"Not My Will But Yours Be Done."

Adding that little phrase to the end of a prayer can be like inviting chaos to rule your life. John and I are good at dreaming up grand ideas about what our lives should be but, ultimately, we want to know that we are useful to God in whatever way He sees fit. For example, we believe God has brought us to this part of the world for a reason, but we're beginning to realize that it may not be the reason we first thought it to be. What began as a mission to grow a congregation among the Brazilian people of southern Florida has become a house church among a group of people who don't all speak Portuguese.



We've been meeting every Sunday with a group of about fifteen people -not all Christians. My job on Sundays has been to teach the children who, I'm proud to say, have learned eight key Scriptures by heart. There have been some occasional attendees but the core group has obviously been long established. They invited us here to act as full time ministers and continue what they have had going for many years. They also want their congregation to grow. We were immediately concerned about those among their group who have not made a decision to follow Christ and thought it necessary to address them before looking outward for new converts. For this reason, John has done his best to encourage a fresh perspective among the members through intense Bible study. He also has begun facilitating individual Bible studies among the non Christians to encourage an intentional decision to follow Christ and make that decision public through baptism. I think it's fair to say that there has been little interest on that front but that God is showing His faithfulness in other areas.



Some in the church are having financial difficulties so we decided to save the rent we were paying and meet in our own living room instead. There are also some serious familial and marital issues that we have been addressing through one on one counseling. On a happier note, the parents in the group get our children together for playdates, the women get together for afternoons of crafting, and we have all gotten together for barbecues and bowling at different times. Some in the church have even been so kind as to babysit our boys so we could have a much needed night out. In short, we are getting to know each other and the direction for this church is becoming clearer.



While the members grow in maturity and relationship with Christ, John and I have been putting out feelers for other Brazilians to invite into our midst. John met the owner of the Brazilian bakery and got his permission to advertise free English classes using the Bible. A recent sting on illegal immigrants, however, has put a serious damper on an outreach like that being effective. We've gone out of our way to meet other Brazilians by, for example, seeing a Brazilian doctor and dentist. All this has been at the expense of potential relationships with English speakers even though two of the husbands in our church are American and don't even speak Portuguese. We have been holding all of our studies, worship services, and other meetings in English while projecting that one day it would all be in Portuguese. That has been the collective idea of this church for years but, by their own confession, it hasn't been working.



When I met a single mom at the ballpark before the kids' baseball games one Saturday, I knew she didn't speak Portuguese but invited her to our church anyway. That day I didn't see someone who was not Brazilian. I only saw a lady who was raising her son alone and searching for some support. I offered it to her by inviting her into our group. I'm happy to report that she was well received and that it may well have shifted our focus from Brazilian people to just people. She's a new Christian who quickly became disenchanted with the church when her requests for practical help were denied by several churches. Now she and her son spend lots of time with our family and she has even begun to encourage other single moms she knows to come be a part of our times together and get to know Jesus.



We recognize that our living room won't hold even one more family comfortably so we have begun to talk about the near future. It makes sense to start meeting in two groups on a weekly basis and come together as one group less frequently to worship together on a larger scale. We hope that freeing up some physical space in our homes will also free up some space in our hearts and minds for a greater desire to receive whatever people God puts in our paths. John and I have six families in mind that we plan to invite to our house for dinner over the coming weeks. Though this is not what we had envisioned and at times seems a bit chaotic, we trust God to work a better plan than we could have ever imagined and are anxious to see it unfold.

Update From the Boca Church

Since I last reported to you about the church meeting in our home, we have rented a room in the local middle school each Sunday.

Space wise, it's been a great move, but it's been a lot less intimate and, at the tune of $800 per month, maybe a bit unnecessary. We have about the same number each week - kind of crowded in our living room but not enough to warrant the financial burden on our small group. Besides, there is a family among us who is struggling financially and may be facing foreclosure. We would like to be in a position to help rather than cut it close each month on our budget.

For now, we're back at home for Sunday morning worship and Friday night Bible study. We rotate weekly among the houses that are large enough to host the entire group.

Perhaps the most important meetings we hold are the spontaneous ones where we simply get together and have some fun. The girls have come over twice to drink cappuccino and scrapbook.

And the kids don't really care where we meet. They can enjoy themselves in any setting.

The Kickoff

Today we had our first Portuguese worship service in our new home. We scheduled it to begin at 10:00 am but, in true Brazilian fashion, it didn't actually start until 11:20. We packed our living room with sixteen adults and six children. We sang some Brazilian worship songs then John preached a sermon about the purpose of the church while I peeled off with the kids for Sunday school.

Just after the service we ate lunch together. Everyone brought a little something to add up to a Brazilian feast. We were happy to have the group linger until after 6:30 pm.
It was a great day and we hope to have many more like it in the weeks and months to come. Next Sunday we will be meeting in a building we have rented for the church. We anticipate that as time goes on our numbers will increase and our small house will not accommodate our group. We want to be ready for the great things God has in store for us.

Gearing Up for Success

We did finally get into the house we showed you in our last entry. After spending December with John's family in Colorado and half of January with our more-than-gracious hosts here in Florida (one of the couples that invited us to be part of this ministry), we moved in. We've spent the better part of our first days and weeks shopping Craigslist and thrift stores for furniture and household items. It's finally beginning to feel a bit more like home, and now we are setting our sights on the ministry.

We were asked to come here by a small group of Christians (pictured below)

who have been trying for years to get a Brazilian church established. It's a mixed group - some Brazilian, some Hispanic, and some American. Due in part to lack of resources, i.e., workers, it has yet to get off the ground. They have not had a full-time minister until now. What once was a group of about 30 Brazilians has dwindled to about ten. The group has been meeting with a Hispanic church for some time, but, because Brazilian culture is different, that hasn't been an ideal situation. Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish, and they have different traditions and customs. It is an independent culture that deserves its own congregation. The Spanish-speaking church has been very generous and hospitable towards the Brazilians - even singing some songs in Portuguese during worship. John has become friends with their minister, Carlos. There is not a hint of jealously as we suggest that the two cultures may be better suited to separate from one another. On the contrary, Carlos is eager to see the Brazilians become independent and strong in their own right.

There is no Brazilian Church of Christ anywhere south of Orlando that we know of. There are also very few Churches of Christ of any persuasion in the area. After being here for this short time, we can already see that this is not like any part of the United States we have ever known. It is much more ethnic and international - like Brazil and the US wrapped up in one package. There is no local church support for what we are about to do - plant a Brazilian church. That means that your role - to pray, encourage, and generally support in any way possible - is the same where this ministry is concerned as when we were overseas, even though we are technically on the same continent now. We need your help to see that this forgotten group of Brazilians may be reached with the good news of Christ so that they may grow and expand the borders of the Kingdom.

We plan to meet in our house this Sunday for a church service involving the Brazilians who have remained part of the group which has met with the Hispanic church and those that have stopped coming to those services. We hope to re-energize the base that has been holding this group together and encourage them to work with us in once and for all establishing Christ's church among their people here in southern Florida. It's been estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of Brazilians in southern Florida and we know that we will need all the manpower we can get to reach even a portion of them. Please pray for success in this mission.

Home Is Where the Heart Is

"I have some money I wanna give but I don't know who to give it to." That's what someone told my sister-in-law in Colorado while she was working her customer service job in the grocery store. It made me think, "I bet there are people all over the country who feel that way." Then I started to wonder how many people sit down to pray and realize they don't know what to pray for. You're probably used to missionaries soliciting money, but I would like to solicit some of your prayer time instead.

We spent December in Colorado with John's family and are now back in Florida where we were scheduled to close on a house (the one in the picture) on the seventh of this month. Everything was going as planned until the underwriter decided on the morning of closing to call our church in Texas for verbal confirmation of our employment. She didn't like the words she heard to describe the missionary/sponsoring church relationship so she denied the loan on the spot. Our agent is still working on our behalf to somehow close the deal, whether it be with a different mortgage lender or to convince the current one to reconsider. Our dilemma is in the facts that the seller has refused an extension of the contract, we are currently staying in someone else's house, we stand to lose several thousand dollars in earnest money, and we may not be able to afford to rent an apartment in this part of the country.

We are beginning to understand why God may have felt it necessary to reassure us with the skywriting before we left for Colorado. We also recognize that the focus of the disciples' biblical accounts never centers around homes and possessions but always around expanding the kingdom borders. We have not forgotten why we came here or what we are about - to introduce Jesus to those who don't know him. Please join us in praying for God to use us to that end. If that means more time being uprooted, so be it. If it means settling into a home here so that we can become members of the community, even better.

God Is a Sky Writer

We are currently in Colorado, spending the holidays with John's family. In less than a month, we went from stifling heat in Natal to bitter cold in Golden. The kids have especially enjoyed the snow. While we're here, we're facilitating a long-distance closing on a house in Boca Raton, Florida.

We spent our first two weeks in the States searching for a house to be our new home. We found an excellent real estate agent through the Dave Ramsey Web site who began showing us properties that matched our criteria. After much fruitless searching, she informed us that our expectations might be a bit too high. On one level we had to agree with her, but on another we were sure our expectations were very reasonable. You see, we had been praying fervently for God to lead us to just the right house. We were sure that if He were calling us to Florida, He knew right where He wanted us. So we continued our search.

Just days before we left for Colorado and just when we had decided that a temporary apartment might be in our future, a promising new listing came onto the market. Our agent took us to see it but the owners weren't home and we ended up standing in the driveway while she spoke with their visiting relative. As she set up an appointment for our return, we felt a little disappointed and prayed that God would make Himself clear to us and help us to know what to do. Then something amazing happened.

Jonah pointed up towards the sky and yelled, "Look, it's a J." A skywriter was just starting the first letter of what became "JESUS LOVES U". As he was finishing the U our agent informed us that we would have to wait a day to see the house. On our way out of the neighborhood, we stopped by a Brazilian bakery where John ran in for some bread. In the time it took him to make the purchase, the kids and I watched the skywriter spell out "TRUST GOD".

The next day we saw the house and fell in love with it; it suited us perfectly. Though we had been avoiding foreclosures and short sales because they have been averaging several months to close, we made an offer on this short sale property. Despite our agents justified warnings that we might be facing a long and tedious process, we received notice from the bank that we could close during the first week in January.

I can't predict what will happen next and I don't know the mind of God, but I do have a hunch that we will soon be blogging to you from our new home in Boca Raton, Florida.

Packed and Ready

We're getting packed to leave this country again. We're excited because of the potential for ministry in a dual culture environment. The kids are excited because they know we'll be living closer to Disney World.

We plan to arrive in Miami during the third week in November, at which time we will begin looking for a home among the Brazilian population in southern Florida. It's a happy time and a sad time all at the same time. We're going to miss Natal and our friends here, but we know they will be just fine without us. We do plan to come back regularly to encourage the Christians here and to help where we can. We also plan to continue regular visits to Currais Novos until a solid church is established there.