Thought for the Day

Today I had coffee with a friend I have not seen in twenty-six years. As we talked of missions, God, and our families, he relayed the following story.“Sometimes our friends in church mention that they wish their teen-agers wanted to sit with them, as ours do. While these parents would like to have a better relationship with their children, they do not see the bigger picture. They do not choose to organize their lives so they can eat together as a family, and spend quality time together. Sitting together on Sunday is the tip of the ice-burg, the fruit of many years of choosing to do things together with our children, even if we would rather be doing other things”. 

This thought about serving others came out in a different way during our family devotions this week. Bella brought to our attention how the important centurion humbled himself before Jesus so his servant would be healed. This army leader stepped out of his comfort zone to help his servant. 

Matthew 8:5-6 When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.”


God will give you opportunities to help others this week, but sometimes you will need to step out of your comfort zone…maybe way out. I am curious about your experiences or thoughts about this.

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We are often amazed at the unfair, tragic stories of the people around us. The idea that a sinful lifestyle will make you happy, or that it is a person’s only option, passes naturally down the family lines. It takes divine intervention to stop the chain reactions of sin, and to start a new family story. Our church in Brazil allows our neighbours a chance to observe Christian families. For example, most of our neighbours still laugh when they hear that Deanna and I go out on Tuesdays for “date night”. They associate dating as something adults do outside of a marriage relationship. As these young people get married they need extra grace to figure out how to live in a godly relationship. Healthy ways of handling conflict have not been modelled for them. Stabbing, yelling, or going silent are no longer acceptable. Their children will have it easier, and their grandchildren easier yet…as long as each generation does their part to connect the next generation to God.

“…the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. Exodus 20:5b-6 NLT

For a school report Bella and I studied her family heritage. “All my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, and all my cousins, they are all Christians”. (36 people). Wow. Now how many others can we help to start their own Christian family heritage?

Our Mennonite Brethren Christian heritage goes back many generations. For this reason I am certain I have an easier time than many people around me. Often I think, “I’ll bet if I had been born into their family, I would be reacting exactly as they are reacting”. I am blessed in part because of the prayers and actions of people who lived long ago.

Here is Emma with my Dad and Mom, George and Margaret Bergen. 


There are great rewards as we work on our most important task in life, to do our best to pass on a Christian heritage to our children. What better way to do this than to include our families in helping other people start their own Christian heritage?

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Emma has homeschooled from grades K-12, with the exception of Grade 10. High Road Academy allowed Emma to participate in the graduation ceremonies and celebrations along with all her friends she went to school with in 2011/2012. Then HCOS, the home school association with whom we have been registered these past several years, also hosted a graduation ceremony, banquet, and evening. This was an especially interesting event because this is the first time most of these grads met each other, even though they have worked together in forums and projects online for years. Emma graduated with honours, and we are very proud of her. The teachers chose Emma to give the 5 minute opening speech for this huge event. 

Emma was chosen to be the saladictorian, the student to give the opening speech and prayer.

Emma’s Uncle Darrell drove her to the graduation ceremonies. He puta chrome 400 hp chrome racing motors in the ’55 Chevy he rebuilt. “It was so much fun. When Uncle Darrell stepped on the gas pedal we all got pinned back in our seats. And every person we passed on the freeway looked over and nodded at us”.

Harold and Joan, Deanna’s parents, continue to do all they can to help us thrive in Brazil. We celebrated Harold’s 77th birthday yesterday.

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Thought for the Day

Matthew 7:21

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” NIV.

Pastor Gary at the Abbotsford Vineyard gave a sermon on forgiveness today. He started by outlining some things that forgiveness is not. 

Click here for a list of 8 things that are NOT forgiveness.

I have learned the following three truths about forgiveness this year.

1. We forgive others for our own benefit. (THIS IS A GIFT I GIVE MYSELF.)

a) This is the only way that we ourselves are forgiven, that we can pursue happiness, contentment, joy, and all that God offers.

b) Remember the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew 18, we are forgiven as we forgive others.

2. We ask forgiveness from others for our own benefit. (THIS IS A GIFT I GIVE MYSELF.)

a)  This is the only way to be released from legitimate guilt.

b) We do this so our gifts to God have value. Matthew 6:14 Gifts that have no value are worthless.

3. We explain to others when they have sinned against us for their benefit. (THIS IS A GIFT I GIVE TO OTHERS.)

a) This is a selfless act of service. It is like offering an olive branch to people who have sinned against us. We are offering them a chance to ask forgiveness, to release themselves from legitimate guilt.

b) “So watch yourselves. ‘If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them’” (Luke 17:3, NIV). See also Matthew 18:15.

c) Explaining to others when they have sinned against us can only be done effectively when it is done in love. We cannot do this well when we are angry, or when we are still reacting poorly to what was done to us.

d) This one is for me the most difficult because:

i) I would rather forget the matter, and hope it will just go away. The problem with this is that some situations do not just go away.

ii) The other person may not realize they have sinned against me, or they may not agree that they have sinned against me. The conversation may be awkward. After courageously talking to the other person, I may see things differently. This has the potential to put the relationship back on a healing track.

iii) The other person may think they have a right to sin against me, and it may feel to me like they are standing their with their emotional arms crossed. It may feel like I am asking them to say sorry to me for my benefit, instead of the real truth that I am extending to them an olive branch so they can be freed from legitimate guilt. This has the potential to be awkward. Of course, the other person may ask genuine forgiveness, which I may have trouble to give, because of the deepness of the wound.

iv) A real danger here is that the other person may ask forgiveness without really agreeing that they did something wrong, just to make the immediate conversation go away. This is the same as lying, even though both parties may have good intentions. In this case the sin will probably be intentionally repeated, with both parties feeling they are right. Deceiving one another is not nearly as helpful as having courageous conversations until both parties feel completely understood.

v) If this goes well, this is the first step to rebuilding trust. Trust can only be rebuilt when both sides agree that trust was broken. Then both sides can start taking steps towards reconciliation.

Conclusion: We cannot control other peoples actions and reactions. Our responsibility before God is to (1) Forgive everyone completely, (2) ask forgiveness if we know someone has something against us, and (3) to let others know when they have sinned against us. 

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” Romans 12:18 NIV.



I am curious about your experiences or thoughts about this.

Sincerely,

Rick Bergen.

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On June 6, 2014, Pastor Gary Stephens at the Abbotsford Vineyard Church talked about forgiveness, which included the following assumptions about what forgiveness is not.

• Forgiveness is not making excuses for what was done to you.
• Forgiveness is not pretending it never happened.
• Forgiveness is not waiting for an apology.
• Forgiveness is not pretending it doesn’t hurt.
• Forgiveness is not a one-time event.
• Forgiveness is not overlooking justice.
• Forgiveness is not trusting.
• Forgiveness is not restoration.

Posted with permission.

Rick Bergen.

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Jen and Phil organized an outreach last summer to raise some toys for the children in our neighbourhood here in Marabá. They found an engineer who was travelling to another part of Brazil who was willing to bring their suitcases full of gifts. The engineer had connections with a trucking company who transported them up to Marabá for free. Here is a video and some photos of the event.

Sorting and wrapping children’s gifts.

Deanna lays out the strategy with the volunteer helpers.

It rained all morning, which was no problem for the 100 children and leaders.

Mary was quite protective of baby Jesus.

Everyone loved the morning.

Julianna soaks it all in.

Mary looks around while protectively holding baby Jesus.

Mary is pretend sleeping while the angel talks to her.

“Sai da frente!” “Get out of the way, we’re coming through!”

Antonette and Madute were great helpers. They are entering the church through the Alpha program.

Deanna organizes the gift draw.

Little Emily wanted me to sit beside her while she ate lunch. Deanna came and took our photo.

Annika spent the morning holding her friend’s babies while she helped with the event.

Mary was very pregnant while she rode the donkey to Bethlehem.

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Dear Friends, please forgive me(Kelsie) for not keeping up on our blog. I haven’t written in a year and I’m sure every time someone wants to see what we are up to, they are terribly disappointed each time. I honestly just haven’t had the “blogging” creativity. It’s all I can do sometimes to get out a decent newsletter. So realizing how far behind I am, I will try to do better to keep you all informed. 

One reason for this is that in Maribel, I have to write my blog first offline. We don’t have internet capabilities out there. Then chose pictures separately.  When we get to town, I have to get them online. For several months now, we just haven’t been staying where there is constant internet. It has been the biggest contributor to my lack of blog entries because I just haven’t had the patience to get online and mess with it.

Okay, enough of all the excuses! HA!

Since our short termer, Nathan, left, we started working on building a church in the community of Maribel. It was time, the community voted for it unanimously! So we went for it.  We had NO IDEA how much work came out of building a church in the jungle. WOW! 
Our main goal has been to not do it without the nationals along side. If it isn’t something they are 100% into, it won’t be sustainable. Our vision to build a church will only dwindle out and rot if the nationals are not on board. So, with many men in the community, Clyde worked alongside them for 6 months, on and off, chipping away at the big project.

Today we have close to half of the community coming to services at the new church. One family is traveling by canoe and outboard motor  an hour away to be apart of our services. They come to get ice so they can fish during the week. The ice trucks come on Sundays and the fishermen can pick up their ice and start fishing on Monday. They then deliver fish to sell to the fish trucks that come later in the week. This has given the family from “New River”, a greater reason for the entire family to come and get fellowship and hear the word of the Lord while picking up ice for the week! 

Birthday celebrations are a great way to tell someone how much you care about them!

I have become known as the “Cake Lady” or (“boleira”) in the community and now on the TransIriri. I never thought about how making cakes for our kids’ birthdays was just apart of our culture. We just do it cause it isn’t the same to have a birthday pass and not have a cake or something special and sweet to celebrate. Since we have this strong tradition, we have brought into our ministry here.
If ANYONE has a birthday from our community and it’s in my power to make a cake, I do!
It has become a part of my ministry. Many folks can’t afford the simple ingredients of a cake. Flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, sugar, butter, milk etc…. It’s not even common to hardly wish your loved ones “happy birthday” around here. So over the years, we have caught on to this and have gone out of our way to bless those who are celebrating another year of life on this great earth.

Jeorge turned 46 yrs old just a few weeks ago. Clyde told me about it and he encouraged me to make it happen. Jeorge never had anyone make him a cake.  Nearly 50 years and he finally had a cake made in his honor. 
Here are a few examples of the cakes I have done. I desire to learn more techniques and recipes. For now, I stick to what works here in the region with humidity and lack of refrigeration!

Just after our long trip up river, I got back just in time to bake this big cake for a 50th birthday party!   I decorated it on site.

This is Jeorge who turned 46 and had never had a cake. I had already cut the cake forgetting to take a picture with him. We had no idea that he had never even had the “happy birthday” song sung to him! We love Jeorge and all that God is doing in his life!

Some 200 guests and cake for everyone!

Our Sweet Lorrany(Lo-Han-ee) who tuned 2! Her parents asked me to bake this cake special for her birthday. They have already begun the tradition in their family.

Natalia’s 16th birthday cake up close

Natalia, taken by surprise when I showed up with a big red box wrapped special for her  16th birthday. Inside was this cake! We let her and her family share the moment together! I love surprises!!

Mother’s Day cake…it was a heavy one! So next time you sing “Happy Birthday” to someone, think about the rest of the world who has never had a birthday cake made in their honor. Celebrate life and let the “birthday boy/girl” know how much you love them! Each day is a gift! Don’t take it for granted! More updates to follow!  We are in Altamira getting some R&R. We’ll be back in Maribel by July 10-11th. My 7th-8th grade teacher, mentor and friend, Midge Shaw from the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Grants Pass, is coming to see us!!! Can’t wait to show her around and see what God has in store with her visit!

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We have been in the “big city” of Altamira where our mother base is for over 2 weeks. We intended to spend only a week, but it sometimes never works out our way.

He learned how to fish!

He captured every crowd he played for!!!(This only shows one angle, there were a bunch on the other side)

We had our short termer, Nathan, leave earlier than expected when his visa wasn’t approved for the following 90 days. We were informed that his visa was only given for 20 days. It was never communicated therefore we were all in the dark about it until we went to proceed with the extension. Apparently, the Federal Police can give up to 90 days and it’s up to the officer who receives your passport first to determine that time. Nathan had to pay a stiff fine and stiff airfare. That was on a Friday and we said our good byes on Sunday night. He has since then arranged for the time he’d be in Brazil to serve at a orphanage in Mexico, so he’s a happy camper!

He’s off to serve at Mission Carmen Serdan in Mexico

One of our leaders from our community who traveled with us on the river for that long trip, got to know Nathan and got some guitar lessons from him too. When he came to vote this weekend for the Brazilian election day, we saw him and told him. He looked very sad and teared up a bit because he didn’t get to say good bye! It was a disappointment, but God’s ways are Higher.

“In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps” Proverbs 16:9

So since Nathan has left, his “isms” have stayed. Like he’d say “um, um tasty good” and such. The kids still say that when it’s something yummy coming their way!! HAHAHAHA!

We had plans to return back home, but we needed to get the truck maintained and it’s so difficult to have it done timely here. Altamira has exploded, as I’ve mentioned before, and every area it’s felt. Prices, traffic, construction and it’s all going UP, UP, UP!!!!

Altamira is like a big city now. Clyde was waiting at a stop light and there were 3 hippies doing tricks in front of the traffic as they waiting for the stop light to earn money. A girl, doing hula hoop, a guy doing a hand drum roll and the the other guy juggling.  We see this in the really big cities. I guess Altamira has gone up a step!

A few good things are that the “big city” now has Sushi and I don’t have to go to Belem or Maraba for it now!!!! I expect to come for my bday/Christmas gift!!!

So the truck is fine, it’s just those little things that need help! Brakes, clutch, power steering, electical so the brake lights will work. These things sound so routine, but here it’s VITAL to have it all done WELL!!! I told Clyde that God has sent him to the Amazon to learn how to be a car mechanic cause if he doesn’t keep a vigilant watch on these mechanics here, it won’t get done and it won’t get done right…in most cases!

We are praying that we can leave tomorrow for Uruara’ and then off to Maribel by Wednesday. Friday is National Kids Day and I’m in charge of the cake!

Watch for another update around Christmas! Blessings from the Bergquist Clan~

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