April 2018
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1. In March, God gave us an amazing time visiting ministry partners in South Brasil, some if which we haven't seen in years. Here are just a few... |
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2. In March, God gave us an amazing time visiting ministry partners in South Brasil, some if which we haven't seen in years. Here are just a few... |
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3. In March, God gave us an amazing time visiting ministry partners in South Brasil, some if which we haven't seen in years. Here are just a few... |
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4. God gave us a special gift for my 60th birthday... Joshua, Leighann and two of their friends, Matthew and Chris, came to visit us in Brazil. |
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5. We visited touríst spots... |
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6. ...and enjoyed some quality time together. Here we are in the sky tram overlooking the beautiful city of Balneario Camboriú and delighting in God's creation all around us. |
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7. We all thoroughly enjoyed spending time with Wilson's mom and other family members. |
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8. Grandma, you are the BEST. We love you so much! |
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9. We had the wonderful privilege of participating in the Asas de Socorro mission conference. |
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10. The messages were amazing and it was awesome to touch base with veteran missionaries and meet new ones. |
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11. We even had a Hawaiian banquet one evening… so creative and FUN! |
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12. Wilson's mom is an amazing woman who loves the Lord with all her heart. Everyone looks forward to her mouthwatering meals and desserts! |
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13. She loves to care for her garden in the same way she cares for her family… with lots of tenderness and love. She exhales the sweet smell of Jesus where ever she goes. |
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14. Wilson's mom loves crocheting… |
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15. Caring for her garden… |
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16. and surprising us all with amazing meals and mouthwatering desserts. She upholds us all in daily prayers and is a true example of a Godly woman! |
March 2018
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1. Mission team leader Marty, together with Ryan, Jacob, and Aaron, (from IL) came the beginning of February, 2018. What a tremendous blessing they were! |
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2. We visited two river villages. The 1st village we visited was Lauro Saudré. What a warm welcome they gave us when we arrived. |
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3. Jacob had a great time making friends with the local critters. This lizard can grow over two meters! We prefer him just as he is! :) |
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4. Welcome to the village of São José. |
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5. They live in homes built on stilts surrounded by suspended sidewalks. |
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6. We had the special privilege of watching the community make manioc flour. Here is one of their plantations where they pull out the plants with a firm tug but its roots. |
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7. They feed the manioc into a grinder which turns it into a wet pulp. |
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8. Then they put it into a bin to squeeze out all the liquid (far right) and sift it into fine or coarse flour (left). |
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9. At last, they place the flour in a large saucer where they bake it over the fire, stirring constantly until it is well toasted. |
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10. Maurílio is showing the smaller roots that they store for the next planting season. |
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11. It's always such a joy to fit the elderly with reading glasses. (Lauro Saudré) |
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12. Giving out reading glasses again in São José |
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13. God gave us once again the special privilege of teaching dental hygiene... |
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14. ... and giving fluoride treatments. |
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15. During Bible time, we learned that God is all powerful. He used a little man with a BIG FAITH... |
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16. ... to conquer a big giant. Ryan made an amazing giant! :) |
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17. No matter where we go, the teens and kids... |
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18. LOVE to PLAY! |
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19. We had an awesome time of worship both nights. (Lauro Saudré) |
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20. Since São João did not have a church, we had "church on a porch" with 35 villagers plus our team. |
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21. The US team sang a worship song and Wilson gave a message from God's Word. |
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22. Aaron taught welding classes at the hangar to our staff and a few others. |
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23. Here is Aaron, working on the mission van. |
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24. They guys progress is going well. Here they are soldering the very first truss for our next church construction! |
February 2018
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1. Wilson, Andrew and Ben are on their way to do another "gift drop" to a few unreached Indian villages nestled in the jungle. Someday, we pray God allows us to reach these isolated villages with the Good News of Jesus Christ! |
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2. We received as a donation around 20 boxes of incomplete Sunday School material for all ages. It was fun organizing everything and completing each set with lesson plans and Bible activity pages that I have been working on the past couple of years. |
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3. The Sunday School visuals we received are beautiful. This month, I was able to print up Bible Lesson plans and activity pages for each kit so we can begin distributing them among isolated churches in river villages. |
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4. Ben, Jessica, Lucas and Chloe, together with seminary teachers from São Paulo on their way to the Indian Bible seminary at Sabonete, where Jessica taught classes on health care and dental hygiene for a week. |
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5. This month, the smaller mission boat received an overhaul on the hull and a few other minor repairs. We are gearing up for another mission team that will come the beginning of February! |
January 2018
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1. Wilson flew in a few of the mature Christian Indians from
one of the more remote Indian tribes. |
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2. Sponsored by a group of men from In Touch Ministries, Renew and other
Christian organizations, a select group of mature Christian Indians, who also speak Portuguese, from
several different nations were chosen to participate in in evangelistic training seminars given at our
house for several days. |
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3. The projector equipment fits compactly into one small backpack to make it possible for the Indians to carry it through the jungle to reach isolated river communities. |
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4. The 1st training seminars ended with a special time of dedication and prayer. There will be another retreat in January. |
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5. Our goal is to reach unreached people's groups throughout the Amazon/Javarí River valleys. A powerful time of prayer was held with mission staff and a group of Indians for this purpose.
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6. Andrew, a single missionary is evangelizing Grajarí, a rural community that is located 11 kilometers from Benjamin Constant. In the middle of a spiritual battle, a lightning bolt struck the statue of Maria that guards the entrance to this village and broke it into pieces. We believe that God is breaking Satan's stronghold on this place!
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7. In December, Wilson and I attended the 100 year anniversary celebrations of the church in Manaus. We accompanied the two guest speakers: Pr. John King, from Riverside Church in Peoria, IL and Pr. Paul Randerson and his wife Mary, representing the churches from England. |
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8. In December, Wilson and I attended the 100 year anniversary celebrations of the church in Manaus. We accompanied the two guest speakers: Pr. John King, from Riverside Church in Peoria, IL and Pr. Paul Randerson and his wife Mary, representing the churches from England. |
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9. Words cannot begin to describe the powerful presence of God we experienced as we witnessed the baptism of over 5000 people being baptized in the Black River at the Ponta Negra, Manaus. |
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10. The convention and 100 year celebrations ended with an tremendous time of praise and worship at the stadium. |
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11. This is the choir that is directly behind us. There are no words that can adequately describe the amazing time of praise we shared that night! |
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12. Time of celebration in Santa Luiza. Each program ended with a time of fellowship, fruit cake and chocolate milk! |
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13. We were welcomed in Buen Sucesso with a delicious dinner of alligator and manioc. |
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14. The village of Buen Sucesso welcomed us with a banquet of alligator and manioc. |
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15. Lucas would not eat anything else. All he wanted was alligator! YUM |
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16. It was so good to see the river churches packed and praising the Lord during the Christmas programs. Here is the congregation in Buen Sucesso. |
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17. The drama team built a rustic stable and manger scene in each church we went. The shepherds are praising God for the birth of our Lord and Savior. |
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18. The members in Santa Teresa creatively decorated the church with balloons and toilet paper. The celebration we had there was wonderful! |
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19. Our celebration "tour" ended in Islândia where they team did two presentations as a tool to help evangelize their city. |
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20. We had the unique privilege of celebrating Christmas with family for the first time in over 10 years. We had a great breakfast at the Spicer's and on Christmas day, we had dinner at our house. |
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21. What fun watching Lucas open presents; plastic cars, trucks, motorcycle and airplane. (Toys that were lovingly donated from Manaus to missionary kids in our area). |
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22. Brandon graduated with honors from the nursing program December 9th. We are so proud of you Brandon and praise God for this victory. He takes the state boards the 4th of January and
will begin his new job in Cardiac ICU sometime the end of February. |
