AFLC World Missions: Missions Conference in Brazil

Today as we celebrate Paul’s 53^rd birthday we have many reasons for rejoicing. Thank you so much for praying for us during these past couple of weeks. The first big news is that Sarah Christina was born on October 12 at 12:55 p.m. after a very short and easy labor. Pictured below is the first family reunion 2 hours after the baby was born. Deborah is a very happy big sister and Joanna is feeling great. The miracle baby weighed in at a little over 7 pounds and is almost 19 inches tall. She is nursing well and sleeping through the night (hope that continues) and we are all overjoyed because of God’s goodness!

Since babies don’t always appear on the scene at the most convenient times we had to do some quick rearranging so that Grandma Becky could leave the Missions Conference for an afternoon to be with Joanna for this momentous occasion.

The Missions Conference was a great answer to prayer. We had representatives from 11 of our 18 Free Lutheran churches with almost 100 in attendance (part of the group is pictured below). Through preaching, workshops, videos, music, prayer and practical application the participants were all challenged with the needs of our world. We pray this will serve as a catalyst for mission outreach and that each of the participants will actually start evangelizing and praying for the lost near and far. Paul was one of the speakers along with Santareno from Angola and Pastor Joel from Bateias. I led a workshop each day on Children’s Ministry. Other workshops included Praise and Worship, Theater, Choreography, Missions, and Evangelism. On Saturday we put all the learning into practice as we went out into the community witnessing and inviting people to an evening evangelistic service at the ARCA. The Children’s ministry group held an afternoon Bible Club for about 60 children. We also worked with the children during the evening outreach. The evangelistic service was held outdoors with a good group in attendance. The praise time and the choreography and theater presentations were all done by the campers. Several non-Christians came to the service and a few responded to the altar call at the end. During the long weekend we focused our prayer times on the work in Tanzania, praying for short-term missionaries Jesse Long and Ben Jore. On Sunday a special offering was taken to help them in their work. We feel it is necessary for our churches to begin developing a mission vision. As they have they have been brought to Christ through the work of missionaries, they now have a responsibility to send missionaries to others who have not heard.

I must admit that I am very relieved that all of this is now in the past. We were so busy getting everything ready. For weeks we had worked and worked putting all the details together. I ended up having terrible sores in my mouth because of all the stress. But, in the end, we know it is all worthwhile as we invest in the work of the Kingdom. I’m feeling much better now and ready to spend some time being Grandma. A week ago we had another big event - the first wedding at our Campo Largo church! That meant decorating, baking cakes, taking pictures, doing the ceremony and the music, etc. In the beginning of a church plant it’s always like that until we can train people to help in the various areas. It all turned out beautifully.

Today we had 24 people for lunch to celebrate Paul’s birthday – our neighbors and ARCA workers and families. We had a steak cookout in our picnic area. Joanna is here with the two girls (taking a nap right now). This weekend we will be participating in a seminar on the Bible and next week we head for Campo Mourão for Mission meetings and time at the Bible School. I have been asked to direct a choir for the graduation at the end of the year (Dec. 1) so will have a couple of practices with the students next week while I am there.

I included the last photo so that you could see how nicely the new ceiling in the ARCA chapel turned out!