Skip to main content

An Awesomely Exciting Trip

By
       On April 4th, I traveled to Cajazeiras with two of the students from our Brazilian AIM program called - AME. We went to teach the 120 or so kids on the theme: "How Good It Is To Be At God's Side - In the Storms of Life." Adeliton, Ayane, and I each divided up the boys into two groups and one group of girls. The ages ranged from 10 to 50-ish in my class. The classes had a lot of discussion, and I believe at least one person in each of our groups became pensive about his or her relationship with God.
       The time we spent with Café and Leila, the only supported couple working in the city for the church and who also organize all of the church, as well as, the activities for the boys and girls, was very encouraging. We spent time talking about the church and some of the difficulties. We spent time dreaming about different members of the church who came up through the soccer program and who can begin helping, if motivated. We talked about the possibility of beginning a class to help the church mature and the importance of involving other couples and men of the congregation in the teaching and training up of the younger men and women. And, we just had fun together, which I think they also needed.
          On the way back to João Pessoa, we stopped off in Pombal and talked, visited, counseled and worshipped with the only two Christians in the city of around 50,000 inhabitants. We talked about their difficulties and tried to help the dream of ways to spread God's Word in their city. We stopped off in Patos and visited with a couple from the church. We stopped off in Campina Grande and visited and celebrated the Lord's Supper with Café and Leila's two daughters who are in the university, but have not been participating in the church meetings because of the dangers they have come up against: they have been robbed five times, while going to school, on the way to the dentist, on the way to church services, and one time chased by a man with a knife - men from a bar stopped him. I don't guess I need to tell you that they live in one of the more dangerous parts of the city. They really enjoyed our visit and were overjoyed to celebrate the Lord's Supper with us. It was a wonderful trip back home - 6 hour trip nonstop, taking us 14 hours on this day. I almost wrote that it could not have been better. I really don't know if it could have or not, but I do know that I felt good about it.

Please pray:

  • that God will raise up men and women in Cajazeiras to serve Him by maturing the Christians that are a part of His body.
  • Ezequiel and Jessica in Pombal will be strengthened in their faith and that God may open the hearts of others to the Gospel in this city;
  • that Raiane and Rayssa, Café's daughters, will continue to remain strong in their faith and live in such a way as to influence their classmates and friends to follow Christ.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"What About Baptism?"

By
Edda and I went to a nearby city to study the Bible with a family, Genilda (who is already a Christian), Ana, Mariana, Luiza, and Jefferson. While we were reading God's Word, Ana's husband, Silva, came in and sat down, and then blurted out: "What about baptism?" It took me by surprise because he has barely studied with us, but, most certainly, is already thinking about spiritual matters. Our Bible study then took a lot of detours, answering this question or that. Silva said he still has a lot of questions, and we pray that the Lord will use us to answer them, bringing him to understand the Good News!
Post a Comment
Read more

One More Goodbye

By
This year has been rough for Borges's family. They lost a pillar in their family, his wife's mother in February. Now her brother has passed, buried today. He was diagnosed with prostrate cancer 18 months ago. A policeman, used to taking care of the family, he had to settle with being taken care of by the family as his body gradually shut down when the cancer metastasized to his bones. Borges and Geilza have spent every free moment taking care of Demilson's needs, and it has been torture watching him slowly wear away. His colleagues in the Military Police carried his casket, played taps on a trumpet, presented his family with a Paraiba flag, and thanked his family for supporting him in defending society for nearly thirty years. It was a nice gesture, but the event that gives us believers hope in the face of death is Jesus winning over the grave. He is our certainty that a grave is not the end.
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayers and Fasting for our Families

By
One of the most devastating attacks of the enemy against God's people is when he invests in our families. We pray for protection for our loved ones, but we live in a world that never tires of trying to divide our families, constantly pulling and poking at our faith to find a vulnerable spot.   The congregation in João Pessoa, in the face of one difficult situation after another, has taken a whole Sunday this month to stay together in prayer and fasting for our families.   We are praying for couples in the church losing hope of solving their differences, Christian wives tearfully bearing the responsibility of maintaining the marriage with non-Christian husbands, mothers and daughters in unrelenting tugs of war, unemployment and financial strains, and the most shocking of all, one of our teenager, who is barely beyond childhood, confessed to the church that she is 8 months pregnant (her own mother only found out a week before). It g...
Post a Comment
Read more