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. :)