Hello from Brazil!

As written by Jim Ramsay of The Mission Society:

"You’ll be happy to know that every one made it on time to the airport in Atlanta, we had a safe and uneventful flight to Rio, all the baggage made it, and we arrived at our training center around 1:00pm local time as planned. Thanks for your prayers – it is always a relief to see all people at the departing airport, then all baggage at the destination! Everyone was understandably pretty tired, but no sickness or major issues. Really muggy when we came out of the airport in Rio, but we assured everyone that it would be cooler in the mountains where we were headed.

The kids were good as gold (at least as far as I could tell) – they slept, chatted, or read on the 2-hour bus ride from Rio to where we are in the mountains near the city of Teresopolis. It was a windy road, but thankfully no one complained of motion sickness. We stopped half way here for a break and a chance for folks to sample some Brazilian treats – pão de queijo, cheese bread, is a favorite.

It is a beautiful setting. The weather is a mild about 70 degrees here today, although it’ll likely drop into the 50’s in the evenings and maybe even colder. It is winter here, after all! Everyone is resting up this afternoon – we’ll kick off the training this evening with some fun activities."

Leaving for Brazil!

I leave San Antonio at 3:43 PM on the 2 July 2009 and arrive in Brazil at 8:25 AM on 3 July 2009. Sounds like sleeping on the plane.

"This will be our third year holding training along with the Brazilians in this spot. It is a lovely location – about a 2-1/2 hour drive into the mountains from Rio, near the city of Teresopolis. Being out of the Atlanta heat for 18 days of the mild Brazilian winter has some appeal! It is a very safe location. We’ll be joined by about 25 Brazilians who will also attend the training. Our purpose for holding this in Brazil is twofold. One is that it gets our missionaries trained cross-culturally in a cross-cultural setting, so they are actually experiencing much of what we are teaching. It also has served as a way for us to help the Methodist Church of Brazil as it creates its own practices for sending Brazilian missionaries into other countries to serve.

We certainly appreciate your prayers – for this round, prayer for safe travel, that all documents are remembered and in order, and that all participants will come with open minds and open hearts, leaving the cares and concerns behind for these two weeks and really able to learn and experience what God has for them there."

As written by: Jim M Ramsay, Director of Field Ministry

The Devil did NOT make you do it!

"When we find a promise in the Bible, the only appropriate response is to claim it. When we find a commandment in the scripture, we should obey it. When the Bible tells us the truth about who we already are and what Christ has already done, there is only one appropriate response--and that is to believe it."

"We are all responsible for our own attitudes and actions. Satan simply takes advantage of the opportunities we give him. We have all the resources and protection we need to live a victorious life in Christ. If we're not living it, it's our choice."

"Satan is NOT your judge; he is merely your accuser. Yet if you listen to him and believe him, you will begin to live out these accusations as if they were a sentence you must serve."

The Bondage Breaker, Neil Anderson

Living the Gospel

To live incarnationally means to live the Gospel. From John T. Seamands, Tell It Well: Communicating the Gospel Across Cultures."

The effective communicator of the gospel must identify himself with the people to whom he minsters. He must become one of them, so that he might be aware of their ideas, understand their viewpoints, and be genuinely sympathetic with their struggles for self-expression, even though he may not condone its forms. He must identify himself with the people's trials and sufferings, with their longings and needs. He should adapt to the culture of the people, not necessarily in all externals, but certainly in inner mind and spirit. The receptor must be convinced that the messenger understands his-the receptor's -background and has respect for his views even though he may not agree with them.. In striving to identify ourselves with people, our aim is to achieve a feeling of togetherness or oneness. It is more than contact; it is communion.

How do you live the gospel?

MILK--it does the body good!

This section is taken from John T. Seamands book, "Tell It Well: Communicating the Gospel Across Cultures."

Milk can be delivered in a variety of containers. It my be in a tin can, a glass bottle, cardboard carton, or a plastic bottle. The type of container is not so important, as long as the milk is pure milk--not soured or watered down. The only condition in which the container might become an important item is when the buyer has a strong personal preference for a particular type of container. He may refuse to buy milk in a tin can, but be most willing to purchase it in a cardboard carton. In the same way, the Christian messenger has no right to water down the content of the gospel--it must be the truth--but he certainly must present it in such a form that will be meaningful to the listener.

Tell It Well! Christ belongs to the Nations!

One of the books I have been reading in preparation for the mission field is, "Tell It Well: Communicating the Gospel Across Cultures." Mark 16:15 (NASB) "And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.""

The overarching theme in this book is to share the good news, the gospel with people, and God will change hearts and minds, through His Word. Dr. E. Stanley Jones says, "I present what I have and leave him to come to his own conclusions. I am pressed to show the difference between faiths. I always refuse." Dr. Jones presents the gospel, and lets God do the work.

"Christianity is never to be compared with any other religion; it is always to be contrasted."

"Don't adulterate or tone down your religion."

"I would not walk across the street for religion, but I'm willing to go to (Ukraine) for the sake of the gospel!"

The last Sunday I was at my home church, our pastor, Rich Kannwischer preached on "The Gospel vs. Religion, via the Pharisees." "The best way to avoid Jesus, is to avoid sin." How timely!? And then at my Aunt Sheila and Uncle Driveway's church, Calvary Baptist, the speaker, Chris Price, preached on Religion vs. Gospel.

• Religion is man-made; the gospel is God-given
• Religion is what man does for God; the gospel is what God has done for man
• Religion is good views; the gospel is good news
• Religion says, "attain"; the gospel says, "obtain"
  
• Religion says, "save yourself"; the gospel says, "surrender yourself"
• Religion says, "do this and do that"; the gospel says, "it is done."
  

"The Christian faith is Christ, and is what it is because he is what He is."

The following quote I found interesting, because I taught at MacArthur HS, named after General Douglas MacArthur.

"Japan is another clear example of what happens to a spiritual vacuum when the Christian Church fails to move in at the appropriate time. The Japanese people soon discovered they were without a faith (after World War II). A feeling of frustration, hopelessness, and insecurity swept over the land. Sensing the situation, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of the Allied Occupying Forces and a professing Christian, issued a call to the Church in the U.S.A. to send 1,000 missionaries and tens of thousands of bibles to Japan."

Cribbage, anyone?

I've had the wonderful opportunity to play crib with my grandparents, on a nightly basis! Hot tea and a crib game, then off to bed. Last night, Marion joined us, so Grandpa and I were on a team, and Grandma and Marion were on a team.

Upon receiving one hand, Grandpa said, "Well, my hand is better than being kicked in the rear with a frozen boot!" I laughed so hard, everyone else laughed!

You may wonder what crib has to do with great things God is doing...God has given me the opportunity to enjoy my extended family!

Happy Father's Day (21 June 2009) to all the Dad's out there!

My grandparents (shown in the picture above) celebrated 62 years of marriage on the 20 June 2009!

Holiday!

I'm on holiday! Yes, this is a very happy and excited Faith. =)

I am on my third book in the past week--the ones I'm reading in preparation for going to Ukraine. I purchased a book on Ukrainian History. I'll read that when I get back to the States. (I am in Canada right now).

The past seven days at my Aunt Sheila's and Uncle Driveway's have been incredibly wonderful and blessed times! I have ran Como Lake loop, gone to Spin class with Uncle Driveway, went riding with Uncle Driveway, went to see Les Miserables at Stanley Industrial Theatre, went to visit my friend, Tracy, at English Bay, enjoyed some Timbits, ate at White Spot, played with Alexa, Gabrielle, Calvin, and Devon, laid out in the sun, and I have purely enjoyed my R&R!

Last night I saw a fantastic advertisement for Heineken. It said Carpe PM, and had a bottle of Heineken. I laughed and laughed.

Commissioning Service

My commissioning service will be at First Presbyterian Church, in San Antonio, Texas, on the 9 August 2009, at all four services--8:30AM, 9:30AM, 10:45AM, and 11:05AM.

First Presbyterian Church
404 North Alamo
San Antonio, Texas
78205

Visa

Answered prayer! I officially have my visa to enter the country of Ukraine! This has come just in time, as I leave for C-eh-N-eh-D-eh in 9 more days to visit the family.

Books and other thoughts

Blessing. All but two of the books that I need to have read, have been donated by a very gracious couple, and another generous person! Thank you, guys (technically, guy and two girls)!

One of the books was about becoming incarnate in the culture you are living in. Living incarnationally was always a big Jesus word, or church word, until I read this book. I did not really understand what it meant to live incarnationally. I am going to share what it means.

"The challenges will shape us; the changes will trouble us. Our bodies will get sick, our minds will suffer fatigue, our emotions will sweep us from ecstasy to depression. Yet the love of Christ will sustain us so that we can identify with Paul, who said, "I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings" (1 Corinthians 9:22-23)."

• Meeting people and loving them through interaction, is the heart of the Great Commission. "We cannot hold office hours for the people to whom Christ has called us to minister."
  
• "We must adapt to the time and event properties of the people with whom we work."
• "The Christian who rejects and maligns a fellow worker because of personal flaws or sins, is taking the matter of judgment into his or her own hands. Such a critical judgmental attitude is a divisive and destructive force in any community."
• "If Jesus were to go to Ukraine, he would learn to think as the Ukraine think. He would listen to their conversations, observe their society and culture at work, and internalize their world-and-life view. Then he would communicate and teach as the Ukrainians teach, using parables and case studies to illustrate particular truths, sitting with them in discussion, asking them questions, debating the answers, and drawing from their experience, traditions, and beliefs the illustrations and analogies that would open their eyes to God's truth and would challenge their unbelief and resistance to him."

What does all of this mean for me personally?

By serving in Ukraine, I will develop new strategies for living, so that I build up the unity and fellowship of the body of Christ. I will do this through faith in Jesus Christ and living in the Spirit.

Things to do...

Yesterday I was able to go down to the San Antonio Metropolitan Health Clinic Foreign Travel Division, and get my two booster shots that I needed—Tdap and Typhoid. My arm is sore this morning—the nurse was right! Yay for Vitamin I (IB Profen)!

As I have told people about going to Ukraine to teach, I have been extremely encouraged by their testimonies, and words of encouragement. One lady told me that she had heard a missionary speak at the church, shortly after getting married, and she and her husband wanted to give something, but they had little money, so they gave their wedding bands! Low and behold, a woman in Ukraine had been praying for wedding bands—God is so good!

All but two of the books on my list have been donated from different people! Thank you for your generosity! I will have lots of fun reading… :) On a serious note, I am looking forward to reading most of the books.

Leaving for Canada, Brazil, and then Ukraine has become a reality. I feel like I’ve been hit in the head with a 2 x 4! The prep work blows me away! My coach at The Mission Society, Steve Wilson, sent me a missionary checklist and it made me go…whoa! It also made me say, oh good, I’m right on track!

Upcoming things to do…

• Attend Red Cross First Aid Training
• Renew teacher certificate through SBEC—expires this year!
• Renew my TXDL—expires this year on my birthday!
• Continue to consult with Dai about housing plans
• Plan commissioning service at home church

Righteous Laughter?

This morning on my way to work, I was tired of listening to NPR and hearing about the Swine Flu, so I started station flipping. I stopped on the Christian BBN (Bible Broadcasting Network) station, because the preacher speaking started saying, "and when you go on a mission trip..." And then he goes on and says a few more things, ending with "When you go to Ukraine, you will feel an immediate connection, and an immediate fellowship with other Christians, even though you do not speak their language." I busted laughing--I guess God wanted me to hear that message, because I am going to Ukraine!