End of an Era

Friday our oldest, Jacob, graduated from Amazon Valley Academy in Belem, Brazil.

One of the trials that missionary parents face is sending their children off to another continent, to the strange land called America when they graduate from High School. It is a land and culture they do not know well. Since they are so far away they won't be home for the weekend-- or Thanksgiving, Christmas or school breaks – or maybe even for years.

Like my son they may have never driven a car or held a job because of visa restrictions, they may not know the latest teen talk or styles. Like Jacob they may look American, but they won't really seem American as they will do things like stand to close or use gestures or words in ways that are not understood there, but are part of life here. I know he wil have his struggles as he adjusts to life there. Jacob's cousin who also graduated this year said we ruined him by taking him away to a foreign country.

But, like my son, they have a different view of the world, they have experienced so much more of some areas of life and seen God work in ways that are so much different than if they stayed in the states. The three years we spent getting here and the first year here were tumultuous and the time since then not always easy. We moved from the states when he was half way done with 9^th grade, a hard time to move a child to another land. Some missions won't even send families out with children over 12, because of the problems they often have.

Yet, in his graduation speech Jacob said he was glad he came here and he would not have choose another way that the time here was special to him.

A few weeks ago it really hit home as I watch the seniors, one by one, play their last play in basket ball and leave the floor during the last few minutes of their last game. But the proudest moment came when at aan after graduation party one of the other seniors told Wayne and I that he really looks up to Jacob spiritually and admires his strength and maturity.

And so Jacob goes with us to the states to start a new life. He will be living with my parents in Ohio for a year and going to a community college nearby, partly in order to become an Ohio resident so next year tuition will be cheaper. We don't know when he will be home again. But our tears and prayers and love go with him.

Loose Ends - Orality, Vacation, Home Ministries

Well --- we finally are back online with our computers after receiving parts from the States -- just in time to shut it all down for a while. I was unable to finish the orality blog series. I will do so sometime in the future. In August we will be attending a training session at Wycliff in Dallas about orality.

We leave Brazil June 3 for Vacation and Home ministries. Please remember to pray for us during this time.

During June we will be visiting friends in the Netherlands and London with a side trip to Paris and camping in Scotland and Iceland. It all ends with a bang - the fourth of July in Washington DC! As we are used to nothing below about 74 degrees at night and days in the 90's with high humidity, we expect to freeze! (Iceland will be in the 50's). This will be our last family vacation before Jacob heads off to college.

July 5 we begin six months of home ministries. It has been over three and half years since we came to Brazil. Much has happened during this time. During most of home ministries we will be on the road with three of our four children. We will be at Momentum (BNYC) and Equip.

Because it has been four years or longer since we have raised support we are needing to raise over $25,000 in order to return to the field. Like everyone else costs have gone up. In addition the Real (the Brazillian currency pronounced similar to hey- al) has fallen from over three to the dollar to slightly less than two to the dollar and the cost of living in Brazil has risen sharply.

Please pray for our children during this time as we will be doing school on the road, for our support, and for safety as we drive thousands of miles.

Because we will be traveling, most likely there will not be another post until early July.

Thank you all for your prayers in the past. This ministry would not be possible without them.

Love In Christ, Ellen

The Birth of Two New Churches

Two days of celebration marked the baptisms and communion of new believers and birthed two new churches in two different towns a few hours outside of Belem, Brazil last weekend. Wayne & Ellen have been working with a number of lay leaders to evangelize in a number of interior towns. This past weekend we witnessed the fruit of this labor. A group of twenty adults and children traveled from the Marituba, Nova Uniao church led by Pastor Nonato to be a part of the celebrations. They have worked and prayed with Luis and Katia and Satuca in Peri-Meri and Val and Neti, Evaldo and Neci and Luis and Fatima in Capitao Poco over about the last two years to evangelise in these towns.

In Peri-Meri four new believers were baptised in the cool waters of a stream under the hot noon amazon sun. Some others who had expressed an interest hung by the edge of the stream, watching to find out what this was about. Afterwards several said they now want to be baptised.

After a celebration lunch of stewed chicken,
beans, rice and macaroni for about forty people and a time of rest, they along with some others gathered under the trees of Luiz's father's home to join in taking their first communion. As Luis, who has a servants heart, washed his father's feet for the first time, their faces glowed. No longer will these feet go to find crabs, but to spread the gospel he told his father as he finished. Indeed his father has already begun to help evangelise a near by town. Vatapa, a thickened mixture of shrimp, a special palm oil and spices was served for the fellowship meal.

At the end of the service, as Nonato spoke of the beginnings of the Grace Brethren church in Germany, under a tree and without a building Wayne linked each one together with another, arm in arm, others stood and joined in till ten people stood together to become the new church of Peri-Meri. Nonato challenged them as a body of baptised believers, the new church of Peri-Meri, to be bound together in love.

The next day in Capitao Poco, a group of six stood together at a shaded stream to be baptised. Over 25 came from the town to watch. Each testimony recalled something different that God had done to bring them to him. For Dona Raimundo, in her 70's it was seeing how Neci, who sometimes came with her husband, was different and wanting what she had. For another it was being able to buy a Bible and read it that made the difference. Although baptised over 40 years ago, he said it really ment nothing to him since he did not know the words of God. For another it was a hunger for God and to know the word. Colinho, Rosa and their daughter Marta were also baptised with Marta expressing the change she saw in her father brought her to Christ. Here as in Peri-Meri, others who have been studying the Bible expressed an interest in being baptised after seeing the people here baptised. After a cool dip in the water, churrasco (a type of grilled beef) for lunch and a nap in our hammocks we shared communion together.

Again as the time of communion ended Nonato challenged seven who stood and linked together arm in arm to be bound in love, to share fellowship together, to share the word and to grow.

For both our car and the van who carried the visitors from Marituba, the celebration continued for several hours as we sang songs of worship and praise most of the way home.

Prayer for Baptisms

Well we are back up with one computer working. I will continue the orality series later next week -but first let me tell you about this weekend -

Wayne and I , along with Nonato, pastor of the Marituba church, and his wife Rute and Luis, Katia and Nicolas and Eval and Evaldo and maybe their families and Luis and Fatimia and others will be traveling to the towns of Peri-Meri and Capitao Poco where the two Luises and Eval and Evaldo along with others have been evangelizing discipling and leading group and individual studies. We are going to be a part of the great event of Baptisms in both towns. Peri-Meri will be Saturday and Capitao Poco Sunday, both will be in streams in the towns. A communion service will follow each group of baptisms.

Please pray for safe travel for the two vans and our car as we drive 4 hours to Peri-Meri, several hours to Capitao Poco and 4 hours home from Capitao Poco. Please pray also for those who are taking this big step of a public commitment of their faith. Pray also for those who are being trained to help lead these spiritual families. Give thanks for those who have given their time and resources and prayers through the years so that these baptisms might happen.

Thank you for all your prayers, Ellen