Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Help! It has been ages! Much travel, much busyness here at home – we have not been out of contact so long for ages. Sorry!
We have much to report.
Please note that, because of technical difficulties in posting photos in the Blog, this time there are albums of photos in Facebook, and links in order to see them. We hope that this does not inconvenience regular readers! In order to make comments on the photos, it is necessary to me a member of Facebook, but this is not hard, and can be useful!
Peregrinos
Things continue to progress well. Roberta will be baptised this Sunday, God willing. It is great to see someone being baptised who has such a clear understanding of the gospel – her pilgrimage from a serious Roman Catholic background, leaving no theological stone unturned, has made her a sharp-minded and strong young Christian. The general atmosphere in the church is good, with a good level of fellowship between the older, long term members, and the new arrivals. And more new arrivals are older now!
We went with a group of the youngies to the Festa do Pinhão in Lages - an interesting event, which is supposed to celebrate gaúcho culture. We had a good time, anyway!
Goiânia - The Colloquium Conference
The Colloquium conference was very good! It is the one event in the annual calendar where we go to receive - just to hear the Word consistently ministered. Jerram Barrs and Hans Bayer spoke in a tremendously helpful and challenging way. Hans on Mark 8 and 9 took us to depths of insight into God’s grace that we had never glimpsed before. Jerram’s talks on culture were exactly what we who work in Brazil needed to hear. All was full of grace and life and warmth – Christianity with a human face indeed.
Hans’ wife Susan came too, and fellowship with this couple was excellent. Both were converted through the Schaeffers in the early 70s, and together with Jerram brought something of the flavour of L’Abri from that period to life for us. Our dream is to see a ministry in Florianópolis along these lines, and we were spurred on by our conversatyions with the Bayers and with Jerram. One remark of Susan's was of particular value: she said that the Schaeffers prayed that the Lord would send those who were genuinely seeking and keep out those who would damage the work - and then received with open arms all who who arrived at the door. This practical prayerfulness and prayerful practicality seems to me to express the very essence of faith and was a great encouragement to us.
We were accompanied on the trip by Taybar, Patty’s husband, and had excellent fellowship with him.
Photos of the Colloquium conference here.
Belem
The MICEB was a wonderful experience for us, on many levels. It was the fortieth anniversary of the mission, with major decisions to take. What a privilege to minister the word on such an occasion.
MICEB is a joint mission that brings together Christian workers from Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. The main fields are with the indigenous people, the river people, street kids, church planting and theological education. Missionaries are spread out through the states of Amazonas, Pará, Maranhão and Piauí. (This is an area considerably bigger than Western Europe.) The conference is an annual event, and for most people, the only chance to see one another.
The conference takes place at Mosqueiro, a beach resort on the Amazon a little outside Belem. The Amazon never ceases to amaze. (If you look at the photos, just remember - that is NOT the sea - it is fresh water!)
During our time in Belem we visited the Benevides rubbish tip where Lynne McLeavy is working with the community that lives on and off the rubbish. An eye-opener – we have been in poorer housing, but we have probably not seen poorer people with more serious health problems. At the same time, a community full of life and with a certain spirit and humour that belies the situation. A very heavy rain shower while we were there meant that we took shelter with one family, and were there when the lights failed. This was a good thing – it is good to receive hospitality, and the chat with the children was great.
Photos of the MICEB conference here.
Photos of the Benevides tip here.
São Luis and the Lençois Maranhenses.
After Belem we took a few days off for a rest, and also to see our friend Emílio in Sao Luis. It was the first time we had met face to face. Emílio is a Peruvian, working at a preacher-training course very much along the lines of our own work. I spent a happy afternoon in conversation with him. His photo is in the last link listed below.
From São Luis we went to Barreirinhos to see the Lençois Maranhenses – a huge area of sand dunes with a high water table, leading to the formation (in the rainy season) of limpid pools and lakes. The experience is quite unlike anything we have even seen – land and water-scapes with an other-worldly, even computer-generated quality. A trip on the Preguiça (Sloth) River was also wonderful. It is very strange to be on a big river (by British standards) and to see NO evidence whatsoever of pollution throughout a day – not a single bottle or plastic bag.
We were much blessed in the provision of friends on the holiday - another couple a little older than us, and a mother and daughter. We got on very well, with similar interests and rhythm of enjoying the days. We hope we may stay in touch - it would be good to pray for this. Teresa and Roseanne are traditional Catholics; Arcélio and Adenil neo-pentecostals.
All in all we had a good time. He return to Florianópolis was a little spoiled by the on-going airport problem – an air-traffic controllers’ work to rule sparked off by the Gol crash last year. However, we got home in time to see most of the folks who had had prayer meeting in our home. It is good to be back with the Peregrines.
Photos of the Lençois here.
Photos of the day on the river and the Little Lençois here.
General images from São Luis and Barreirinhos and region here.
We have much to report.
Please note that, because of technical difficulties in posting photos in the Blog, this time there are albums of photos in Facebook, and links in order to see them. We hope that this does not inconvenience regular readers! In order to make comments on the photos, it is necessary to me a member of Facebook, but this is not hard, and can be useful!
Peregrinos
Things continue to progress well. Roberta will be baptised this Sunday, God willing. It is great to see someone being baptised who has such a clear understanding of the gospel – her pilgrimage from a serious Roman Catholic background, leaving no theological stone unturned, has made her a sharp-minded and strong young Christian. The general atmosphere in the church is good, with a good level of fellowship between the older, long term members, and the new arrivals. And more new arrivals are older now!
We went with a group of the youngies to the Festa do Pinhão in Lages - an interesting event, which is supposed to celebrate gaúcho culture. We had a good time, anyway!
Goiânia - The Colloquium Conference
The Colloquium conference was very good! It is the one event in the annual calendar where we go to receive - just to hear the Word consistently ministered. Jerram Barrs and Hans Bayer spoke in a tremendously helpful and challenging way. Hans on Mark 8 and 9 took us to depths of insight into God’s grace that we had never glimpsed before. Jerram’s talks on culture were exactly what we who work in Brazil needed to hear. All was full of grace and life and warmth – Christianity with a human face indeed.
Hans’ wife Susan came too, and fellowship with this couple was excellent. Both were converted through the Schaeffers in the early 70s, and together with Jerram brought something of the flavour of L’Abri from that period to life for us. Our dream is to see a ministry in Florianópolis along these lines, and we were spurred on by our conversatyions with the Bayers and with Jerram. One remark of Susan's was of particular value: she said that the Schaeffers prayed that the Lord would send those who were genuinely seeking and keep out those who would damage the work - and then received with open arms all who who arrived at the door. This practical prayerfulness and prayerful practicality seems to me to express the very essence of faith and was a great encouragement to us.
We were accompanied on the trip by Taybar, Patty’s husband, and had excellent fellowship with him.
Photos of the Colloquium conference here.
Belem
The MICEB was a wonderful experience for us, on many levels. It was the fortieth anniversary of the mission, with major decisions to take. What a privilege to minister the word on such an occasion.
MICEB is a joint mission that brings together Christian workers from Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the UK and the USA. The main fields are with the indigenous people, the river people, street kids, church planting and theological education. Missionaries are spread out through the states of Amazonas, Pará, Maranhão and Piauí. (This is an area considerably bigger than Western Europe.) The conference is an annual event, and for most people, the only chance to see one another.
The conference takes place at Mosqueiro, a beach resort on the Amazon a little outside Belem. The Amazon never ceases to amaze. (If you look at the photos, just remember - that is NOT the sea - it is fresh water!)
During our time in Belem we visited the Benevides rubbish tip where Lynne McLeavy is working with the community that lives on and off the rubbish. An eye-opener – we have been in poorer housing, but we have probably not seen poorer people with more serious health problems. At the same time, a community full of life and with a certain spirit and humour that belies the situation. A very heavy rain shower while we were there meant that we took shelter with one family, and were there when the lights failed. This was a good thing – it is good to receive hospitality, and the chat with the children was great.
Photos of the MICEB conference here.
Photos of the Benevides tip here.
São Luis and the Lençois Maranhenses.
After Belem we took a few days off for a rest, and also to see our friend Emílio in Sao Luis. It was the first time we had met face to face. Emílio is a Peruvian, working at a preacher-training course very much along the lines of our own work. I spent a happy afternoon in conversation with him. His photo is in the last link listed below.
From São Luis we went to Barreirinhos to see the Lençois Maranhenses – a huge area of sand dunes with a high water table, leading to the formation (in the rainy season) of limpid pools and lakes. The experience is quite unlike anything we have even seen – land and water-scapes with an other-worldly, even computer-generated quality. A trip on the Preguiça (Sloth) River was also wonderful. It is very strange to be on a big river (by British standards) and to see NO evidence whatsoever of pollution throughout a day – not a single bottle or plastic bag.
We were much blessed in the provision of friends on the holiday - another couple a little older than us, and a mother and daughter. We got on very well, with similar interests and rhythm of enjoying the days. We hope we may stay in touch - it would be good to pray for this. Teresa and Roseanne are traditional Catholics; Arcélio and Adenil neo-pentecostals.
All in all we had a good time. He return to Florianópolis was a little spoiled by the on-going airport problem – an air-traffic controllers’ work to rule sparked off by the Gol crash last year. However, we got home in time to see most of the folks who had had prayer meeting in our home. It is good to be back with the Peregrines.
Photos of the Lençois here.
Photos of the day on the river and the Little Lençois here.
General images from São Luis and Barreirinhos and region here.
Labels: Benevides, Colloquium, Hans Bayer, Jerram Barrs, Lençois Maranhenses, MICEB, Peregrinos, São Luis, UFM
# posted by Andrew and Cora @ 10:17:00 am 
