Closing out

What a tremendous time of serving God we have had over the past 11 days and now it is quickly drawing to an end. Pastor Mike (Mogi 2x) and Randy (Sao Jose and Suzano) preached today and we enjoyed sharing in Communion with each church.

Pastor Mike has 2 more sessions he is planning to record tomorrow back at the IBB headquarters. It has been a real labor of love to record the valuable content on Church History and these last two sessions will round out the course.

Josh and Caroline met her brother and they have the gone to see her grandmother. Praise God they get this time together! We will see them next at the Sao Paolo airport to come home.

Kathy has enjoyed the ladies here in Mogi, Suzano and Sao Jose. She also had a lot of fun sharing with the children during the Family Conference yesterday. She is getting some much needed recoup time today. She plans to cap off the week having breakfast in the morning with Julie Tarrataca and exploring Mogi das Cruzes.

Randy will finish a few IT lose ends tomorrow. It has been inspiring to see how God is using technology to take the Gospel message around the world. If you are in IT, especially a web developer, and have ever felt God leading you to put your professional skills to work in some capacity to further the Kingdom work, please drop me a line. Pastor Leandro, Pastor Denis, Junior, Pastor Mike and I have been kicking around an idea and we will brainstorm more on it tomorrow. We could use Web Developers (especially mobile developers), Server Admins and Security people.

This will be our last post for this trip. Thank you for your prayers during this time! God has been working in the lives of His Brazilian and American people here in Mogi das Cruzes!

We look forward to reuniting with you in COMO and telling you more details in person.

Prayer Requests:

• Safe travel for Josh and Carol and a great time of fellowship with her extended family.
• Safety as all of us reassemble and make our way back to COMO
• Continued strength for Pastor Mike as he finishes up the last classes
• Clarity around the IT idea we are considering
• Clarity and direction for the future of ABECAR
• Continued protection for Pastor Leandro, Pastor Denis and their families

Praises

• Rain. Even though it caused a bit of sogginess for the Family Conference, this region of Brazil has experienced a drought and God is refreshing the earth with this rain!
• The Family Conference was well attended and the message about God's love for family was clearly communicated!

Family Conference

The Family Conference was today. We enjoyed a great time in worship and then Kathy and Randy spent time with the children and Josh and Carol went with the youth while Pastor Mike preached. Josh played the cajon during the worship time. You would never know he wasn't a native Brazilian. :) We are humbled with how God uses us to pour out His love through us here in Mogi.

During the afternoon Kathy enjoyed another time of sharing with the women and Randy got to share on leadership with the men. We all enjoyed some great coffee and conversation with Gabrielle and several other friends. Josh and Carol have really enjoyed encouraging Gabrielle and working with the teens.

Carol is well versed in Portuguese and has continued to be a real help for all of us gringos, Kathy is learning quickly and the men just relay on the interpreters and the bilingual Brazilians. :)

During the evening, Josh and Carol shared with the youth again, Pastor Mike preached again in the evening and we had a sweet time of worship once again.

Prayer requests:

• Safety and God's clarity as we go tomorrow to the three churches for Sunday services. Pastor Mike and Randy will be preaching twice.
• Josh and Carol will be travelling to see her grandmother. Safety and a refreshing time of fellowship with extended family.
• We have been brainstorming of ways God could use some of our technical resources to develop some unique ways of helping people around the world experience Scripture in a dynamic way. Pray for clarity and leading by the Holy Spirit for how this might work.
• Strength and encouragement for Gabrielle as he continues to minister to the teens here in Mogi.

Praises:

• God is truly changing lives, both in the Brazilian people and in our team!

Friday

Pastor Mike finished his Church History sessions today! Praise the Lord for His provision of strength of voice, health and mental strength.  He was able to add a bonus class on the Crusades. Praise too that Pastor Leandro's voice held up as he faithfully translated every word.

The Family Conference kicked off late this afternoon. We are all looking forward to interacting closely with the Church Family over the next couple of days. The Brazilian people are so loving and inviting, making us feel at home! We shared a dinner and worship service.

Tomorrow starts the full conference session with Pastor Mike speaking twice, Josh speaking twice, Kathy and Randy working with the children in the morning, Kathy speaking with the women in the afternoon and Randy speaking with the men. We are praising God that we have the capabilities to present the Love of God this many times to the families attending the Conference.

Prayer requests:

• Health for the entire team. We have been running a lot of hours and it has been tiring, but well worth it!
• God's presence at the Family Conference to move hearts to serve Him
• Pray that the rains slow down as the families are at ABECAR. Many activities are scheduled and rain will introduce some challenges.

Thursday

Today was a bit of a transition day.

Pastor Mike is making great headway with his classes. It is amazing to see the way the students soak up the teaching. There are between 75 and 100 students who are remote and they are asking questions from as far away as Turkey! He has another full day of classes tomorrow. Please continue to pray that God provides strength for him for one more day

Kathy did her final presentation this evening at Mogi. There was a Women's Bazaar prior to her presentation. They had nearly 75 ladies hear the message of the importance of Loving Children and how that looks as we are God's Children. What a powerful and loving message! Much hugging and rejoicing among the women. :)

Tomorrow begins the Family Conference. Pastor Mike will wrap up his classes here at IBB and we will be spending time at ABECAR with the Conference attendees.

Josh has a lot of photos and I am hoping to get some of them uploaded soon. Thanks for your patience!

Prayer Requests:

• Strength for Pastor Mike's voice
• A successful Family Conference that will be focusing on Human Problems/Divine Solutions. 
• Dry days for the Family Conference 
• Guidance for Pastor Leandro and the IBB staff as they petition God to know clearly what His Will is for the many ministries here.
• Clarity around the themes of Loving God, Loving Others and Serving All
• These are the focus points of their Nucleo (small group) ministries and they guide all they do
• Clarity, direction and patience for Pastor Denis, Erika and Thomas as they look forward to joining us in COMO and Pastor Denis attending seminary

Small Groups

Another day of sharing here in Brazil. Kathy was able to share her Loving Children presentation at Suzano with Carol translating for her. Another great group of women who shared from their hearts about the love of God for children and His love for us.

Josh and Randy were blessed to be able to share with two different small groups in Mogi. They have some healthy groups where accountability and teaching take place every week. It is awesome to see how God is working in the lives of His people in real and tangible ways here in Mogi.

Pastor Mike got a much needed night off. He is teaching 6 hours each day and he was able to enjoy a relaxing evening with Pastor Leandro. If you know Pastor Mike, you know he was still having conversation and most likely debating some deep theological truths with Pastor Leandro!

Prayer requests:
Many are losing their jobs due to poor economic conditions in Brazil. Pray for the people to seek God with patience and confidence that He will care and provide for them.
Many children live in poverty. Pray that God will provide for and protect them.
Protection and guidance for the leadership here at the churches in Mogi, Suzano and Sao Jose
Pastor Mike is teaching a lot and his health is important. Please pray for God's strength over him.

Brazil 2015

Pastor Mike and Wayne made it last Wednesday and immediately jumped into the action. Both spoke to small groups that very same evening. Over the next three days, Wayne was able to speak to good groups of business men and women at all three churches, Mogi das Cruzes, Suzano and Sao Jose.  Some great questions came out and he was able to share from his heart and was very relatable as he shared the path that God has taken him during his career.

The rest of us made it on Friday. Josh and Caroline were able to work with the teens on Saturday night. They had a great time renewing friendships and making new ones!

Pastor Mike (Sao Jose and Suzano) and Randy (Mogi morning and evening) each spoke twice on Sunday.  Josh, Caroline, Randy and Kathy enjoyed a traditional Brazilian lunch with Jaciel, Hosannah, Bruna and their family. Some of you will remember Jaciel and Bruna as they sang at Grace earlier this summer. What wonderful food and conversation!

Sunday evening Pastor Mike, Wayne and Randy were able to spend some time with Willis Stitt. He is the original founder of the ABECAR camp. He and his wife still live on the property and they are the parents of of Julie Tarrataca, Pastor Leandro's wife. Their time with Willis also happened to coincide, but not so coincidentally, with the viewing of the World Series. Willis is originally from Kansas and we discovered he is a Royals fan and also had a TV feed covering the World Series. Together, we watched the Kansas City Royals triumph over the Mets to take the World Series for the first time since, well, 30 years. The same amount of time Pastor Mike has been at Grace! God's timing and provision was perfect.

Since Mogi is now 4 hours earlier than COMO, it was a very late night and the team slept in on Monday. We travelled to Sao Paolo to visit St. Paul's Cathedral https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_Metropolitana_de_S%C3%A3o_Paulo. You might have to translate that page.

We enjoyed a traditional dinner at a Brazilian Churrascaria. Wow, great food and WAY too much! After the dinner we took Wayne to the airport for his return trip home. We got word today he made it safely!

Pastor Mike and Pastor Leandro had a very stimulating debate regarding the authorship of the book of Hebrews on the ride home. Both men presented compelling arguments for either Paul or Barnabas. You will have to ask Pastor Mike his opinion next time you see him.

Pastor Mike started his Church History classes today. There were 72 people listening to the presentations via Periscope!

Josh, Carol, Kathy and Bruna are working with the Making a Difference kids program during the day. One set of children arrive in the morning and are here through 11:30, with another group spending the afternoon. It makes for a very busy day!

Kathy had her first women's group tonight at Sao Jose with Carol interpreting. She speaks at Suzano tomorrow night and Mogi on Thursday. They haven't returned from the trip to hear the report, but we know God is faithful! The ladies here have really taken to Kathy's desire to learn Portuguese. Carol has been a tremendous blessing to Kathy as they have been able to practice the presentation to make sure all the ladies hear the message that God loves them all!

After helping with the Making a Difference program, Josh and Caroline went with Kathy and Ericka to Sao Jose to renew friendships and spend time with some close friends.

Randy spent the day working with Junior Tarrataca on IT items. A number of specialty IT items found their way to Junior's toolbox and they planned how the rest of the week will go. God is working in marvelous ways and it doesn't appear that we will be moving any IT equipment. Praise the Lord for this blessing! They have a number of websites that need some work and Randy and Junior will be working on getting those sites cleaned up and running smoother.

Tomorrow will be a busy day as Wednesday night Nucleo Groups will also provide an opportunity for nearly every team member to develop closer relationships with small groups in each of the churches.

Pastor Leandro and Julie Tarrataca, Leo and Milana along with Pastor Denis, Ericka and Thomas have been fabulous hosts! We have enjoyed a lot of laughter and great conversations with each of them. They have made us feel quite at home!

Please pray that God's Will continues to be clarified for us each day and that we are faithful to bring the messages from the kitchen to the table without making a mess. :)

Lakota 2015 - Partnership

As I alluded to in yesterday's post, "partnership" would be an apt word to describe this year's Lakota trip. We have joined Hope Bible Church for our sixth year to serve together as truly one team. In past years, others have been around the area or individuals have come in to work on specific projects. The Brennans seem to love involving as many people as possible in as many ways as possible, which produces an incredible amount of momentum for the ministry here on the Pine Ridge Reservation. This year, however, the idea of partnership has been stretched far beyond anything I would have anticipated. The Brennans, Haddens, and McIntoshs work together like a well-oiled machine. I've never seen a ministry team work so effectively and yet be going in six different directions at once. Matt and Amanda Hadden are on-site camp directors and oversee much of the local ministry and outreach, along with Rob and Michelle McIntosh, who live at the parsonage next to Sharps Corner Baptist Church (the McIntoshes will be moving to the Gallup ministry in September). Mike and Monica Brennan currently live in Rapid City, but are involved in nearly every aspect of the ministry AND travelling to and from Gallup once or twice a month to continue to support the growth of that ministry.

The Haddens have a couple of Matt's sisters and friends staying with them for the summer to work with the camp, but this summer is also the first year that Team Effort (a summer missions ministry Matt used to lead) is staying at the camp all summer. Our ministry has coincided with Team Effort in past years, but they have usually stayed at a local school and served on work teams in the community. This spring they built an additional bunkhouse at the camp, and they are now staying on-site for each of their summer teams. Their ministry primarily focuses on work projects, both at camp and around the reservation. The bunkhouse will be a great addition to the camp, and we have already been able to take advantage of a chapel room as extra space for our camp stations. Team Effort currently has youth groups from North Carolina and Kansas staying and working at camp.

We were also joined this summer by a team from Indiana. Knowing that our team numbers were going to be a little lower, Pastor Brennan combined us with a new team that was interested in getting involved in the ministry at Chanku Waste Ranch, which has turned out to be two churches: Calvary Temple and North Park Baptist Church in Evansville, IN. With everything that was already going on, we might have thought that we had plenty of "partnership" to go around; however, God knew just what we needed. We had a couple of team members that had to drop in the week before the trip, but the Indiana team has helped to fill gaps and probably the greatest role of all: prepare meals for the entire week!

"Partnership" is mentioned in the English New Testament only three times, twice of which refer to ministry and are found in Philippians. One describes a financial partnership (Philippians 4:15) and the other partnership in the gospel in Philippians 1:3-5:

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now."

I was surprised to notice that "partnership" isn't a word that stands by itself; it's a translation of koinonia or "fellowship." In other words, partnering together in ministry is a form of fellowship. In that sense, as the global church, we really have no other option but partnership. As we have responded to the gospel, we enter into the fellowship of all believers. It may stretch us out of our comfort zones at times, but partnership for the gospel may be one of the best representations of the gospel. One of our devotions this week came from Ephesians 2, and these verses jumped out as I thought about partnership:

"For He Himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility" (v14)

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (v19)

The divisions that may have existed prior to our salvation in Christ have been broken down and removed. The power of Christ's death that broke down the dividing line between Jew and Gentile can also break down barriers among us Gentiles as well, bringing us one and all under the unity of Christ's death and resurrection. We may reside in different states with different ethnicities (Lakota, anglo, hispanic, even "vikibilly") but the gospel that we share is what unites us. We are humbled because we are reminded that we are not the only ones who serve or the only ones that care; many believers from many churches are engaged in missions. We are encouraged for the same reason. We don't compete with other teams for the best camp week; instead we have the opportunity to learn from one another and truly partner together in the ministry of the gospel in one of the hardest, darkest places in the U.S. In the past our focus has been on what God has been doing through us among the Lakota people, but this year is a tangible reminder of simply what He is doing through His people among the Lakota people.

Lakota 2015 - What's Happening?

It's late Tuesday evening, so where are all the updates from the trip? With a couple of changes with team members and trying to coordinate four churches at camp and another two staying at the camp for work projects, we've had our hands full! We've settled into the camp schedule now, and our week has started off very well. I'm going to include a couple snippets from Matt Ediger, youth pastor with Hope Bible Church in O'Fallon, to bring us up to date:

Saturday we had an uneventful trip, enjoying minimal traffic on the 4th for the holiday. On Sunday we joined Sharps Corner Baptist Church where Matt Hadden, full-time missionary and camp director, preached. We spent Sunday afternoon in our respective groups (lessons, games, crafts, and big idea) getting things unpacked and organized for the week. We are expecting more kids than in years' past, which is both an area of praise and prayer because we have a few less people than years' past to supervise all the new kids. In the evening Matt's wife, Amanda Hadden led a camp orientation, which was a reminder of the reality in which these kids live. 90-95% of the kids coming to camp are abused in some form or fashion; this offers us some challenges with how the kids respond to us, but is also a reminder for the great need of the gospel.

Monday kicked off our first day of camp. Most of our teens work in teams from Grace and Hope Bible Church alongside each other in four main groups: Lessons, Crafts, Big Idea, and Games. Our teens work for several months preparing to essentially run a camp for 40-70 kids ages 4-12 with little hands-on help from adults during camp! It is always exciting and humbling to see. Matt Ediger, Conrad, Tessa, and a couple people from the Indiana team worked with the teens. We had 19 in our group plus the leaders. Creating discussion is always challenging; we are hoping to address worldview questions with the teens in a smaller group setting. Please pray for relationships to be built (or reestablished in some cases) so we can engage more fully. We also took some time with this group to get away from the camp to visit some of the Badlands.

Tuesday, day two of camp, was another good day. We had a total of 64 kids, 25 of which were teens. Today had a few ups and downs with some stations going better than others (and some having better morning than afternoon sessions and vice versa), but that's not too unusual. Tomorrow will already be the midweek point, which is hard to believe! This is where both our kids and the campers are more tired and more comfortable with one another, which allows for good conversations.

Thank you once again for your continued prayer!

2015 GBC Ukriane Missions Trip--Day 3, The PARTY!

Well, remember how yesterday we mentioned that Conrad's suitcase aka clothing had not arrived!? Well, this morning we received a message that his suitcase had arrived!  This was something that was not expected, maybe not even expected before we returned home as there is usually only 1 flight from Moscow to Odessa weekly.  So, yay for clean clothes, our coffee (perhaps a double yay here!) and for more comfy shoes!


Today was a fairly low-key day, with a chance to sleep in and get some much needed rest, a quick trip to the airport to retrieve Conrad's suitcase, and what the Ukrianian Campus Team calls, a 'Social.' Basically this social was a good opportunity to mix up the English Clubs a bit; play some games, have some fun, share about the Ukraine Campus Crusade ministry, and for our team to share a testimony.  We also managed to make fun of ourselves quite a bit...you might get a kick out of our American Mash-up!

The social was an incredibly fun time, allowing us to be more 'normal' and less teacher-ish.  We were able to laugh and converse with the students through a game of Simon Says, crossword puzzle, Honey if you love me please smile, and a karoeke contest!  Shawn also had the opportunity to share her testimony, which was a perfect way to end our time together.  Some response was already recieved from
tonight, and we are hoping to set up some one-on-one times to talk more in depth. And, if you can be the first to correctly guess what Conrad is doing in this picture to the right, we will bring home a bag of Ukrainian candy just for you! :-) (Post it in the comment section)

In addition to those one-on-one conversations we hope for, each member on the team will have a student that 'won a date' with us, so we will take them for coffee one-on-one, and spend some time answering any questions that they have and hopefully going deeper about our relationship with Christ with those students.  Please keep this in your prayers.  This is a great opporunity for more in-depth and personal conversations than we can hope for in our English clubs, and could really be a unique way for sharing about Christ.

And, as promised....here is the link to a delightfully embarrassing video of your American team doing a mashup of some iconic American songs for the Party!  No judging...we had about an hour or so to put this together!  (And, as you'll clearly see, some of us were not born to dance!)

https://vimeo.com/123257546

2015 GBC Ukraine Missions Trip ---Day 2 of English Clubs

A couple other things that occurred on Monday that are worth mentioning....though Shawn is the only one of our group that is capable of actually getting the cantankerous stove lit, Andrew, the youngest on our team, treated all of us to a breakfast of tasty omelettes. His mom would be proud; he not only cooks for us but cleans up after all well!

The other treat our team experienced on Monday was a trip to the Lviv handmade chocolate shop. We ate drinkable chocolate, melted chocolate straight out of little cups, fruit with chocolate, Black tea with Chocolate, and Latte's with chocolate.  Needless to say, we had more than our fill of sugar for the day! (although I'm sure most of us would not mind another trip if able!) 

Tuesday was full of different and unique experiences.  We managed to get here with all our luggage, except Conrad's suitcase with all his clothes.  Our host Alina took us shopping at Odessa's finest second-hand clothing store.  We found all kinds of "interesting' clothing there, including a Mizzou t-shirt.  We did find a few things for him there and, needless to say, Conrad now looks like a "local," and if we run into trouble, could maybe score a job at McDonalds! (We are also very happy he can stop wearing the same outfit every day.)

The Odessa Campus team then brought a traditional Ukrainian meal to share with us at our apartment.  We all got to try borscht, a beet soup, along with sallo (raw pig fat) (yes, I said raw pig fat) spread on rye bread.  We then enjoyed some tea with delicious pinwheel cookies that Tanya, Dima's wife, made for us.

English Clubs though were the best part of the day, with most all of the students returning for Day 2. Sometimes students don't return because they are uncomfortable with the Bible discussions, but this year the vast majority of students returned, and actually were very engaged in the discussion part. Today's lesson included the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000, and some of the students had in depth questions about the legitimacy of miracles, whether or not Jesus actually performed miracles, and many wondered if Jesus actually did miracles in modern day.  This quickly progressed into a rather intense discussion about Jesus' capability to meet our spiritual and physical needs.  

All four groups had really good discussion times.  Please continue to pray that hearts would be open and receptive to the stories and discussion about Jesus and His Word.   There seems to be alot of interest yet skepticsm, a lot of hurt yet fear of the unknown.  

2015 GBC Ukraine Missions Trip---First Day of English Clubs

Sorry for the delay in updating;  following the intense and super long days of traveling to Odessa we hit the ground running and really haven't had much time to stop and update!

So, here is your quick synopsis of the 2015 Ukraine Missions Trip so far! Our team, Shawn Knauts, Conrad & Debi Hake, and Andrew Noble, left Columbia at 9:30 am Friday morning.  After arriving in St Louis, we realized our flight out of St Louis was delayed, thus causing us to miss the next connecting flights.  After working hard to find alternate flights, the best option (to arrive in Odessa by Sunday) included flying from St Louis to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emerites) to Moscow, then on to Odessa.  With flight times and 4-5 hour layovers at each airport, we ended up living on planes or in airports for almost 48 hours. Needless to say, we were excited to actually walk out of an airport!

Sunday evening was the night the Ukraine Campus Crusade team had planned for us to all go to see the Swan Lake ballet at the "third most beautiful opera and ballet house in the world."  It was indeed beautiful, and a great experience!  Unfortunately most of us were so exhausted after not sleeping in the plane that we had a difficult time staying awake.

The following day, Monday, began the English Clubs.  Clubs are from 6:00-9:00 pm, and this year there were 140 students that signed up as interested in attending the clubs, with 110 accepted after the interview process. We began Monday with 28-32 students in each class; Conrad teaching the beginner class, with quite a bit of tranlsation involved.  Andrew is teaching the advanced class, and although there is a CRU helper, there is no interpretation at all occuring.  Shawn is teaching the Intermediate 1 class, requiring some interpretation, but not all the time.  And Debi is teaching the Intermediate 2 class, requiring no interpretation.

It was great to see how some of the students had VERY good English, and communicating was quite easy.  Most understand and and very well, and the responding or verbalizing is the hard part.  But even so, the level communication was awesome!

English Clubs are structured in a 2-part format, with the first 1.5 hours consisting of introductions, an ice-breaker game, vocabularly sections, explanation of idioms, pronunciation or usage of words, with 1 or 2 extra activities as needed.

We Made It!

After some eventful re-routing through Abu Dhabi and Moscow, we arrived in Odessa very travel weary around noon on Sunday. We got settled into our living quarters for the week, an apartment near Transfiguration Square in heart of downtown Odessa, and were treated to a performance of Swan Lake at the Odessa Operahouse, said to be the third most beautiful in the world, on par with Paris and Vienna. 

Monday we began preparation for our first night of English Clubs. Three clubs expanded to four as 110 students were interviewed and placed into beginner, intermediate 1, intermediate 2, and advanced classes.

We'll share more soon, but please be praying for a few requests:

1. We will stay healthy and rested

2. Conrad's suitcase shows up before he runs out of clothes from his carry-on (the only casualty from our rerouting)

3. The gospel will continue to be presented clearly and in a way that connects with Ukrainian students

4. The Ukraine for Christ staff will be effective in forming new discipleship relationships with students.

Ukraine 2015

Our Ukraine team leaves today for Odessa! We'll post more as the trip unfolds, but here's a great article on the current state of refugees from eastern Ukraine and opportunities for the gospel. Odessa has been a city of refuge for many who have fled their homes because of the conflict in the east and are looking for hope and stability. Our team will have a unique opening to share the gospel among university students looking for hope and answers in the midst of national instability.

Please pray for the ongoing work of Ukraine for Christ in Odessa and throughout the country. Pray especially today for interviews with students that will be joining the English Clubs and for safety and smooth travel as our team prepares to depart!

"The future is uncertain, but in these seemingly hopeless times, missionaries and national believers have been given a unique opportunity to share the source of their hope. Perhaps refugee Daniel German said it best, 'When things are normal, we expect safety, bread, and salaries to always be there tomorrow. When things fall apart, we realize that every minute is God’s gift.'"

http://www.abwe.org/news/missions-on-the-frontline#.VQtG7_nF98E