This is the Day that the Lord Has Made!

How is everyone doing today? Hope all is well wherever you are and whatever you're doing.

We've been having a great time over the past few days here! Saturday was the wedding of our friends Mariana and Paulo. Congratulations! Bethany and I were able to spend sometime getting ready for the wedding with Deisy. She did our nails (she's a pro!), and we worked on each others hair. Its always fun to have opportunities like that to connect with and build relationships with youth. The wedding was probably the most exciting one I've ever been to. There was everything from star wars music to guys dressed as soldiers delivering the wedding rings in the middle of the ceremony! Most importantly of all, it was a Christ centered wedding. They were able to show their fun personalities, while still being a wonderful witness to everyone who attended! Another thing that added to the fun- the couple had Pastor Jonathan Unverzagt from Wisconsin come all the way down to perfrom the wedding. He has been to Brazil several times before and knows them very well.

Saturday we went to Central for sunday school in the morning. Bethany and I were able to spend the hour with Karla and the sunday school kids passing out fliers for an upcoming childrens program at the church. Its great encouragement to see how the people here really care about evangelism. They don't just stay in their church and plan events...they go out to the streets and find people! The boys stayed with the adult sunday school class and had a chance to fellowship with Pastor Jonathan. After sunday school we had lunch at Pastor Nata's house. It was a delicious meal and a good opportunity to spend time with friends!

For the night service we went to Coa Par (I really have no idea how thats spelled!). Its the only Free Lutheran Church here that we haven't had a chance to go to yet. What a great congregation! Its still fairly small, but the people there are so warm and welcoming. Douglas, our friend who studies here at the Bible school, and his brother Giovani's family attend there as well as other people we've gotten a chance to know. Please pray for the growth of this church!

Thank you for the continued support of the ministry here!
In Christ,
Amanda

Yay for packages!

Today we got an awesome package from the AFLBS Student Mission Fellowship! It was so fun to open and see all the fun stuff inside. It was complete with letters, pictures, cd's and peanut butter:) Thanks everyone!

Various activities

Last saturday was Deisy's birthday! There was a surprise birthday at a house here in Campo Mourao, and we had a great time with hot dogs, party hats and cake!

Three of the five new kids at the infant home. They are super adorable!

Bethany and I with Deisy and Maria. We were part of a big protest against abuse. It was quite an event! Full of phsycologists and local kids. We've really enjoyed being part of the community here in such interesting ways!

Sunday Night

We were able to share a few songs on sunday night at Central. Song is a great way to share, especially for us who don't fully know the language!

Nate preaching and Sabrine translating. He shared a great message on being completely transformed for Christ.

A team picture. I'm trying to be better about taking these...we don't have very many!

ITS BEEN FOREVER!

Hello everyone! I am getting worse and worse about writing still...Last week my computer stopped working so its been hard to get internet access. Thankfully we've got our great friend Emerson here on campus who fixed it for me! Thank you SO much, Emerson!! Its such a blessing to have it back. Now there's no excuse for me not to write:)

Well where do I start? Things have bee busy and wonderful as ever! Here's a few highlights from last week: Bethany and I were able to spend lots of time at the Miriam Infant home! The babies are growing and healthy. Its been great to work with them and the other children there. The boys were kept busy with various things, including Nate's getting a sermon ready for sunday. On wednesday night we were able to spend an evening with Pastor Silvio and his wife. They have definately been a big blessing to us since we've been here. They have a wonderful heart for people. We had a fun time on friday night at Emerson's house! We played games, chatted and watched a movie. Their family has been so kind and inviting to us. They are a such an example of Jesus' love! When I get all my pictures on my computer I'll write more about everything thats been happening!

This weekend we were able to spend time with our friend Sabrine. She spent the night here on Saturday night and we had lots of fun watching movies, eating hamburgers and playing games! On saturday night we had a big youth service with all three churches in Campo Mourao. It was so great to see all the youth gathered in one place. We practiced and performed a song in English with our friends Fernanda and Thomaz. It was lots of fun preparing for the event! On sunday Nate did a great job preaching! We shared a few worship songs and all around had a great night with the people at Central Church.

Five new kids came here to the home on sunday. They are all precious! Bethany and I are going to be spending the majority of our time there now. There's lots more work now with 12 children, all together! WOW, what an opportunity to share Jesus! The children love reading their Bibles. We give every child that come a Bible and its a favorite activity to read together:)

A few praise reports and prayer requests:
-Yesterday Bethany and I got our visas renewed for the next three months with no problems!! Praise the Lord!
- We are seeing the Lord work in amazing ways. Its an incredibly wonderful thing to watch!
- Please keep the spiritual life of each of the children here in your prayers. They are in such a nourishing environment for exposure to the Word.
-Pray for provison for the ministry of Pastor Joni and Tamba! They have lots of great work going on in Maringa and elswhere.
- ...and we still need lots of help with our Portuguese. Praise the Lord for what we've learned so far!

God bless and keep Jesus first in your life!
Amanda

Here's a few of the local boys playing basketball with Jon! They come almost every afternoon to shoot hoops. Its a great time for Jon, and its fun for us all to get to know them better!


On friday night we had the opportunity to participate in an English service in Maringa. All four of us were able to share in English which was so fun! Everyone there was very friendly and we made lots of new friends!

Good Evening!

Hope everyone is having a great night!

We have two new girls at the Miriam Infant Home named Maria and Ana. Please pray for them as they adjust. We've been able to spend a good amount of time with the kids, and it has been SUCH a blessing. God has been teaching me so much through working with these children. He is truly an amazing God! Pray that He would work the miracle of salvation in their precious hearts!

Thank you for your care and support,
Amanda

A few pictures from English Camp!

The boys cutting up some fabric to decorate the chapel...they were having a race!

The skit that the adult team did entitled, "Bus Titanic". It was SO FUNNY!


The youth skit starring Sabrine as the strict English teacher!


A new friend we made: unfortunately, he was poisonous and had to be killed.....!

Some cute pictures:)

Altieres and Thavilidy! They're starting to get so big!
Our precious Vitora...she loved getting her hair done by Bethany!

Thavilidy again...she is SO photogenic and adorable!

Prayer Request

I just wanted to drop a quick request for prayer. A few minutes ago a man showed up on campus, and he was very angry. He said his son was in the orphanage, and he wanted him back. After talking to Karla he drove off toward the Miriam Infant Home. Thankfully all of the Bible school students were here, and the guys went over to talk to him before he got to the building. He was still very angry when he left. It was a very scary experience, and its not good that he knows where the infant home is. Please pray for the safety of the children and the women who work there.
In Jesus,
Amanda

God answers prayer in interesting ways!

Well, the weekend is finished and camp is over. It definately didn't turn out how we expected! With no pre-registration, it was only by word of mouth that we heard many people were interested in coming. So we were prepared for however might come our way! As it turns out so often in life, God's plan is alot different than ours...a grand total of 1 student showed up (our friend Fernanda who lives with her family here on the Bible school campus)! It was hard at first to think of the entire month of work and money we put into preparing and promoting the camp. How did something like that happen?? As humans we can't always understand what God is doing, but He quickly showed us that we were going to have an even better weekend than we imagined! With so many activities that we'd planned there were lots of things to do and great fellowship to be had. There were three cooks and their families who were there to work, Pastor Joni and his family, Sabrine and her sister Monise, our camper Fernanda and our friends Patricia and Jed from Curitiba. It was a great group! Some of the weekends events included a relay race, capture the flag, card games, frisbee, volleyball, horse riding, a time of worship around the bonfire and my favorite, a skit competition between the adults and youth. Not to mention sunday was Fernanda's birthday! There would have been no other way for all of us to have an entire camp all to ourselves for a Christ centered weekend. So thank you for all the prayers!
Another bit of news here, an 8 year old boy showed up at the Miriam Infant Home today. We don't know his story and haven't met him, because he needs a little time to adjust. I can't imagine the difficulty of being taken away for your family at 8 years old...his home situation has to be pretty bad for him to be brought here. Please pray for the adjustment process and that we can be a blessing in his life.
One last significant thing before I sign off: Deisy, the 15 year old girl at the infant home, was baptized yesterday! It was a beautiful thing to see her make that step in her faith. What a great testament for the Miriam Infant Home and their work there. Children there have such a wonderful and positive exposure to the gospel. They are brought to church and sunday school and encouraged to pursue a relationship with the Lord. How incredible!
Fica com Deus! (Stay with God!)
Amanda