Tonight we had just finished up the adult Sunday School class in Aningas, and started getting things together for the kids, when Nildete said, “The mayor wants to see you tomorrow morning at his house.”
“Huh? What?!”
“He sent a message. He’d like you to be at his house at 8:00 a.m. He wants to talk to you about the building project in Aningas!”
We know you’ve been praying; we have felt God’s Presence and His peace with us. Please ask God to give us His Words, when we talk to Mayor Peixoto, tomorrow morning. Pray that he helps us get this final approval to build. Please keep praying that God works in Aningas, for His glory, and the community’s blessing.
Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the LORD protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. (Psalms 127:1 NLT)
Meeting with the Mayor!
Urgent Prayer Request
We are in the middle of a spiritual battle. First, we heard that there may be problems with our visa renewal. Then, Aningas is under attack and our work as well.
Next week we are supposed to go to Ceara-Mirim to talk to the different political offices there, bringing our written applications for building in Aningas.
Satan does not want us building a home. Satan does not want the gospel preached in Aningas. He hates us. He hates the Truth.
We console ourselves with the experience that has taught us: the conflicts/battles are bigger when God’s plans are bigger!
Yesterday, we went to pray with Cleide. We prayed together for three hours and it felt like 15 minutes. My face was covered in tears and worse…so, I asked her for a Kleenex. She went outside her little room and came back with a small red towel. She looked at it and burst into tears and yelled, “Hallelujah!”
Embroidered on the towel was-
I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Isaiah 38:5
Needless to say, peace filled me and I blew many kisses to heaven. God knows and He is SOVEREIGN!
Reflection- Anna Vallance
I truly can’t thank Mark and Lori enough for all that they taught me during the time I was in Brazil. Both what I saw in Brazil and what the Lord taught me through their lives has left a permanent impression on my heart.
Christ told His disciples, “Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce the Message of God’s good news to one and all.” I’ve never had any trouble believing that this commission applies to the Lord’s work in foreign countries. Clearly, when the Lord Jesus said, “the world,” He was talking about the far-flung corners of the planet. But what about the United States of America? What about my own state, or better yet, my own town? It’s clear that this commission applies to missionaries, the “Lord’s workers,” as we call them. But what about me? Does God also expect this of me? It took a trip to one of those distant countries (Brazil) for me to realize that this commission is just as valid for an everyday Christian in the United States of America.
I’ll never forget my first trip as a believer, to Brazil. Never before have I encountered a people so obviously in need of the gospel. The people of that country are addicted, abused, battered, and starving–everything about them cries out for the liberating message of Jesus Christ. I’ll never forget the thrill of putting God’s word into their hands. I felt like shouting, “Here is a message that can set your soul free!” The joy of sharing the gospel with lost souls was indelibly fixed upon my heart on that trip. The stark condition of the people in Brazil was a dramatic backdrop on which God demonstrated to me the power of His gospel. I was impressed at its power to radically transform lives when I met several guys in the rehab whom I had met a year ago on the streets. They had professed to be saved and the difference between who they were now and who they had been on the streets was truly astounding.
When I returned home, it was with a new, keen awareness that every person I encounter is a soul, a soul that God loves and desperately desires to save. God began burdening my heart for my community. I began to pray that God would use me to reach out to those around me. I had no “expertise” in spreading the gospel and, having been saved later in life, I had limited knowledge of the scriptures. I’ve never been particularly gifted or courageous. But, there was a truth in which I firmly believed: God wants the gospel of His Son to be spread and if I make myself available He can and will use me. As I was recently reminded at a missionary conference, didn’t Christ say to His disciples, “I will make you fishers of men.”
But how to spread the gospel? It is to my shame that I was completely at a loss as to how to reach out to those around me with the good news. My mother (equally burdened) and I began praying for wisdom. We had no clue. We asked other Christians and searched the scriptures to try to find the answer: how can we be missionaries here, in and around the town in which we live? Certainly souls all around the world are in need of the gospel. But how often we forget that “the world” includes the United States as well. I remembered Mark and Lori giving tracts to each person they encountered in their day (cashiers, gas attendants, waiters, etc.). It was with much fear and trepidation that I began to do so at home; how worth it to know that each soul was receiving the Words of Life!
God began to show us different ways that He could use us to reach others with the gospel. We were (and in many ways still are) bumbling idiots. But we were available. And God used us. Let’s make sure we get the emphasis right: it’s not that God used us, it’s that God used us. God has also been working in the lives of other believers in our assembly and, with them, we have seen the Lord open up various opportunities for the gospel. God has taught us how absolutely desperate our fellow Americans are for the gospel. They always have been, I suppose, but I wasn’t paying attention. Some of the people God has brought into our lives have stories that are reminiscent of Brazil: the Muslim woman who fled Guinea to escape her abusive husband, the divorced mother who came to our town to flee her legalistic family and alcoholism, and the woman who is on dialysis because cancer took out her kidneys. Others lead more “normal” lives, but the need for their souls to be saved is still there.
I’ll never forget Lori reminding me of this simple truth: “God is God. I am not God.” What a relief. I remember her telling me how God wants us to be weak and helpless so that He can work through us. If we have no strength of our own, God gets all the glory! It’s really all about Him: it begins with Him, is empowered through Him, and is finished by Him. It’s His work. God gave us a burden for the souls around us and we made ourselves available. That’s all we did. It has involved sacrifice, but isn’t it worth it if even one soul is saved? In one year, God has opened several homes in our town. An ESL class is now being held weekly at our hall. A summer Bible camp was held at our home this summer and our assembly is praying about gospel meetings in our town in the fall. God is working. I pray that one day He will establish an assembly here. He is more than able.
In 1 Timothy 2, Paul says (of God), “He wants not only us, but everyone saved… everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free.” Christ has died for us. The Almighty Creator has shed His blood that we might be reconciled to Him, that we might become His children. What incredible news! Who are we not to share this with others? Are we not obligated, like Paul was (Romans 1:15), to share the good news with those around us?
In 2 Corinthians 5:15, Paul says of Christ, “He died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.” Every soul has an eternal destination: heaven or hell. God wants every single one to be saved, those in Brazil and those in the United States of America. Can I challenge you to begin praying for your community and to begin asking God how He can use you to share the gospel with others? It doesn’t matter if you aren’t an expert. It doesn’t matter if you are afraid. As long as you are available, as long as you are willing, and as long as you are ready to obey, God can use you. Don’t believe people when they tell you that Americans don’t want the gospel. Is God not able to break down even the greatest barrier? Look at the work that is being done in Brazil and ask God to show you how you can “do this at home.”
Carnival
Think Mardi Gras times ten. Or maybe times fifty. That’s what Carnaval is to Brazil. The police turn a “blind eye” to all sorts of illegal activities, and there is partying in the streets for days.
So, on Friday we picked up the teens in Aningas and brought them to our house for a kind of a Carnaval Retreat, or a time to spend together.
A trip to the grocery store to get all sorts of snacks and goodies was an adventure. We entered the store and the lines to check out went down every single grocery aisle. Apparently, the store wasn’t going to be open the following day. We quickly split up into groups, and smart Layane immediately positioned herself in a line for us. Even for here, where chaos is commonplace, this was crazy! In my mind (I used to work in grocery stores) I was muttering and organizing the whole operation, opening additional checkouts, and moving people to one side of the aisles so others could get by without doing the limbo. After several hours, we headed home with food and snacks to get us through the next five days.
We had a fun time and we had a good devotional time together, too. They talked about wanting to serve God. They talked about how they love to come out on the streets and into the favelas with us. And I realized how good God is to us. I thought about the years at home teaching Sunday School and our times on Sunday nights with the teens. I remember feeling sad that those amazing times were ending and those particular kids had grown up. But just look at what God has given us here! More precious teens (my favorite age even!) to love and cherish, and lambs to feed, with His help. Once again, I am struck by how God uses everything in our life, and brings it around to good for His glory. Yes!
Turns out, it was also good to get my mind off of the day-to-day struggles, pull back, and appreciate how much God has done. God is really working in lives. We lose sight of this a lot here, because we get so focused on the despair and poverty and all the things we are powerless to change. But then, we are forced to slow down. Sometimes, it’s because the truck dies. Or, the country is on a wild five day spree of sin. But the result is the same: we pull back and look at what God HAS done. And this really is cause for celebration!
Yes, they shall sing of the ways of the Lord and joyfully celebrate His mighty acts, for great is the glory of the Lord. (Psalm 138:5 AMP)
Reflection: Elizabeth Robbins-Wright
I didn’t choose Brazil…I wasn’t looking for an opportunity to do missions work or to serve. I didn’t even know about the work Mark and Lori were doing in Brazil until about two weeks before I committed to going. God brought the opportunity right to me, and then, in amazing ways, He made every provision. God brought me here, and He brought me here for a reason.
My perception of what my time in Brazil would look like before I arrived was entirely one-dimensional. I thought I would be a practical help in the work in feeding the hungry, distributing clothes and other necessities to the needy, and of course speaking of God’s love. I was entirely unprepared for the profound effect it would have on me…how completely I would fall in love with what God is doing here, how complete I would feel in fully surrendering to God using me to convey His love, and how thoroughly my life would be changed by it all.
When I try to convey what I experienced in Brazil and the profound effect it had on me, my words seem so terribly inadequate. This area of Brazil is like no place I have ever been. It is a land of breathtaking beauty and abhorrent squalor; towering and exorbitant residential skyscrapers and rudimentary mud huts. The types of needs vary so greatly and yet they are the same. From the gospel meetings in the poor village of Aningas, to providing medical care within the favelas, to feeding the homeless, to seeing drug addicts through rehab–the underlying need is the same. There is an exceedingly great need for hope and love; their need for a Savior.
Showing God’s love and mercy to people who have lost all hope is a humbling and incredible feeling. To be God’s hands and feet took on a new meaning for me here in Brazil. It used to be about doing what God would want me to do. As I stepped back and humbled myself, God used me to do His will. It’s not really about what we do, but what God accomplishes through us–His love displayed. And there is no feeling like it, to be right where God wants you and to be used to proclaim Jesus’ love and mercy…to be used to bless others extravagantly.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-8).
New Wheels
Yesterday we met a man, sitting in the dirt on the median of a city street. He doesn’t have the use of his legs and he pulled himself around by his arms. “Wouldn’t it be great if he had some kind of wheels?” we all said.
So, last night Mark and Andrew bought wheels, then this morning Mark cut the wood for a skateboard. On our way to Monte Celeste favela today, we dropped off his new wheels.
So then, whatever you desire that others would do to and for you, even so do also to and for them, for this is (sums up) the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12 AMP)
Airton
Airton is 15 years old. He’s lived at the Lar Bom Jesus for four years. He has four brothers and sisters that live there, too.
His mother, Paula, found a new boyfriend and the new boyfriend didn’t want her kids, so she abandoned them. The minors’ judge sent them to Cleide.
This morning when we went to bring the monthly groceries to the Lar, we found Cleide crying. Airton had gone to the hospital with stomach pain and they had admitted him. His sister Romeika, is at the hospital with him, and she had just called. The doctors took some tests because they suspect he has leukemia.
We stood together and prayed for this boy. We prayed for the Father of the fatherless to draw near to him and be with him, as He has promised.
Please pray for Airton, his brothers and sisters and Cleide.
Although my father and my mother have forsaken me, yet the Lord will take me up [adopt me as His child]. (Psalm 27:10 AMP)
Living in Safety
William was walking from school to the bus that he takes to go to the gym. The street was busy and plenty of people were around. But a man still came up to him, put a gun to his stomach and demanded his cell phone and his money. We were on the streets with sandwiches and the Word. Mark got a call from the school saying that William was in the office and he was OK. We talked to him and told him we’d be right there.
There we were, on the street. We just wanted to run to be with William. And the street kids asked us to pray with them. At that moment, I’m not sure that I was thinking clearly, but I’m thinking now about how we joined hands and stood in a circle and asked God to make Himself known to us. We asked for His care and His love and mercy to be shown to us and to our families.
I spent a few hours panicking inside, but now I’m telling God about how thankful I am for His care and His love and His mercy to William and Mark and Caroline and me.
Our lives are in His hands. I’m praying that He helps us to confidently trust Him with William’s safety and that He continually gives us His peace in our hearts. I need Him so much.
In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You, Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust. (Psalm 4:8 AMP)
Relationships
Francisco is Natalia’s uncle. He opens the Catholic Church in the center of Aningas every Sunday night, and leads the service. Tonight, his two children came out to Sunday School at the Galpão.
And, as we were singing, several new kids came in and sat down. There were two benches filled with new little faces. And they listened and took their verses home with them to learn.
So, our Kids’ Festival last week helped us to make new friends. It takes time to build relationships with people. Especially when you come from thousands of miles away and look and talk differently. But people always seem to know when you genuinely love them when God is in it. And when God is in it, it is good. It’s all about relationships. Jesus said it.
‘And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30, 31 NASB)
A Look at the Crowd
Over 700 people attended including 475 children under the age of 10 that received prizes. Here’s a look at the crowd-
