Your First Love

From the Experiencing God daily devotion:

Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, "Thus says the LORD: I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown." 
(Jeremiah 2:2)

Even when our hearts grow cold toward God and our devotion to Him weakens, His love remains steadfast. We may forget God, but He remembers us. God was concerned because the people of Judah had allowed their hearts to drift far from Him. In a powerful moment, God shared His heart with His people, recalling what it was like when they first began loving Him. He remembered how they had loved Him, as a new bride loves her husband, with excitement and enthusiasm for the future. He recalled the kindness they had expressed as they willingly followed Him wherever He led them. God reminded them of the love they had once had for Him, so that the memory might rekindle feelings of devotion and their hearts might return to Him.

If you do not guard our heart, you will grow cold in your love for Christ. A time may come when He approaches you and reminds you what your relationship was once like. Do you recollect the joy that permeated your life when you first became a Christian? Do you recall the youthful commitments you made to Him, pledging to do anything He told you to do? Do you remember the thrill you experienced each time you came to understand a new dimension of His nature? Spiritual memory is important. You may not realize how far you have drifted from God until you contrast the love you are expressing to Him now with that of earlier days.

God has not changed. He is the same Person you gave your heart to when you became a Christian (Mal. 3:6–7). If your love for God is not as intense as it once was, return to Him. He will restore the intimate fellowship you once shared with Him.

Happy Independence Day Brasil

September 7 is Brazil's Independence Day. The Brazilian nation was born on September 7, 1822 when Prince Pedro declared, "By my blood, by my honor, and by God: I will make Brazil free." He later became Emperor of Brazil and won independence from the Portuguese. Independence Day of Brazil is celebrated with a military parade, air shows, fireworks, concerts and lots of family picnics and parties. Since this year's holiday falls on a Tuesday, people had a long 4 day weekend to celebrate. Approx. 400,000 cars from the capitol city of Sao Paulo came down to Santos and other nearby coastal cities. Many of them have returned early because it has been raining since Sunday. There was a parade scheduled for this morning on the beach road in Santos and students from 19 schools were scheduled to participate, but it has been cancelled because of bad weather.

Sports In Brazil

There is no doubt about what the main sport in Brazil is. Soccer (futebol) is king in Brazil. You see people playing everywhere, and they are very passionate about their favorite team. You always know when a pro game is going on, because there is alot of fireworks & noise. Santos FC is the team in our city, and they are having a very good year so far.

Other sports that are popular are basketball, volleyball and Formula 1 racing. On the beach in Santos you also see people playing tennis, a version of volleyball where they can't use their hands, and some others. On Brazilian tv you can see soccer from all over the world, and you can also find some NFL football, baseball, and basketball on cable. We have to watch college football (my personal favorite) and college basketball on the internet.

Photos

Here are some miscellaneous photos we took recently.

Outreach Event In Santos

This week we did our Quality Of Life project in a municipal school in Santos. The school is EMEF Auxiliadora, which is a school for students in 1st grade through 5th grade. This was our first school working with Igreja Batista Centenario, which is located close to the school. We spoke in 9 classes on Monday morning and in 9 more on Tuesday afternoon, and Andreia & Ludmilla helped each day as our interpreters.  The students, teachers, and school leaders were very grateful for our coming to help them, and we enjoyed our time with them very much. God did an unusually powerful work in the hearts of the teachers, and many received Christ and expressed interest in the church as well. We praise God that 339 students and 15 teachers accepted Christ and committed their lives to Him, and also that the school director Antonio expressed an interest to receive more help from the church for the families of the students. God is good.

some of the students during break time

Nancy & interpreter Andreia praying with students

one of the afternoon classes

Interpreter Ludmilla and I speaking in one of the classes

Nancy passing out "Livro Da Familia" to a class

Us, interpreters Andreia & Ludmilla, and the church team

Sao Paulo Pollution

Yesterday we went to Sao Paulo to do some things for the dual citizenship process. We were only there for a few hours but by the time we left for Santos our sinuses were bothering us and our throats were sore, because of the air pollution. The air has been drier than normal and the humidity very low, and thus the air pollution in Sao Paulo is much worse. Every time the humidity goes down many people there get sick, and they hope it will rain to improve and "wash" the air. Today I read on the internet that the air in Sao Paulo is the dirtiest in all of Brazil, which is no surprise to us, since we lived there for 3 years and had many problems with it. One of the problems is that there are over 6 millions cars in Sao Paulo, and it will be over 7 million in the near future. Another problem is that even though there supposedly are laws regulating emissions in cars and trucks, there is little or no enforcement. You can literally feel sick driving next to trucks, and many emit huge amounts of black smoke and pollutants. The internet article quoted the World Health Organization as saying that the air in Sao Paulo is 10 times more polluted than acceptable levels. It also said that breathing the air there is like smoking 2 cigarettes per day. Although the government tries to claim that things are getting better, this continues to be a huge health problem for the residents of Sao Paulo, including many of our friends there.

Bureaucracy

We are in the long process of obtaining dual citizenship, and our lawyer told us that one of the items we needed was a criminal background check from the US. She told us that we needed to go to the American Consulate in Sao Paulo. So this morning we went to the Consulate in Sao Paulo, which is about 2 hours from where we live. When we got there they told us that they do not do a criminal background check, and that we needed to go to the Federal Police in Sao Paulo and get fingerprinted there and then the Federal Police would request the background check. So we then went to the Federal Police, which is on the other side of Sao Paulo, and got fingerprinted and requested the background check. They told us that they do not request the background check from the US, and that we needed to go to the American Consulate for that. So right now we have no idea what to do. The Brazilian government is requesting the background check for the dual citizenship process, but no one seems to have any idea where and how to get it done. Welcome to Brazilian bureaucracy. 

School Outreach In Sao Vicente

We did our Quality Of Life outreach project in EMEF Constante school this past Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon, which is a municipal school in the city of Sao Vicente. We worked with Primeira Igreja Batista Sao Vicente, which is close to the school. Our interpreters for the project were Isabelle, Leticia, and Atila, all of whom are members of PIB Sao Vicente. On Monday we had 274 students and 3 teachers that accepted Christ and committed their lives to Him. Then something unusual happened, which has never happened before in the more than 70 schools we have spoken in here in Brazil. Apparently after our visit on Monday morning, a mother came to the school and complained that her son had prayed with us to receive Jesus ... her complaint was not that she didn't like us speaking about Jesus or about how to have a personal relationship with God and eternal life with Him through Jesus ... her complaint was that her son had already prayed with her to receive Jesus and she did not like it that he prayed with us. After her complaint the school insisted that we not pray with the students & teachers after our speech, so on Tuesday we could only do our speech, including sharing the Gospel, and then explain the prayer, but we could not lead them in the prayer. We tried hard to convince them to let us lead the prayer and lead & guide them in the process of receiving Jesus, but they would not let us. So we decided to do what we could and trust God with the results. We know that God was touching and speaking powerfully to many of the students and teachers. In one of the classes that Nancy spoke in, the teacher asked her to go ahead and lead the prayer in her class, and all 30 of the students and the teacher received Christ and committed their lives to Him. We are confident that God worked mightily that day, for His glory. Please join us in praying for these precious people and their families.

Photos

We spoke in a school this morning in São Vicente, and since it was such a nice day afterwards we went for a long walk down the beach and took some photos. The waves were pretty big today. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Quotes & Verses

Here are some quotes that I hope will inspire us all to faithfully serve our wonderful Lord, and to join Him in His passion to reach people for Jesus:

"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."  - Jesus (Mark 16:15)

“I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me”  - Jesus (John 5:30)


"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him". (2 Chronicles 16:9)

"The heroes of the faith had one thing in common: They were all ordinary people with no power of their own. The difference is the mighty presence of God".  - Experiencing God devotion

"We are not irreplaceable to the Lord. He will achieve His purposes. The question is this: Will we be a part of God’s activity, or will He find someone else? We deceive ourselves if we think we are indispensable to God. Service to the Lord is an honor God bestows on us, not a favor we do for God".  - Experiencing God devotion

"I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace".  - Paul (Acts 20:24)

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power."  - Paul (I Corinthians 2:4)

"Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person— our Lord Jesus Christ... No one on earth has this passionate love for the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Spirit has given it to him".  - Oswald Chambers

Friends & Fellowship

When we lived in Sao Paulo for 3 years, we were blessed to have some very good friends. One family in particular was very special to us, and they pretty much adopted us into their family. They always invited us to their family Christmas parties, and also for birthday parties and other special events. 9 months ago God led us to move to Santos, and we have had fewer opportunities to make as many friends as we had in Sao Paulo. Friends are definitely a blessing from the Lord, and really good & loyal friends are rare. This past Saturday we had a very special family over for lunch and fellowship, Pr. Gilberto and his wife Neuza and their 2 children Isabelle and Johann. Pr. Gilberto is the pastor at Primeira Igreja Batista Sao Vicente, and he and his family are wonderful people. Isabelle has been studying English with Nancy, because she will be going to the US in a couple of weeks for 2 years in an exchange program. Nancy cooked 2 kinds of lasagna for lunch, and after lunch we played Scrabble - in English; we gave each team the option to be able to play in English or Portuguese, and everyone chose English. We had a great time of fun and fellowship with this very special family.

Primeira Igreja Batista Itapema

Last night I had the privilege to preach in Primeira Igreja Batista Itapema in Guaruja. Pastor Genivaldo is the pastor of ths chuch, which has more than 800 members. We are starting to work with the church to help them to share Christ in their community, and will be working with them in a large school near the church for 6 days in September. Yesterday was Fathers Day in Brazil, and it was privilege to speak in the church on this special day. Last night I spoke about God's desire to have close fellowship with all of us (I Corinthians 1:9) and that it is His call for all of us. I also spoke about His desire & passion for all men to be saved (2 Timothy 2:4 & 2 Peter 3:9) and have a restored relationship with Him, and how God wants to put His desire & passion into our hearts, so that we will commit & live to join Him in His passion to reach people for Christ. We praise God that the message was well received and that the Holy Spirit touched many hearts. At the end of the message I shared the Gospel, and we praise God that 3 people received Christ as their Lord & Savior and committed their lives to Him. We are looking forward to seeing what God is going to do in the school in their community in Guaruja in September, and in the future.

some children singing a tribute to fathers

Pr. Genivaldo paying tribute to fathers

some of the people in the first service

Preaching with interpreter Rebeca