09 September 09

A few thoughts from a cold, rainy day where keeping my fingertips warm and nimble enough to type finds its fulfillment in the warm cup of decaf coffee sitting just off to the left of the keyboard and keeping my brain stimulated is secured by the smell of fresh bread and cinnamon rolls coming from the beautiful cook in the kitchen.

It has been a long time since either Denielle or I have updated this blog and for that I apologize. I take great solace in the fact that many of you who keep up with our blog also receive our monthly+ emails and so you are not totally in the dark (unless you want to be of course). However, I will give a little review so if you are bored with hearing news about us, feel free to take this as your pass to get on to the next email in your in box or the next blog you have to check up on.

For the two of you who are still reading (thanks moms) I will get right down to it.

Denielle and I were discussing the unique nature of today's date during lunch today (you know how days with these kinds of numbers only come around every hundred years). Then we remembered some of the other days in this cycle and what had happened in our lives on those days. Like 02 February 02, I (Jon) remember working at the grocery store in the final months before graduating from Cornerstone Bible Institute in Hot Springs (it was B & B Supermarket those days). Denielle remembered writing dates like 03 March 03 and wondering what kind of world we would live in when we were able to write dates like 10 October 10. Well, we have a better idea of that today. The most memorable, by far, was the 07 July 07 date. It was memorable for its dramatic events that were both sensational and life changing not only in our lives but also in so many others. I am always struck, though I guess for no particular reason, at the number of things that changed in our lives as a result of the Alabaugh Canyon Fire that took the home we were living in and all of our earthly possessions. We still feel the ripples from that event in our lives today. God was so good to us through that experience that when we recount to each other of God's provision, grace, direction, mercy and power, we find that the well of emotions doesn't go quite as deep as might let on but its waters can still be felt near the surface of our hearts.

We are marking our third week in our newest address. We took advantage of the holiday on Monday (Independence Day here in Brazil) to get the grass mowed, trim some of the bushes, fight the on going battle with the ants, and hang up a swing for ElliAnna. I tried getting a bigger person swing up into a taller tree but alas, my monkey skills coupled with the distance between the desired branch and the ground below left me a foot or two away from where I really needed to be in order to properly secure the rope. Hmmm.

The biggest story of the house is the town we landed in. Not the original city we had hoped to make our home, Estancia Velha (which can be translated to mean Old Plantation) is a cute and sometimes quiet suburb of the bustling Novo Hamburgo. Our house sits right on the principal street across from a bustling little gas station which happens to offer the best price on fuel that we have seen anywhere in the valley. We, along with our team leaders and in the limited capacity our language skills permit, are getting to know a group of people who have been meeting together for about a year and a half. Many of them have trusted Christ, many others still have not. We are excited to say the least. We are encouraged to be able to be a part of ministry, in a limited sense, to have a house that is well located in order to be useful in ministry, and for the body of Christ who has been very receptive and excited about evangelism and church planting. In the mean time, it looks like we will be able to make good use of the keyboard we brought down last year, we will need to be purchasing about two dozen chairs, and working hard at our Portuguese studies.

Speaking of language school, God has provided us with two good teachers who are believers and desire to serve God first through their job of teaching us to communicate. Nonetheless, adjustments abound to teaching styles, speaking styles, cultural quirks, and schedules. We appreciate your prayers for us and for our teachers. We are planning to work hard on our language learning until the end of the year and then we will be evaluated to see how much more, if any, classes we should pursue.

ElliAnna is a joy and treasure. Her words are more clear all the time and her mimicking talents continue to provide opportunities for good laughs. Sometimes we aren't sure if she is trying to talk in English, Portuguese or Chinese but she always gets her words in. Her two favorite people are Banka (Grandpa), Rachie, and Coco, being interpreted means Grandpa Phil and Grandma Rachel Stucky as well as the dog that lives at their house. She has adopted them in the absence of her real Grandparents and they have adopted her in the absence of their real Grandson. She also has made good friends with the dog who lives next door to the church building and would rather pet her than do anything else.

While the ability to understand and be taught in sermons has reached an all-time high (so that isn't really saying much), I have been trying to make it a practice to listen to various podcasts throughout the week. This is to provide tremendous devotional challenge, theological meat to chew on and it is a good venue to keep tabs with rivers of theological thought as they flow from various pulpits in the states. Thank you to the people who are so faithful to upload their files on Monday mornings! This really has been a tremendous blessing in my walk with God during this last year. On top of this, I am being challenged these days by the book of Hebrews. I started reading it in August and have continued to make it a study. I even unpacked some of our files that we had put away when we left Hot Springs and pulled out my Hebrews notes from Jim Steel (hand written long before the days when such notes were gifted to his students), I have been reveling in the beauty of Christ and of His efficacious sacrifice and praising God for the justice He exhibits in bringing redemption to mankind through Himself, not by laying aside or looking over guilt but rather by satisfying the demands of the law, not only for a sacrifice but also for a priest to offer the sacrifice in a pure and holy location. This morning though I got stuck on chapter twelve, "let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us . . ." Often I stop at the easily ensared part and forget about the fact that laying aside is not only something I can choose to do, neither is it only something that I am commanded to do, it is also something that I am enabled to do. "For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed striving against sin" I read a few sentences later. Yet I have so often thought, the battle is hard, why should I fight it again? Humbled, rebuked, ashamed, I repent to say, "You, my Christ, are what this is all about. You, my King, are my great reward. You, my Lord, are worthy of highest praise. I dare not trade a light and momentary prick for an eternal honor to sing an endless song to You."