More Evangelism!

Yeah, that's right, MORE evangelism. This has been great. Two weeks in a row I had the opportunity to go out with a volunteer group from the states, Brazilian church members, and translators from around Brazil and share Christ with Brazilian families in their homes. I will attach three pictures. The first is a family that all accepted the message of Christ. The father accepted first and then the rest of the family followed suit. The second is another family that accepted Christ. And the third is the same family along with members of Philadelphia Igreja Batista. Please join with us as we pray that the Lord will continue to speak to their hearts and move in their lives. We told of the one true God and made sure that they understood to the best of our abilities, so please pray that those seeds have fallen on fertile soil and will take deep root. The members of Philadelphia Igreja Batista will be following up with both families and trying to get Bible studies started in these homes.

Evangelism

Well, this is Paul, and I want to share with you how Kati and I got to share in Brazilian homes on Friday. We went out with a volunteer team that was in a nearby city. They were working alongside a couple of churches and the team got double booked, so they recruited us for help. There were appointments already set up and our job was to go into these homes and share (through a translator) the gospel through a tract. The very first home we were in resulted in a lady making a profession of faith. We were with the team from around noon until 10 that night. It was an exhausting day and we spent most of the weekend recovering, but it was good. It was good for us to get out and talk to the Brazilians and be in their homes. And it was good to be with my daughter and allow her to experience this type of ministry on a whole different level than what she is used to. Kati and I along with our group saw a total of 4 professions of faith. The entire team saw 42 professions made. Only the Lord knows their hearts for sure, but we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the true Gospel has been presented. Please pray with us that these truths will penetrate their hearts and resonate in their minds. Also, please pray for the churches as they follow up with these decisions.

7 Weeks and Counting

We have 7 weeks left in formal language study. Can you believe that? We can't. We are so excited about heading to PoA, but at the same time there is so much more that needs to be accomplished in that 7 weeks. Yikes! We are just going to keep plugging away and doing all that we know to do to help us acquire this beautiful language. All the while, we are asking God to work in us and help us to understand and be understood. God is doing a wonderful work in us and I think I can safely say "ALL" of us. We are facing some tough opposition but God continues to show us his faithfulness and grace toward us. We are so thankful that we serve the one true God of the universe who knows all and is all we need. We recognize that without him, we have no ministry and we are willing to do whatever it takes to make his name known among the Brazilians. Please pray that we will be found faithful in doing what he has called us to do. Seven weeks is such a short period of time in the scheme of life and we must take advantage of every opportunity, so please pray also that we will be good stewards with our time and energy.

Thank you all for continuing to lift us up before our Father's throne. We know that he hears the prayers of his people and we have felt his hand upon us.

American Food

I am certain that we have said that we are really enjoying the food here in Brazil. We haven't tried anything that was bad so far and in fact, we eat rice and beans with almost every meal. Ok, with that said, we have been missing some of our comfort food from the States. One of our favorite meals was baked pork tenderloin, Grandmother's homemade mac-and-cheese, skillet fried green beans & yeast rolls. Needless to say, we haven't eaten this meal in about 5 months. One of the problems is that we don't have a lot of pork products in the grocery stores, but I found a grocery store that had a pork tenderloin (that isn't what it was called, but that's what it was). So, I began my quest to make our favorite American meal. The mac-and-cheese was going to be the challenge because Grandmother uses a can of Campbell's cheddar cheese soup and a can of Campbell's tomato soup. Campbell's soup is hard to come by here and if you find it, you will pay 6 or 7 dollars for it. So, we haven't had Campbell's soup since we have been here, and that has been ok with us. I knew I was going to have to be creative, so I found some individual serving instant soups. I found a 4 cheese soup and a tomato with a little bit of macaroni. I prepared these two soups and we pretended that it was Campbell's. I mixed everything up and put it in the oven and we all watched and waited. 20 minutes later when I pulled it from the oven, we were all exstatic. It wasn't exact, but it was very close and very good. The green beans would be no problem, but we haven't made them like we did at home since we have been here. Finally the yeast rolls, well they don't have Sister Schubert's here as you guessed, but we have a bread store on every corner. I knew I could find a soft yeast roll somewhere and do you believe that I found them at the same market that I found the tenderloin. We were so excited. So, Paul did the tenderloin just like he did back home, and I took care of the rest. When we sat down to eat dinner tonight, you would have thought that we hadn't eaten in months. We didn't realize how much we missed our home cooking until we had a taste of something that we haven't tasted in a while. So, I just wanted to share with you that tonight we had a little piece of home right in the middle of Brazil.

Soccer (Futebol) at the park

Well, we are still enjoying our time off. Today all 6 of us went to the park and played soccer. Well, the babies were there, but they just watched us. Kati and I went Brazilian and played barefoot soccer on a sand field. The park here is the coolest. It has basketball courts, volleyball courts, soccer fields (sand and dirt), bike trail with jumps and all, skateboard park, go-cart track, and then the walking path. It is a huge park and always full of activity. We had a fun and exhausting time. By the way, it was Preston and I against Kati and Paul and we ended with a 2 - 2 tie. It is better for family relations that way! :) After soccer, we went for sorvette (ice cream) and we all tried something new. We had a great day as a family today. Praise God!

I have to tell you a little bit about the pizza in Brazil. It is different than what we have in the US, but very good. They don't use as much tomato sauce and they have lots of different toppings. Tonight for example we had normal pepperoni just like we know it and that is the first time we have had that just because we have wanted to try different kinds. So, along with our pepperoni, we had broccoli, bacon & sun-dried tomatoes. It may sound strange, but it was wonderful. We will be having that again. It is a cheap meal for the 6 of us. We can get one large and pay about $12 US dollars and that feeds all of us and even leaves enough for one of us to have it for lunch the next day. Some of the other toppings that we have tried are corn, chicken, zucchini, filet mignon, bacon, french fry, chocolate, caramel, & banana. There are many more but I can't think of all of the ones we have tried right now. I can't wait for some of you guys to come visit us and we will take you out for a special treat of Brazilian-style pizza! Come on down!

Kati's AGM video

Time off of Language School

Well, we have enjoyed our time off of school. Last week we got to spend 6 days with our fellow missionaries at a very nice resort in Atibaia about 45 minutes from here. We enjoyed the time of fellowship with other missionaries as well as getting to know the volunteers that came to minister to us and our kids. The volunteer team was from First Baptist Church in Oveido, FL. They were amazing and our hearts were ministered to. They did VBS with the younger kids, they led music for the adults every morning and they led small groups for the youth. There were 30 something people that came with that group and they were a blessing. We met some dear friends that we will be keeping in contact with. The time away was refreshing and tiring all at the same time. There just never seems to be enough sleep for Paul and I. I guess sick babies could have something to do with that. They are both better now, by the way.


Preston had a great time playing with all the MK's from around Brazil and one in particular he made a special bond with, Marcus Heil. (the picture is Preston and Marcus the day we went on the zip line) Preston and Marcus are like kindred spirits. Our last night, I went looking for Preston to get him in the shower and ready for bed. When I found him, he and Marcus were crying and hugging each other and neither wanted to leave. It was the sweetest thing. Marcus even asked his dad if he could write a job for Paul so that we could move to Bahia where they live. The funny thing is that he lived in Olive Branch about 5 minutes from us for about 2 years while his dad was in seminary. It was the same time Paul was in seminary and he worked with Marcus' dad. The whole 2 years that we lived so close we never got together and the boys never even saw one another. Now we live in the same country but about 15 hours apart and they would love to see each other. What a shame! Now for Kati.....she has a new focus for her ministry in Brazil. It was great for her to get to meet with other MK's that have gone through some of the same identity struggles that she is going through. In their small group sessions and even worship sessions, she was able to share and talk about some of the struggles and just be open and honest with people that truly understood. It did her soul a world of good. We came home with a different Kati and it has been a joy to be around her sweet spirit. She is absolutely renewed and we thank God for this transformation!
For Paul and I, we got to talk with people who have been through language school and experienced some of the same stresses and anxieties that we are going through. They all made it through so we have decided to relax and know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. We are fairly certain that it isn't an oncoming train! It was nice to hear the stories that now are funny, but at the time just like with us, it wasn't funny at all. Hopefully, we will be able to look back on this time and laugh at ourselves just like we heard so many do.


We are excited to finish up our formal language studies even though we know without a doubt that our language learning will continue for as long as we live in this country. We are off of school until next Monday and we start off with a language evaluation exam that morning. So, the rest of this week we will relax but at the same time be studying and getting ready for the big test. We both feel better about this one than we did the first one and we did okay the first time around.


This past weekend we got to go to the beach. We went to Guaraja to visit with a missionary family that now lives there. It was a nice 3 days to get away and relax by the ocean. They live in a beautiful apartment that overlooks the ocean, so all night we could hear the waves crashing against the shore and it was wonderful. They were so gracious to the 6 of us and let us invade their home and they would have let us stay as long as we wanted. We didn't want to overstay our welcome, but we may return before we leave Campinas for one more visit to the beach.
Please continue to pray for us as we wrap up our time of formal language study. It is a short time, but we have so much that we need to learn. Please continue to pray for our health, all 6 of us. We want to finish strong and do the best that we can possibly do and being healthy will only help that process. Thank you for continuing to lift us up in prayer, that is the greatest thing that you can do for us right now.