A Word from Our Sponosr

We interrupt our special programming - Rio Mission Trip - for a word from our sponsor. (Of course our Lord Jesus Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith and therefore our ultimate and final sponsor.)

Are you tired? Need a good place to rest? When part of our mission team needs to rest from their 32 hours without sleep (not counting the "sleep" they sort of didn't really get on the plane ride home) they head to beautiful Bear Hollow Home. http://www.bearhollowhome.blogspot.com/ Just minutes from downtown Nashville in Whites Creek. And if you love Joelton, the other side of the street is in Joelton.

Right now they are sleeping in this beautiful guest room. (Cheryl just read this and wants to make sure you understand that only two of the team members are in this bed! The others are in their own homes in their own beds.)



They are in the guest bedroom because before their trip they thought how nice it would be to get home and then to get into bed with crisp clean sheets. But they ran out of time before they left and the sheets for their bed are in the dryer. Perhaps the sheets will get put on before they go back to bed tonight.


Don't forget to pray that they sell their home soon so they can move to Clarksville. Yes, this is a not-so-subtle invitation for you to join them in prayer. You can also help drive traffic to their home's website (making the search engines more likely to find it too ) by clicking on it's website and/or leaving comments there.


We now return you to our special report about missions in Rio. Still to come (probably tomorrow since I'm going back to bed now) Saturday in Rio - Seeing the Sites, Sunday Worship with FBC Panhiero and the exciting conclusion to our adventure Surviving the Streets of Rio Only to Almost Die on I-24. You won't want to miss that post!

English Lessons

I know many of you reading these posts don't know everyone on our mission team. Charlie is from East Tennessee and has that wonderful East Tenneessee accent.




Charlie with bananas - they are delicious here!! That's Tulio and Ray behind him.

One of our interpreters is named Tiago. Tiago translates to James. One day we were trying to explain the differences between West, Middle and East TN. We then told Tiago that his name would be different. He looked very puzzled. "Yes. In West TN you would be called Jimmy. In Middle TN you would be called James. And in East TN they would call you Jimbob.




The inside of the building of the church we have been working with.


But Charlie has helped Tiago a lot with his English. He decided that was important because Tiago is engaged to a girl from FBC, Seveirville. Of course many Tennesseans have been going to Rio since we have a partnerhsip here. Tiago knows helpful English phrases like: fixin' to, I (pronounced "ah") reckon so, slicker than a greased pig, and many other fine Southern sayings the textbooks don't teach.

I can't find a picture of Tiago.

Rio Mission - Day 6

Graffiti on the way to our work area.

This was our last day of door-to-door evangelism. We had a total of 60 people who prayed to receive Christ. At least that - we didn't always get cards filled out and sometimes several people in the family would pray but they would only list one or say "familia" and then we don't really know how many. It was very exciting to see God at work.

Favela near our favela. It looks nicer than it is.


We noticed something interesting. We had two families today and several on other days that mentioned to me and Cheryl that they have adopted children or grandchildren. (See http://www.papalyndel.blogspot.com/ if you haven't seen my adopted grandchildren) No one mentioned adoption to the other teams. Lisa had several mention to her that they had husbands or family members who had passed away this past year. We might have had one mention that to us.




Another picture of us at lunch. That's Ray in the white shirt.

All the groups had people mention that it was very odd that we found them at home that they just happened to be home from work that day for one reason or another. We happen to know God had them at home so we could talk to them.



Tomorrow we will relax for a little bit and see the sights of Rio, like Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) the giant statue of Christ on the tallest mountain overlooking Rio. (Cheryl's calls it the Christ of the Ozarks statue. We always laughed, but it ends up that the one in Arkansas is a smaller replica of this one.)




The view from the top of the church building.


Sunday we will see our new Brazilian friends one more time as we worship together at their church. I will play the violin with their associate pastor playing the keyboard. I'm going to preach too. I don't know if the associate pastor will also preach or not. Tulio, my interpreter for the week, will interpret. The pastor is on vacation. I don't know if he will be back Sunday. Then Sunday evening we fly out. I think our flight leaves around 11:00pm.




Click the picture to enlarge it if you need. Notice that behind the glass are today's chickens. In the cages are chickens having their last meals before they end up behind the glass.


Thank you for your prayers during the week. My stomach is happier now that I've had several doses of Imodium during the day. We have been safe and God has blessed our work. Pray not only for our services Sunday, but services at Hilldale and around the world. The fields are white for the harvest. God may not have called you to Brazil this week, but He has called you to Clarksville or Nashville or wherever it is that you live. The harvest is His and He has prepared it. What are you waiting for?

Living on the White Line

Traffic in Rio is amazing. There are traffic lights, but I think they are mainly suggestions. Same thing with the lanes. If you need to be somewhere you just start heading in that direction and people move out of the way and you move out of their way. It's amazing that no one is killed. Or maybe it's amazing that they don't report it on the news. Ha! Not that you could be sure when to watch the news. "The news is on at 6:00" means they'll start at 5:50 if that's when they are ready, but more likely that they'll start some time before 7:00. "It's still the 6:00 hour", is the answer to our questioning looks.

Living on the white line is how the motorcyclists live. They drive on the white lines. They honk their horns and you scoot over. According to Ray, if you don't, they kick your mirror off. If you hit them, then all of the motorcyclists behind you destroy your car. and there are a lot of motorcyclists. I asked if they had a death wish. "No. They're just in a hurry and want to get past you." Amazing.

We've met several people this week who are interested in giving their lives to Jesus, but they think they have to get ready. They want to be a better person first. We tell them that Jesus says, "Come, just as you are", but it is difficult for them. They are living on the white line. They don't want to commit to Jesus, but they don't want to miss out either. They know they don't want in the lane that leads to separation from God, but they aren't ready to give up smoking or drinking or whatever they think the church will ask. They don't want to have to follow a bunch of rules. We try to explain that we aren't talking about joining a church or following rules, that it is a personal relationship with God through Jesus. Its difficult for them to understand. I think we see the same thing in the States.

Pray for a couple Cheryl and I talked to today. She came over to a different apartment complex than the one she lives in to invite us to her home. We presented the Gospel, but neither she nor her husband wanted to give their lives to Christ then. The man even came down to the courtyard a few moments after we left and invited me to come back to their house the next time we were in Brazil. So I know that God is working in their hearts.

Time for supper. (Not that my stomach is wanting much. Imodium AD has helped, but still not quite happy...) I'll post more later. Here's a picture of where we eat lunch each day.

Rio Missions - Day 5 - Spiritual Warfare

Several years ago I read Frank Peretii's book This Present Darkness. http://www.frankperetti.com/product/232.htm?parentid=1371

It really enhanced my view or understanding of spiritual warfare. I think he has some great insight about how the demons and the angels are at work all around us.

Lisa has a great testimony of spiritual warfare that she was a part of today. I wish she was here to tell it. (They have all gone to supper. Apparently someone let Montezuma out of Mexico and he found me in Rio. I didn't get to do much today. Well, I did get to lead a young boy to Christ before I couldn't go any further. His mother let us in and when she understood what I was saying she went to get her son so he could hear. cool!)

Anyway, I've distracted myself. The woman Lisa was talking to had been invovled in the "spirit world" and channled spirits. Oh my! So at first she was angry and argumentative, but Lisa and her translator and local church member kept talking to her. Then Lisa said all she could do was pray as the others talked. The lady kep arguing and Lisa said she could tell it was Satan or a demon talking and she prayed that God would stop Satan from talking. The lady stopped talking and - well, Lisa needs to tell the story - long story short, with a lot of details left out because I don't remember now - the lady gave her life to Christ and was changed! Happy and hugging and laughing and a new creation! How cool is that?

Other spiritual warfare.
There were a group of young guys, late teens, early twenties, at the same place where they were yesterday. Guns in hand or strapped to thier thighs. And today one of them had a handgrenade! Oh! Ray, our missionary, said the rival gang from the favela on the hill is causing problems with the gang in our favela so they are on the watch for them.

Each day we stop just after 4:00 so we can get to the church and try to leave not long after 4:30. As the day grows long the streets become very active and you can feel the darkness coming in. Today they stopped at 3:30. Ray brought his son's violin (it's a reallly nice one) and I was going to play at the corner just down from the church to draw a crowd so we could talk to people. Ray didn't feel like today was a good day. too much activity on the street. Perhaps we can do that tomorrow.

I need to sign off. I'm not sure if the medicine I have is making me fell better or worse. Pray for me to get well so our team is in full force. Pray for the favela that God's peace will reign so we can continue to share the Gospel. Pray for me too because I think I have to - or rather get to preach Sunday as well as play the violin. This has been a very good week. Many souls saved. Sorry, no pictures for my reading challenged friends (Hi Grandbabies!) Actually, don't read this to them. Too scary.

Watching the Stuff

When the children of Israel were going into the promised land - I think it was after Jericho - they were instructed to take the whole area and run everyone out or perhaps it was totally destroy them. (I'll need to re-read.) But not everyone went. Some had to stay behind and watch all their stuff. (Tennessee paraphrase - I'm learning a lot of East Tennessee phrases from Charlie this week.) Anyway, the ones left behind were unhappy because they said they would be left out of the spoils of victory. God, through Joshua, told them that those who stayed behind and watched all the stuff would share equally in the spoils of the battles. You'll need to look all of that up in Joshua, I don't have time to find the reference this morning.

All of that to say, as you pray for us and our mission and "watch our stuff" I believe you share in the victories and in what God is doing here.

Here are some things you can pray for:

The lady who said she couldn't come to Christ because she was the black sheep of her family and no one liked her.
For our health, we've been in homes with chicken pox for two days now.
For the building superintendant who wasn't going to allow us in (thought we were with the police) but instead let us present the gospel. He listened but then argued that all the churches all try to get people from other churches to join them. He then let us go on and visit everyone in that building.
For safety. The gunshots near the school while we were at lunch had the locals concerned for just a short moment. I guess because it was near the school. I guess Bro. Larry was right about the streets of Rio! We had to walk past three guys with guns in their hands to get to the apartments yesterday.
Many people are saying "yes" to the gospel. Thank God for them and pray for the local church as they follow up and disciple in the days to come.
For our physical strength - to keep walking up and down many, many flights of stairs. The apartment buildings are five stories tall.
For our mental strength. It is difficult thinking what to say next in the gospel presentation when so much Portuguese is happening around us.
For emotional strength - as we deal with many hurting people.
For spiritual strength as we share the greatest news these people can ever hear.

There's probably more, but it is time to go eat breakfast. Yummm. Lots of fruit and pastries and eggs and bacon and (some meat I don't think I would ever eat- especially at breakfast).

Rio Missions - Day 4 - building Relationships

There are many relationships we are building. I think it is one of the blessings of going on a mission trip.

We are building relationships within our missions team - sharing experiences that we will talk about for years to come.

We are building relationships with our interpreters...

and our host church members.

And we are building relationships within the community.

The first day this man saw us walk by his store a few times. The last time by I stopped and talked to him in Portuguese. They like it when an American speaks Portuguese - even when it isn't very good. Then they think you speak and understand it well and they start talking a hundred miles an hour. "devagar, por favor" (slowly please)

Our photographer took his picture and I said I wanted a picture of him too.

Then he wanted a picture of the two of us together.

On Tuesday he had his granddaughter with him. I told him I wanted a picture of the two of them together. Isn't she beautiful?

So today I told him that I would be at the church a few doors down this coming Sunday. I invited him to join us. I am praying he will come. I'll invite him again tomorrow.

Each day we eat lunch at the same place. We are getting to know the owner and her familia. This little girl is a sweetheart. I gave her a Tennessee quarter and she was so excited she showed everyone around.