Family Update and Two Stories
I am with Deanna and our girls again in BC. Five weeks has been our longest separation in our twenty years of marriage. We are in Canada for March, April and May. Suddenly this year seems almost done! The girls are doing well in school. Via is now registered at UFV. Anni is finding the second semester better than the first one and she has part-time work with Karen’s Katering and at the ABC Restaurant on Clearbrook Road. Deanna and I will be doing deputation work (building our support team) during these remaining weeks and I will be taking several more intensive courses at the Justice Institute of BC (jibc.ca) at their School of Community and Social Justice.
Two stories from my flight home:
1. The airplane left Marabá at 5:30. A young fellow wanted to sit by me where there was an empty window seat. He was a collage student in a State in Central Brazil. He was returning home from visiting family in Altamira. “Have you ever heard of Igreja da Vinha?” “Yes! All my relatives go there now. Cleber. Tatianne. Was it called ‘Igreja da Vinha do Mirante?’” It made me feel like we are starting to make an impact in Northern Brazil when a stranger in an airport 500 kms from Altamira, a city of over 100,000 people, has heard of us in a positive light.
2. In São Paulo I had a 9-hour lay-over. I found a quiet corner in a waiting area with a two foot square coffee table at the end of some chairs. I curled up on my luggage, the table and a chair and fell asleep, exhausted. When I opened my eyes an hour later there were suitcases piled up around me people sitting and standing very close to me, talking to each other. I lay there quietly for half an hour soaking it in. Finally I took out my ear-plugs and tuned in to their chatter. They were a Brazilian church group of 14 people heading to Northern Mozambique. They knew Pastor Abe and Pastor Geraldo, the people we worked with when we first moved to Brazil. This is in a country of 200 million people! They said that if I thought any part of Brazil was poor, Mozambique is completely off-the-charts. No work. Everything is imported and expensive. The poor just eat farinha with nothing else. I told them we originally wanted to be missionaries in Northern Mozambique. We are now dreaming of sending missionaries from our churches in Brazil. They think this is a good idea, “You need to come check it out personally first, to see what you are sending your people into. Come with us now!” Well…I’ve been away from my family for five weeks already. We traded email addresses.
What a beautiful picture of you and Deanna! We continue to appreciate your posts so much. The Lord surely does have a way of surprising us as we trust Him from day to day. We struggle and sence the enemy fighting against us and then He does something to remind us that He never leaves us. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.” So shortly you will begin another transition and the Lord will be faithful to watch over the girls you leave behind. Praying that you will have adequate funds to accomplish the work. Remember the starfish story?…You make so much difference to the ones to whom you are able to minster. Love and Blessings from Midland, Mi. Nancy and Burt
Hi Nancy, Thank you so much for your encouragement and prayers. I do remember the starfish story, and have been thinking about that even before you wrote. We are making a difference in a few lives, and hope to equip them to make a difference in many more lives. We are looking forward to the Lord doing great things with these ones He is saving in our neighbourhood. We trust you are enjoying winter in Midland. Your friends, Rick and Deanna.