May 31, 2005
A Big Jump!
I just got word (like, two minutes ago) that Calvary Baptist Church in Harford, NY just joined our family of investors. This bring us up to 82%, with just $730.00 left to raise. Praise God!
Posted by Andrew at 9:23 PM
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Caption Challenge for 5/31/05
Sorry this is a day late...have fun!
Posted by Andrew at 1:50 PM
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May 27, 2005
Painting Chairs
In the past few churches we have visited, I have mentioned how, when I first went to Brazil in 1989, my chief accomplishment was painting chairs.
As proof of this, here is a picture of the chairs--freshly painted.
Posted by Andrew at 5:31 PM
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Protestants Rally in Brazil...A Good Sign?
This morning a USA Today headline caught my eye. 1.5 Million Protestants rally in Brazil. Doubtless many will see this as encouraging, and comment on how much progress the Gospel is making in Brazil. Some would even say (as has been suggested to me on previous occasions) that there is little need for further missionary work in Brazil.
While I will not argue that the Gospel is indeed making tremendous progress there, a close reading of the article will reveal that the progress is mixed with much spiritual confusion, and that there is still quite a bit of work left to be done.
The article, along with my comments, appears below.
Continue reading "Protestants Rally in Brazil...A Good Sign?"
Posted by Andrew at 4:49 PM
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Support Update
Thanks to a couple from our home church, our support level has risen yet again to 77.1%. Praise God!
Posted by Andrew at 2:10 PM
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May 24, 2005
The MST
I have talked before about the Landless Movement (MST) in Brazil. A Brazilian scholar recently published a very telling article about it. You can read it here.
Posted by Andrew at 9:34 PM
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Missionary On The Move
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MP3 File
Posted by Andrew at 3:10 PM
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May 23, 2005
Caption Challenge for 5/23/05
Posted by Andrew at 4:11 PM
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New Partner Church
We would like to welcome Faith Baptist Church in Vero Beach, FL, as our newest partner congregation, and thank them for their investment in our ministry. Our support level is now at 73.8%.
Posted by Andrew at 4:06 PM
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Joy Baptist Church
This is Joy Baptist Church, where I had a chance to minister this weekend.
Posted by Andrew at 3:53 PM
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Congratulations, Joe!
On May 19th, I attended the graduation ceremony for my brother Joe at Tompkins-Cortland Community College. Joe graduated with honors.
Great job, bro!
Posted by Andrew at 3:08 PM
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May 19, 2005
My Brush with Lula
In 1989 I was a seventeen-year-old kid with a pretty isolated view of the world. Suddenly, on a two-month visit to Brazil, I was confronted with a reality completely different from my own.
One of the most eye-opening experiences I had during this time was attending a rally for then-presidential candidate Luis Inácio Lula da Silva. As an American kid growing up in the final days of the Cold War, finding myself in the middle of a Communist rally shook me up somewhat.
Back then, Lula was a long-shot for president. Today, four presidential campaigns later, he is Brazil's president.
If you click on the above picture, you will be able to see Lula more clearly...and you will also be able to see other pictures I took during that trip.
Posted by Andrew at 10:55 AM
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May 18, 2005
Three New Photosets
I have put together three new photosets, with pictures of three ministry trips I took when I was a kid.
They are...
Individual pictures from these sets will be included in future Memory Lane posts, but feel free to peruse them now.
Posted by Andrew at 2:08 PM
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May 17, 2005
Caption Challenge for 5/17/05
Here--a day late--is this week's caption challenge.
Posted by Andrew at 11:31 AM
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May 16, 2005
100000 Miles and Counting
After our meeting on Sunday, my brother Daniel and I drove all night and most of the next day arriving in New York this afternoon. This is a picture of us at the outset of our journey.
After our meeting on Sunday, my brother Daniel and I drove all night and most of the next day arriving in New York this afternoon. On the way, the Missionarymobile hit the 100,000 mile mark.
This momentous event took place presicely at mile marker 250 on I95, somewhere between Vero Beach and Daytona Beach.
Posted by Andrew at 9:01 PM
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Faith Baptist, Vero Beach
On Sunday we had a wonderful time with the congregation of this church--Faith Baptist in Vero Beach, FL. The best part of the evening was that a young man gave his life to Christ after the morning service!
Posted by Andrew at 8:54 PM
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May 14, 2005
Protest in Brazil
Many times, when we go to churches, people ask us about the political climate in Brazil, and how they feel about America.
Note in reading the article the involvement of Venezuela's president, Hugo Chavez, in this movement. Nobody in Latin America worries me more than he.
Continue reading "Protest in Brazil"
Posted by Andrew at 9:07 AM
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May 13, 2005
Memory Lane: Outdoor Evangelism
In the summer of 1999 I went to Brazil to do my internship. While there, I was able to participate in several different ministries, including this outdoor preaching service.
As I remember, the Brazilian media at that time was in a frenzy over a prediction made by Nostradamus (or some other goof ball) that the world was going to end the next day. In my message that night, I allowed as how the world was going to end for each one of us someday, and we need to be ready for that. There was no mass revival, but people did seem to be fairly attentive.
Posted by Andrew at 10:40 AM
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May 12, 2005
A Bigger Piece of the Pie...
This evening my wife is at a scrapbooking party put on by some local ladies. On our way over to the house where the party is, I mentioned to Itacyara how nice it would be if when I opened up my e-mail this eveing, there was a notice from a church that they had taken us on for support.
After dropping Itá off, Mikey and I came to the church. I opened up my laptop to check my mail, and there it was...a notice from the pastor of West Smyrna Baptist Church that they were taking us on for support! I had to read it twice before I could believe what I was seeing.
Welcome, people at West Smyrna Baptist, to our family of investors. As you can see from the pie chart, we are now at 73.2%.
Posted by Andrew at 8:01 PM
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May 11, 2005
Mikey's First AWANA Awards
Descending from the Stage
Tonight was Awards Night at our AWANA clubs, and it was Mikey won some awards. More pictures are available on the photo page.
Posted by Andrew at 7:34 PM
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May 10, 2005
Political Correctness Comes to Brazil
The following article is pretty funny, especially if you have any notion of Brazilian culture. Even if you don't, it is still a hoot. This represents one more clumsy attempt by Lula's government to control the press.
Update: I just read the article by João Ubaldo Ribeiro mentioned in the article. It is a scather. He calls the Brazilian government a "poorly disguised dictatorship", among other things. Worth the read, if you know Portuguese. I am including it below.
Continue reading "Political Correctness Comes to Brazil"
Posted by Andrew at 10:31 AM
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May 9, 2005
Comings and Goings Audio for 5/8/05
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The audio version of our prayer letter.
Posted by Andrew at 2:01 PM
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Caption Challenge for 5/8/05
I honor of race fans everywhere, we bring you this week's caption challenge.
Posted by Andrew at 10:43 AM
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May 6, 2005
Memory Lane: Rio De Janeiro in 2000
In going through my belongings for packing, I discovered reams of photos that had not been digitalized. Yesterday I took 11 rolls to Wal Mart, and today I uploaded the resulting digital images onto Flickr.
Many of these pictures are from Brazil, and none of them have ever been seen before on this site. Therefore, every week I will post one or more of them in a Memory Lane entry.
This first picture is from a trip we took to Rio in 2000, in order to take care of Itacyara's documentation. In our free time, we took in the sights of Rio. To see the rest of the pictures we took, click here.
Posted by Andrew at 2:41 PM
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Fun With Mosaics
One of my favorite Brazilian blogs, LetsBlogar, recently posted about a program that makes photo mosaics. I downloaded the program (it's free) and below is the result, along with the original picture. Look for more of these in the future on our photo page.
Posted by Andrew at 11:27 AM
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May 5, 2005
Missionary On The Move
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Missions and the Bible: Part 2
Posted by Andrew at 10:40 AM
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May 4, 2005
Update from the Frays
The other day I posted part of a prayer letter from the Frays, working in São Paulo. I got an update today, and thought I would share part of it with you. Seeing God work in such a way in Brazil gladdens my heart. I hope it does yours.
Once again we thank you for praying for our youth missions outreach at São Roque de Minas last week; the results continue on. Sunday evening at our church service several youth gave testimony of how God used them during the four days and then sang one of the songs that they had sung several times on the trip. They were amazed that God would use them to share the Gospel with hundreds of people and see 143 pray to receive Christ as Savior. Tears were shed as they testified of God's wonderful presence and equipping for this special job.
Posted by Andrew at 8:24 PM
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Missionary On The Move
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Missions and the Bible: Part 1
Posted by Andrew at 10:54 AM
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May 3, 2005
Capoeira in the US
If you happen to be a member at a Bally fitness club, you could get a first-hand taste of one of the hottest Brazilian imports--capoeira.
Bally Total Fitness Spices-up Group Exercise Roster with Brazilian Import, Boneco CapoeiraTo meet the ever-evolving demand for fresh and innovative class offerings, Bally Total Fitness, the nation's leader in health and fitness, has secured an exclusive agreement with world-renowned Capoeira Expert, Master Boneco to add Boneco Capoeira to the Company's group exercise schedule. The Bally Total Fitness group exercise team has been working alongside Master Boneco for several months to train instructors in Boneco Capoeira's unique class format. The class will be available at select Bally locations across the country in May.
Developed by Master Boneco, this aerobic workout artfully fuses together dance movements and techniques with the Brazilian martial art Capoeira into an energizing and invigorating total body workout. The class focuses on cardiovascular work, toning and strengthening, all to the beat of exciting Brazilian music.
"This class will grab the attention of our members and provide them with an exciting group exercise experience that only Boneco Capoeira can offer," said Norris Tomlinson, Director of Group Exercise at Bally Total Fitness. "Master Boneco's program is based on the 400-year-old Afro-Brazilian art form of Capoeira and through working with Master Boneco, we have designed this class specifically for American audiences. The addition of Boneco Capoeira to our exercise roster is the latest in our continuous effort to provide our members with exciting and innovative ways to stay active and healthy."
"I developed this program from traditional Capoeira so that people of all ages and fitness levels can enjoy it," said Master Boneco. "This is a very exciting opportunity to spread the word of Capoeira and make it accessible to everyone regardless of age and background."
Starting in the first week of May, classes will be available at Bally Total Fitness clubs in Miami, Orlando, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Toronto.
Posted by Andrew at 12:55 PM
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Audio Post Test
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MP3 File
This is a test for audio posting. I am thinking about adding this as a regular feature--one more way to keep you up-to-date on this ministry. Let me know what you think.
Posted by Andrew at 10:31 AM
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May 2, 2005
Caption Challenge for 5/02/05
Here it is...fire up those captions!
Posted by Andrew at 2:54 PM
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Cleaning the Shed
As our support level continues to rise, we are beginning to make preparations for our departure. On Saturday I began the arduous process of cleaning out our shed. My shed is home to hundreds of books that I want to keep, but for which I have no place in the house. I decided that packing them up would provide me with the perfect opportunity to catalog them.
Me in the process of cataloging books prior to packing.
Also stored in the shed are many personal documents, old journals, photographs, etc.
In the process of packing on Saturday, I ran across some pages from an old journal I used to keep. The date on the top page was February 11, 1993.
In my mind, I went back over 12 years to that day. At that time my family was involved in the ATIA (Bill Gothard) homeschooling program, and I was at their training facility in Indianapolis. The journal entry reads thus:
It's funny. Here I am, two days into a marvelous training experience, and I can't stop thinking about Brazil. I know God is working everything out in His own perfect timing, but I am by nature impatient.
I am no longer involved in the ATIA program. At the time of that writing, however, I still believed that my future lay with that organization. Actually, my disenfranchisement with that ministry (which had begun on an earlier trip to Russia with them) took root there in Indianapolis.
One thing that has not changed is my passion for Brazil. The summer following my stay in Indianapolis, I worked at Camp Lamoka. While there, a missionary challenged me to look into a short-term trip to Brazil right then, instead of waiting for Bill Gothard to open up a ministry there. I am glad I took his advice, for several different reasons.
A year after writing that journal entry, I was raising support to go to Brazil as a short-termer. Two years later I was in Brazil, and three years later I had met the woman who would become my wife.
Now, twelve years later, my wife and I and our son are on deputation to return to Brazil full time. If you had asked me back then, I could never have guessed what God would do in my life. But I would have been pretty sure it involved Brazil.
Post Script: As I was in the process of organizing my stuff, three cars pulled up and almost the entire youth group of our church descended on my house. What followed was a very unplanned, very cool time of hanging out with them.
Posted by Andrew at 11:39 AM
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