The Piranha Press Online

New Life Work Team Blesses PAZ

2010-12-14T10:11:00.032-04:00

We were richly blessed to have a team from our home church, New Life Christian Church, with us from November 20 to December 1. John and Joann Utt, Dave and Theresa Shimmins, and Jay Zimmerman packed "Santa's sleigh" (two 70-pound bags plus carry-ons for each of them) with all kinds of presents for PAZ missionaries, Brazilians and the Mission. We celebrated Christmas early as they unpacked their bags - tools for our construction teams and supervisor, Joaquim; medicines, clothes, baseball caps, toys for ministry; and all kinds of things for missionaries. Thank you so much, guys - Christmas was great!

Despite their kindness and generosity, we put the team to work. First, we spent a day at Camp Shalom, repairing benches and thus providing seating space for approximately 150 people. In the photo below, we see some very talented ladies securing a board on a bench with no hands - pretty amazing, huh?

Then the highlight of the trip - five days living on a boat and working on the church building in Uricurituba (although I'm not sure the team would describe the bathing facilities on the boat a "highlight"). This community is situated on an island across the Amazon River from Santarem. Since the flood in 2008, large sections of the river bank have been falling into the river. All of the residents had moved their houses further inland, because they were in danger, and it became necessary to also move the PAZ church. The building had been torn down, moved a few hundred yards further inland, and reconstructed as a much larger building. The team completed the construction, painting, putting up a handrail, doing the plumbing for the bathroom, completing the floor boards, and constructing the steps (well, at least we tried). We were fortunate to have PAZ missionary Jerry Hranka and his pastor, Daryl Kroeker and good friend John Dyck with us, since there was a lot of work to be done. We finished just in time for the inauguration of the new building in the church service on Sunday night.

Bathing on the boat was refreshing but not very private

The steps were our biggest challenge - many great minds were required

The last nail in the last floor board

Nego laying bricks in the septic tank - may qualify as one of the world's worst jobs

Besides the construction activities, the team also spent time ministering to the people in the community. Special ministry activities included activities with children, John Utt teaching children and adults how to play the harmonica (and giving away approximately 140 harmonicas), and visiting people in their homes, inviting them to the inauguration service and praying for them, as we had opportunity.

It wasn't all work and no play, however. The team sated their appetites at a "churrascaria" (Brazilian barbeque restaurant), visited the zoo and Belterra, a community founded by Ford Motor Company, and shopped for souvenirs. John is already planning a trip for August 2011, so get in touch with him to reserve a place on the team!

Sao Miguel - Part II

2010-11-11T09:41:00.005-04:00

The first night of our trip we visited Costa do Tapará. This community is still close to the water’s edge. We arrived in time to make visits in the community, inviting people to the evening service. The local PAZ worker is a young, single man, who is desperate for more of Jesus in his life and the lives of people in the village. His mother is a pillar in the church and is helping him grow the church. Two pastors from Belo Horizonte (a large city in south central Brazil) had come to Santarem to learn how to set up a river ministry. They had heard so much about PAZ and our church planting that they wanted to learn from us as they start their own mission outreach. The pastor was invited to preach. Also on this trip was a young girl from Canada who is here for six weeks. In the evening service Melissa, the younger of the two visiting pastors and I did a puppet skit for all the kids between 2 and 150. They loved it and then the pastor preached. Three people accepted Jesus but we need to pray for effective follow-up as the local PAZ worker was so engrossed in praying for people to come to Jesus that he forgot to open his eyes to see who raised their hands!

The next day the Lord laid on my heart a middle-aged man whose wife died of uterine cancer last year. She was a faithful believer to the end. She left behind a family, including a little boy that was born shortly before she died. We had talked to this man and, because God was speaking to me to go talk with him again, I grabbed the mother of the local worker and went to visit him. Jorismo was just sitting there like he knew we were coming. As we chatted, I was impressed by his readiness and so I asked if he wanted to receive Jesus as his Savior. He did and we prayed with him. I sensed that he was angry with God for taking his wife. When I shared about the loss of our granddaughter, Anna Rebecca, in 2008, I emphasized that it was the enemy who came to kill, steal and destroy, and how we have a choice to be angry or not. He is now a believer in Christ. Where there was stagnant, contaminated life, there is now fresh water welling up into an everlasting stream. Pastor Nilton, our head river pastor, had taken the two pastors from Belo Horizonte to the site of our church building in the village. It is quite a distance from the believers in the community and they want it to be more centrally located. On their return, Nilton and the pastors stopped and visited with the same man. They saw the Bible we had given him and were excited about his commitment to the Lord. Pastor Nilton counseled him some more, not knowing what we had shared with him. Pastor Nilton told him that the best place to begin reading the Bible was in John. He grabbed the Bible to show the man where John was and, to his surprise, there was a tree leaf on the first page of John. I had told Jorismo the same thing and we didn’t have any way to mark the location other than a tree leaf. Praise the Lord, the local worker will follow-up with Jorismo and begin discipling him.

Salim (disciple of Pr Nilton), Nilton and local PAZ worker

Evening service - we met outside next to the worker´s house because the neighbor allowed us to use his generator

Church building in Costa do Tapara

Sao Miguel - Part I

2010-11-06T14:45:00.006-04:00

Last week, Joanne went on a river trip with Pastor Nilton Cordeiro, the supervising pastor in the Santarem base for church-planting in the interior communities. Following is her story.

We spent one hour and fifteen minutes walking on sand that shows the effects of the waves on the river bed, now “dry as a bone.” The community we are entering is Sao Miguel (Saint Michael). It is the dry season (some say a record dry season) – the rivers have receded greatly and creeks and canals dried-up. It has left this community with a source of clean, potable water more than than one and one half hours away. As we walked along, we saw skeletons of crabs and one of a venomous snake, holes in the sand where sting rays had spent the night. This community has a small stream that still has water in it, though it is “landlocked”, with no entrance or exit. Thus, they are able to use their canoes to boat out before reaching the vast wasteland that they have to cross to reach fresh potable water. At the time we wrote this, it was a 15 minute boat trip up the river to the sandy wasteland and then the walk across the sand for 1 hour and 15 minutes. As the dry season continues, the stream continues to fall. The stream is very muddy with stagnant, contaminated water. This makes me so thankful for the water in my home, the water that I can turn on and use anytime. The water I use to take a bath, to get a drink, to wash my dog, to throw at the kids in a water fight, to water plants. Did I mention that we saw many alligators on the banks of the stream as we rode in the boat (ie, as the ladies rode in the boat - the men had to walk as the water level in the stream didn’t allow us to take the 5 men)? The walks can be dangerous because of the snakes and alligators that are on the river’s edge. In fact, one of the men who was with us was stung by a sting ray, which is so painful it literally makes a grown man cry.

But in the midst of this dry, stagnant, contaminated and dangerous land is living water. There are villages throughout this area that are growing their churches - giving the living water of the gospel. It says in John 7:37-38, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me (Jesus) and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” Praise the Lord, in this second village we visited, two boys made decisions to ask Jesus to be their Lord and Savior. The pastor here is a father of three girls. He and his wife oversee 14 churches in their area, and they are seeing growth in the churches. They are offering living water and God is giving it. Many people in these villages have experienced miracles of healing and it has brought them hope and a living faith.

Photo #1 - River bed that we walked on

Photo #2 - Our walk to Sao Miguel - it was hot!

Photo #3 - Alligator we met along the way

Photo #4 - Church meeting in Sao Miguel

On the River

2010-07-10T13:21:00.011-04:00

Recently I (Joanne) had the privilege of going on two boat trips. The first trip was to Uquena with the Journey Fellowship team, where PAZ is planting a new church and constructing a building. Our daughter Hannah and friend Leslee Zell were also on this trip. Hannah helped mostly with construction and translation on the construction site and Leslee and I helped in the children’s ministries. The school teacher in Uquena was very open to us and allowed us to minister to the children in the school. She has not been faithful to the Lord but now wants to get involved in the new church and get her life back in line. Her son is really faithful and has inspired her. For three days, in the morning and afternoon classes, we taught Bible stories, played games and provided other activities for the children. The team also included two summer interns, Rebecca and Caroline, who love working with kids and didn’t allow the language barrier to keep them from interacting with and ministering to the children. We even had a day when all the men on the construction team came down and taught a lesson on Noah. Approximately 15 kids gave their lives to Jesus. I asked the school teacher to write down their names and give the list to the local church worker so they can be followed up. They are now ready to start a children’s cell group and discipleship program. You can pray for this community, the children and the local workers that they can continue watering the harvest!

Looks like Leslee and Joanne got caught hitting the sauce

You do NOT want to accidentally step on this sting ray (or do it on purpose, for that matter)

We traveled by canoe from the big boat we ate and slept on from the river to Uquena

The kids visited the guys at the construction site and got suckers as a reward

Joanne, teacher in Uquena, Leslee, Rebecca, Caroline and kids

In June I accompanied a woman and her two daughters, Joyce, Becky and Erica Schorn, on a health trip to the communities of Jaguare, Piquiatuba, Tauare and Pine. We had an awesome time as we went from village to village with a Brazilian doctor, a dentist, a dentist that makes false teeth and several nurses. We saw a multitude of patients and I got to help lead the children’s ministries. We were well received and able to minister to many children. The two interns were again with us. The kids loved the skits that Becky Schorn wrote and the lessons and activities that followed. More than 70 children asked Jesus to forgive them of their sins and live in their hearts. I am adamant with the children that they only need to do this once. I believe if they really understand what Jesus has done on the cross for them, they will want to give their lives to Jesus. I was especially pleased with the children in one village, where 11 kids accepted Jesus the first afternoon of lessons. That night at our church service, Isaura, the head of the team, asked anyone who wanted to accept Jesus to raise his/her hand. The sermon had been powerful, but no one raised their hand. She asked again, and then asked for me to come up front to help. I whispered to her that many of the children had accepted Jesus that afternoon in class. She then asked how many children had accepted Jesus that afternoon. Their hands shot up in the air! I was so excited by their response as they didn’t want to accept Jesus again - they already had done so. So they had truly understood what I had taught them. After that, many adolescents and a few adults came forward to receive Jesus into their lives. The names of all the children, adolescents and adults who accepted Jesus were given to the local workers. I know that God can do a mighty work in their lives. Praise the Lord!

Kids always love a puppet show

When Brazil plays soccer, all of Brazil stops and watches the game (here the World Cup in Pine)

Can you guess which face belongs to Caroline?

In July even Ken was able to go on a river trip. We went to the community of Campos de Urucurituba, which currently has three cell groups. The church had been meeting in a larger building in the community but now has to move, so we need to build them a covered pole building as a starter building. That night we met in the home of one of the believers (who proudly told us she had had 70 people in her home for a service a few weeks ago – I don’t know where she could have put 70 people!). Pastor Nilton, the leader of missions for the PAZ base in Santarem, gave the message which was powerful. At the conclusion of his message, he gave an invitation for those who wanted to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, and 13 people raised their hands. Now 13 people coming to the Lord in a city church isn’t that unusual, but 13 decisions in one service in a small interior community is an unusual, wonderful response. So Edilson, the local worker in this community, now has much work to do in integrating these new believers into a cell group and one-on-one discipleship, and we have a challenge to get them a building to meet in as soon as possible – what great challenges to have!

Visitors, River Trips and Curriculum

2010-05-26T09:51:00.005-04:00

We will be going on several river trips in the next few months. Hannah and our friend, Leslee Zell, are coming to visit in a few days. We will do a river trip with them. After they leave, there is another family arriving that will go on a medical trip. I (Joanne) will accompany them on the trip and we will minister to the kids in that village. Pray for us as we share the gospel with the kids. Then we are extra-excited about a visit at the end of July from our son-in-law, Aaron, and a team of six teens and three adults from his church in Farmington, Michigan. Pray that God will bless all the teams that are coming this summer and fall and that they will be excited about how God is moving here in the Amazon Basin.

John and Leslee Zell, Joanne, Hannah

I would also like prayer for the new Sunday School curriculum that we are starting to write. Many of you know that we already have about a year and a half of materials that we are using in the river villages. We would like another year and a half of materials, covering many of the stories that were not covered in the first book. Please pray for wisdom as we choose the stories and write the curriculum. We need good illustrations that are simple and can be colored for the Bible stories we are portraying (printing in color is far too expensive). We also need interesting introductory material for the lessons. I don’t like to start a lesson with questions; science experiments or object lessons are much better. I bought some great books on object lesson while in the States but if anyone has some good ideas, I am open to them.

Hooray for grandkids!

2010-05-25T13:08:00.010-04:00

We recently returned to Santarém after a wonderful visit in the States. We got to ski with Jed and Hannah, welcome another granddaughter into this world, and meet a grandson born in 2009 for the first time - it´s time to brag! Sophie Joanne Walters was born on April 27 and is just as beautiful as the rest. (No doubt because they take after their grandmas!)

We also met Charlie Farris, born to Shawna and Chris on September 30, 2009, for the first time. Charlie, you are going to have to protect all those girl cousins when you grow up.

Actually, I have a new title for my grandkids, created by a typing error - they will be called grandkis!! Grandmas and grandpas, I am sure, will agree with this. We are always smothering them with kisses, so why not grandkis!

While I was there I ordered a book that I know will be my favorite: A Car Seat in my Convertible: giving your grandkids the spiritual ride of their lives. I began reading it in the airport and was soon shedding many tears. One of the sentences was something like this, “I didn’t sign up for this heartache when I knew I was having kids.” That´s when I started to cry. I had to put my book away until I was alone. It is not all tear jerking stuff - in fact it is an excellent book. One quote (from Theresa Bloomingdale) that you will like especially if you are a grandparent is: “If your baby is beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, is an angel all the time —you’re the grandma.” William James once said, “The great use of life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.” We hope to do that with our grandkids.

Please pray for us as we aclimate back to Brazilian culture. It is really tiring for me to speak just English in the States and then return to speaking almost exclusively Portuguese. I was tired from the trip anyway, with two nights of practically no sleep, but then we had our cell group the night that I arrived. Sure enough, the kids were coming out of the woodwork (or was that the size of the termites?) They were anxious to get group going again. Also, it is extremely hot this year. Brazilians don’t say that very often but many of them have expressed that this year. Because it was cold in Detroit and Colorado, I am not ready physically for extremely hot weather. I never used to glow (perspire or sweat for the male population) but boy am I glowing these days!

Special Olympics in Santarem

2010-03-25T09:59:00.005-04:00

Many of you know that I (Joanne) have a background as a special education teacher. There is a young girl that lives at the other end of our street who is Down’s syndrome and attends the local special education school that is near us. The school started a dance/arts program last year and it has steadily progressed. This year the students had an opportunity to participate in a type of Olympics of dance for the handicapped. Our friend, Patricia, participated in the competition so I took some kids from my cell group to watch her dance. They really enjoyed the evening and we were able to cheer Patricia on. She didn’t win but we were really pleased that she participated and did her best.

Following are photos of the kids I took with me. Believe it or not, there was always the same number of kids in the car. Can you tell how many kids went with me?

If you guessed 12, you are RIGH...WRONG. See the thumb in the lower left corner? That is number 13!

Graduation Party

2010-02-26T14:08:00.008-04:00

We haven’t updated our blog for a while but it isn’t because we haven’t been doing anything. One of the events that really blessed us recently was when we hosted a graduation party for three of our neighbors. (Formal graduation parties are expensive in Brazil, with lots of things that cost more than many can afford. This was a way for our graduates to be honored without all the expense of a formal ceremony.)

Honored graduates Laura, Clea and Elinete

Clea, our domestic helper (OK, she´s our maid) graduated from high school. She left school in the 6th grade so she could come to the big city and start work. We have encouraged her to go back to school, and so the last several years she has been working on that. Because the problem of leaving school early is so prevalent in Brazil, the public education system has special classes for adults returning to school. They are able to do two years in one year’s time. So Clea has been studying now for four years, starting with a 5th-6th grade combination. Clea is my disciple and her children are in my cell group. Not only was she working full time and caring for her family but also went to school each night for four hours. I am really proud of her for passing. There is another girl in my group whose mom, who is not a Christian, also graduated with Clea, so we invited her to celebrate her graduation with us.

The third graduate who was honored is Laura. Laura couldn’t read and write when she started school in her late 50s. She just graduated from the equivalent of 8th grade and will continue studying. We were really happy to see her completing this part of her education.

Friends and family applaud the graduates

It was a great night of encouraging and honoring these women. I also wanted to encourage the children to apply themselves to their studies. They have better opportunities if they study now without all the worries of a family and things that come with being a wife/husband and mom/dad. We also shared the gospel with the people and a message to encourage others in their walk with the Lord. We served a light meal with soda afterwards, so even the kids were glad they had come.

Joanne uses her serious face while encouraging the children to study

Celebrating Christmas

2010-01-16T12:42:00.012-04:00

Edivaldo shares the gospel

Wow! The kids sure love the holiday season here in Brazil, even if it isn’t because they get lots of gifts. For most of them it signals the end of the school year and an extended holiday. The kids in my cell group got to put on two plays this year for the adults with some donated and handmade costumes. We had over 75 people at the Christmas cell group. The first play told the Christmas story, and the second play depicted Santa Claus bemoaning the fact that we worship him at Christmas and not Jesus. He and his helpers taught us the true meaning of Christmas. For example, the star that sits on many Christmas trees reminds us of the star that led the wise men to Jesus. The angels who appeared to Mary, Joseph and the shepherds also have meanings for us to reflect upon. The adolescents in the play taught us about the different meanings of the symbols we use at Christmas. Santa Claus gets more popular here each year. He really wasn’t big among the poor people, but as they see things on TV they want to know more about him.

Christmas story play participants

The angels

Everyone envied Mary, but the donkey's knees hurt later!

Joseph gets a kick out of our donkey, Edivaldo

Herod, 2 wise men (the 3rd was sick!), and the camel

The shepherds and the angel

We spent so much time practicing the play that we didn’t have time to do a Christmas party for the kids, so that came on the morning of New Year’s Eve. The big hit of the day was the game “4 corners”. You mark each corner with a different symbol (in our case it was Christmas symbols.) Then the kids run to their chosen corner and the leader draws a symbol out of the hat. Whoever is standing in that corner is out of the game. You keep doing that until you have a winner. That is the only game they would have played if I had let them. The other fun game was Rudolph’s nose. The kids on each team put a dab of Vaseline on their nose and then they had to move the cotton balls from the table into their bowls without using their hands. It was a blast to watch them develop their techniques as they touched the cotton ball with their nose and then shook their heads over the bowl so it would go into the bowl. We laughed and laughed. The kids in my cell group usually do not get anything for Christmas unless it is a plastic toy from the dollar store. But, as you can see, Barbie dolls, beanie babies and baseball hats made a hit. The rest of the kids had already left for home.

Cast of The Real Meaning of Christmas

The Rudolph game

The Rudolph game again

We love our gifts!

One of the lessons I learned this year is how we can get so distracted by other things at Christmas that we don’t have time to meditate on its meaning. I laughed hard during the play as the angel visiting Mary developed stage fright and I had to give her the page that had her part written out. As she was reading one side, Mary was stooped over trying to read the other side, quite preoccupied with other things in life. It was quite humorous. We can get distracted in our preparations for Christmas and try to do too much. I pray that as we go into this new year, we won’t get distracted by the cares and worries of this world but we will trust fully in our Lord and Savior and tell everyone about HIM!!!!

Royalty in the Amazon

2009-12-11T14:23:00.004-04:00

Workers at conference on Friday night

How do you prepare for royalty? You want your best on display and want the best available. Every year the PAZ base in Santarem prepares for royalty. Who are these royal people? They are the PAZ river workers, the volunteer church planters who are the frontline soldiers in the battle against darkness in the Amazon River Basin. Each year in December, the Santarem base of Igreja da PAZ brings all of their volunteer workers into the city, where they are treated as kings and queens for a week. The church houses the workers and their families at Shalom camp, feeds them, provides free manicures, pedicures, haircuts, medical and dental treatment, all in an effort to show how much they are loved and valued. The church holds its annual missions conference on the weekend as well as special training events for the workers.

(Photo at right) Prayer for workers at conclusion of meeting on Friday night

The church also has a “March of Love” during the month of November. People bring new and used items such as clothing, domestic items, bikes, outboard motors, and more to be distributed to the workers and their families.

We know that there will be excellent testimonies during the conference, so PAZ photographer and writer, Don and Betty Best, went to Shalom Camp for interviews on Saturday, December 5. As the the number of churches grows, we need more in-depth statistics, so one of our newer missionaries, Jerry Hranka, from Canada, has begun to gather information. At the same time, a Brazilian couple, who want to be sent out as missionaries from Brazil, began a rigorous campaign to get all the boats in order and ready for maintenance. This is a great way to get everyone involved.

Training workers at Shalom Camp

I (Joanne) also went to Shalom Camp to get updates on our children´s curriculum and pass out more books. When we pass out the teacher’s kits and books, we give them a report form to complete and return. The missions conference is a good time to get those reports and to give the workers the other volumes. My friend and disciple, Dioneia, went with me to help. We were so blessed by the excitement of all the workers. They love having the curriculum to follow, and especially love the pictures they use to tell the story. We gave out more than 42 books and 18 new kits. Several workers say that the Bible stories and lessons are helping the kids to make major decisions. Many children are accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior, learning not to steal anymore, learning to love others and not call them names. Most of all, many are bringing their parents to church. This allows them to hear the gospel story and make decisions themselves. Please pray for all these river workers. Their lives are not easy, especially after the floods of the past rainy season.

One of the workers came to me asking for another children’s curriculum book. They know that I only want to give one book to every community. He explained the situation. The teacher lived in a community that was flooded. The entire house went down so they could not save the book. Wow! And I thought I had problems. They received a whole new kit so they can start the work again. Praise the Lord for these river workers who frequently could have an easier life if they moved somewhere else, but they have chosen to serve the Lord in the river communities.

Thanksgiving in Santarem

2009-12-08T13:22:00.007-04:00

Thanksgiving is not a Brazilian holiday, nor does Brazil have a similar holiday. However, to celebrate this special day, a day on which we give thanks to Almighty God for His gracious provision to us, we typically invite the PAZ missionary family to our house for a Thanksgiving meal. Everyone brings a special dish (more like two or three), Joanne explains the roots and meaning of the day to our Brazilian staff and guests, we give thanks, and we eat! This year, because our medical team was on a ministry trip and would not be able to be with us on Thanksgiving, we celebrated on December 3. It was a typically hot day, but the food and fellowship were great, as these photos show. God is good; He is faithful; He is worthy, and we are so thankful for His provision and all that He is doing here in the Amazon Basin.

Where Do You Park Your Car?

2009-10-23T09:50:00.015-04:00

Our street in Santarem ("Rua Silverio Sirotheau Correa") is not your typical street in Anytown, USA. First of all, it is a mixture of sand and clay. There is no storm sewer system (or sanitary sewer for that matter) in Santarem, and since there is a fairly good decline in the street, when it rains hard the street turns into a riverbed. The city has been promising to asphalt our street since before we moved here and, in fact, there is some asphalt on the street - here it is:

If you are fortunate enough to own a car (very few of our neighbors are), but don´t have a place to park it at night, you are left with few options. One of our neighbors parked his car here:

In his defense, there is no room on his lot to park a car. Further, there is a drainage ditch right in front of his house, and because of the ruts and rubbish in the street, cars pass close to his house. So he really doesn´t have many options.

Another problem we have is what do you do with trash or rubbish that is too large to put in the garbage? The answer is, put it in the street - eventually it will get burned or picked up by the city.

While we sometimes (OK, maybe frequently) complain about the heat, internet service, public services, etc., we want to say we are privileged to be living here in Santarem, Brazil. We live in comfort and safety, and it is a privilege to be serving where God is so much at work.

MDA Conference and Passarinho

2009-10-23T09:12:00.003-04:00

We are in the middle of our annual MDA Conference, the 5-day conference hosted by Igreja da PAZ featuring preaching and teaching on PAZ´ cell group and discipleship model for church growth. There are people here from all over Brazil, and even from the US and Ireland. The church is filled to capacity - there are literally no empty seats in the auditorium, and overflow rooms are filled to capacity for special evening events. The speakers have been feeding us informative and challenging messages. Please pray for the health of the speakers, and that the conference participants not get tangled in our "passarinho." It´s been a few years since I (Joanne) have told you about this plant. It is a parasitic vine that grows in bushes and trees, being passed from plant to plant by birds ("passarinho" means little bird). Once the vine starts growing, it is hard to stop. The leaves of the vine are green and mix in with the leaves of the host tree or bush, so it is hard to detect. In fact, the tree or bush usually appears to be healthy - but it is slowly being killed by the passarinho. Sometimes our Christian lives get entangled in passarinho. We look like we are alive and healthy while being choked by many other things that are sucking the life out of us. Worse yet, we may not even realize it, because these "other things" often appear to be good. Please join me in praying that we recognize the passarinho in our lives.

New Church Building for Canp

2009-09-29T13:36:00.040-04:00

We happily hosted a team from New Life Christian Church in July. John and Joanne Utt, Tom Bare, Cal Skold and Jason Duke arrived in Santarem on July 21. We traveled by line boat to Monte Alegre, a PAZ base city downriver approximately six hours from Santarem. Canp is situated approximately 20 kilometers from Monte Alegre in the interior. A small group of believers there (two adult cell groups, plus children) has been praying and waiting seven years for a building! New Life made a generous donation and sent a work team so that their dream could become a reality. Nate, Joanne, myself and Tatiane, a young girl Joanne is discipling, joined the team in working on this project.

We made good progress on the building.

Is this a government job? Cal works while Ken supervises and Jason leans on his shovel.

The ladies worked too, tieing the steel reinforcing rods together for the concrete columns.

Jason, John and Tom work on a form for the windows.

Joanne is always thinking about ministry to children, so two afternoons she invited the children of Canp to participate in activities. The team made and distributed salvation bracelets, they had a play, made crafts, and John Utt taught the basics of playing a harmonica. John brought over 100 harmonicas which he gave to the children, young and old, of Canp.

It wasn´t all work, however. On Saturday afternoon we visited a nearby sulfur spring bath, and on Sunday morning we hiked and climbed two large hills. The terrain around Monte Alegre is very different from Santarem in that it is more hilly with several large hills with rock formations.

The climb was not easy, but fun. Cal shows-off his climbing form.

The view from the top was awesome.

We made it!

Now how do we get down from here?

Our team of ten plus the driver could not all fit in the double-cab truck, so several people had the privilege of sitting in the back, including Nate and Jason, who had the choice seats by the tailgate. To say it was a bit dusty is an understatement, as Nate and Jason show us with their "happy faces."

On Sunday evening we visited the PAZ Central and Pajuçara churches in Monte Alegre. We were introduced and treated as honored guests, and they asked John to play the harmonica. The team heard several renditions of "When the Saints Go Marching In" - the Brazilians loved it!

At Central Church in Monte Alegre.

All cleaned up and ready to eat.

John plays a rousing rendition of "When the Saints Go Marching In".

Ken and Joanne pose in front of the "Love Rock".

(NOTE: All photos by Nate Reutter. Thanks, Nate!)

Doctors Ken and Joanne

2009-03-01T14:52:00.011-04:00

If January was “Conference Month”, then February had to be “Medical Clinic” month. For most of the month of February we had a team of five young soon-to-be doctors with us (they will graduate from medical school in mid-March). Patrick, Yung, John, Ben and Ian are completing their medical school in Charleston, South Carolina. They were looking for somewhere where they could have practical clinical experience and found PAZ on the internet. Our medical department arranged the clinics, and so they came. We kept them busy, and they kept us busy. Everyone in our medical department was constantly on the go. We had clinics in river communities, clinics in interior communities, and clinics in Santarem. Everyone available was pressed into translation service. Joanne translated on three different clinics (seven days) and Ken on one. Our Portuguese (well, my portuguese) was stretched as we learned new medical terms.

One of the communities we visited was Mojui dos Pereiras, which is south of Santarem several kilometers off the main road. This community has several cell groups and we want to soon build a building there, which will be a new church plant. The health clinic helps show the community that we care not only for their spiritual well-being, but for their physical needs as well. After the clinic, the local worker went door-to-door throughout the community inviting people again to their services.

Joanne said she felt somewhat like a detective as she translated. The doctors would listen, ask questions, and try to understand the problems of the patients, but the patients frequently were not good at relating their health problems to the underlying cause. For example, one patient complained of having constant back pain for two years, but could not identify what may have caused the pain. After persistent questioning, the doctor went to ask a colleague a question, and Joanne discovered that the patient had fallen off a horse two years earlier which, not so amazingly, coincided with the onset of his back pain. Joanne felt like Paul Harvey as she told the doctor “the rest of the story.”

Death of a Friend

2009-02-15T16:27:00.001-04:00

Saturday morning we heard the news that our neighbor and friend, Bento, died during the night. He was 75 years old and had hardening of the arteries, but it was still a shock. Joanne had taken Bento and several other neighbors on Thursday to the mayor’s office to ask them to pick up trash on the street. On Friday night, he had played dominoes in front of his house until 9 PM, just as he frequently did. No one had a warning that Bento’s passing was so near.

Bento was the first Brazilian on our street to introduce himself to me. He was a friend to everyone he met. Even though my Portuguese was halting, he would converse with me patiently, helping me with my Portuguese. He loved to sit and visit. He wanted to know what life was like in the United States, and what was different about our evangelical faith and his Catholic faith. It was a natural opportunity to share the gospel, and we talked at length about faith in Jesus, a transformed life, values and more. I invited Bento to several evangelical events, and he and his wife came to some of them. He was a moral and upright man, active in his church, well-loved and respected by all who knew him.

Was he a believer? Had he surrendered his life to Jesus? I do not know, and that troubles me. While not wanting to offend him, I wonder if I should have been more forceful in my conversations with him. The truth is, the gospel is often offensive. People don’t like to hear that they are sinners and are separated from a holy God. And they especially don’t like to hear that there is only one way to be reconciled, the way that God himself provided, by faith in Jesus and the sacrifice He made on the cross for us. For whatever reason (most likely our pride), we like to think we are basically good people, that the good things we do outweigh the bad, and God will accept us because of that. The problem with this is that it is not the way God has provided; it will not work.

The suddenness of Bento’s death made me think of the fragility of life. None of us have any promises of what will happen tomorrow, not even the next moment. And so those who know the truth, who have heard the gospel but are waiting for a more “opportune” moment to surrender their life to Jesus (as I did for many years), do so at great risk. May we all be challenged to more faithfully share the really, really good news of the gospel, especially with family members, friends, neighbors, and colleagues who do not know Jesus as Savior and Lord. “For what good is it if a man gains the whole world yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Christmas Party for Kids

2008-12-26T15:23:00.005-04:00

On December 24 Joanne had a Christmas party for all of the kids who come to her groups. It was a very special time for the children. They heard the Christmas story, learned about the meaning of Christmas, played games, ate a healthy meal (ice cream, too!) and even received a few gifts. Each child got to choose a few items from Joanne's "gift shop".

As we come to the end of 2008, we want to express our deep gratitude to all of you who pray for us and give so generously for our support and ministry projects. You are very special to us, an integral part of our ministry with PAZ, and we love and appreciate you! Ken and Joanne

Lasanha and ice cream - mm good!

Joanne didn't put everyone to sleep, even though it may look like it!

Kids listen attentively to the Christmas story.

An elf in the stuffed animal section of the gift shop.

Missions Conference

2008-12-08T15:19:00.005-04:00

The annual missions conference for the PAZ Santarem base was held December 4 to 7. The conference focuses on the primary mission of the church, which is planting evangelical churches where they do not exist (beginning in the Amazon River Basin of Brazil). During the conference, hundreds of voluntary church planters, pastors and supervisors are brought to Santarem along with their families. It is a time of ministry to these workers, a time of challenge for the church, and a time to refocus on our vision. During November, the church takes up an offering called "The March of Love". Thousands of items are collected and distributed to the workers. The Sunday School class at Central Church took up a collection to purchase a bicycle for a worker. Joanne took photos of several missionaries and pasted their photos on a 3 by 4 foot piece of cardboard, with a hole cut in the middle for a child to put their face in. In this way, the children were challenged to consider becoming missionaries themselves.

The Santarem base currently has 384 churches under its supervision (close to 500 for all PAZ bases). Our goal is to have 1,000 churches by 2014. It is a challenging goal, but well worth the effort. We invite you to join us in reaching the Amazon Basin for Jesus Christ!

Dedication of Aritapera

2008-10-28T14:24:00.013-04:00

Welcome to the PAZ church of Aritapera!

Aritapera is a community on the north side of the Amazon River, opposite from Santarem. ICM (see following article) sponsored a construction project in this community. Joanne and I took a workteam from Trinity International University there in May, and Joanne took another team later in the summer. The building is now complete, and the dedication was held on October 18. Joanne and I were able to go to the dedication, along with the representatives from ICM.

The dedication was a huge party, an all-day event. The church celebrated by inviting all of the people in their community plus the neighboring communities. They killed two cows and served beef and a fish specialty from their region. They shot-off fireworks, played games, had special activities, and Joanne did a puppet skit and other special activities with the children. In the evening, there was a worship/dedication/evangelistic service - two people gave their lives to the Lord. Please be praying for this church. There is much opposition to the gospel in this community, but we believe there are also many who will come to the Lord, with the faith, prayers, hard work and perseverance of Reinaldo (pastor/church planter), Juru (local worker) and church members. After all, "this is just the beginning!"

The kids loved the puppet show and the hats they made.

Joanne in her element, ministering to children

Joanne makes a point

Remember Father Abraham? Here it is in portuguese.

The church was packed

ICM Visit

2008-10-28T10:43:00.009-04:00

ICM (International Cooperating Ministries; www.icm.org) is a missions organization that partners with other church-planting organizations around the world to plant and nurture new churches. ICM provides financial resources for building new church buildings, as well as theological training and sports evangelism programs. PAZ is privileged to be an ICM partner. Recently, two ICM representatives came to Brazil to visit projects they have already sponsored and sites of new, potential projects. Ken accompanied Jose Morelos and Kevin Erwin during their visit. We visited four PAZ bases and twenty-eight church locations, including churches in base cities, outlying communities, river villages and interior villages, in six days. The locations we visited in the river and interior villages were, for the most part, new church plants where they do not have a building, but are meeting in someone's home or outside. It was exciting to meet and visit with the pastors and local workers in these communities. Following are two examples.

Maria Nely Maia travels thirteen miles by bus and moto-taxi from her home to the community of Sao Raimundo do Moju, where she is planting a PAZ church. This community had a reputation of being a "little piece of hell", with much alcohol and drug abuse and prostitution. Since initiating this work, many people have been won to the Lord and the community is being transformed.

Some of the believers at Sao Raimundo do Moju

On the Island of Oteiro outside of Belem, Ademir Almeida Oliveira has a church that is bursting at the seams - they are reaching many people and their current building cannot hold all that are coming. The cell groups in this church are large, averaging twenty or more people (generally, cell groups multiply when they reach a size of fifteen or more, they have a new leader and a place to meet). When I asked Ademir why they haven't multiplied these large cell groups, he said because they don't have time - so many people are coming to the Lord that they just haven't had the time to plan and carry out the multiplications!

Jose, Jackson, Genildo (base leader at Belem), Ademir, and Kevin at Oteiro site

We were greatly encouraged by Jose and Kevin's visit. ICM is wanting to increase their involvement in Brazil, and it will be a great blessing to PAZ and to the many communities PAZ is reaching with the gospel.

On the way to Cajueira

Macapa sits squarely on the equator. Here I am with one foot in the northern hemisphere and the other foot in the southern hemisphere.

The church at Iruçanga meets here

Children at Piracaoera - they love seeing their photo!

Anna Rebecca Reutter

2008-09-27T10:42:00.009-04:00

Anna Rebecca Reutter was born on September 25 and went straight to the arms of Jesus. These last few days have been some of the most difficult of our lives, but we have also been loved, encouraged and strengthened in the Lord. We are most grateful for the petitions of hundreds of our friends and family, being lifted to our Loving Heavenly Father. We have been comforted by the truth of God's Word. Psalm 139 tells us that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" and that "every day ordained for each of us was written in God's book before one of them came to be." Anna Rebecca was wonderfully made in the image of God, and her arrival and immediate departure to heaven were ordained by our Loving Heavenly Father. Isaiah 40:11 says that Jesus "tends his flocks like a shepherd; he holds his lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart." We are imagining Anna Rebecca being carried in Jesus arms, very close to his heart, and that is very comforting. Please continue to pray for Nate and Ruth. As devastating as this has been for us, it is much more so for them. And pray also for us and for Jeff and Becky Hrubik, Ruth's parents and the leaders of PAZ. If you'd like to know more, please go to Nate and Ruth's website, http://www.reutterfamily.com.

Children's Curriculum is Producing Exciting Results

2008-09-06T11:24:00.007-04:00

The children's curriculum that has been distributed to more than two hundred PAZ churches in the interior is truly having an impact. As you may recall, the curriculum, which was funded by a grant from Samaritan's Purse Canada, consists of four volumes, each with 18 lessons. Joanne has distributed the first volume to several hundred PAZ churches under the Santarém base, as well as several churches under other PAZ bases. Workers and teachers in these communities must complete a report detailing how the curriculum is being used, and indicating how many children made first-time decisions to ask Jesus into their hearts through the use of the materials, in order to receive volume two of the curriculum. These reports have been coming in and they have been very encouraging. Over 120 children have made first-time decisions to follow Jesus! And the number of children being reached is increasing significantly. We recently received three reports from communities close to Alenquer, a city north of Santarém, across the Amazon River. When Carlos, the local worker, delivered the reports, he told us that in each of these communities there had been one children's cell group before they received the curriculum; now each community has six children's cell groups! In one community, a seven-year old girl began coming to cell group. This little girl gave her life to Jesus, and subsequently every one of her brothers and sisters, plus her mom, dad and an aunt have come to the Lord! What a great God we serve! Please pray that these materials will continue to have a powerful effect in the interior communities. And pray for the distribution of volume 1, plus the teachers' kits, to the remaining PAZ churches, especially those that are a long distance from Santarém. Also continue to pray for sufficient resources to supply the teachers' kits to these communities. The children love to color the pictures and complete the activities with each lesson, but the supplies are consumable, and it appears we may need to provide some type of continuing assistance to these communities for such supplies.

Lago Grande

2008-08-23T12:03:00.014-04:00

Nilton in front, after baptism in Renascer

Lago Grande (literally, Big Lake) is an area north and west of Santarém where the Amazon River forms a huge lake. There are approximately 75 communities around Lago Grande; approximately 45 have a PAZ church. Nilton Cordeiro is the PAZ church planter who oversees the work in Lago Grande. Nilton is a hard worker and fruitful church planter. He oversees more than 80 PAZ churches in the interior of the Amazon River Basin, including the churches in Lago Grande. The largest community in Lago Grande is Curuai, which has approximately 5,000 inhabitants. The PAZ church in Curuai has 17 cell groups, and supervises 20 other PAZ churches. They have a goal of planting three new churches by the end of 2008. Recently, 23 people were converted in two weekends. God is at work in Lago Grande!

Church in Curuai

From August 11 through 18, Joanne and four short-term missionaries with PAZ accompanied Nilton, his wife Cleucy and their son Marcos on a trip to Lago Grande. They visited nine or ten communities, and held worship services every night in the different communities. During the day, while Nilton met with the local workers and supervisors under him, Joanne and her team rounded up the children and ministered to them. They made and passed out around 300 colored-bead bracelets that Joanne used to share the gospel with the children. In total, approximately 350 children were ministered to, and approximately 40 asked Jesus into their hearts. Joanne was encouraged to see evidence of the benefits of the teachers' manuals (children's curriculum) and kits that have been distributed in the Lago Grande communities. Many children are being reached in these communities, and the curriculum and kits have been instrumental in helping to reach these children.

Ministry to children

During the day, the team also visited with people in the communities and prayed for them. In the evenings, services of healing and worship were held. Several people testified to being healed, and approximately ten adults gave their lives to Jesus.

Evening service

They also went spear fishing. Here are three big ones that didn't get away!

Ladies showing-off their children's curriculum books

Baptisms and Adolescent Camp

2008-07-12T11:12:00.006-04:00

PAZ Central Church recently had weekend encounters for children and for adolescents. Following the encounters, they had a baptism for adolescents. Close to 100 kids were baptized, including four that have been in Joanne's groups. Following are photos of the baptisms.

The camp for adolescents will be July 24 to 27. The competition for memorizing 50 Bible verses and being able to recall and use them successfully was held this morning. Twenty-six kids qualified for full scholarships to camp. The cost of the camp was increased by about 10 per cent this year, and with the significant decline of the dollar, the cost in dollar terms is now approximately $37. Thanks to the generous gifts of several people, we have sufficient resources for all of the scholarships this year. But if you would like to help with the continued funding of this program, please send your donation to Project Amazon and mark it for Camp Memory Fund. We will be sharing some testimonies of kids who memorized verses in future posts.

Joanne baptizing her kids

Kids who were baptized on podium at Central Church

Look at the faces of these kids!

March for Jesus 2008

2008-06-28T09:56:00.007-04:00

Saturday June 7 was the day of the March for Jesus in Santarém. Joanne and Hannah were on a river trip, but Ken and Nate joined thousands of other "Santarenos" (residents of Santarém) in marching through the streets of Santarém. It was a great time of celebration! We worshipped, prayed, visited with friends, and declared our conviction that Santarém belongs to the Lord. Intercession was made for families, schools, the government, salvation and the blessings and prosperity of the Lord to come upon Santarém and all of Brazil. The march culminated on the riverfront, where a band led the crowd in worship, and people enjoyed food and fellowship with friends. Nate and I walked the route with a friend of Nate's, Leon (who is in their cell group). Nate has inherited his mother's gift of conversation, and it was interesting to listen in on Nate and Leon's conversation. When the march started, they were talking about food, and when we reached our destination, they were still talking about food! So, when the march was over, what did we do? We ate!!

Team from TIU Comes to the Amazon

2008-06-08T16:06:00.006-04:00

On May 13 the first workteam from Trinity International University to visit PAZ arrived in Santarem. Hannah was a part of the team, and was instrumental in stimulating interest in and organizing the trip. For work projects, the team first went to the river community of Aritapera to work on a new church building. In addition to working on the building, the team also visited families in the community (by canoe - the village is currently under water) and ministered to children. The next work project was at Camp Shalom, putting up screens for a large dormitory. The team also played soccer with some of the kids in Joanne's cell groups, went alligator hunting, took a walk in the forest, visited the zoo, and several other things as well. It was a busy two weeks that went by very quickly. The team returned to the States on May 26. Hannah is staying with us in Santarem until the end of August.

First day at job site in Aritapera

The kids loved playing Uno

Team with new friends in Aritapera

Building when we left Aritapera

Jake is about to score!

Kathy making friends

They will pick up snakes with their hands!

Hannah Graduates from TIU

2008-06-08T15:42:00.006-04:00

May 10 was a moment-
ous day for Hannah as well as the rest of her family as she received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Trinity International University. Next up for Hannah will be pursuing a masters in counseling degree at Denver Seminary. Congratulations, Hannah!

Multiplication of Cells

2008-04-21T14:07:00.019-04:00

One of the primary purposes of a cell is to multiply - to grow by inviting non-Christian friends, family, neighbors and other acquaintances to the cell meetings. As these unbelievers participate in the cell group, they make new friends, hear the gospel, see answers to prayers, and learn how they can experience new life in Jesus - all in an atmosphere of love, joy and hope. Many open their hearts to receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. When the cell group reaches a size of 15 to 20 people and has a member ready to assume leadership and a new place to meet, the cell multiplies.

On April 12 we had not one but two cell multiplication parties at our house. First, the adult group that meets at our house had its party. A few weeks ago Ken turned over the leadership of the adult group to Edivaldo, a young man he has been discipling for several years. Our adult cell group has grown steadily over the past few months and we had capable leaders ready to assume leadership - we were ready to multiply. The leaders of the two new groups are Edivaldo and Jaci Sousa and Scott and Michelle Toth, PAZ missionaries who are on temporary assignment in Santarem.

After the first party, Joanne's adolescent group had its multiplication party. Joanne's group of teenage boys and girls multiplied into three groups, one for the older boys, another for the older girls, with the younger teens remaining with Joanne. The new leader for the girls' group is Rebecca and for the boys' group is Leonardo. Joanne will also continue working with her cell groups of young children and pre-teens, which meet on Monday evening for prayer and on Wednesday evening for cell group.

Please pray for our cell groups. Our area, under the leadership of Josiah and Jennifer Huber, has an ambitious goal for growth and multiplication, which is to have 113 cells by the end of 2008 (a quadrupling of the number of cells). Please pray for the cell group leaders, and for members to be faithful in their participation and in inviting unsaved friends to the cell meetings.

Adult cell group

New Leaders Edivaldo and Jaci, Scott and Michelle

Fun and games

Prayer for new leaders

Joanne leading adolescent cell group

Adolescent cell group

Ilha de Bom Vento

2008-03-04T14:32:00.006-04:00

Ilha de Bom Vento (literallly Island of Good Wind) is an interesting community. This island, located across the Amazon River west of Santarem, is literally moving downstream. The current of the Amazon picks sand up in the front of the island and deposits it at the rear. This community is the site of the first PAZ church plant in the interior, back in approximately 1980. Because the island keeps shifting, the church building has had to be moved, now for the fourth time. We recently accompanied a large workteam from Canada to Bom Vento to work on the construction project and to give Amy and Aaron (daughter and son-in-law) a taste of PAZ' work in the river communities. There are actually two islands. The original island disappeared a few years back, remaining below the surface of the water even in the dry season (the whole island is submerged during the rainy season), and a new island appeared further downstream. Therefore, the people moved their homes (and the church) to the new island. Recently, the opposite has occurred - the new island has remained submerged and the island upstream has reappeared. So the community has returned to the island upstream. The site where the church is currently being constructed is close to the original site of the church.

Who wants to work on top?

Joanne at work (please don't notice the girl behind Joanne carrying a board herself)

The floor needs a little work yet.

Running electricity from the boat - in the rain!

Aaron and Amy going to work.

Nate and Joaquim - heading back to Santarem.

Aaron and Amy Visit Santarem - Hooray!

2008-03-02T14:42:00.007-04:00

We were blessed by the recent visit of daughter Amy and son-in-law Aaron. They had an eventful trip, starting with their flight to Santarem - it took them 50 hours to get here, due to missing flights because of inclement weather and mysterious other causes. To make matters worse, two of their bags didn't arrive, including the one with their clothes. However, their time here was very special to us, Nate and Ruth. We had a wonderful time showing them around. Aaron, a youth pastor in Farmington, Michigan, brought a message on how God wants to use each of us at a youth meeting at PAZ Central Church, and was encouraged by the attentiveness of the kids. Then we went on a two-day trip to the river community of Ilha de Bom Vento (literally Island of Good Wind), where we worked on a church construction project. All too quickly their time was up and they had to return. Fortunately their return trip was much shorter. And two weeks after the start of their trip, the two missing bags were delivered to their home!

Pigging out at the churrascaria (Brazilian barbeque).

Aaron preaching at Central Church; Isaiah Huber interpreting.

What?? Our bags didn't make it??!!

OK, we'll just have to wear these clothes for six days.

Reutter siblings in deep reflection.

PAZ Christian Schools

2008-02-05T12:42:00.000-04:00

One of Joanne's responsibilities for the last two years has been administrating a grant from Samaritan's Purse Canada (SPC) for eight schools sponsored by PAZ churches in Santarém. Children in Brazil are expected to know their alphabet, colors, numbers from one to ten, and other basic information before they enroll in first grade. Since the public schools until recently did not provide a kindgergarten, PAZ neighborhood churches have started Christian schools as a way to minister to families by teaching pre-school children these basic skills in a decidely Christian environment (two of the PAZ schools have or are adding classes annually for older children). The PAZ schools have seven foundational principles which are integrated into the lesson plans for each subject. They are: the sovereignty of God, stewardship, each person's individuality, unity, sowing and reaping, Christian character, and self-control. Thus, as children learn their ABCs and other "academic" subjects, they also learn about God, themselves as children of God, and God's plan for their lives.

For several years SPC has provided grants to assist the PAZ schools with acquiring needed materials and equipment, and providing scholarship assistance for poor families. The scholarship assistance has enabled sixty to seventy poor families per year to send their children to PAZ schools. The impact upon these families has been dramatic - not only upon the children, but for mothers and fathers as well. Many have been won to the Lord because of the changes they have seen in the lives of their children. Following are a few testimonies.

From Edileuza Sousa Braga, director of the PAZ school in the Maracanã neighborhood: "The six children that you (i.e., SPC) are helping are very poor, more than you can imagine. Our school is functioning better because you have helped financially, and we ask that God return to you double what you have given us from your heart."

From the parents of student Larissa Karoline Paz da Mota: "I was passing through a difficult time in relation to my financial situation, and I couldn't see a way out. My daughter needed to go to school and I didn’t have any money to pay for it. I cried out to God for days, asking that He show me how I could raise some money. It was the initial week of classes and still I hadn’t bought one notebook, but I didn’t despair. I put myself in the hands of the Lord, and one beautiful day I was sitting in front of my house when a brother arrived with the solution. He told me that in the PAZ Christian School there were some donations for kindergarten.

I went to the school and talked with the director, and she explained that there was money donated for tuition, a uniform (required in Brazilian schools) and materials. Then I glorified God for this blessing that came at the right moment. It is a privilege to educate our children in the Biblical principles taught in the Christian schools. Today my daughter is totally involved in learning in all the areas. I am very grateful to the Lord Jesus and to all the brothers and sisters involved in this project."

From the mother of student Andria Karina: "It is marvelous what your help is doing in the life of my daughter, Andria Karina. The school has been essential in the formation of her character. I would not have been able to pay for school, materials and the uniform. Today I can see how much her character has developed, as well as her academic skills."

The PAZ schools have a formal graduation ceremony for children completing kindergarten. I know this is hard to believe, but it is a milestone for these children, and parents are very proud of this accomplishment. The pictures are of children's classes and the graduation ceremonies.

Teachers' Kits

2008-01-12T15:33:00.000-04:00

We recently received a very generous donation which will enable us to buy materials and distribute another 100 teachers' kits. This will complete the distribution to the workers under the PAZ Central church in Santarem and enable us to begin distribution to other workers. The next step will be coordinating with the PAZ Liberdade church in Santarém to distribute curriculum textbooks and kits to their workers. Liberdade is the mother church to approximately 180 river/interior churches. Thank you to our faithful support team for your generous contributions! And thank you, Lord, for a marvelous team of supporters!!

New Building for Belterra

2008-01-12T14:39:00.000-04:00

Belterra is a community of approximately 15,000 people located 40 kilometers south of Santarém. This is an interesting community, originally built by Ford Motor Company to produce rubber for tires. Through the hard work of the local PAZ worker, Paulo, and the blessing of the Lord, this church has outgrown its present building. They currently have three worship services on Sunday. In 2007 they were able to buy a piece of land on the opposite side of the street with a large, partially constructed building. However, they didn't have the resources to complete the structure, and have to vacate their present building in the near future. Several weeks ago we made an application to International Cooperating Ministries (ICM), one of PAZ' ministry partners that loans money in developing countries for church construction projects that meet their requirements. Praise the Lord, ICM approved our grant/loan request! The church is now working hard to complete this project so they can move out of their present building by the end of February. To keep the cost down, the church is providing all of the labor to complete the construction. The workteam from New Life Christian Church in July 2007 spent a day in Belterra, working alongside church members to clear and clean the property.

One of ICM's requirements for granting a loan is that the recipient church must plant five new churches over the following three years - quite a challenge. Paulo has already planted six churches (including Amapá, the project that a New Life workteam worked on in 2005). The loan is non-interest bearing. The recipient church repays the loan to PAZ. PAZ may then "reprogram" these funds to sponsor other church-construction projects. Belterra is PAZ' seventh ICM-sponsored project. ICM's website, for those who may be interested, is www.icm.org.

New Batting Record Set

2007-12-15T15:00:00.000-04:00

For quite some time now, we've been batting around .300 at our home in Santarém. Now you baseball fans know that is a pretty good average. However, in our case it hasn't been the greatest. Our batting average represents the number of bats who make their home in our house! They crawl into tight, dark places in our clay tile roof, where they stay during the day. Now, if they simply slept there, it might not be a problem. However, they also relieve themselves of bodily waste, which accumulates in the attic, slips through cracks in the wood ceiling, and ends up on the floor of our living room. Another problem is their tendency to "dive bomb" people meeting in our maloca in the evenings. One night at cell group, one of the critters was practicing his dive bomb technique. Unfortunately, his radar must not have been adjusted quite right. He was coming right at one of our female guests and did not pull up in time, hitting the woman in the chest. While it was quite unfortunate for that bat, it also disturbed our meeting and our guest, as you can imagine.

We have tried various methods to let these creatures know they are not welcome at our house, including machines that emit a very high-pitched sound, a smelly chemical repellant, and lights in the attic. Unfortunately, none of these methods have worked. Finally, we hired an exterminator. The man had to come and spray their habitat twice, but we think they're finally gone. Joanne said that literally hundreds of bats exited when the man sprayed.

Central Church Missions Conference

2007-12-10T14:50:00.000-04:00

An important part of the "genetic code" of the churches planted by Project Amazon is that they reproduce, i.e. they plant other churches. The PAZ Central church in Santarém had its' annual missions conference December 6 - 9. During the conference, Central church brings all of its' missionaries to Santarém - voluntary workers in river and interior communities, supervisors and their families. There are close to 200 such workers, and most were represented at the conference. The opening service on Thursday evening was quite impressive, as these workers and their families entered the sanctuary, cheering, jumping, and celebrating before the Lord. The sacrifices made by these workers, the vast majority of them unpaid, is a major reason for the growth of the PAZ churches in Brazil.

One of the projects Joanne is responsible for is the development and production of a children's curriculum suitable for the interior communities. During the conference Joanne was able to distribute Volume 1 of this curriculum to these workers. In addition to the curriculum, we want to distribute a kit of materials that is necessary to effectively use the curriculum. Several of our supporters and supporting churches have contributed to this project. Not knowing exactly how many workers would be at the conference, Joanne assembled 130 kits and distributed them to workers, while training them in the use of the curriculum. What a blessing the curriculum and teachers' kits will be to these workers and their churches! Unfortunately, there were 41 workers at the conference who did not receive a kit. So, our immediate goal is to prepare kits for these workers. We deeply appreciate the generous contributions we have received for the kits, but find ourselves asking again for more help. If you would like to help, you can make your contribution to Project Amazon, designating it for teachers' kits. Thank you so very much!

Back in Brazil

2007-11-02T10:55:00.000-04:00

After spending three months in the States, we are back home in Santarém, arriving on October 31. We had a great time while in the US, visiting family, friends, churches, etc., but it is good to be back. Our last two weeks on furlough were interesting. On October 15, we flew from Chicago to Orlando, FL, where we rented a car and drove to Washington, DC. We then spent a week driving back to Florida through North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, visiting family and friends along the way. We were able to see a lot of people we don't normally get to spend time with, including our fostor sons Dong and Thai and their families, meeting Thai's wife Ann, their boys and Thai's mother for the first time. We spent our last week with Jed in his apartment in LeHigh Acres, near Ft. Myers. All in all, we had a wonderful time, and greatly enjoyed visiting with many friends. We were wonderfully welcomed and blessed by our supporting churches, friends and families. Thank you so very much for your many kindnesses to us.

Welcome to The Piranha Press Online

2007-10-25T15:35:00.000-04:00

We've been planning to establish a website for several years, and made a few efforts, but could never make it happen. Finally, while home on furlough, good friend Dave Ripper showed me how easy it is to blog, and helped us to design and establish our blog. Back in Santarém, our son Nate gave me further advice and help. So here goes - The Piranha Press Online. We're going to try to post updates at least bi-weekly, so check back often.