31 May 2007
Health
Many of you have been asking and wondering about baby Mabery and Mom. First I want to thank you for your concerns and prayers. Our little girl is doing very well and moving all the time. I had injections last week to speed up the development of her lungs in case she comes early. The doctor says that my amniotic fluid is back up and she thinks that I am out of the woods for now. However, I am still on bed rest at least until my next appointment on June 14th and having occasional pains. Again, thank you for praying for our family. God bless yours as well!
English Conversation Campaign
The two week LST campaign from Auburn (5 Alabama girls and 1 North Carolina girl) was a success. Because of their hard work and advertising, we now have 60 Brazilians reading the Bible with the 6 week team. The 6 week team, a group of 8 guy and girl Auburn students, arrived middle of this week and have already begun their Bible studies today. We miss the two week team but are having fun getting to know the 6 week team as well. Pray that more Brazilians will hear about the program, come and bring their friends this first week as there is still space for at least 40 more Brazilians to read the Bible one-on-one with these hard-working Auburn students. May God open the hearts of those who are coming to our church to open up His word and learn about Him.
Mother’s Day
We had 72 on Mother’s Day for the breakfast and special service. Some of the English students even came and brought their mothers. The members came early to help with the breakfast and many of the visitors came even earlier! I heard my husband did a great job preaching on the love of God. His introduction included a slide show behind him of all different kinds of mothers and their young (a collection of funny mother/ child animal pictures). All the men of the congregation stood up and prayed over all of the women at one point in the service and during children’s time the kids took flowers to the special women in their lives. It was a blessed day! Thank you Lord.
10 May 2007
Vacations: Voluntary and Mandatory
Matt and I were able to take three days of vacation time last week – our last trip together as a couple without kids. We went to the Chapada Diamontina (Diamond Table Mountain) about 5 ½ hours drive away. We stayed in a town called Lencois that was built in the 1800’s as a diamond mining town. The nature is absolutely beautiful there. The town is all about eco-tourism now full of tour companies and hostels. Matt and I stayed in a place located right beside a large waterfall. You could hear the calming noise of the waterfall all over the hotel even with the doors and window
s closed. We went hiking, spel
unking, snorkling, canoing, swimming and then hiking again. We saw 7 famous waterfalls, snorkled in a blue grotto cave, and canoed through anaconda waters. We even met an old man walking through the wild with a machete and potatoe sack who had mined the area when he was a boy. He hid his possessions under some rocks and took us around telling us intriguing stories about the old days (this was the day I over did it) guiding us to his favorite tunnels and waterfalls.Even though the trip was great for my nature loving soul and for our marriage, it wasn’t so great for my body. I started having strange pains the day we drove home (last Friday). By yesterday, the pains had gotten considerably worse even though I’ve been taking it easy all week (the doctor had put me on bedrest since Monday) and I was also loosing more fluid than normal. So we had to go to the hospital yesterday for an emergency ultrasound. They determined that I have an infection on top of the over-extended muscle pain and probably some initial contractions. My fluid is lower than ideal but not dangerously so. It’s been a bit of a scary week but the baby has been moving the entire time which was reassuring and my bedrest should only be temporary – another week or so. Pray for the health and safety of our little girl even when Mommy doesn’t know her limits yet. Pray for Matt as he waits on his wife who can’t leave the bed. Pray also that the Bible studies I am missing will still be able to start back up again in a week or two where we left off and that the Spirit will continue to work on their hearts during the break.
A Month of Blessings
Thank you Pre-teens for our Nursury Items!
We had several children and two babies this past Sunday who got to enjoy the new toys, gifts, chairs and crib items that our Riverchase Children’s Ministry sent to our church (by way of Dewayne Spivey, Ron Jackson and Carol Echols). Thank you to Tony and to all who contributed to our nursury / children’s room. Your gifts have really helped to make it a more inviting place for our little ones. We appreciate all that God has provided for our children at church so that they feel His love and so that all of our visiting families feel welcome too.
Meditating on Our Church History Together
Many of you know that April 1st was our 1 year anniversary. Throughout the month of April we have had a special presentation each Sunday of the firsts God has blessed us with over this past year. April 8th we presented our 6 new baptisms from this first year, April 15th, were our two new married couples, April 22nd, we gave thanks to God for the two baby births, and April 29th, we had a special blessing over all of our new members from this first year. Each week we committed as a church to care for the people in these categories of transition. God has blessed us in many ways and we are glad that we could take this whole month of rememberance to thank Him and encourage our church to reflect on His goodness to us.
Youth Movie Night
We had a great turn out for youth movie night at the building. We watched the movie Signs and all the teens wore foil on their heads during the movie (if you haven’t seen the movie, this is so the aliens would not read their minds). We also had glasses of water set up all around the room and a baby monitor in the front by the screen making strange noises every so often. After the movie we had small group discussions about the importance of faith in God and faith stations set up around the room to demonstrate how we put our faith and trust in God. We had about 20 youth total with even some of our English students participating! Praise God for a great night!
Women’s Spiritual Disciplines Class
The women of the church are having a spiritual disciplines class once a month after service and lunch together. April 29th was Mary Virginia’s turn to teach. There were over 20 Brazilian women who participated and all were given a journal with activites to do during the next month. These ladies left greatly encouraged to spend quiet time with God meditating and reflecting on His Word, His Creation and their personal relationships with Him. All the women are looking forward to the next meeting at the end of May when Jennifer leads the class on Prayer.
Evangelism Day
This day came about as a suggestion by one of our Brazilian Christians, Veronica. She wanted to get a group together from our church to go door knocking and advertise our Mother’s Day service. (Here Mother’s Day is the biggest church day of the year like Christmas is in the States.) So, that’s exactly what we did. Our group of 12 (10 Brazilians and 2 missionaries) split up and went door to door in the two neighborhoods near our church asking people if they wanted us to pray with them. Many people were receptive to the idea of prayer. The second thing we did was bless the person or family with a scripture about God’s love for them explaining that this is why we came by today. We then gave the invitation to our Mother’s Day breakfast and special service this coming Sunday. Please, pray that God will open the hearts of those who were invited and thank God for the encouragement that He gave to our Brazilian members through this experience of sharing their faith. There is much happening in our little church right now and we thank you for remembering us in your prayers. We pray for all the Mother’s at Riverchase, Flat River, Cullman and Cox Boulevard and ask that you continue to take care of Cindy Sirmon and Glenda Mabery for us!
We had several children and two babies this past Sunday who got to enjoy the new toys, gifts, chairs and crib items that our Riverchase Children’s Ministry sent to our church (by way of Dewayne Spivey, Ron Jackson and Carol Echols). Thank you to Tony and to all who contributed to our nursury / children’s room. Your gifts have really helped to make it a more inviting place for our little ones. We appreciate all that God has provided for our children at church so that they feel His love and so that all of our visiting families feel welcome too.
Meditating on Our Church History Together
Many of you know that April 1st was our 1 year anniversary. Throughout the month of April we have had a special presentation each Sunday of the firsts God has blessed us with over this past year. April 8th we presented our 6 new baptisms from this first year, April 15th, were our two new married couples, April 22nd, we gave thanks to God for the two baby births, and April 29th, we had a special blessing over all of our new members from this first year. Each week we committed as a church to care for the people in these categories of transition. God has blessed us in many ways and we are glad that we could take this whole month of rememberance to thank Him and encourage our church to reflect on His goodness to us.
Youth Movie Night
We had a great turn out for youth movie night at the building. We watched the movie Signs and all the teens wore foil on their heads during the movie (if you haven’t seen the movie, this is so the aliens would not read their minds). We also had glasses of water set up all around the room and a baby monitor in the front by the screen making strange noises every so often. After the movie we had small group discussions about the importance of faith in God and faith stations set up around the room to demonstrate how we put our faith and trust in God. We had about 20 youth total with even some of our English students participating! Praise God for a great night!
Women’s Spiritual Disciplines Class
The women of the church are having a spiritual disciplines class once a month after service and lunch together. April 29th was Mary Virginia’s turn to teach. There were over 20 Brazilian women who participated and all were given a journal with activites to do during the next month. These ladies left greatly encouraged to spend quiet time with God meditating and reflecting on His Word, His Creation and their personal relationships with Him. All the women are looking forward to the next meeting at the end of May when Jennifer leads the class on Prayer.
Evangelism Day
This day came about as a suggestion by one of our Brazilian Christians, Veronica. She wanted to get a group together from our church to go door knocking and advertise our Mother’s Day service. (Here Mother’s Day is the biggest church day of the year like Christmas is in the States.) So, that’s exactly what we did. Our group of 12 (10 Brazilians and 2 missionaries) split up and went door to door in the two neighborhoods near our church asking people if they wanted us to pray with them. Many people were receptive to the idea of prayer. The second thing we did was bless the person or family with a scripture about God’s love for them explaining that this is why we came by today. We then gave the invitation to our Mother’s Day breakfast and special service this coming Sunday. Please, pray that God will open the hearts of those who were invited and thank God for the encouragement that He gave to our Brazilian members through this experience of sharing their faith. There is much happening in our little church right now and we thank you for remembering us in your prayers. We pray for all the Mother’s at Riverchase, Flat River, Cullman and Cox Boulevard and ask that you continue to take care of Cindy Sirmon and Glenda Mabery for us!
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