Owsleys in Brazil Blog

Jesus or Death!

      As I’ve mentioned before our church has been having a campaign of fasting and prayer for the lost.  This past weekend we had another glimpse into the marvelous answers the Lord is bringing.  At our church retreat (with 60 in attendance) many lives were transformed.  Some were new Christians.  Others were long-time believers who had “unfinished business” with God. 

Our hearts sang as we listened to the many vibrant testimonies last night at evening church.  Several young men who had been away from the Lord told about how the Lord had called them back to Himself.  These men have banded together to encourage each other to not fall away again. Rodrigo, a young leader in our church stood up and shared that they would rather face death than be separated from Christ again.  He said, “Our new slogan is:  Jesus, keep us close to Yourself or let us die!”   We praise the Lord for His mighty power at work in the Free Methodist Church in Cuiabá.

Battling Bed Bugs

This week my (Hope’s) sister Grace is visiting with her family.  We wanted to impress them by showing them the natural beauties of the Pantanal swamplands.  We spent two lovely days talking, resting, exploring, and bird watching. 

While there some of us experienced itching due to insect bites, but thought little of it. When we arrived back in Cuiabá we realized that we’d been bitten by bed bugs.  And they’d come home with us!  The pest control sites on the internet gave us lots of advice on how to get rid of them, but soap and sunshine seemed to be the best means of eliminating those critters.  Today our mattresses are “sunbathing” in the back yard and all are linens are freshly washed and blowing in the breeze. 

I couldn’t help but connect this dilemma to the subject of holiness (which I taught on last night at our seminary).  Just as those bed bugs like to hide in dark little corners and need to be chased out with a sanitary zeal, so the Holy Spirit must clean out those hidden sins lurking in our hearts.  I John 1:5 reminds us that God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.  Praise Him for His holy love that doesn’t allow any hidden or darkened places in our hearts.  May His cleansing light continue to shine down upon us.

God or Money?

Our family memory verse this week is Matthew 6:24 – You cannot serve both God and money.  It’s a good reminder because we’ve been thinking about money lately.  First of all it’s on our minds because the value of the dollar around the world keeps decreasing.  We sometimes wonder how we’ll make ends meet.  But the Lord keeps providing for our every need!  Secondly, we’ve thought about money because a woman in Ohio passed away and left a large legacy.  Because of her friendship with Dan’s parents she designated that the money go to missions and specifically to the building of churches in Brazil.   What a legacy!  How we rejoice at God’s provision for this need!  When Dan announced to the Dr. Fábio congregation that the funds had come in to build their long-dreamed-of church building the pastor and leaders burst into tears of joy and gratitude.  It’s easy to pin our hopes on money in times of financial insecurity, but we much prefer to depend on the Lord.  He does more than we could ever ask or think! 

The Fruit of Prayer

In recent months several of our churches have held prayer campaigns that have involved praying and/or fasting for set periods of time. The Altos da Glória church was one of those churches.  They had several strong families, but just couldn’t seem to grow. Pastor Peterson challenged the congregation to spend extra time in prayer for 40 days. Now there are four new couples attending the church!

Pastor Marinho of the Central FMC has been holding various prayer campaigns since the beginning of the year. There have been early morning prayer meetings (6 to 7 a.m.) at the church as well as weekend prayer vigils. Last Sunday one woman shared that SEVEN people had come to the Lord at a recent home Bible study. We praise the Lord for His transforming power and for the privilege we have of fulfilling His purposes through prayer. How much more would He do if we only prayed?

A Matter of Taste

Living in the tropics is a source of constant surprises.  The bright sunny days lend themselves to bright sunny colors.  Oddly, Brazilians don’t wear brightly colored clothing (at least not in any of the cities we’ve lived in.  And Mardi Gras costumes DON’T count as “average Brazilian clothing”!)  But they sometimes paint their houses in some amazing (to my American eyes) colors.   Let me begin by saying that most houses are just plain white because it reflects the heat and helps to keep things cool. But sometimes as I walk around the neighborhood I’ll see a house freshly painted in an astoundingly bright color.  (See this month’s photo album for samples.) 

I watched with interest recently as a nearby house was being remodeled from top to bottom.  They put in a new sidewalk, added fresh flower boxes and replaced all the roof tiles.  The final touch was a dark lavender paint job all over the outside of the house.  I could hardly believe it!  “Extremely bad taste if you ask me”, I thought. But no one was asking.

A few days later I walked by the house again.  This time I noticed that one of the side walls had been left white and the owner had carefully and boldly painted a Bible verse there - “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”.  I’ve definitely changed my mind about purple houses!

Roundabout Prayers

Sunday morning I opened my prayer notebook and saw two requests at the top: “Roseli’s sons” and “Jossymaira”. Both were friends from church, but I had no idea they were connected. Roseli is an older woman who lovingly cleans the church each week. She has grown children who are far away from the Lord and she often asks for prayer for them. Jossymaira is 14 years old and has been my friend ever since she first attended my pre-teen Sunday School class four years ago.  But it’s been a long time since she’s come to church.  She told me once that her stepmother is a drug dealer so I’ve often prayed that the Lord will keep her safe and bring her back to Himself.

About a month ago I was surprised to see Jossymaira’s father, Joilson, in church. Both Jossymaira and he have been coming regularly since then.  Yesterday Joilson came to my adult SS class.  He talked about how He is trying to learn the Bible and he eagerly participated in the class. In the middle of one discussion he looked across at Roseli and called her “Mom”.  Oh my goodness! I thought, Roseli is Jossymaira's grandmother.  All this time I’ve been praying for Roseli’s sons and for Jossymaira and the Lord had been answering by touching Joilson’s heart. Though I never prayed for him by name I’m sure glad the Lord heard my “roundabout” prayers!

Pancakes and Prayer

Last Saturday we had our neighbors over for breakfast.  They have been our friends for several years and we have shared this meal together on many occasions. Normally they have skirted around any “religious conversation”, but not yesterday.  Fabiola shared about their recent vacation and how her father-in-law had a heart attack while they were a long way from home.  They had stopped in a little town because of car trouble and decided to have lunch while Carlos had the car fixed.  During lunch "Seu Joao" began to feel a little strange and they rushed him to the nearest clinic.  It's a long story, but they ended up prolonging that unscheduled stop for two weeks while he received medical treatment. 

We were amazed to hear her say over and over again how the Lord’s hand was in it all. “What if my father-in-law had had his attack while we were on the highway?” she asked. She told us of the excellent medical care he received and of the “royal treatment” given to them at the hotel. She went on and on with tiny details of God’s provision.  Carlos and Fabiola are not Christians yet, but we’ve been praying so hard for them.  After the meal everyone left the table but Fabiola and me. I asked if it would be all right to pray for her. I prayed.  We both cried.  And she was out the door in a flash. Could this be a turning point?  Pray with us that it will be!

Throwing out the Easter Baby

Chocolate plays a VERY BIG part in the celebration of Easter in Brazil.  When Dan and I went shopping last Thursday we watched people filling their arms with boxes and bags of it.  Almost two months before Easter arrives grocery stores start putting up their racks of giant (hollow) chocolate eggs.  The racks are about six feet off the ground and are built in front of the frozen food section so the eggs won’t melt.  It gives you sort of a magical feeling (if you are a chocolate lover) to walk under these arches of hanging chocolate as you shop for groceries - sort of like being in wonderland!

It is already a challenge in Brazil to observe this important holy day. Syncretism between Catholicism and African religions goes back to the time of slavery when African deities were often “transformed” into Catholic saints.  Because of this the Evangelical church required new converts to Christianity to renounce all Catholic practices.  The result has been that Evangelicals have gone out of their way to avoid anything that hints of the “old religion”.   Unfortunately that means no reference to Mary (even at Christmastime) and no crosses (because it resembles the crucifix).  Talk about “throwing out the proverbial (Easter) baby with the (Catholic) bath water!”  Although we miss these Christian symbols during certain times of the year we have learned that these days are what we make them.  It’s not the abundance of chocolate or lack of crosses that make the day what it is.  It is Christ’s transforming work in our hearts and in the lives of those around us.  In that case we saw PLENTY of evidence of His resurrection power this past weekend!

It Cost Him Everything!

         Last night we listened spell-bound as our missionary friend, Moisés, talked about how he and his wife adapted to living and working among the Suruwaha Indian tribe here in Brazil.  Fifteen years ago they boarded a small plane and went to a remote are of the jungle to reach the 136 remaining members of the tribe. After the plane trip they got on a boat and traveled seven more days.  Then they walked many miles to reach the village.  From the beginning Moisés and his wife Lucilia wanted to identify with the Suruwaha as much as possible. 

They felt it necessary to adopt their dress code (which was practically nothing!). It was a huge hurdle for them to cross, but their earnestness in wanting to reach the tribe helped them to overcome their sense of modesty.  Moisés shared about a time when they were heading to the village in canoes.  It rained heavily, sinking the boat they were in and sinking the second canoe with all their food, medicines and belongings.  They spent the night straddling a log in the river (in the rain) hoping that they wouldn’t be bitten by alligators or snakes.

 

Our speaker’s main point was that when we give our all to the Lord He takes care of us.  His unspoken main point was that incarnational ministry costs everything.  Just as Jesus left his glorious throne in heaven and suffered humiliation and death to reach a lost world, so we must be willing to loosen our grip on whatever we are holding that His name might be proclaimed in us and through us.  Moisés missionary message was the Easter message!

That He should leave His place on high

And come for sinful man to die,

You count it strange? So once did I

Before I knew my Savior.

(Dora Greenwell 1821-1882)

Combustible Plants?

Recently Dan and I took the opportunity to explore a nature preserve near our home.  We took a grueling yet rewarding hike to the “Bridal Veil” falls and even hired a guide to take us to “The City of Stone” which consists of natural rock formations of petrified sand.  (Some pictures are posted on our “Featured Pictures of the Month” on the upper left side of our blog page.)

Our guide, Alfredo, took us to a savanna area (called the Cerrado) which is famous for its dwarf trees and miniature fruits. Only a few trees were over three feet tall.  He explained that there were several reasons for this phenomenon.  One was that the soil was sandy and that roots could not go deeply enough for the tree to develop normally.  Secondly he pointed out a prehistoric looking plant (which looked like the head of “thing one” from the The Cat in the Hat).  Alfredo said that when temperatures reach 100 degrees this plant can actually bursts into flames, burning down the flora nearby, and preparing the land for the next season of growth.  Frankly, I found that a little hard to believe, but it was an interesting fact to tuck away in my mind.  He also told us that there were more different kinds of plants per square meter on the Cerrado than on any other place on the planet.   This ecosystem boasts 10,000 different species of plants!

All that talk about plants got me thinking about the church.  We certainly have a lot of different types of folks “per square meter”! But how many of us are “dwarfs” in the faith with little or no fruit because our roots in Him are too shallow?  And how many of us easily “burst” into angry flames scorching all those around us?  If we must burst into flames may they be the kind that come from the Holy Spirit.  His fire purifies and refines us.  Instead or repelling people it makes them want to stay close and share the warmth.  As C.S. Lewis said, “True holiness is irresistible”. Lord, help me to burn like that!