The gathering of the clothes

And it begins…

The clothes are coming, and coming, and coming!

This is always a fun part of the trips to Ubaúna. You feel like Santa Claus, antecipating the joy and glee that the kids will be showing when you hand them a new set of clothes. To know that a little boy will be running around with a Spiderman t-shirt, that a little girl will be sporting a Tarheel dress or that Betty Boop, Superman, Barney the Dinosaur and SpongeBob will all be displayed with glowing pride by the minions of Ubaúna, is soooo satisfying.

Thank you, everyone. Your simple donation of clothes you no longer use will bring more blessings than you can possibly imagine!

Food for the kids

It’s looking like we may have enough funds to feed the kids again on this trip!

The checks continue to trickle in and I’ve been told by several that they will be giving me their checks over the next couple of days.

If you’re reading this and want to participate, we’re asking for donations to feed 250+ kids every day for two weeks at the approximate cost of $1 per day. Checks can be made out to Gospel for Brazil and sent to 803 S. College Rd, Ste D, Wilmington, NC 28403. You can also contribute online at the Gospel for Brazil web site. This is the link that will allow you to contribute securely through PayPal. Our deadline is Thursday, July 5.

If anyone is feeling especially generous, we’re asking for $1800 for a full-time teacher and coordinator of the work with the poor in Ubaúna. We have the individual and they are already working with the kids on a limited basis. This will pay their salary for a year and enable them to devote all their time to teaching kids and parents how to read and write, hygiene, and the Word.

Thank you for all you are doing! You’re simply the greatest!

It just gets better!

On the heels of the good work being done by Jessica, I’ve got to give accolades and kudos to Trish.

Trish Lieseke (on the right in the photo) went with us back in 2004 on the first trip to Ubaúna and was the lynchpin of the program we put on for the kids. It’s her fault that we have to work so hard now just to live up to the high standard she set! 

Trish has just dropped off some fabulous materials to use with the kids. These little folks aren’t going to know what hit them! What’s really cool is that the materials can also be used with the teenagers and, even better, with the adults!

No one who is present at any of the gatherings we have will have any doubt about who Jesus is and what he offers. Thanks Trish!

This is what it is all about… disciples contributing to help make more disciples. Even though they may not physically be going, they make it happen. Without them, the Word cannot be successfully presented; without them, everything comes to a halt.

My heroine!

One of the hardest things about the trips to Ubaúna is working with the kids. They are like sponges and absorb every single ounce of energy you have! If you can image trying to herd 300 cats you would have an idea of what it is like to work with the “rug rats,” as I lovingly call them, in Ubaúna.

Especially difficult is having materials to use to teach them. Most cannot read or write, have little understanding of how to behave in a classroom setting and act, as one of the workers recently noted, like ADHD on steroids!

Jessica Osborne, one of our team members, has jumped into this morass with vim and vigor. She is our new “cat herder!” A very recent elementary ed graduate from UNCW, she is bringing her expertise to the Ubaúna classroom with lesson plans, handicrafts, memory verses, etc. These kids aren’t going to know what has hit them!

Jessica is the prototype of the individual we look for to team with us in Ubaúna. She’s a bit “on edge” about the whole trip but has plunged in head first. That makes her my heroine!

Pumpkins rage under voodoo spell

Don’t you just love junk mail?! Remember the old HeeHaw television show where they sang “…if it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all?” Well, some folks might feel that if they don’t get junk email they might not get any email at all…

I’m not one of those!

I get tons of it every single day. In fact, when I head off to Brasil I sincerely hate openning my inbox when I return. I’ve actually had 5-digit numbers of email awaiting my return (that’a 10,000+). I now have filters in place that keep it to a meager 2,000-3,000. It is maddening to want to check your email while in Brasil but having to wade through hundreds upon hundreds of pieces of spam in order to find the 5-6 legitimate emails.

So why this diatribe on email? The title of this piece.

This is one I got today. It caught my attention because of the “voodoo spell” verbage. I’ve felt like a pumpkin the last few days and I’ve definitely been the focus of the Evil One’s darts. Of course, the email was selling sexual enhancement and had nothing to do with my scenario. However, the words fit together well and hence caught my attention.

Today, the word “rage” fits me well. Again, alluding back to an entertainment venue, remember the movie “Network” where the climatic line “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” was uttered? That was exactly how I came out of bed this morning — a righteous indignation at the attempts of the Enemy to sidetrack me. I came out in full battle regalia and engaged the enemy with the power of the Spirit. If sparks could have flown, they would have.

This trip is going to be BIG! Those of you who are going, get ready for a fabulous ride; those of you who will be praying for us, please pray BIG! Expect nothing less than the miraculous.

This pumpkin is mad at hell and intends to direct the full power of the Spirit against the voodoo spells!

A finger in the wind

I’ve found that I can roughly gauge the intensity of the activity that will occur in Ubaúna based upon the way the Evil One comes after us before we arrive or before a particular day dawns while there. If something big is about to happen, his activity increases dramatically. I suppose it is intended to intimidate and discourage.

Having said that, I’ll state that something significant is going to happen while we’re there.

Good food and good company

The entire team finally got to meet today!

Patrick and Christi came up from Savannah and we all got to get together at O’Charlies to eat and chat. It’s now official — we’re a team! God has some interesting experiences in store for us.

Fourteen days and off we go!

Changing oil

The 2 Kings passage I alluded to in the last post has really been sticking with me.

A little further down, you find the interaction between Elisha and a widow who is about to lose her sons to slavery because she can’t pay her bills. Elisha tells her:

“Borrow as many empty jars as you can from your friends and neighbors. 4 Then go into your house with your sons and shut the door behind you. Pour olive oil from your flask into the jars, setting each one aside when it is filled.” 2 Kings 4:3-4

This is what happened:

So she did as she was told. Her sons kept bringing jars to her, and she filled one after another. Soon every container was full to the brim! “Bring me another jar,” she said to one of her sons. “There aren’t any more!” he told her. And then the olive oil stopped flowing. (verses 5-6)

A couple of things come to mind. Do you believe something like this when you are told to do it? How many jars do you actually round up? How upset are you when you realize you didn’t get more jars?

We are supposed to be bringing “jars” to Ubaúna. Do we expect God to fill them? Are we gathering enough jars? Will we be upset when God moves and we weren’t fully ready?

Getting ready to get wet!

As I opened my Bible this morning, I asked God to show me what to expect on this trip to Brasil in two weeks. This is what he said:

“This is what the Lord says: This dry valley will be filled with pools of water! You will see neither wind nor rain, says the Lord, but this valley will be filled with water. You will have plenty for yourselves and your cattle and other animals. But this is only a simple thing for the Lord.” 2 Kings 3:16-18

I was stunned. Ubaúna and the surrounding region is definitely a desert area. The imagery that Elisha used in this passage in talking to the kings of Judah and Israel could have just as easily been used to describe where we are going.

I like verse 20: “…soon there was water everywhere.”

I think I’d better get ready to get wet!

Preparation for Big Things

Is this exciting, or what?!

The trip is four weeks away and we’ve got 3 different couples meeting us in Ubaúna who are praying and considering moving there to work. What’s even more astounding is that they are coming from three different states, two of them traveling over 1,500 miles!

Addtionally, there are some of our old warriors journeying out with us from Fortaleza.

This is really shaping up into a powerful trip. Please begin praying for us.