and is the founder of The Finishers Project.  He is here to finish the Missionary Mobilizing Website that he began work on last year.  We're excited about this project as it is a great tool to mobilize Brazilian missionaries!

Please pray for all of us as we live together and work together to further the Kingdom of God!

Multiplying Missionaries for the world,

Diane and Jeff

God is Restraining Himself on Account of You!

Last evening we returned to the streets near our home with Kate, a 2-month intern that is here with us, to talk with our new friends, a group of transvestite prostitutes, that we made during the World Cup with the TREK7 team.  These men love to meet Americans and practice their basic English!

We brought a birthday present (Sweet Baby Ray's barbeque sauce!) to Bianca (not his real name) and he was touched that we remembered his birthday!

As well, we asked for prayer requests and many were glad to have us praying for them!  One of the transvestites was talking to Cris, the boss, on the telephone and Cris wanted to talk to me...   

Cris asked if we would PLEASE pray for him.  He was having a very difficult week and would not be working on the streets that night.  

He wanted to make sure we would return next Thursday, however, as he wants to share something with me!  A few weeks before Cris asked for my phone number and has called me.  Now, he is passing through difficulties that are hindering him from working the streets!  We believe that the Holy Spirit is at work!

Our hope as we further these relationships is that when the tough times come, they remember us and turn to us for help and answers.  We know that the only answer is Jesus and that we are ALL sinners.  The only difference being that we have chosen to follow Christ and are saved by His grace.  Our prayer is that these men do the same, choose to follow Christ and his teachings and spend eternity in His presence.

The Word tells us that God desires that no one should perish.  And so, we continue to go into a very dark place, trusting in the leading of the Holy Spirit and staying patient knowing that it is His work alone.  We are faithful and available and so we continue...

PLEASE continue to pray for us as we reach out to the lost here in Rio!

Privileged to walk into the darkness with the light of Christ,

Diane and Jeff

2 Peter 3:8 & 9 says, "Don’t overlook the obvious here, friends. With God, one day is as good as a thousand years, a thousand years as a day. God isn’t late with his promise as some measure lateness. He is restraining himself on account of you, holding back the End because he doesn’t want anyone lost. He’s giving everyone space and time to change."

Iron Sharpening Iron

Proverbs 27:17, " As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another".

We have had an amazing month serving together with Grant, who stayed after the JEFC team left and with Susan, who arrived on the 17th to teach English.

We shared Christ in Vila Mimosa, Rio's first and largest point of prostitution, several times and have had some awesome conversations and opportunities with women there.  

As well, we have reached out to the men on the street near our home and  Grant was able to share his testimony and encourage the body-of-Christ at a local church.

Grant left Friday and we miss him already!  He served alongside of us here with such flexibility and great attitude---always ready to do anything at a moments notice!

We are looking forward to what God has in store for us in the weeks to come!

Please be praying for Kate, a young college graduate, who is preparing to come in two weeks and serve with us for two months.

Ambassadors of the King most high, Jesus!

Diane and Jeff

Salt and Light of the World....

Thursday evening, after Jeff returned home from the men's group at the local Evangelical Free church where he shared a word, we returned to the streets a few blocks from our home to cultivate our friendships with a group of transvestite prostitutes.

We had some deep conversations with "Michelle" (not his real name) and he enjoyed being able to share intimately about his life.  He told us that he does not have opportunities to share with anyone and society tries to ignore him and he sometimes feels invisible or hated.  While we were standing at the side of the street some people would pass by in their cars, open their windows and yell profanities at these men.

During our conversation, we discovered that one of the men that we talk with the most, is the caregiver for this group of 30 transvestites.  He counsels, protects them and is highly respected amongst them, as he is the oldest of the group and considers them all his "daughters".  Without his permission, we would not be allowed to spend time talking and praying with these men.  We praise God we have found favor with this leader and are permitted to enter, converse, and pray for these men.

We invited a few of these men to our local church.  Unfortunately, because they are working in the streets until early morning on Sundays, none of them could accept our invitation----yet.  We plan to continue to return and further these relationships, having faith that God will guide us and use it for His glory.

Please pray with us.  This is an extremely difficult world to enter into, where the enemy has such a strong foothold and is completely destroying lives!

Privileged to be messengers of Christ,

Jeff and Diane 

Matthew 5:13-16:
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? ... You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.