Loving on Lee

We have been in the States for nearly 5 months now and we are enjoying our time here immensely.

A few months ago, Clyde saw a hitchhiker on the side of the road. Clyde learned as a young boy by his dad that picking up hitch hikers was a normal activity. Many times his dad would pick them up with the entire family in the car and all the kids would just know to jump in the back and let the stranger in the front seat.

Clyde has kept this practice since I met him. It's been a challenge for me, who was raised by a single mom. We NEVER picked up or even gave thought to picking up strangers.

It wasn't "safe".

So he picked up "Lee" and began to hear his story. It was a sad, heart breaking story.

He opened up and shared how he had 5 children and his family was destroyed due to unfaithfulness. His children were not with him anymore and he was pretty much homeless and sleeping on couches of all his friends.

Clyde offered him his van to use as a vehicle/house. Put a bed in it, have curtains etc.

Lee ended up agreeing to that and stayed with us for the night.

We treated him like family!

Note* Since being on the mission field, my(Kelsie) heart has opened up more and I'm not so uncomfortable with strangers in our home.

Lee left our home with the title to the van and went about his way to make arrangements to get the tags and insurance on it. We didn't see him for weeks. He finally called and told Clyde that another van came his way and it was more economical.

He came by to return the title and get some of his things that he left at our place. We had a great chat and some lunch with him. Before he left, he shared that he was on his way to work a seasonal job and how he was sad to leave his kids behind with the disfunction. We prayed for him and had a wonderful time encouraging him. He had already accepted Jesus a year or so ago and it was good to encourage him in the Lord. He really didn't have relationship, so we shared more with him.

He left a happy, taller man. He considered us like family and I'm sure we have a new friend for life! Don't know if we'll see him again, but here is a picture to remember him by!

Thank you Jesus for special encounters whether we are half way across the world or right in our own home town! His Spirit is EVERYWHERE and accessible to ANYONE, ANYTIME!!!

Are you willing to be used? It will bless your socks off!

Stateside Bliss

On our way to the USA

Arrived safely in LAX! Kelsie's Dad and Step-Mom greeted us and Kelsie's Mom was waiting with dinner!

Hannah's first bath in a tub! Loving it!

We have had a tremendous time visiting family and enjoying all the ease of the well working machine here in the States. It's easier to check in and out of anywhere, easier to clean, easier to stay clean, easier to communicate, drive... etc, etc! But, we feel the struggles. We feel the cloud that has been pulled over the nation in many ways. But I'm not going into that in this blog!

We have so many amazing things God has done for us. From the moment we arrived til now. His provision is never anything less than amazing! We had a great Thanksgiving at Kelsie's moms house! We had her family all around including her Dad and Clyde's Dad too! We spent the entire month of November with family in California. We met amazing friends that are now just apart of our rich family!

Maddy celebrated her 9th birthday in California! The girls and Clyde were treated to a California treat of Disneyland! It was a long day of pure magic! Thank you again Delongs!!!

We also were blessed to spend time with The Springs Community Church in Temecula! The folks there were very real and sweet to welcome us home. We had a wonderful time of fellowship with the missions team there! We thank God for their support and love!

Maddy surrounded by new friends and her miracle gift, an "American Girl" doll!

Clyde shared about the work on the Iriri River and Pastor Bob gave a call for Salvation! It was a very special moment and the presence of the Lord was very present during this service!

After Thanksgiving weekend, we traveled in Poppy's motorhome all the way to Oregon! It was nice to have the freedom to move, watch movies and draw or eat a snack whenever we wanted to. We are so thankful for our Poppy!

Clyde's Dad driving our family back to Oregon in the motorhome!

Once we arrived in Grants Pass, the family reunion was amazing and emotional. The cousins all came over with Aunts and Uncles! The older cousins picked up where they left off 3 yrs ago and the younger ones had to learn all the cousins names and meet Aunts and Uncles again. All in all, they have learned who everyone is.

Makenna celebrated her 11th birthday with a special dress up brunch with her older girl cousins, followed by a horse back ride with her closest cousin, Carissa. It was a extremely cold day, but Makenna didn't complain one bit! She loves horses! I think we may have to consider that for our return to Brazil. It would work on the river, but need a lot of inspiration to go for it! Ha ha!

Cousin Carissa and Makenna at her birthday brunch all dressed up!

Christmas tree hunting with the entire family is tradition and this year they waited for us!

We also enjoyed a spontaneous sibling reunion on Kelsie's side of the family! It was with her step siblings and their spouses and kids that she grew up with from one marriage on her mom's side. It was so fun to see everyone and watch old videos from the early 90's and laugh about hair styles and clothes we thought were so "cool"!

Kelsie and her crazy family

Christmas was special. We spent time with Kelsie's Grandmother and Uncle Denny who are here in Grants Pass. I(Kelsie) call my Grandmother, Nonie! She has been a major part of my life and each day I can spend with her is so special to me. She is in her late 80's and we know that her days are not forever.

Clyde made a spectacular Christmas breakfast with homemade cinnamon rolls, omelets with the works, hash browns and real orange juice! It was perfect with presents to boot!

Kelsie and her uncle and Grandmother, sister and nephew and the kids on Christmas morning!

Later that day we went to Clyde's sisters house. Charity and Matt are a solid couple. Matt is pastoring Edgewater Christian Fellowship and visited us last December on the Iriri river!

The family is very large on Clyde's side. So there were his 3 siblings with their families and a few extended family and friends there. Over 50 people! Food galore and I was full from breakfast!

The evening was fun with christmas carols, games and wrestling matches and ping pong games! And the movie "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry"! A must see!!

A family game of Simon Says and Red Light, Green Light!

Traditional song of Father Abraham in a train around the kitchen and living room!

Long time family friend and supporter, Lily Morgan leading in Christmas Carols

The day of Christmas, our sister in law, Tia, which is Clyde's brother's wife, was in the hospital with her mother, Paula who had stopped breathing on Christmas eve and was taken to the hospital. It was determined that she had a heart attack and she didn't recover. Tia and her family had a heart wrenching holiday. We missed Tia on Christmas and her mother as many times we would include her mom in our holidays. Paula went to be with Jesus on Wednesday the 28th. Tia and her family are grieving and this weekend they are spreading her mom's ashes on the Oregon coast.

On a lighter side, we had a last minute decision to put the 3 older kids in public school. The house we are staying at is 4-5 houses away from one of the best elementary school in Grants Pass. We were also blessed to know that Makenna would have a family friend and supporter as her teacher and many of the teachers there are strong Christians. So Jan 4th was a huge, emotional day for us as a family! But after this week, each day proves to be amazing for each one of the kids.

Maddy loves Music, Makenna loves Music and PE and Nate is still deciding, but his teacher says he is doing very well.

All the teachers are very sweet and communicate with us about the kids during the day to reassure us they are doing great!

It will be a good thing for them as they have had so much time together and with Mom that it has been challenging to do anything that seperates us. Sleep overs, time away, outings have not happened and we feel it important to include this in their experiences to make them strong and test out their faith a bit.

We plan to continue our homeschool journey when we return to Brazil. This will catch them up, give them routine and understanding of what it means to work longer hours to get things accomplished . We are grateful for the amazing opportunity to be the cheer leaders this time!(Pictures to follow)

Thank you for your prayers and love! We are staying in the Haiku House that we lived in last time we were home! It's so relaxing and all the amenities are nice and work well! The house is warm and we are so blessed! Thank you to the Hamann's and most of all, Thank you God!

We'll be in touch!

Count Down to Furlough

It never ceases to amaze me how my husband can get involved in some of the biggest projects just before we have to push off to the States or anywhere for that matter! Mind you, we don't have a permanent house so each time we are renting somewhere and packing up and storing our things somewhere! It's a major move each time for me. For him, it's not as big of a deal. Thank goodness he is patient with me and kicks me out the door somehow! It's like the crunch feel! It's hurts me to be pushed, but he gets the job done! His strength, my weakness thing.

This time, we are in a rush to get the pastoral house covered with a roof before we leave for 6 months. Although we do our best to make our plans. The Lord ultimately is boss!

While he is working hard, I am at home, organizing all our stuff and trying to rid of the "little things" and packing up little by little. I am so not professional and still stress each time.(If I count right I think this is our 9th move since we left our home in 2004). So needless to say I will be very ready to get on that plane and have a break from all the packing and thinking.

The kids are excited and then have moments of reluctancy. It's a lot of transition for them, but they do very well. I think I am included in that at times too.

But mostly we are excited to see family and friends and be in different climate. I personally am ready for 100% English and a culture I understand and where I can be understood!

I will feel torn a bit leaving our friends in Brazil who are doing the work without us, but I pray strength and protection over them in our absence. God is with them at all times.

Below is a brief itinerary:

Oct 22-Altamira

Oct 28-Manaus

Oct 31- LAX and reunite with family

Nov 28th? heading to S. Oregon

We don't have return dates yet. That just means we get to ask our Father in heaven for the money to return in His timing . This doesn't mean we are staying in the States. So pray with us to that we can return by mid May, if it's the Lord's will!

Ways to Pray

1. We need a vehicle(7 passenger) for our time in Oregon

2. Finances for return tickets

3. Good health for re-entry

4. Refreshing and Rest!

Thank you for your love and support! If you would like to donate to help with our expenses of furlough, you can donate to our home church in the States. They are helping us immensely in our transition. Send your tax deductable gifts to:

Cornerstone Church

269 West Harbeck Road,

Grants Pass, OR 97527-5635

Please make a note that it is for Bergquist Furlough.

Thank you!

Ministry on the Iriri- Part 3

Some of the Maribel clan wishing us farewell

Nilza, my sweet friend

Gathered around the cashew tree to eat lunch...the dog waits patiently!

We met with the Maribel family on Sunday morning and had a wonderfully long service. It was emotional and wonderful to have nearly everyone there participating in the service. We had a huge lunch for everyone and a huge grab pile afterwards of our things we needed to give away before our trip to the US.

George and Josie, who had the baby in the back seat, dedicated their baby to the Lord.

The community leader, Milania, who is catholic, spoke up and with tears in her eyes shared how she wanted to thank Clyde for coming to Maribel. That he wasn’t just a man of words, but of actions too. He serves with his whole heart. She shared how our family has been such a blessing to the community and how much she and the rest of the community will miss us while we are gone.

This Sunday was a much needed confirmation for us. We have been dealing with discouragement in ministry. We hadn’t been out to live among the river folks this summer because of the commitment we made to build a house for the Uruara‘ family and church. We don’t know the fate of Maribel in regards to being turned into a reserve, but the hope is alive in the river people. They are not sulking, they are looking at the opportunity to restart over again. I have so much to share about just that, but this blog is already too long!

Our time was wonderful, blessed and left even our children saying “I’m not ready to go! I’m not ready to go to the US either. Can’t we wait???” God is faithful and He is leading us! We are looking forward to sharing with so many back home about this mission field on the Iriri river! And we are looking forward to returning to go up further the Iriri to share with river villages and Indian villages who are already awaiting our return!! Praise God!

The grab pile getting smaller and smaller! The easiest way to Spring clean!!!

Sunday morning service on our porch. We were singing Happy Birthday to all who had a birthday in October!

Community Leader, Milanhia, shared in tears how much our family has impacted their community.

Clyde having a discipleship time with our core group on our porch Saturday night.

Ministry on the Iriri- Part 2

A little tired, but still cruising on adrenaline!

Clyde was an iron man and slept maybe 2 hours after taking Jocy and the baby to the hospital. He was back on the road and made the 3 hours drive again. He arrived by lunch.

We headed up river a little later than planned and didn’t quite make it to the village we had planned. There were 3 villages to visit and our goal was to go all the way up river and decend from there each day. Instead we stayed at the village in the middle of the other two. It's called Boa Esperanca(Good Hope). We are becoming better friends with this village. A few have come to the Lord in the past few years. But this village has been more of a challenge because of their lack of hunger.

Miami at a student desk grading papers during a test she gave

The highlight for me was seeing the teacher who just transferred there in January. We met her at the village above. She is a sweet young woman who has a heart for God but was very confused when we first met her between legalism and traditions in the churches. Mainly 7th Day Adventists and Catholicism as her parents were of both churches. After a long afternoon of encouraging her, we felt a nice bond with her.

She has been a blessings as a teacher to Boa Esperanca and is very content in the new village. This time we brought a gift to her. “Purpose Driven Life” in Portuguese! She was so excited! The people in the village participated in our worship and testimony time in the new school house. This is the first time they have had a school in their village. I’m not sure how long the village has been established, but I can imagine it’s been a long time. We worshiped and shared songs for all ages by candle light. It was sweet, simple and most of all wonderful to see their participation.

Carlinha and Claudia from Boa Esperanca. Claudia lets us stay at her house almost always.

Carlinha listening to Dona Franca, the grandma in the village tell a story while washing clothes.

We invited our dear friend, Carla Andresa to travel with us to Maribel for this ministry trip. Carla is 20 yrs old and has been walking with Jesus whole heartedly for a little over a year. She came into our lives last year in Altamira. God crossed our paths devinely again when we moved to Uruara’. She has been a major blessing to our church plant efforts in Uruara’. Her father died when she was a very little girl. She doesn’t even remember him, but has one bad photo of him she says. His roots were in the Maribel region and she had never met any of his family. So this trip was special for her and her quest to learn more about her father. God met her in a special way. Many people knew her father and had stories of him and she enjoyed hearing them and learning of his ways and nature. The trip was also an adventure for the city girl who doesn’t know how to swim and had never seen river life. She loved every moment of the trip and every person she met. She is next in line for the next possible trip!

Claudia's oldest son

One of the houses at Zezinho

Laura and her husband and some of their kids in their home

The climb to Laura's house is cruel! Carlinha and Makenna dreading the climb and carrying our stuff up the hill.

An amazing pineapple in Laura's yard! I was trying hard not to pick it!!!!

We cruised up to Zezinho and had a wonderful time. The family we initially met last year on our first trip there was warm and welcomed us as if we were family. Laura and her husband were great hosts to our team. The message Clyde sent by radio didn’t get out of the radio house for some reason so the entire village had no idea we were coming to do a fellowship time with them. We arrived late afternoon and had enough time to meet the new teacher and visit one neighbor. Pataca and Paulo, from our team, went to invite the other side of the village. A few came and all the school chairs were filled. It was a special night of teaching them some fun kid songs and singing some they had never heard!

We had a great sleep and the next morning we pushed off after lunch!

New River and the Acai party

Makenna doing it like a pro! She worked so hard this day and showed all that she was perfectly capable! Now we have someone in the fam that can show us how to do it!

We headed straight for the last village, heading down river back to Maribel to New River. There we have established great friends and they too consider us and treat us like family. This day we arrived also a bit unannounced and upon a Acai party.

Family from Boa Esperanca had come down to pick Acai and make it.

They had arrived from the jungle with the berries and the ladies were preparing it for the process to make it into the extract.

The water was boiling in huge metal pots on the kindling stove. In the end, Makenna pushed up her sleeves and helped 3 other women who were smashing the berries and getting all the skins off the pit. 82 liters later, everyone had their fair share of acai with farinha and sugar!!! Oh, I’ll always love acai and will miss it terribly while gone from Brazil!

The crowd was fixed on acai, so we understood that we were to be friends and not push on having a service with them. Instead, we hung out, watched them play soccer and at the end we gathered the immediate family together after their family left to go home. We prayed for them and encouraged them in the Lord. Many of the womenfolk have accepted Christ. We’re praying for the menfolk there!

It was a late start home in the dark and very dangerous for hitting rocks or sand bars. But God was faithful and we only jumped on a sand bar 2 times. No rocks!!! A beautiful night starry sky where we sang songs and the little ones slept all the way home some 2 hours.

82 liters of Acai!!! This is worth a couple hundred dollars! 1 liter sells for about US$3.

(this is estimated to be about R$6 per liter converted by US dollars at 1.8)

Rosa, the McCaw, loves Acai!

EVERYONE in our family LOVES ACAI !!!!!!!!

pronouced correctly (ah-sah-ee) the c says a s.

Dark boat ride home and Hannah passed out on top of me in the canoe!

Maribel and New Birth Part 1

Our recent trip to Maribel was an amazing time.

Typically our kids are groaning about the lack of things to do and the same thing to eat...fish, fish and more fish. We kind of dread the drive, but this trip was anything but dreadful and we ate far more than just fish!

The first meal was a banquet of jungle game for lunch(we’ll just call it chicken) but it was tasty! We headed down to the river and the kids immediately got their river fix!

We spent the rest of the day visiting old friends from the community and towards the end of the afternoon, we had discipleship scheduled for the evening. Clyde went with our friend, Pataca, who is doing a young mens group ages 13-17. I invited a sweet friend, named Nenhina from Solidade(about 3 hours down river) to our house to study with me. She was waiting for her husband to travel up river and get her in their boat, but didn’t arrive on time. Not unusual for river living.

Our studies went well and we headed to bed about 11pm. At midnight the adventure began!

A knock at the door and Neninha’s voice “Pastor, Pastor, George’s wife is in labor”. We hadn’t been living there so we kind of woke up out of a dead sleep trying to remember if she was even pregnant. In deed she was going into her last month of pregnancy and was planning to head to town that Friday to wait the birth of the baby.

Clyde and I got dressed and headed in the car to visit George and his laboring wife to see how far along she was and hoping we could just drive home and wait it out and maybe take her in the morning. We arrived at their place lit by nothing but a canister and wick with diesel that illuminated the main room. Jocy, George’s wife, was dressed and had her bags packed. She was ready. I felt her tummy and it was tight, but still hard to know if it was emergency! We all stood around for a few minutes expecting her to be panting and unconsolable. I asked her to tell me when her next contraction came so I could time them. She got her bag and sat down on the couch looking a little bit tense but fairly relaxed at the same time. I asked her if she had a contraction and she told me yes. Well, we all kind of took the plunge and decided to have Nehinha go along for support and George. They also had a little one about 1 1/2 yrs old. She was sleeping soundly in a hammock and was quickly whisked away by an auntie to her house for the time being!

We drove back to our house to drop me off and grab some coffee for the long haul that would for sure take more than 3 hours since it was dark. We prayed for Jocy and the baby and I waved and they drove off!

I crawled back in my hammock and prayed for the next few hours as I couldn’t stop the adrenaline and thoughts of that road at that hour and lack of sleep.

I woke up the next morning and told the kids where Dad was. They were shocked.

Word came later in the morning about 8am that there was a message on the radio station from Clyde that the baby was born and mom was fine and he’d be back by noon.

My hubby is an iron man! He slept maybe 2 hours and hit the road again so that we wouldn’t be too late on our river trip we had planned.

He arrived on time. The details came out that Jocy had the baby about 2 hours after they left in the back seat of our truck!!! It was quick, the baby was healthy and they waited to cut the cord when they arrived at the hospital. She was a champ! Clyde was trying to catch it all on film and it was just an amazing opener to our time out in Maribel.

God knew we would be there. There was no other transportation for her, baby was healthy as was mom! God was glorified by this couple as they knew the challenges that could of occurred!

Ana Beatrice is a beautiful baby girl and will have quite the story to tell!

Clyde finished pulling over and got the camera in time to get this shot!

The sweet family later in the week when Jocy came back to Maribel with Ana Beatrice

Nate Turned 6!!!!!

Sept 4, 2008 was a beautiful day of meeting our son.

He is turning into such a little man. Loves learning, remembers things from WAY back when that blows your mind and loves to tease his sisters.

We are so thankful to the Lord for this precious life He has blessed us with.

Enjoy the pics of his bday!

The big 6

Neighbors and Church kids who have befriended Nate

The quick craftsman that he is, he made a tree swing just for the party!! It was a hit!!!