Minas Gerais

Our friends Marcos and Suzanne took us on a day trip (9 am-2am) to the state of Minas Gerais. This state is about 2 1/2 hours north east of our state Sao Paulo. Marcos and Suzanne are Pastors of our home church Sara Nossa Terra in Pindamonhangaba. I only took 168 pictures on this trip, so here is what I found to be the best and hopefully the most interesting to you!

This is a picture I call "Idols-n-a-Box" It is on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere

Nicky with his new straw hat

Nicky on his horse

This is Tommy while we were rounding up the horses.

Tommy on his horse..YippeeKiYo....whatever that means.

More Minas

I thought of Linda Sequeria and Lisa Adams...I thought these were cheesecakes. It was only cheese...doh!!

Spider on the ceiling...Pastors wife had to kill it.

Dinner!

Me on a horse...I REALLY love the city!!

Bernice and Suzanne cooking dinner.

The Unknown God

There is a town about 40 minutes from where we live. This town is named Aparecidia. It is named after the idol "Lady of Appearance". This region believes that this saint appears and saves people from evil, danger and death. At the entrance of the town there is a hill with idols placed on rocks on the side of the hill. They have a budah, many saints, idols used by mucumbah, Iemanja (goddess of the sea) and even a big cross with Jesus on it. They have a new idol of Aparicidia on the tallest hill in the town. She stands approximately 25 feet and overlooks the town. She is the "protector" of the city. All this reminds me of the passage in Acts 17:22-24:

Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands.

Please continue to pray that Bernice and I will find favor with the people of our valley as we present the Kingdom with demonstration and power. Click on the above photo to get a better look at the idols. I will try to get a better picture next time. This was taken last Saturday on the way to Minas. I was on the side of the Dutra (equivelant to Interstate 5) so it was kind of busy...tour busses and diesels come pretty close to the small shoulder where I was standing.

U Messed Me Up!

Wow...What an awesome Conference! Worship with Rick Pino & the Guys was great. They were lots of fun, very humble & they had an amazing ability to usher us into the very throne room of God. Worship for me will never be the same again! Thanks Guys!

Thanks Pastor Ron for the best gorgonzola steaks on the planet!

Shift Happens

I sense a shift in the atmosphere.

shift | sh ift|

a slight change in position, direction, or tendency

Bernice has returned home from a great prophetic conference at our home church Harvest Christian Center. While the boys and I missed her dearly, we are aware that she was imparted to greatly. It has renewed a passion in us to "activate" the gifts the Lord has placed in us. To fan the flame in our hearts for the lost, lonely and hurt people of the world.

I found this quote and it spoke what I believe is part of our shifting.

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find ways in which you yourself have altered."
-- Nelson Mandela, South African President and Nobel Prize winner

I realize that our future is bright and those who are influenced by the Lord through us share in that future.

"Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future."
-- John F. Kennedy

We will not miss out on what the Lord is doing. This is our declaration.

PULSE OF PINDA

Meet Joao Bosco! It is kinda strange...Joao Bosco works on Rua Sao Joao Bosco! That is the name of our street. Joao is one of the security guards that works at our apartment complex. He always greets us with a smile and has the joy of the Lord operating in him. Joao works the graveyard shift. When Bernice, the boys and I come in he will greet us and then share a Bible scripture and prayer request. We have been praying for a lady in our apartment complex who has been hospitalized for 37 days. She was released last Friday. Praise the Lord for that great report. Now that Bernice is home we will visit her and have the opportunity to share the Gospel with her. Please pray for this divine appointment. Also pray for protection for Joao Bosco as he protects us while we sleep.

We are counting the minutes...Welcome Home Queen!

We pick up Bernice from Sao Paulo Saturday morning! She has been in the states for what seems to be an eternity (2 weeks)! Bernice was able to visit with our Brother-in-law Justin who is home from his second tour in Iraq. She also visited other family members and friends and was able to attend the Activate Prophetic Conference at Harvest Christian Center with fellow MA Angi Thresher. The boys and I were able to send her to the good 'ol USA as a Christmas gift. We are glad she went but even happier she is coming home!


Sao Paulo

QUICK QUOTE

"Some wish to live within the sound of Church or Chapel bell;
I want to run a Rescue Shop within a yard of hell."

C.T. Studd

English missionary to China, India, and Africa

Last Push

We have now been on the field for approximately 9 months! We are ready to give birth..to a new used car!

1 liter of alcohol- R$ 1.59

1 liter of gasoline- R$ 2.59

1 used car- only U$ 3,560 away!!

The Lord being our Faithful Provider- Priceless

Please see sidebar for details on joining the team.

A great big THANK YOU to all those who have contributed to our auto fund thus far!

PULSE OF PINDA

Since the Pinda Bible School is out for summer break I have not posted any featured students as a prayer focus. I decided I would spotlight different people we interact with on a daily basis. I will post a photo and small description of prayer needs of Pindonese (people from Pindamonhangaba).

This is a picture of me and my friend Antonio. Antonio lives in our barrio. He is mentally handicapped and spends most of his day sitting on the park bench. Antonio does not speak english and I barely speak portuguese, so our conversations can often be entertaining. I do know that when I see Antonio, shake his hand, look him in the eyes and tell him he is my amigo he gets extremely excited and often begins to cry. Please pray that Antonio will soon see Jesus as his amigo.

QUICK QUOTE

"The Bible will always be full of things you cannot understand, as long as you will not live according to those you can understand."

Billy Sunday (1862-1935). American evangelist.

2007

I received this in my email box and found it blog worthy. It is kind of lengthy, but has good content. This article is written by J. Lee Grady from Charisma Magazine. Here is the link to the story:

Fire In My Bones

I had originally posted the entire story, but upon further review and advice from Bernice decided it was too long. It is a good word so please check it out.


J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.

My Office in Pindamonhangaba

My Office in Brazil

This is a test video entry. I recorded this small clip with our little Nikon coolpix 5200 digital camera. I hate the camera and soon Bernice will be exchanging it for another...gotta love Costco exchange policy. Bernice will be going to the U.S. in a few days. She will be visiting our brother-in-law who is coming home from his second tour in Iraq. She is also attending the Activate Conference at Harvest Christian Center. Please pray for traveling mercies and that the boys survive the week with me and a lot of toast!

Rain and a church

This is a picture of a church we seen on the way to the mountains to celebrate Tommy's birthday. Bernice took the photo of the park in front of our apartment to show how hard it was raining. If you don't see rain, click on the picture to enlarge. Brazil is beautiful. We were able to borrow our friend and fellow MA's car to take a drive. Thank you Patrick Thresher!!

Happy Birthday Tommy!

December 30th Tommy turned 11 years old. We celebrated his birthday by taking a ride to the mountains and eating some Ice cream! It rained the whole day. We had fun anyways. These are some pics of us eating his birthday lunch/dinner. In Brazil dinner is served around 7 o'clock. This is one of our largest adjustments. Tommy received his birthday gifts earlier in the day and year. We bought him some kind of build it yourself action figure, Grandma and Grandpa sent him a board game and many of you also sent him great emails and packages from the US. Thanks so much for everything!