We are heading back to Maribel after a 2 week tour around the Amazon and Xingu visiting and saying our last good byes!
We had a wonderful time in Portel with Richie and Christie and their family! They lived and worked in Porto de Moz for years and we had the blessing of working with them for about 3 years. Our kids played together, did school together and we ministered together! They have started a new work in a region that is rough. We were blessed to see a few Brazilian go with them and leave their families in Porto de Moz to serve alongside!
We celebrated Maddy's 12th bday and enjoyed our last missionary reunion!

Mission kids jumping from the dock in Portel

Church on the Maranatha 3, the mission boat in Portel!

Maddy's 12th bday with homemade pizza!

Opening presents with the mission family

Elizeu  moved from Porto de Moz to help with the water filter project and the church plant. He and Nate were best buds when we lived in Porto de Moz!

Richie and Christie and their family with ours! Final goodbyes!

 We traveled to Porto de Moz to say our last goodbye's!!! It was a good time and we enjoyed seeing everyone there! Here are a few pics from our time there!

The Porto de Moz gang. Waldenilson, Waldni and Waldomiro…domino junkies!

Opening prayer to our lunch on the beach in Porto de Moz!

Our Porto de Moz Family!!!!

Sitting with my girls, all grown up and sharing some pearls of wisdom with them!!!!

Clyde shared at the church

Prayer time

Our warriors in Porto de Moz, Mario and his wife who are pastoring 

Our final good byes to Porto de Moz from the line boat!

Special friends that will last a lifetime! Rosi and Nazare! 

 Kelsie turned 40!!!!!

Clyde and I on a surprise birthday retreat!!!

I just had to take a picture with this capybara trash can!!! So cute!


So little time to post, but at least a few pics paint the words!
We took nearly every mode of transportation on this trip. Airplane, line boat, speed boat, ship, bus, and truck!!! It was a lot of travel, but so worth seeing everyone and feeling good about moving on.

Enjoy the Christmas season and bringing in 2015!! We look forward to sharing our last 30 days with you in January!
Love the Bergquist Family

It’s November and we are just 80 days or so away from getting on the plane to head back to what we called home 10+ years ago. 
I personally have felt many ups and downs during this process, but thank the Lord for allowing us plenty of time to process this change.

Nate working hard on math on the porch, away from the noise of the others in the living room.

Chelsea and Makenna working hard!

Maddy working on math, looks like Hannah already did her work and was playing outside.

 We have been on a good home-school schedule trying to get most subjects done by Christmas or at least by re-entry to the States. 

Church life...
Church life is going well. We are working with our leadership team to get them ready for walking on their own.

Chico and Nilza, our main leaders in Maribel 

Chico and Nilza will be/are the main leaders of the Maribel church. 

We had a gal come back to the Lord a few weeks ago. I have had a few conversations with her since and asked Nilza to start discipling her. It brings joy to see discipleship happening and watching folks grow as they learn to walk with Jesus and show the way to others.

Alem do Veu

It took nearly 18+ months to accomplish a panoramic study from the Bible, but we did it!!!! 
Our friends, Steve and Sonia Armour, missionaries currently in Natal, Brazil, have worked many years developing this bible study in Portuguese. We were blessed to visit them last year and give them an update on our group. With the crazy, unpredictable culture of river folks, they were awarded certificates of completion. Some gave testimony that it helped them gain more knowledge and understanding of the Word of God and as Chico mentioned, it is the most treasured thing we have, the Word of God.

Chico with his certificate

Nilza with her certificate

Our Maribel Alem do Veu Graduates

Visitors…

We have had lots of visitors from Altamira and Maraba last month. The Snell Family are the newest missionary family living in Maraba and it was a mission for them to come all the way out(nearly 1000km) to see the work and bless us with bringing our sweetest Brazilian friends, Monica and Ivanildo and their family. It was a great surprise that they could also bring their kids(our kids were super happy) and a miracle that they could get the time off of school to come! We took them on a 3 day trip up river to visit communities that we regularly visit. We had 3 people give their lives to Jesus. Ivanildo shared and it was like a knife cutting through butter. We have visited this community many times and never had one salvation. We just kept planting seeds of friendship and watered them along with sharing the Lord with them. The Lord gave us a great gift in seeing hearts respond to Jesus! We were kissed by the sun and many mosquitos during that trip and the kids all did well!

Prayer time was very fruitful!

Special time of prayer over the youth in the village

A last good bye to this family and neighbors from Sao Fransisco!

Catching fish and eating mangos on the way.

Nate and his best bud, Marcos. Their birthdays are just one day apart!

Maddy, Bruna and Makenna in one last embrace.

Load 'em up and move 'em out! Jen, Phil, Ivanildo and Monica all piled in with the kids and heading back to Maraba!
Thanks for the chocolate and s'mores, it was what the dr. ordered!!!!

Last weekend we had another missionary couple, Art and Cyndi Rae from Altamira come. They also brought a Brazilian couple we have known, to visit. They blessed us with lettuce, cheese, meat and watermelon!!!! It was a great treat!
We made homemade pizza with cheese in Maribel for the first time ever!!! Thanks Rae’s!

Cyndi Rae, Sheyla, Maddy and Makenna fixing up our pizzas in our kitchen in Maribel

Short and Sweet, praying before the Rae's and our friends before they head back to Altamira.

Art giving the Brazilian thumbs up! Thanks for coming guys!

We look ahead at travel for the next week or so. We are traveling up to Portel, where our co-laborers, Richie and Christie Bouthillier, who were in Porto de Moz, have started a new base much further up the river and onto the Amazon River. We will say our last good bye’s to them and a few of the Brazilians that moved there to help them plant a new church and work on the filter project there.

Maddy won "mustache" stickies from a treasure hunt!

Maddy surrounded by friends from Maribel

Maddy will celebrate her 12th birthday on Wednesday. The following day we will travel to Porto de Moz to see all our old gang, youth that are 6 yrs older now and some who have married and are starting families! It will also be our last good byes to them.

Our first visit to Porto de Moz in 2004. Lots of bbq's on this beach,  relationships built, baptisms and relaxing family days happened here.

Our first months in PdMoz, taking the kids for a walk! Richie and Christie had little ones too and it was great fun!

We appreciate your prayers this week as it will be emotional for us all saying good bye.
We plan to return to Brazil to visit but we just don’t know when we’ll see all of these folks, whom we love and will miss as they are all so spread out in the region we have lived these past years. 

We have learned a lot, been stretched a lot, humbled a lot, challenged a lot and so much more we probably won't even know the extent, but we have cherished every year here in Brazil. Thank you Jesus for your training and sending us to these wonderful people!

All for now…
Kelsie

Reflections about our river trip

Getting ready for a 3 week trip with 15+ people is no small plan. The night before our departure, there looked like the army was going on the trip with us. Tons of boxes with hammocks, blankets, and boxes and boxes of food.  I thought Clyde might of been hungry when he did the shop for the 3 weeks. We headed up the river and it took us 7 days to get to the last homestead before heading back down slowly. This site of river, dusk, campfire was the routine and everyone knew their role. Some cooked, set up camp and someone was on kindling and fire building. The kids enjoyed campfires and on occasion, we had some worship and devotions after a long days haul.

In every village we visit, the best way to communicate is through soccer. Makenna jumped in and played with the guys and gals of this village. It’s natural to just show up and jump in and play no matter what. Between the hours of 5 and dark, soccer is the entertainment and a universal language that gives us entry into the lives of the people.

Catching fish, cooking on open fires on the beach and sometimes eating lunch at 3 or 4pm is common when we are traveling on the river. Remembering our road trips, stopping at rest areas with nice bathrooms, vending machines or even the quick fast food or subsandwich makes traveling very convenient and arrival prompt. But this style of travel is anything but predictable. But one thing I enjoy is the good quality of food that comes off the fire. Nothing but ORGANIC! This day we had fish soup with rice and farinha! And I think it was our last day of ice to enjoy a cup of cold juice from a packet!

Walking up river channels and creeks helped the boat get up with less weight. Hannah did an excellent job, being so little, she held her own and always told me to follow her! She always led me to the right spot and she never fell. I fell plenty and was tired by the time we got back on the boat! 

Our first morning. We all hung our hammocks under a farinha house. Privacy and space was a rare commodity. We girls stuck together and were looking out for each other. Who knows what the guys did. Nate asked for my help for most his needs. But he got more creative as time went on. 

This was one of the most challenging rapids we had to get the boat through. Upstream and lots of water and rocks! Everyone had an idea of how to get up the rapid, but learning to be patient and wait for our captains orders was a test. God was good and gave everyone the ability to work together and we got up the rapid not in world record time, but safely and calmly.

 2 Thessalonians 3:3 But  the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against  the evil one.

I love this picture of Clyde in the Word on the beach early one morning. We made sure we gathered our team together to read the word and share what He was showing us. It really gave a sweet union between us all. 

Our first stop was with Cecilia and her family. Her hubby, Bebe, was away getting supplies at the nearest town 1 day away by boat. We enjoyed 2 nights with this family and saw God softening hearts. It was a great time as we reconnected and introduce more friends from our team to this family.

Chelsea, Kelsie, Celia(owner of homestead) and Lucineia(local missionary and wife of boat driver) in a last picture moment before we said our final good byes. 

2 yrs ago, Dona Celia didn’t know us white, gringos. She was shy and reserved, but polite as we showed up unannounced at her homestead after 5 full days travel by boat from Maribel. During our stay, it rained for 3 days and forced us to stay and get to know each other. It ended up to be a wonderful time. 

This year, it happened again that we came unannounced. But this time it was like embracing an old friend. Having to tell her we were not coming back in 2015, she was very sad but as we explained our situation to her and she understood. She looks forward to the next team, whoever may come up, and the opportunity to hear the Word of God as she is illiterate. We gave her a Saber Storyteller from Global Recordings Network,GRN, which she loves listening to it each night.

Our boat captain, Floresval, on the front of a boat as we head up a very shallow spot on the river. He is a very cautious captain and takes every move very seriously. We appreciate his attentivness. His wife, Lucineia became a Christian about 9 yrs ago. She prayed for her husband every day and about 3 years ago, Flores became a Christian and was baptized. Since then he has had a rocky walk. His wife is small in size, but big in spirit and we ask you keep them in your prayers. They have both told us they want to help make this trip possible every year. 

This is a family that have been rejected by the community they lived in. They started all over again about 2 years ago. We have been getting to know them little by little and we see their desire and heart to follow Jesus. It has cost them a lot to go down this path. Today, we see the blessings of the Lord on them. We went to their village to dedicated a little church building they built from their own sweat and tears on their land. They invited many to come and celebrate and testify what God has done, but for one reason or another, nobody came. Our team was there to celebrate and it was a very sweet time with these brothers and sisters in Christ. We also celebrated the next day with baptisms. Everyone is now baptized and walking as new creations!!!

Thank you Jesus for this family of believers. Keep them in your protection and give them the love, grace and wisdom to reach their neighbors who have had a hard time accepting them because of you. ((all who are in the first row(red shirt in the left to the gal with baby on her hip on the right) make up this family)) See a video to see more moments with this familyHERE.

This is what we are just tapping into and ironically, what we are leaving behind. I see another 10 years of ministry and yet, God is calling us home. I can't question God's plan, just trust Him. I can see He is lining up others to come along side and I feel content in that. 

So many more moments and reflections, but this is just a start. 

We are heading out of internet range til November, but I try to have some more updates and thoughts and reflections to post then!

Thanks for reading…..Kelsie

PS, Chelsea Martins, thank you for most of your photos since my camera wasn't working…most of the time!!!

A YEAR UPDATE!

As I re-look my blog I see that I have gravely failed my hopes to continue blogging to keep everyone up to date.  So so sorry for all those who have watched and waited!
Well, today is your day to hear what we've been up to!!!!!

Since writing a year ago(Yikes) we have done a lot!!! I will try to give you the highlights of the past year to date!!!!

September 2013- We had my 7th and 8th grade teacher and mentor, Midge Shaw and her friend Rene come to visit us in Maribel. It was a wonderful time reconnecting and taking them out on the river and ministering in love and assistance! Midge and Rene came bearing gifts to the river people and ready to pray for any sickness! It was a great time. Exhausting for them but so amazing for us and the folks who received the blessing of having them!!!

Midge and Rene praying for our local members in Maribel

These organic, no sugar eaters enjoyed the fruits when they could! 

Midge sharing at a community called Boa Esperanca or Good Hope! Clyde is translating.

Midge and Rene with Pastor Poli and Nega from Uruara!

October 2013-Nov. 2013- We traveled as a family in our truck 7000km to visit friends and church family and to see what God is doing in His Kingdom!!! We visited Marcia and Fernando in Palmas, Tocantins where they have a little church growing. They lived in Altamira and Marcia came to work for us when I was pregnant with Nate back in 2005. She and her hubby met Jesus and began to serve Him little by little. Fernando's mother lives in Palmas and work opportunities looked better there so they moved in 2009. They wanted to serve the Lord, so the church family in Altamira encouraged them to start a small group and minister to their neighbors! Today it has turned into a church!!! Our sweet friends have turned into pastors and warriors as the mission field there is scorched from religious Christians who judge more than love. So pray for them as they continue to serve and we ask the Father to send more workers to help them there!

Marcia during worship

We were asked to participate in their church baptism!

It was so cool to see Marcia and Fernando baptizing those they had reached
when we had baptized them years before! We felt like Grandparents! It was weird and rewarding feeling!

After the baptism, we realized that Marcia put on the perfect shirt!
"Liberty"

We traveled to Recife where we visited Ricardo and Nadir.  We met them at a pastors retreat in Altamira for all our regional churches. They said that we were the first ones to come and actually follow through with a visit as we promised! Relationships are so important here! We enjoyed our visit with them thoroughly and enjoyed seeing the church family as well as the natural beauty around the ocean!

Ricardo and Nadir with their son, Joao(John). Ricardo made us a yummy dessert!

Their church placed right in the middle of the neighborhood.
"Christian Community"

Family picture in Recife

Beach day with church friends

Night on the town with friends in Orlinda(old town near Recife)

We journeyed farther North up the coast to Joao Pessoa(John Person, a place on the coast) and met up with friends that only God could arrange. Chelsea (Newton) Martins and her new hubby, Andre' were ministry leaders/actors with Jeova' Nissi and were on tour in the Northeast of Brazil!!!  It was a  divine appointment to hook up with them and meet Andre for the first time. Chels worked with Xingu Mission as a single missionary back in 2010-2012. God was already working out a fabulous plan for them to come and work with us in Maribel(but we had no idea it was really gonna happen)!!!!

Chelsea before the show "Tortured for Christ" with Jeova Nissi Theatrical Company

Chelsea's monologue

Andre,  in an intense scene after guards have cut off his tongue for preaching the gospel and he still choses
to write on a piece of paper "Jesus Loves YOU"

Late dinner with the theatrical group, great fun!

We traveled to Natal, the most gorgeous place I've been in Brazil so far!!!! Steve and Sonia Armour are veteran missionaries and our friends that God has blessed us with. They had us for 10 days as I got sick and couldn't travel until I was healed up. They have 2 daughters that married and are living on a ranch all together. It was the perfect set up for any close nit family. It reminded us of our family back home and made us miss them, but appreciating the beauty of serving the Lord together!
You can check out their ministry at these site: Light in Action

Natal, Brazil
Natal means Christmas in Portuguese and they chose the 3 wise men to be main attraction year round!

Breakfast on the veranda with Steve and Sonia's family! 

Joel and Arlen with Light n Action in the studio as we got a field trip of their work in off set productions!
Check them out…it IS AMAZING!!!

The whole clan at the Armours Ranch in Natal!

Sonia and us on a tour of the beaches at night!

Field trip on the train for $.25 a person!!!! 

December 2013- We pulled off an amazing early Christmas surprise for Makenna and Maddy by keeping a secret that their cousins, Carissa and Isabella were coming to visit!!!! Our brother in law, Matt Heverly was able to come down for 10 days or so and bring is girls with him. It was a fast trip, but such a wonderful time. We took them to Maribel with us and did a 2 day river trip with them. It was a wonderful Christmas gift and we'll never forget it!!!

First group picture after arriving in the airport!

Carissa and Makenna ages 13

Isabella and Maddy ages 11

Best friends!

Family picture before leaving 

Jan 2014- Clyde heard from the Lord while working on the church "Return to your first love".
He understood it to mean in ministry. His first ministry was working with the homeless in Grants Pass. He felt the Lord saying that our time was closing in Maribel and we were to return to Grants Pass for a undefined time to work with the down and out. I'll explain more later in a future post.
But in January we realized we were going to be returning home and leaving the mission and Maribel.
We chatted with leadership about our plans and they were sad and supportive at the same time.

March 2014- Clyde had hurt his knee after helping carry some heavy lumber out from the jungle. The knee never got better, just continued to hurt. We traveled to Altamira to check it out and stayed nearly 2+ months as he had to have surgery and therapy. We were able to meet with many folks, be apart of ministry in Altamira a bit and attend the city churches. It was a great and challenging time, but God used it for His purposes. Maribel was very difficult to get to and we were saved the struggles of living out there during the same time!

A panoramic shot of Clyde waking up from surgery in his private hospital room

Brushing his teeth before bed! 

Next day and already doing physical therapy on his knee

Learning to rest!

Church service is always a blessing!

Lunch with our Indian friends from 3 tribes! Each of them are following Jesus and prayed in their native tongue
 giving thanks for our meal and time together!

Special celebration for a couple that just got married! Small reception at their home!

May 2014- Big Wedding with missionary Christopher Meyer and his Brazilian Bride, Denise Campos, who is the main church, pastor's daughter. We were asked to be in their wedding and it was a wonderful time. We were still in Altamira and left for Maribel shortly after.

Rehearsal dinner and special picture with Christopher and Denise

Gorgeous couple after the ceremony

YEAH!

June 2014- We got home mid May and Clyde was able to work on a few projects and also get the church ready for Chelsea and Andre', who we met on our trip to the Northeast back in October, as they were moving to Maribel and serve for 6 months!!!! We were excited to have a little spot upstairs of the church for them to live. It's a perfect little space for this sweet couple.

Chelsea shared that they felt working with Jeova Nissi was really hard on them as a couple. They were feeling a release and wanted to come and serve us in any way. Chelsea is helping me with schooling the kids and it has really been a huge weight off my shoulders and a complete blessings to co-teach with her as she graduated a homeschool student!!! God knows all the details and cares about them!!!
Andre' is learning a lot about being a missionary in the rough and rugged and also some trade stuff as he assists Clyde with projects.
They both have been a huge blessing in ministry as they are able to put together very impactful skits to communicate the gospel.  So they moved to Maribel in June!!!

Andre and Chelsea Martins

Andre has taken up fishing and provided many a good meal at our table plus
he is working alongside Clyde and learning a lot about construction and life in Maribel

Chelsea spends mornings with us Mon-Fri teaching mainly the older girls.
She has really been an answer to prayer!!!

July 2014- Another wedding!!! Lica and Geidson are a sweet couple that we have known for a few years and they asked if Nate and Hannah could be in their wedding!

Geidson and Lica are an awesome couple who have a mighty future and calling!!
Pray for Lica as just 18 days into their marriage she was in a  motorcycle accident.
She fractured her pelvis and it has been a long healing process for her. 

Nate was the ring bearer with a twist! Geidson's family owns a bicycle shop and Geidson loves to ride bikes,
so it was only appropriate for them to incorporate bikes into their theme!
Nate rode up the aisle bearing the rings! Too cute!

Hannah carried a sign that said "Here comes the Bride"
She walked in just before Lica! Adorable!

Nate making his way up the aisle, everyone was enamored by him!

Returning to Maribel we had the annual Festival planned and we were so blessed when other brothers and sisters in Christ came out from Altamira to help us! It was a dream realized. Here is another video to see what happened!!! Festival Video

August 2014- We have tried to make it a priority to do a missions trip up river every year. Actually our goal was every 6 months, but the trip in the winter never happened so we have been able to do it annually. We had a big team this year with 15 and then another member joined up later and a few left because they couldn't stay for the entire 3 week trip. We inaugurated a new church, did 12 services, baptized new believers and built more relationships as well as distributed reading glasses, match box cars to the boys, homemade bows to the girls and clothes to the men and women. It was a blessed time and we thank the Lord for protecting us on the big rapids and our health. It was hard to tell everyone we were not coming back next year, but that another team will be coming. They showed much support to allow the next years team to come and minister again!

New Creation!!!

Getting ready for a outdoor worship service!

Chelsea and Sergio in a skit about finding the Father and being loaded down
by failures and wrong decisions!

Sweet Indian baby getting a bath!

Introducing the SABER bible story teller to a community that is hungry
for the truth in the Bible!
Global Recordings Network

Lots of fish BBQ

Fish anyone?
Peacock bass, Dog fish and Piranha

Makenna and Maddy and a few others from our team danced with an Indian tribe

Hannah loves babies in every shape and size!

Clyde prepares for morning devotions with our team on the trip.

Nate turned 9 on the river! He was given a chicken by one of the villagers on the river!
He chose to have it for lunch the next day!

September 2014- NOW, we are in Altamira blogging and letting you know that we have 4 more months left to our time here in Brazil. It's feeling very close and we have a bit more to do to prepare the group in Maribel as well as select our few favorite things over the past 10 yrs to take back with us.
We have many emotions going on at this time. But we know that God works all things to the good of those who love Him and are CALLED according to His purposes!
We are excited to go home and talk in our own language and minister and we are looking forward to how God will bring this ministry into fruition!

This picture is kind of symbolic of us holding on to ministry here in Brazil for just a few more months!
Then we'll have to let go and watch them from afar and trust the Lord to care for them and lead them.

We appreciate your prayers for this transition!
 Blessings, Kelsie and Clyde