One of the houses along the river          

      The last couple of weeks were spent with a team visiting from Cleveland, Ohio.  What a great time and what a great group of people.  I had a wonderful time together with them and it was a pleasure getting to know them.  They came to do a ministry trip throughout the region.  I had the pleasure of hosting them during the portion of their trip that took them along the river.

                We visited two small communities along the river.  Both of them are characterized by a simple lifestyle – No electricity, no running water, and a basic sustenance lifestyle.  The people were overjoyed with our visit.  They were extremely grateful for the contact and ministry that the team did.  One thing that really connected well between the team and the people was the transparent sharing of pain and difficulties in their lives.  There were no barriers as people communicated their hurts and God moved in their lives. 

One thing that always stands out as I visit along the river is that so many of these people are isolated by their poverty.  They often are restricted to either traveling by foot or by dugout canoe.  It seems that living is a dicey proposition and going without and is a normal part of their reality.  It becomes too easy to romanticize the lifestyle in the jungle along the river, considering it idyllic, whereas the norm is a constant struggle to keep the family feed and clothed. 

                These are a people that are on the margins of society.  They receive substandard education, health care, and are general disconsidered in most every way.  The beautiful thing is that these are a people that Jesus died for, the ones that he considered the most precious.  Their worth is not in physical appearance, financial wealth or intellectual ability.  Their worth is in the fact that they each have a soul that Christ died for on the cross.  It is in our need that we recognize our Savior and in the darkness that His light shines brighter. 

Thanks for your prayers.  

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Children learn to handle the dugout canoes from their earliest years

There are a lot of horrible things going on in the world right now, wars and disease, things that can make us feel like the world is falling apart and that we have no power to change it.  But I say we can change it, and it’s simple.

Love people.

If we expanded the circle of people we love and would do anything for to include more than the people in our immediate family, if we truly loved our neighbours as ourselves, I think the world would be a different place.  Instead of focusing our energy, time and Facebook posts on things we can’t change, I challenge us all to have the courage to change the things we do have the power to change, the things that are right in front of us.

My friend Rob Hall who died in Zambia while helping people there learn how to use a small piece of land to grow their own food used to say ‘lean into the things in front of you, and there you’ll find the Kingdom of God’.

The Kingdom of God IS love.

There’s a reason why the second greatest commandment in the Bible is to love your neighbour as yourself…we have the potential to change the world, we just need to tap into it.

It’s a well known fact that the power of love is the greatest force known to man and each and every one of us has it living inside of us.

So, I challenge you, in the days and weeks to come.  Open your eyes to the things around you, look for ways to love your neighbours, and by neighbours I mean anyone in front of you.  Maybe the elderly lady at the grocery store needs help with her bags.  The single Mom who lives next door, offer to babysit (for free) so she can have a much needed night off.  There is more than enough need and more than enough love we just have to be willing to see and do.

I think you’ll be blown away how simple acts of kindness to others will not only shine a light in their lives but in yours too.
— 

Go to Source

Normally, I shop for our food alone.  Just little old me, silently and swiftly moving (now that I know what to buy) around the grocery store and as far as anyone is concerned I’m just one of those ‘branquinhos’ or light skinned Brazilians.  I am incognito as long as no one asks me to speak.

Unless of course, my kids come with me. For those of you who know my children, they are anything but quiet.

They blow my cover every time.

As we stand at a display of school workbooks Faith is chattering away at the speed of light and I look up to see not one but five staff members hovering around the table we are near, all of them staring.  They gawk actually, mouths agape but they are quick to smile when I make eye contact and smile at them.  But it doesn’t stop their eyes being fixed on the rapidly moving mouths of my children.

We get to the cash register and I speak Portuguese to the woman at the cash, but again my kids are there, making a game with the packages.  A new woman comes over to pack our groceries and Faith says, or more likely shouts, something in English and the lady packaging our groceries freezes, empty bag in one hand, package of sugar in the other.  She’s looking at my daughter like she just arrived off of a space ship.

I laugh and explain that we are Canadian and that they are learning Portuguese.  Everyone smiles, but the staring continues.

It’s a good thing it doesn’t bother us because it happens all the time, whenever we leave the house as a family, actually.

Yesterday, three girls in the river thought we were from India.  I had a good laugh at that one.

Learning a new language is one of the hardest things I’ve experienced in  my forty-two years.  When you’ve reached this ripe age, you’ve been through the trials of childhood, the self-discovery of your teens and twenties, acceptance of who you are in your thirties and arrived in a place where you feel like you know who you are and what you stand for.

Take away your ability to speak and suddenly you feel like that person you’ve come to know is trapped in a plexiglass box.  People can see you but they can’t hear you.  Your thoughts, opinions and stories all fall silent. You long to connect with other human beings at a deeper level but when all you can say is ‘how are you’ and ‘it’s hot’ you’re always skimming along the surface.

For an extrovert, this is a special kind of torture.

For the past three months our family has been the only English speaking family on the base here in Marabá, which has pushed us, immersed us and challenged us, but more than that it has HELPED us.

A couple of weeks ago as the sun was setting, I sat with Monica, the church’s pastor.  We watched our kids paint, first on paper and then their whole bodies grunting like apes and running around the soccer field.  We swapped stories, laughed, talked about our families and things we’d learned about life in the past.

After the sun had set and our kids were scrubbing their skin pink to get the paint off,  I felt like the ‘real me’ was out and able to tell stories, make jokes and share my heart with another person.

It was like coming up from a deep dive and taking a big breath.

I’m far, far, FAR from fluent in this new language but I am finally feeling more and more like getting there is not impossible.

Go to Source

“Missionary time and emotional energy should be spent 30% on their support teams, 30% on their families, and 30% on actual field work”. This is how I counsel new missionaries. In real life, I have no idea how our time and energy actually gets distributed, but if we lose any one of these three areas of responsibility, our impact is seriously weakened.

Each Missionary is Part of a Big Support Team

Over 18 years ago Danny Meyer brought a team from Columbus, OH, for a short-term outreach. They stayed in our home that first time, and the Lord really drew us together. We lived on the edge of a swamp, in the middle of the city. The rats would sometimes scurry across the living room even as we visited. As Danny, and his wife Penny, continued to come to Altamira every year with teams, they introduced us to Craig and Linda Heselton. The Heselton’s started bringing teams. I think they came for over ten years in a row. Phil and Judy Niemie also came on these teams, and we ended up staying in each of these homes, just now, for two or three nights each. These friends became like Aunts and Uncles to our children. Every year they would come stay in our home, and they were there to see our children grow up from babies to adults. They brought gifts, and stories, and goodwill. Because a Christian outreach team is focused on ministry, there is always as special sense of Jesus’ presence all around the time they are there. Now all of these friends have grandchildren!

The People Who Come Full-time as Missionaries Become Like Family

Very close to our family are all the people who came to live and serve with us full-time, to help Train Leaders and Plant Churches in Brazil. Kevin and Angie came for five years. Ron and Tiffany came for two years. (They had no children then). Tim and Betsy Kubacki came for five years. (They are now serving in Angola). Our girls were best friends with the Kubacki children. Now, as teen-agers, even though they have not seen each other for four years, they could pick up right where they left off in their friendships. Keith and Marsha have been in Brazil about nine years, and are still there. We were able to see all these people, and even several more with similar stories, to encourage them in their journeys, however they are now serving God, and to receive even more encouragement than we gave.

Kevin and Angie’s house in Columbus.

 Kevin and Angie came to have ice cream with us at the Heselton’s house.

Ron and Tiffany now have 5 lively children, including 4 year old twin boys. Busy. And fun.

Bella, Elly, Emma, Ben, and Meredith were all friends in Altamira.

Go to Source

Go to Source

Go to Source

Before we left for Maraba, we invited a bunch of Brazilians over to watch the first game of the World Cup.  I enjoyed watching their reactions each time Brazil scored.  They passionately support their team even if their feelings about hosting the world cup are very mixed.  They are saddened by the dispersement of Brazil’s revenue on soccer stadiums when they have such poor health care and education.
Go to Source

We’ve already spent a week in North Carolina with Sarah and Kiffer and Beth-Anne.  Sarah’s job occasionally involves driving children on field trips in the city of Brevard.  She works for the Boys and Girls Club of America.   While all 3 are busy taking summer courses and working, we thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with them as time allowed.  We cheered on Brazil through 2 World Cup games.

Go to Source

Jesus taught us to expect life in the Kingdom of God to be different than any other religious or secular tradition.

How do you evaluate your spirituality today on the spectrum of “cannot” and “have-to” on the one side, and “freedom”  and “can I do that too?” on the other side.

If you are not happy with where you placed your spiritual life on this spectrum, today is a good day to start a series of conversations with God to find out how you can change this.

Jesus promises freedom, and abundant life. Awhile ago I was sitting with my friend on the porch of his million dollar house, and we were talking about how we live in one of most privileged times in history. Many people around the world are able to sit on their front porches without fear of marauders, which reminded us of this prophecy in the Old Testament.

Micah 4:4 Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.

Still, many Christians and non-Christians, wealthy and not-wealthy, are unhappy.

Think for a minute: “What would it take to make me truly happy, right now?” Once you have the answer, read on.

In my experience, and the Bible backs this up, we can only be really happy, and really content, when we are doing our best to walk with God on this earth. We can be eating grapes on our own porch, or we could be going through a dark night of the soul, or both. True happiness doesn’t really have to do with that. It has to do with walking in the destiny God has prepared for us. Maybe it is helpful to think of God holding a flashlight. As long as we are close to Him it is easy to see where to step next, and that really feels good. RGB.

Go to Source

We reflect our true values to those around us.

Go to Source