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!!!
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| Midge and Rene praying for our local members in Maribel |
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| These organic, no sugar eaters enjoyed the fruits when they could! |
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| Midge sharing at a community called Boa Esperanca or Good Hope! Clyde is translating. |
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| 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!
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| Marcia during worship |
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| We were asked to participate in their church baptism! |
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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! |
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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!
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| Ricardo and Nadir with their son, Joao(John). Ricardo made us a yummy dessert! |
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Their church placed right in the middle of the neighborhood.
"Christian Community" |
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| Family picture in Recife |
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| Beach day with church friends |
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| 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)!!!!
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| Chelsea before the show "Tortured for Christ" with Jeova Nissi Theatrical Company |
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| Chelsea's monologue |
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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" |
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| 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
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Natal, Brazil
Natal means Christmas in Portuguese and they chose the 3 wise men to be main attraction year round! |
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| Breakfast on the veranda with Steve and Sonia's family! |
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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!!! |
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| The whole clan at the Armours Ranch in Natal! |
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| Sonia and us on a tour of the beaches at night! |
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| 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!!!
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| First group picture after arriving in the airport! |
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| Carissa and Makenna ages 13 |
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| Isabella and Maddy ages 11 |
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| Best friends! |
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| 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!
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| A panoramic shot of Clyde waking up from surgery in his private hospital room |
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| Brushing his teeth before bed! |
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| Next day and already doing physical therapy on his knee |
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| Learning to rest! |
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| Church service is always a blessing! |
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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! |
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| 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.
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| Rehearsal dinner and special picture with Christopher and Denise |
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| Gorgeous couple after the ceremony |
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| 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!!!
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| Andre and Chelsea Martins |
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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 |
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Chelsea spends mornings with us Mon-Fri teaching mainly the older girls.
She has really been an answer to prayer!!!
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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!
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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. |
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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! |
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Hannah carried a sign that said "Here comes the Bride"
She walked in just before Lica! Adorable! |
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Nate making his way up the aisle, everyone was enamored by him!
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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!
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| New Creation!!! |
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| Getting ready for a outdoor worship service! |
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Chelsea and Sergio in a skit about finding the Father and being loaded down
by failures and wrong decisions! |
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| Sweet Indian baby getting a bath! |
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| Lots of fish BBQ |
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Fish anyone?
Peacock bass, Dog fish and Piranha |
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| Makenna and Maddy and a few others from our team danced with an Indian tribe |
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| Hannah loves babies in every shape and size! |
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| Clyde prepares for morning devotions with our team on the trip. |
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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!
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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
