Our Homeless Family

Our homeless family at church is not homeless anymore. We know many of you have been praying for Alaelson, his wife Lucilandia and his two year old daughter Luci. They are now renting a place for $35 a month (we paid for their first month's rent) and they also have a better means of working to pay for it (we bought them a recycling cart and a cooler to sell food on the beach). One of our small groups has taken them in and even went to their new home to pray a prayer of blessing on their new space and their family. Matt is studying the Bible with Alaelson and they continue to attend our church activities (worship service, small group, and movie night). Please, continue to pray for this family as they have many obstacles still to overcome and need Christ's help in their lives.

Our First Gincana

“What’s a gincana?” you might ask. “Exactly.” We had no idea what it was until this past weekend. The other Churches of Christ in the city told us that they were planning a joint youth event for the 24th. “Okay great!” we said. So, we told our kids but we had no idea what all was involved (a lot of preparation and it was an event that lasted a whole weekend). A gincana it turns out is a cross between a field day, a scavenger hunt, a fear factor show, a treasure hunt, and a Bible/ Trivia bowl (complete with pies in the face and scubba diving blindfolded in the baptistry). In short it was a big competition and our team, “Star em Cristo,” won!!! They even gave us a trophy. Our kids were so proud. The Bonoco youth who hosted the event wrote us a really nice letter thanking us for our involvement and our spirited example. So, needless to say after jumping around and cheering for two days, we were pretty tired. At least next time we’ll know what we’re getting into and we’ll know how to promote it better because it was a very well done, extremely animated event. Plus, we’ve got a a title to keep!!!

Cassi and Valmira

We have two new Christians with us. Cassi age 27 and her Mom, Valmira were recently baptized! They are blessings to our church. Cassi has brought 6 new people to our church since she started coming three weeks ago.

Introducing Our New Puppy Nala

After talking about it for a long time, my parents finally bought me -Momma Lou's orders before she left. I am a beautiful carmel colored Cocker Spaniel with specks of white on my nose and chest. I smile when I run (even though I look funny doing it) and I enjoy being with people (I guess that's good since my parents have people coming over all the time). I am 3 months old and spoiled rotten already because I love being held and everyone likes holding me. Two days after I came home, I went on our team retreat where I was overwhelmed with new smells, sights and sounds. The Parker's brought their new 2 month old poodle, Cha Cha as well and we played ferociously together. I, Nala, also had my first visit to the beach where I ran from the water, let the kids burry me in the sand (it was cooler that way), and I brought everyone something I found called seaweed (strange stuff). I had been in a cage for almost two months at the pet store before Mom and Dad got me, so my legs were weak and I was not used to so much activity. So even though I had to take many knaps, I held up pretty well on the retreat and made my parents proud. I am a very happy dog and my new family loves me!!! Love to all, Nala

Surrounded by Women

We are having "saudades" from family (which means we are missing them greatly). My Mom, MommaLou, Aunt Angie, and Aunt Darlene arrived in Salvador a few weeks ago. MommaLou and Aunt Angie got to stay a week and Mom and Aunt Darlene stayed two! We had a wonderful time together. Matt and Mary both did a great deal of translating while the women shopped, shopped, and shopped! They also got to see us in action while they were here. Aunt Angie was and encouragement to the team as she shared at staff meeting what God has been doing in their Delaware Campus Ministry lately. Mom helped out on youth night by being part of a mini drama skit for the lesson. MommaLou went with Mary to one of her evangelistic studies. And Aunt Darlene led everyone to Hiper (owned by Wal-Mart) to buy clothes and shoes for benevolence at our church. All in all it was a wonderful time of family and ministry and we'll be missing them until November when we come home.

Shingles and more

My husband has been suffering from the shingles these past two weeks. It is a mild case on his face. The swelling has gone down, the sores are healing nicely but there is still pain along that same nerve. Please pray for Matt's health as well has the health of our team as Springtime approaches.