Friday, December 19, 2008

Feliz Natal!

This is for Olivia.
I have spent some extra time with Bob, Janelle, and Olivia lately. I really enjoyed talking with Olivia about the star on the Christmas tree. She seems to understand the star shows where the baby Jesus lies in the manger. She knows it from her own tree at home and also when she sees other trees, stars, and nativity displays. It is good to think about Christmas again through the eyes of a toddler!

Isn't it wonderful to have childlike wonder and belief in Bible truths?

Maybe this post isn't so much for Olivia as it is for me....

I have been trying to learn Portuguese vocabulary. One helpful daily link is "Word of the Day." Quite a number of foreign languages are offered. I choose Portuguese and each word is pronounced and then used in a sentence. Granted, these are baby steps, but remember how good it is to think in child like ways!

So today's word is "natal" pronounced something like "natouw." Anyway, Merry Christmas!

Thanks as always for praying for our support to come in. God is faithful.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

In God's Time

We were in Iowa two Sundays ago and had a sweet time with the folks there. Also, Jim was invited to share a short devotional with the international students (Campus Bible Fellowship in South Bend, Indiana) for their Thanksgiving dinner. We met some new friends and enjoyed catching up with some old friends.

We have some meetings scheduled following Christmas and we need to schedule more. We are going to apply for visas in January and would appreciate you praying for the papers to be approved and the visas to be granted. We understand this process usually takes a few months. Once the visas are given we will have to enter Brazil within 90 days. We expect to try to get to Brazil sometime in the summer of 2009. We are asking for God to time this for us as He times all of His creation.

"The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter." Psalm 74:16-17

Thank you for praying.