The Doolittles in Acre

LET IT SNOW!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:56:00 +0000

I know that this isn't much snow for those people up north, but for our family it was great. We awoke one Saturday morning a couple of weeks ago to a winter wonderland. The kids were able to go out and play in the snow along with Steve and I. Philip and Hannah played quite a while but Joshua and Benjamin just made it about an hour. It was just too cold for them. We are going up north again (Wisconsin) in January and I am sure this while seem like nothing when we are there. But we really did enjoy this snow.

These pictures are views from the back side of my mom and stepdad's house.

November/December Prayer Letter

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:54:00 +0000

November - December 2009

Greetings in the Name our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Mark 16:15
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

As we approach Christmas Day, I cannot help but think of the greatest gift that mankind was ever offered. Over 2,000 years ago a Child was born to be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. What a privilege we have today to proclaim this Good News to every creature.

Once again we stand in awe of God’s goodness to us as we travel and visit churches. Everywhere we have gone we have been treated like royalty. We were talking the other day of how we are being spoiled by the way we have been treated. We are so thankful for God putting you in our lives and for you partnering with us in the endeavour to reach the world for HIM.

We still have a very busy schedule ahead of us as we continue our furlough. We still have scheduled meetings in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia, as well as being in churches in our area such as South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. We still are working on other open dates that we have to schedule new churches and supporting churches as well. We are currently at 78% of our support level. We are so thankful for the new churches that have taken our family on for monthly support. Once again, if you would like for us to come to your church and give an update please contact us at 423-402-5127 or email us at stephendoolittle@mwbm.org.

In the month of November we were able to spend some time with Stephens’s dad and mom in Greenville, SC. We all had a good time with Pawpaw and Grandmother Ruth while we visited churches in the area as well. The children enjoyed getting reacquainted with their grandparents.

And speaking of children, they are so excited about Christmas. They already saw a snow fall which they had fun playing in and eating. Seeing all the lights as we drive around has also been a special treat. It has been six years since spending Christmas with our family here in the states, so everything is “new” to them.

Stephen keeps regular contact with the church in Rio Branco and Guajara. The church in Rio Branco continues to do very well. We are so excited for the work that God is doing through Jerri and Adilson. Both works continue to go forward in every aspect. This is such a blessing for us to have these works in the nationals’ hands and seeing them trusting in God every step of the way. The church in Rio Branco had a one day retreat just the other day, which was a blessing, and the church in Guajara had a churrasco (Brazilian barbeque) this past Saturday for their Christmas dinner.

Once again we want to thank each and every one of you for your prayers and monthly financial support. Thank you also for the extra offerings for Christmas. May the Lord continue to bless you as you serve Him.

From our home to yours, we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a New Year that is filled with God’s goodness.

The Third Month (November)

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:41:00 +0000

I wish I knew where the time went. Seems as if the time is going by so quickly here in the states. We spent a good part of the month of November in the Greenville, SC area. We were able to be in a couple of new churches in the area plus Stephen's father and step mom, Ruth, live in Greenville, so we were able to spend a week with them. We had such a good time with them. The second week we spent at a beautiful home in the mountains. This home is provided free of charge to missionaries or pastors for one week. Mrs. Janet Albury lost her husband and daughter in a commerical plane accident several years ago. She wanted to do something in their memory. We were so very thankful for the week that we had there. It was so beautiful and it was a wonderful time for our family just to relax. Thank you Mrs. Janet! We had 2 new churches take our family on for support. We are so thankful for all our supporting churches. We have enjoyed every church we have been too. We were able to visit Calvary Baptist Church in Columbia, TN and be with the Ward family. This family is incredibly talented, and they were a blessing to our family. Wish I was just better about taking pictures. I get a few in here and there and they are never that great, but I did post some below of the home in the mountains. My pictures do not do the place justice.

September October Prayer Letter

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:35:00 +0000

September-October 2009

Greetings in the Name our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Mark 16:15
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

As you know, we are state side now until June of 2010 for furlough. God has been so good to us since we have been back here, and He continues to work with the nationals that were left in charge of the work in Rio Branco.

While back in the USA, we are staying with Kelly’s folks on Lookout Mountain, GA. They have graciously rearranged their house for us. If you need to reach us please make note of our new address until June 2010: 109 Wild Acres Ln, Rising Fawn, GA 30738. Our phone number is 423-402-5127 and our email is stephendoolittle@mwbm.org.

These past two months have gone by very fast, and we have been very busy visiting churches. Since we have been back we have already traveled over 8,000 miles and have visited many churches. We have been blessed to be in several new churches and have seen some already take us on for financial support. This has been somewhat of an adventure for the children as well since we have already been in 12 states and Canada. Along the way, when possible, we have enjoyed some of our country’s history, which adds to the children’s home schooling.

While here, we are working on raising needed support. We are presently at 75%. Praise the Lord for the increase in support. The dollar vs. real has not been helping much, but God has never failed. It still amazes me how God can do so much with so little. If you would like for us to come by your church and share with you what God is doing and the doors God is opening up for us, please contact us via phone, mail, or email. We would love to come and be with you.

Stephen is constantly checking in with the people of the church in Rio Branco, and God continues to work in the church there as well. Both Adilson and Jerri have been doing a wonderful job keeping things going at the colony and in the city. They have also been working with other men to help out with the singing and bringing the devotionals on Sunday morning. Please continue to pray for these works.

We are still praying about the radio station and the many other opportunities that the training center facilities can be used for. We need help. We have already had some contact us who are interested in coming to Brazil. If you are interested in serving the Lord on a short term, long term, or life term, please contact us. We would love to have you come.

Please pray for us as we travel, and for Kelly as she home schools the children. Many days this home schooling has taken place in the car. This is challenging for Kelly and the children.

We cannot express enough the kindness and love that has been shown to our family since we have been back. We have been spoiled. The churches and individual families that we have visited have treated us so well. Thank you so much.

Once again thank you all. You have been so faithful in prayer and financial support.

The Second Month

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:44:00 +0000

We have now finished our 2nd month in the U.S. We plan on staying another 8 more months. We have been busy traveling again this month. We started out the month in a mission's conference in Stockbridge, Georgia and ended up the month in Madison, Wisconsin. The churches have treated us so well and we are getting fat and spoiled. We have met many new people and many people that have been praying for us over the last 4 years. That is such a blessing when you go into a church and someone comes up and says that they have been praying for you everyday. We also met a young lady that had picked up our prayer card at one church but had never personlly met. We were able to met her. In Madison, a litle girl named Rachel came up and gave me a penny. She wanted to give something to the missionary. She gave all she had and I have that penny taped in my Bible. At times it is tiring going from state to state but these people are so precious to us.

I think the thing that has been the most challenging is the home schooling. We have had to school in many different houses and even in the car. The flip side is that when are passing a place in our travels that would be a good "field trip" we are trying to stop. We were even able to visit Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. We took the cheapest tour and had a great tour guide Mr. Joe. Now when the kids study about Mammoth Cave in history they will remember that they have been there and what saw.

A Great Family Deal!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:35:00 +0000

We spent most of the month of October in Wisconsin. We visited several churches there. Not only that we saw snow flurries. The kids were so excited. It was really cold! But while there in Oshkosh we took the kids to the EAA museum. It was a great deal. You pay one price per family. Only $22. If you have 10 kids or 4 like us it is $22 per family. We spent about 5 hours in this museum and learned a lot about the history of aviation.

Happy Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Joshua and Sophie. Joshua turned 9 and Sophie turned 6.

Hannah with Benjamin. Hannah turned 12 and Benjamin turned 7.

Each child had their own cake.

We have three children that have birthdays in October. Benjamin's is on the 8th, Hannah on the 30th, and Joshua on the 31st. The children also have a cousin, Sophie, who has a birthday in October. Sophie is my twin sister's youngest child.

We decided to have one big party for everyone on the 8th. Actually that was the only date that worked for everyone. We had such a good time complete with a hay ride, hot dogs, and a marshmellow roast. The children actually seemed to enjoy the party more sharing it with each other. My sisters other 2 girls wanted another cousin party because they said that was what made the party so good.

The first month

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:50:00 +0000

This first month back has been busy busy busy. I thought that I would have all this great free time now that I did not have to worry about Bible club, Sunday school, ladies meetings, and the children at the colony. Boy was I wrong. We have travel already over 5,000 miles (7 states, I think, and Canada). We are learning the joys of home schooling in the car, hotel, and any house we are visiting for the night. Well, it has been interesting to say the least and we are meeting so many wonderful people. We have been able to visit churches that already support us and also new churches. We have been amazed at how well we have been treated. They have made our entire family feel special. We are getting spoiled and a little fat! YIKES!

We went into Canada on a whim. We were at a supporting church near Detroit so we decided to cross over into Canada just so the kids could say they had been to Canada. Once we crossed over the lady at the tourist info building told us it was only 4 hours to Niagara Falls. I had been there before but Steve and the kids never had. So we decided to drive the 4 hours through Canada to Niagara Falls. Well, it was well worth it. We could not have picked a more beautiful day. We stayed there only about 2 hours. Long enough to go on the Maid of the Midst which takes you almost right under the falls or though it seems. We then drove back through New York, into Pennsylvania, and back down to Georgia.

Here we are at Niagara Falls

Of course you gotta love the Hershey's kiss.

The house where we stayed in Michigan. Bro. Paschall is a hunter and had killed this bear in Canada.

Hotel Tropical

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:33:00 +0000

Because the airline changed our flights, we had an over night layover in Manaus. They put us up at Hotel Tropical at their expense. We could have never afforded to stay there. It would have cost about $500 (at least) for a one night stay. They put us in 2 big rooms and then gave us breakfast and lunch at the hotel. We would have loved it if they had given us one more night.

This guy was cooking up your order at breakfast and lunch. The food was amazing. Breakfast would have been enough for lunch but because they gave us both meals free we ate both meals.

They have a zoo at this hotel and this is Joshua wrestling a snake. (not a real one)

This is Benjamin with Ethan. His mom and dad are missionaries in Manaus and friends of ours (they used to live in Rio Branco). We were able to meet up with them and another missionary family while in Manaus.

This is the reception area of the hotel. I tried to take this to get a picture of how much it cost, but I did not want to get up too close. So, I did not get a good picture.

Leaving Brazil

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:22:00 +0000

It was hard to say goodbye to the people in Rio Branco. We had several families from the church come to the airport to say goodbye. We are already missing these people so much. Steve has called several times to check on the church and the people. It is going great. The people are excited and they have had several visitors coming. Others are stepping up offering to help and being faithful. I think Steve said this Sunday they are having a church cookout after Sunday morning service. We are so thrilled to hear the great reports and the people coming together.

Oziel with the kids.

Walber and his family.

Jerri and his family

Great Service

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 17:36:00 +0000

We had a great final Sunday morning service here in Brazil. Steve baptized 3 people and afterward we celebrated the Lord's Supper. Then after church was over a lady from the church brought over some ice cream for everyone. Last night the church had a going away party for us. We are really going to miss these people. They are such a big part of our lives and we love them dearly.

Jesus being baptized.

Eliene

Jessica

July - August Prayer letter

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:02:00 +0000

Greetings in the Name our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

As I sit here and write this letter it is with a lot of mixed feelings. A week from today we will be on a plane headed back to the USA for a 10 month furlough. You may ask why mixed feelings. In the past 6 years we have only taken a 3 month furlough. These people are our brothers and sisters in the Lord whom we have shared our life with over the years, and it is hard to say goodbye even for a short time. There is so much work to be done and the labourers are few.

COLONY – This past Saturday we had our last service at the colony before our furlough. We had a good service and are excited to see that these people are growing in the Lord. Bro. Ely will be helping out with the music and 2 of the young ladies will be taking over the children’s class. Bro. Adilson and Bro. Jerri will continue to go out there and have services in our absence. Please remember to pray for this work.

RIO BRANCO – The 30th of this month (August) will be our last service at Macedonia Independent Baptist Church. The people have really come together and this work is going forward under the care of the national people. God has raised up men and women to take over all the Sunday School classes, and Bro. Jerri and Bro. Adilson will do the preaching in our absence. We have seen several saved over the last 2 months. God is good! Please remember to pray for this work and the people here as well.

Also in Rio Branco, God has been opening the doors for us to have our own radio station. This is something new to us since we have never been involved in radio before. There is a church in the USA that brings down the equipment, installs it, and trains us to broadcast. This is truly a great opportunity to get the Gospel out to the surrounding communities. Stephen has already met with ANATEL (the Brazilian FCC) to see what the procedures are to obtain a license to broadcast. There is going to be a lot of paperwork, but we believe God has opened the doors and He will make it happen. Please pray for us as we need HIS guidance. There is a great cost in maintaining a radio station, and we need partners for this ministry.

Our family has moved to the training center, and once we return to the field, we plan to have it up and running. We already have 6 people from our church that are ready to start training to be better prepared to serve the Lord. Pray for this as well.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS – This past month our family was able to go into a public school and hand out the gospel of John to 5th – 8th graders. The doors are open and there is a great need. We have been invited to work in this school upon our return to Brazil. There are so many opportunities for short term and long term help for young and older people who want to serve the Lord in missions. Would you consider coming?

FURLOUGH – Once again for those that might have overlooked the last letter, we are leaving the field on August 31st for a 10 month furlough. If you would like for us to come by your church and share with you the great things that HE has done and is doing please contact us at this email doolittle@brazilianmissions.org or stephendoolittle@mwbm.org. If you have skype we can be reached at steverdoolittle. As soon as we have a phone in the USA we will let you know.

FAMILY – As mentioned before there is a bit of mixed feelings. The children are excited about seeing family and friends but sad about leaving Brazil. Pray that our children will adjust well to being back in the states.

We would like to thank each church and individual that makes sacrifices for the ministry here. We appreciate each one of you so very much.

Happenings

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:07:00 +0000

We have had a lot going on lately. But what has been happening has all been great! It seems as if we are finally getting "caught up" and getting some projects finished at the same time.

This is the rural church at Guajará. We were finally able to get it painted. The man that has painted it is Sr. José. He is a lost man and we are praying for his salvation. He has worked with Steve on and off for about 2 months with many odd jobs we have had. Sometimes he has shown up on Monday morning with his face all beat up from where he has gotten in a fight after drinking too much over the weekend. Pray for his salvation. He has been to church several times and has been witnessed to many times. He is a hard worker and honest, but he needs to Lord.

We were able to go into a middle school (5th - 8th grade) and pass out a small booklet that has the gospel of John and another small booklet that talks about the dangers of the internet. The lady that heads this ministry is a Brazilian missionary. She is wanting us to work in this school when we come back from furlough. We would be able to go into the school once a week and give a Bible lesson to all the studens. Amazing isn't it! The problem is our time is limited. At times I look around and see all there is to be done and feel overwhelmed. One note about this school. The kids were horrible. I was really shocked. There was absolutely no order and several of the teachers hadn't even shown up even though classes had already started. There are so many schools that are wanting this ministry and the Brazilian missionary has more than she can handle.

This is something we saw at our "new" house. We have several açai trees in our yard. There was a parrot (don't know if you can see it in the picture) up in the tree eating the açai. I just love waking up here in the mornings and hearing all the birds.

We had our 3rd mission's conference this past week. We have a missionary that the church supports here with us. We had 2 precious souls saved and this family was such a blessing. They are Brazilians but are missionaries in Venzeula. They are doing an excellent work there. Our people get so excited after we have a mission's conference. We had some talking about taking a trip to Venzeula to visit this family.

A Wedding

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:05:00 +0000

In the area where we are in Brazil, a lot of people just live together and do not get married. Walber (the man in the picture) has done that many times. He and his wife, Michelle, got saved about a year ago and then last week he said he was getting married. He had told us that he did not want to get married because he was afraid that then he would die. On Saturday night the city had a big project called Projecto Cidadão. It is to encourage couples to marry. On Saturday night with about 700 other couples Walber and Michelle got married. I was not able to go because Benjamin was sick but Steve was able to. Walber was so proud to have his pastor there. Oh, Walber told us that we had to buy his coffin if he died. But he is still living! We are so thankful for this family. Michelle cleans the church now for us. She did not want to be paid but wanted to do something for the Lord. And I was able to lead Renato (the oldest boy) to the Lord a couple of weeks ago.

We have a teenager!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Philip turned 13 on the 3rd of August. It is hard to believe that we are now parents of a teenager (who is still very much a kid!). He said this was his best birthday yet. Hannah pointed out to him that he says that every year. We love you Philip!

Move to the Training Center

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 23:37:00 +0000

We finally have moved to the training center. What a blessing to finally be moved and also for the fact that Steve was able to do all he needed to do to get us moved. I thought you might like some pictures of some of our move. I need to get some pictures of our house posted some day. It is much smaller than our other house but it is so cute. We have already gotten every thing put away and the kids (who were sad about moving) are doing great and loving the new place.

This is just some boxes in our "dining" room

Steve and his dad built this trailer the first year we were in Brazil. It has helped us make several moves. Here we are loaded down. It was about a 30 minute drive.

Another view

If you think to pray for our family, please pray. Last month was non stop and this month is shaping up to be much of the same. We are preparing everything for our furlough plus we have a lot going on at the church. We are much busier than I enjoy being so pray for daily strength for all of us.

A VIRTUOUS WOMAN

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 22:32:00 +0000

Well I know it is about time for me to put something on the blog. So here it goes. As some of you know I have had a bout with my back. I am getting much better, thank you. But I needed to say something about Kelly. Kelly is truly am amazing person and wife. When all of this happened to me, she just kicked right in without missing a beat to keep everythinggoing. Just so you get an idea of what all this consisted of, Construction at the church, construction at the Training Center, taking me back and forth to the hospital and doctors visits, (since I can not drive, she is my persanol chauffer), keeping the house in order and her regular church obligations. The other day I was reading in Proverbs and ran across verse 4 of chapter 12. I looked up that verse in the Mathew Henry's Comentary and liked what I read. Here it is:

"He that is blessed with a good wife is as happy as if he were upon the throne, for she is no less than a crown to him. A virtuous woman, that is pious and prudent, ingenious and industrious, that is active for the good of her family and looks well to the ways of her household, that makes conscience of her duty in every relation, a woman of spirit, that can bear crosses without disturbance, such a one owns her husband for her head, and therefore she is a crown to him, not only a credit and honour to him, as a crown is an ornament, but supports and keeps up his authority in his family, as a crown is an ensign of power. She is submissive and faithful to him and by her example teaches his children and servants to be so too."

God has truly blessed me with a wonderful wife. I will probably get in trouble for doing this, but she really is awesome!

Don't Play Chicken with a Cow

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:57:00 +0000

We have a neighbor and he has a lot of cows. I find his cows very annoying as he lets them run free. Some of his cows are mad cows. Mad in the sense as you would not want to be walking down the road and meet some of his cows. His cows have their cow meetings in the field behind my house. The other day I was driving down the peaceful dirt road where we live. His cows were in the road and I slowed down some and they appeared to be moving but much slower than I liked. So, I decided to speed up in hopes that they would move a little quicker. Well, I hit one of the cows. To make a long story short, if you hit a cow with you car you will do damage to your car and the cow will walk away without a scratch. The moral, don't play chicken with a cow.

Update on Steve. He drove today. YEAH! Not much but just back from town. He still has not been able to do the MRI but he is daily getting better. He celebrated his birthday on Wednesday and the church surprised him by bringing out breakfast for the family.

Current prayer letter

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:30:00 +0000

Greetings in the Name our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

As we near the date for our return to the USA for furlough we see the mighty hand of God at work at every turn and in the straight-ways as well.

RIO BRANCO – Please pray for this city and the work here. In the past years there has been a growing movement in our state that has made it in style to be an “evangélico” evangelical. You do not have to be saved and have a changed attitude towards sin and the world. Unfortunately this new fad has trespassed almost all denominations. Our state according to statistics has the most evangelicals in Brazil. Naturally this makes our task even that much more difficult due to the fact that when out soul winning and handing out tracts, everyone is an evangelical. To the most part this movement is based on prosperity and healing. We have in our city big healing crusades that leave the people that much more confused about the truth. They promote a lot of Benny Hinn’s materials and use his methods. The people here are a very emotional people. It is old fashion to be called a pastor. These guys come in calling themselves Prophets, Bishops and Apostles.

We know what the Bible teaches about the last days and we are certain that it is near. Please pray with us that we, through the mighty hand of God, will be able to reach these people that are blinded to the truth.

We have also been busy doing some remodeling work at the church. We have had to add another classroom to start a nursery and also added an above ground baptistery. Over at the training center we have been doing some work as well, getting some things ready looking ahead for our return from furlough.

COLONY – Pray for this work as well. It is always a blessing to be able to go out there for services. The people are so different from the city people. But we do have a need for a full time worker out there. We are asking God to raise up someone even from within our church that God would call and use for His honour and glory out there.

FURLOUGH – As we have mentioned in the previous letters, we are taking our furlough leaving the field September the 1st for 9 months. If you would like to have us come by your church and share with you what God has been doing these past four years, please let us know. You can email us at doolittle@brazilianmissions.org or stephendoolittle@mwbm.org. If you have skype we can be reached at steverdoolittle. By the time you get this letter we will no longer have a phone line to the house. Please let me know as soon as possible so that we can make the necessary arrangements. Once again, we would love to come and share with you what God is doing.

FAMILY – Stephen has had some issues with his back that has laid him out for over two weeks. Test results show that he has a herniated disc which is pinching a nerve in his left leg. He is doing much better now being able to sit and stand up for short periods of time. Kelly and the children have kicked in to keep things going as normal as possible.

I (Stephen) want to express a big thanks for the hard work that Kelly has had to do in keeping everything running from construction, chauffer, and already moving much of our personal items into storage, plus her stuff as well. I have truly been blessed with a wonderful wife.

As always we would like to thank you for your continued support of the ministry here. Thank you for your faithfulness.

BE POSITIVE

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:04:00 +0000

Someone recently sent me an e-mail and told me to be positive. I have thought about that a good deal the last couple of days. I am in general not a positive person. That is Steve. He is the positive and I am the negative. I personally think that makes a great match. But I have realized these last couple of days my attitude is important. Now, I am not preaching positive thinking but I do not think if I have a pity party that it will help my situation. Believe me when I tell you that I have had some good pity parties and the best ones are when I have snacks to go with the party. I have realized over the last week and a half how good God has been to our family. Yes, Steve has been down but at least it is something that can be fixed. He never complains. (If it were me everyone in the house would know my pain!) We have had the poorest people of our church offer us money. Funny huh? They said they thought we might need it with the exams and medicine. We told them thank you but we were fine. That is a blessing just to know that someone cares about you. Our kids have been great. I have been more irritable lately, but they have been wonderful. We even cleaned out Steve's shop. And we have this past week moved more of our stuff into storage. Not only that we have had so many wonderful e-mails of people saying they are praying for us. Because I am now driving myself everywhere I need to go, I have stopped more frequently for ice cream. Now, those of you that really know me and really know my mom, know that the love of ice cream is inherited. My mom passed her love of it right on down to me. With all my running, I have not even gained weight from the added intake of ice cream.

Now about Steve, he is doing much much better. He is still is not driving, but as you gathered from the paragraph above I am ok with that as long as I get my frozen treat. He has been back to picking some so I know that he is better. He started his physical therapy and we are praying that soon he will be able to get his MRI done. He is still not able to lay flat on his back or on his side for long periods of time, so he is still sleeping half laying, half sitting. But the pain has been much less especially the last 2 days. Thanks so much for your prayers! Continue praying.

Santo Diame

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:01:00 +0000

Yesterday we had a slight mishap with our car (it broke down) and we were waiting for the tow truck. Up the road from where we broke down there was a Santo Diame church. This religion which is legal here in Brazil orginated in our state of Acre. What is consists of to my understanding is that they take the bark of certain trees and brew them into a tea. This tea is actually a drug which makes the person hallucinate. They have special services where there is a lot of singing and a lot of tea drinking and thus a lot of "visions". These services can last up to 12 hours long and even children are allowed to participate in the drinking. Sadly enough, this country looks at this religion as unique to their culture.

Why Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:24:00 +0000

Steve asked this question, "Why me?" Steve was asked to speak to the graduating class of Portuguese students on Monday night. Actually they asked to use our church (a daughter of one of our members who was graduating) for a thanksgiving service, thanking the Lord for their graduation. They wanted Steve to speak at this graduation. He got a kick out of it because here he is an American speaking to students that graduated from the federal university in Portuguese. He was able to leave them all with a clear plan of salvation and so he was thankful for the opportunity. By the way, for those of you that do not know, Steve grew up in Brazil and his Portuguese is actually very good. Now mine, that is another story.

19 Years

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:47:00 +0000

Stephen and I celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary on May the 19th. We had a rare night out with a sweet lady from the church watching the children. I feel so blessed these past 19 years. Steve has kept life exciting. For those of you that know him you can imagine that. Never a dull moment. The kids call him law and call me grace, but they all admit that he is a lot more fun than I am. Thank you Steve! I love you so much! (This picture is almost a year old. One of our children took it. I cannot remember which one.)

Precious Ladies

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:52:00 +0000

This picture was taken at the rural work on Saturday before Mother's Day. We honored these ladies that day. These ladies that live there are some of the hardest working women I know. It amazes me. They work like men in the fields and take care of their homes. Recently electricity was brought into the area but still Maria (the lady with the flowered shirt) does not have electricity. So that means no fans when it is hot, no fridge, no washing machine, and the list goes on. They work but never complain because that is just the way life is there. Not only do they work hard they are so giving. We almost always come back with something - rice, beans, pineapples, bananas and once a live chicken. I guess it amazes me so much because I have never had to do without.

The Yard Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen and Kelly) — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:02:00 +0000

Joshua and Benjamin decided the other day that they were going to have a yard sale. Yard sales are not done here in Brazil and I have never had one with my kids so I guess they just came up with this plan themselves. So, Joshua and Benjamin got together all of their toys that they did not want anymore and set up a nice display outside with prices on the toys. Then they invited the 3 neighbor boys to come and look at what they had to sell. Well, the little boys across the street had just a little money so they could not buy much. They spent all of their money but there were still things the little boys wanted. Joshua and Benjamin, not being very smart business boys, gave them their own money to buy more of their own things. After the boys had finished their buying one of the boys, Jocicley, went to his house got out his old toys and had his own yard sale. My boys felt guilty not to buy something so they did. I really do not know if they wound up with more or less money than they started with. I think they broke even.