Brasil Journal- August Addition

prolonged

"Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed.”

During the last week of June we hit the hometown of a current popular politician (Chicago) in pursuit of what we hoped would be short two or three week wait for the approval of our visas. As we hit the two month mark we are reminded that our pursuit must be for God. This morning we read these verses in Psalm 25 and were blessed by the truth that we will not be ashamed in our wait upon God. Two verses later we read: “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day.”

As it stands now, our visas could be approved as soon as tomorrow, take as long as the scheduled time for our next prayer letter (November), or longer. We have been able to deduct few hints as to the time frame we are dealing with; as the answering service at the consulate reminds me each time I call, “Due to the ongoing changes . . . the times mentioned in this menu will temporarily not be observed.”

Whenever they are approved we will be able to move to Brasil. Moving will require one more trip to Chicago to have our passports stamped and then a hop aboard the best available flight to Brasil. Our shipment of things has been there for a month now and the apartment we are to move into is still waiting for us. We had hoped to visit Porto Alegre, the city in south Brasil we hope to move to next summer, but the longer our visas take the more unlikely that becomes. We thank God that He orders our steps and we know that as we wait on Him all the day, we will not be ashamed.

blessings

In the mean time we praise God for the opportunities He has given us to minister. Jon spoke at a junior camp, we were able to be a part of another wedding, and we’ve cherished the times God has given us with our family. Lord willing, by the time you read this we will be in Nebraska visiting Jon’s family and helping a church get a youth ministry organized and developed. Thanks for praying.

ElliAnna helped out at camp by sucking on a piece of celery.

It has not always been easy to wait and we must be honest and admit that we have not always been thankful for the wait. Yet we praise God for the way He has used waiting in our lives to show us the wretchedness of our own hearts and the depth of His amazing grace. As the Pharisees told Jesus in John 6: “Lord, evermore give us this bread,” we have been rebuked for looking to something besides Christ for our satisfaction. And as Jesus replied, “I am the bread,” we rejoice to abandon ourselves to Him and find there our joy and satisfaction.

As always, thank you for praying for us and investing in our lives and the cause of the Gospel. God’s Word is a powerful tool, one that we have witnessed working both in others and experienced in our own lives in a special way during the last few months.

pictures on this post: Jon and ElliAnna consider the deep things of Lake Superior; Three sisters and ElliAnna at camp; North Shore Lake Superior; celery is good camp food; Larry and Ruth; Marvin and Barb