September and October 2009

Vitor playing Jenga during our picnic after SS to be able to get to know the new pastor. And now that I am posting the fact of a new pastor it dawned on me that it might be good to have a picture of the new pastor! OOPS! I will have to do that shortly.



Some of the ladies in our church dressed up with hats as it was the theme for the annual ladies get together from various churches. (Francisca, Aline, Marcia, and Luciana)

Children's Day is a holiday here in Brazil so we had a special day for them during our Sunday School time.

I dressed up as an ant and used the ant as a spiritual ilustration. Here are some of the famous brigadeiros that maybe you remember eating at your church in the form of an ant. No matter what the form, they are delicious.

This huge anteater that we were able to borrow from the zoo would agree with me, too. But his perspective would be different. He would say that ants no matter what flavor are delicious! :)

We did a SS trip to a Chocolate Farm because Andrew and Ana Shae are soon heading back to the States. (Andrew, Ana, Caio, and peacock)

A picture taken during our SS time in thanks to the team that came down to paint our church right before the induction service of our national pastor (who I need to get a picture of! :)

Jordan's birthday party.
We were sad to see Shawn and his family go, but thankful for how the Lord used them at Hope Baptist Church, and we are looking forward to working with them again in the next church plant.

This picture right here has nothing to do with ministry, but is a reminder of how your prayers are important on a daily basis. When we go through trials we remember to pray, but prayer on a normal basis is important.

I wasn't paying attention as much as I should have been, an orange cone like this appeared directly in front of me. I tried to swerve to miss the cone, but the front left wheel grabbed the curb and van went up on the curb. I tried to brake and keep one wheel on the tar as we balanced on the curb for quite awhile as I fearfully noticed the tilting embankment, also remembering that Sabrina was on that side of the van in her carseat. Eventually, I couldnt hold the van on the road any longer, but fortunately the van had slowed enough and came to a rest as you see it now.
How the van did not tip over after hitting the curb at 70 miles an hour was an amazement and a testimony to all those that witnessed it. We passed Sabrina through the window to a man that stopped still fearful that maybe the van would tip over as we got out. That man told us that as soon as he saw us hit the curb, he said to his wife, they are going to tip over. God's hand made sure that it didn't! We are appreciative of your prayers everyday!

July and August 2009

VBS-"Whiter than Snow"
Our snowman and tree painted with snow and cottonballs and dangling snowflakes from the ceiling helped make it more of a believable winter wonderland!

One thing that was really neat was to see the VBS basically being run by the people of our church without our help

My cameras was stolen right before our mission's trip, so no cool pictures from Diamantina, but we were able to reenact the play we did for VBS in Diamantina in our own church as we came back and reported the many blessings during our trip.
Carlao and Marcia. No special activity, just another member of our church inviting some people over for lunch. Fellowshipping one with another.

Hanna, one of the missionary kids, came back for a visit from college. (Joice, Hanna, Abigail)
Caio, one of my wife's SS students, turned 5 years old!
Donna has helped out a lot of the people in the area of music and piano. We will miss her when they go back to the States. Here is Adrielle learning to play the piano. Her sister already plays during our services, maybe someday Adrielle will do the same!

May and June 2009

MOTHER'S DAY BANQUET
Mother's day was a little bit more special this year for me since my mom was able to come down to visit us with my father. But it was more of a visit as a grandmother! than a mother. :) Mariana, Mariana 2, Abigail, Tatiane, my mother, Natali, and Lais

We had a special Sunday School Mission's Competition. The ones who won went on a trip to Santos to visit an aquarium. (Abigail, Joice, Dani)

Felipe and Rodolfo. Rodolfo didn't win in the competion, but he is studying in Santos so we were able to encourage and visit him while we there.

Dani and I with Santos in the backdrop.

On Brazil's equivalent of Valentines Day, we did a banquet with two of our churches where the couples were supposed to come dressed up as certain famous duos. They did an excellent job with their costumes and our special speaker that evening eventually in the months to come became the pastor of our church! :) (Lili and Silvio disguised as Mario and his princess)
Pastor Shawn and Donna, our co-workers, as ...... well, I think the picture already lets you know. Definitely, a classic couple.
You won't know who this couple (Nuvia and Marcio) represent, but any Brazilian seeing this couple with one holding a teacup and the other with flowers instantly knows them of a famous couple on an old TV show called "Chaves".

Marcia and Carlao disguised as Cinderella and the Prince. Marcia made this dress especially for that evening, and Carlao shaved off his beard! :)

Sidenote: Somehow Dani and I got stuck with being Donald Duck and Daisy, and since I am the one responsible for putting the pictures on this site, I decided to leave that picture out! :)
Can't forget the teenagers. Well, this was not a Valentines Banquet but late on we had a special night for our college age group.

March and April 2009

Ladies Meetings in March

"Lirios do Vale", yah, you probably already guessed it! Lilies of the Valley. It was one of the names of the two groups that competed during March's emphasis for the ladies.

As you can see, they really enjoyed themselves during this time. Mara and Marcia were the team leaders that were responsible for getting the others excited. I think they did a pretty good job! :)

They enjoyed a lot of good comradery and a time for spiritual teaching.

It was good for the teen girls as well as they were able to spend time with the ladies of the church during this outreach. (Abigail, Natali (a new convert) and Rafaela)

Here is a picture of Adrielle and Abigail two sisters on Abigail's special 15th birthday.
Celebrating your 15th birthday is a special birthday for a girl here in Brazil. Some of the ideas and customs are based on worldly philosophies, so it is neat when we can celebrate it in a Godly fashion like we did as a church for Abigail.

During the month of April, we were able to do a joint couples retreat where we had a special speaker. This year we were able to see interest pick up from last year's retreat, and we are looking forward to even a better attendance next year as the couples went away saying more people should have come out to this retreat! :)

Carlinhos participating in one of the games.

Pastor Sidnei had enough courage to walk across the makeshift bridge to show his love for his wife. He made it sucessfully across although a few others were not so fortunate! Even a few of the ladies decided to show their courage and love for their husband! :)

January and February 2009

During the month of January we received a lot of visitors wanting to see Sabrina including Dani's Sunday School class. All boys!

We also were able to show off our pride and joy at the yearly conference of our mission board.

Carnaval is always a huge event for us where teenagers got together from our three churches for four days of fun and spiritual emphasis.

These two were the winners of twin night, but I thought the others from our church did a pretty good job as well.

Abigail (our church) and Malu.

Paulinho and Ariel are also from our church.

And of course many other games like this one with water balloons.

We also had a night of terror on the first night which was a big hit.

But the biggest hit for us was the fact that the Lord was able to use this spiritual retreat to touch the lives of many teens. Our speaker used the temple furniture as the theme with Shekinah Glory as the title of our retreat.

The counselors did a great job of leading devotions and setting a Godly tone for the week and the many decisions that were made.