Bugs

Ava had a swollen foot one night. I didn't know why so I prayed for it, elevated it and put her to bed. The next morning she was itching it like crazy and Cleide noticed this and looked at her foot. She has a “pulga,” she announced! Now home to the dreaded foot flea, Ava was the first person in our family to have a bug pulled out of her foot. She referred to it as her “worm” and screamed as if it were an elephant we were pulling out. At the time we had about 5 brasilians hanging out at our house, i am quite certain they had never witnessed such drama over a pulga.

That was only the beginning of a day filled with Brazilian critters. If you want to see more pictures click here.

Ready or not

We’ve got a fun update! We will be coming home for almost 3 months, July – September. The more we talk about our plans, the more excited we get (and consequently, the fuller our calendar gets).

So many of you have been following our lives through this blog. We look forward to seeing you face-to-face and reconnecting with you in person. We will be spending most of our time either in St. Louis or Tremont, as well as a trip out east to Brin’s family in NC. We plan on attending Midwest Camp, for those of you who know what that generic name refers to. Please talk to us soon if you’d like to arrange a time to get together (by the way, Brin especially misses conversations in English and Josh is looking forward to a good Starbucks). Ella has started a list of things that she wants to do (including have an American Doll tea party, whatever the heck that is, and swim with the dolphins at Seaworld – any guesses as to which one she’ll get to do?) and the other day Mia filled a water bottle to take on our trip home. Seriously though, we would love to meet up with as many of you as we can.

Looking for another Emily

Emily celebrated a birthday here in Brasil. That always makes for fun memories. Some Brasilians friends showed up for a lunch of sloppy joes topped with cabbage and mayo and a pasta side dish. Often birthdays, at least we have found, involve some sort of an egg fight. This time, the Brasilians took mercy on Emily and so the only eggs she saw where the ones on top of the pasta.

Emily has been with our family not quite 3 months. And in a lot of ways it seems longer as our family has lived in 3 different places since her arrival. But already we are making flight plans for her to go home as well as our own family’s plans for furlough.

Emily joining our family has been huge. Just the other day I was reminded of the difference having her with us has made. Early Tuesday morning, my neighbor came over and needed a ride to the hospital with her sick newborn. Which worked out great because as it turned out I was planning on volunteering that morning in the hospital anyway. So I just went in a little early, and then when I was done working I went back to the clinic to see if she needed a ride home and I discovered that over 3 hours later she still had not seen a doctor. So I waited with her. Now that is not the sort of thing I could do regularly if I were home schooling my children without help. Home schooling our children is a huge part of my responsibility as a missionary. And I am ok with that. However, looking to our family’s future, I have tested the value of having a home school helper and I am so eager to see who will be my next “Emily.”

Parts of me, maybe the ugly parts, have a compulsion to campaign aggressively to find another home school helper. I could promote the opportunity to live in another culture. I could suggest that 6 months in Brazil could springboard one into full-time foreign ministry. It would broaden horizons. I could say a lot of things in eagerness for my next home school helper. But I'll just say this, Emily met a huge need for our family, and without question God guided her to our family at just the right time with just the right skills and gifts. And so as I write this, my hope is that someone is reading this and either they themselves, or someone they know, will be prompted to be our next home school helper. And I can't wait to hear from you.

Here are a few things that Emily has done since arriving…

~accompanied us on trips
~home schooled Ella and also gave her guitar and piano lessons
~assisted the teachers at CDR, an NGO our mission runs that give English and computer classes
~led worship for the missionaries
~attended youth events

To get Emily’s take on her time with our family here, read her blog.

A Family Reunion

Alison preparing to lead worship at the church service.

My friend Alison has an aunt and cousins that live out on the river. It's only a 4 hour boat ride, but he hasn't seen them for 5 years. He told me his uncle died two years ago from consuming rat poison. They weren't sure how he got rat poison. When Alison told the story I had a thousand questions I wanted to ask. He seemed satisfied with the rat poison explanation, so I decided to keep my questions to myself. Anyway, last week I was able to go with Alison and his dad, along with several others, to visit his aunt's village. Our reason for going was Augustino, Alison' s dad, wanted to go and tell his sister and her family about his newfound faith in Jesus.

I have grown to really appreciate Alison's family. They have all put their faith in Christ and have become very involved in our church. Augustino, runs a refrigeration business and he has helped me out several times when I'm in need of a shop. I use the word shop very loosely however, because it is surprisingly ill-equipped for a guy who builds industrial freezers and ice makers by hand.

For me, this was not just another trip. I was excited to experience this through my friendship with Alison. I began putting myself in Alison and Augustino's place. What would it be like to not have seen your sister for 5 years, and then try to explain to her what happened that changed your life? Would I be excited? Nervous? Would it be awkward?

Before we even got on shore we could see they were expecting us. They were busy butchering a cow and getting ready for a feast. I wasn't sure how much they knew about our visit, or if they knew Augustino was bringing his pastor and two missionaries along. I did find out that they were contacted ahead of time by phone. They are able to call family when they make occasional trips into Souzel, a larger town nearby.

Irregardless of the expectations, we were received well. Adamir, one of the Brazilian pastors with us, shared that he has passed this village many times and he now hopes to start making regular visits there. Two of Alison's cousins accepted Christ and they all seemed grateful for our visit. I look forward to seeing what will develop in the future.

At one point on our journey I was reminded of how the gospel spread in the book of Acts. Particularly how entire families came to believe in Christ. It must have been something like this. The boats are different, the body of water is different, the people are different. But the message is the same, and it is still being spread in the same way.

-JTP

Augustino helps out with the butchering.

Alison's aunt.
One of Alison's 4 cousins (all boys).

(All pictures taken by Bud Simon)

Don't Beat Your Donkey

Pastor Ademir (in red)

It’s refreshing to get out on the river and see the work that’s being done there. Recently most of my trips have been to communities on the roads. But there’s something about being out on the river that is rejuvenating. I went with a team from Canada to help with translating. We spent a few days with Pastor Ademir, the pastor of our church in Souzel, a town of about 8,000. He overseas about 5 river churches that are at different stages, some are only a handful of believers in a village, others actually have buildings and meet regularly. His oversight includes visiting them on a monthly basis.

Ademir’s story is a story of sacrifice. He used to be the associate pastor of our largest church in Altamira. A few years ago he felt God calling him to Souzel. The contrast between Altamira and Souzel is almost as great as that between Altamira and the States. He stepped down not only in living standard, but also in salary and position.

The story of Souzel somewhat parallels that of Ademir. What was once a thriving community with 7 sawmills fueling the local economy is now struggling with the closing of nearly all of it’s sawmills. Ademir’s wife used to run a clothing store to supplement their income, but recently closed down the business due to the local economy.

I’m sure Ademir feels like Brin and I do sometimes, that it would be easier to pack things up and move back to where it’s comfortable. I’m sure he wonders if the struggles are worth it. And yet he chooses to stay. I hope I can have the faith of Ademir. That I can see the eternal value of things and not the temporal.

I was reading about the prophet Balaam today. Balak offered him many riches (comfort, security, higher living standard) in exchange for cursing God’s people. The choice was clear, the easy way out or doing what God called him to do. I only wish I had a donkey that would talk to me to help clarify where God is leading.

A big step for a small church

The day before I left for my river trip we attended the first service that the Muturão church met in it’s new building. You may remember the Muturão church as the “garage” church were my dad (Tom Pflederer) spoke when he was here. As a church plant, in a neighborhood in Altamira, it has outgrown the garage of the pastor where they had been meeting. With only limited seating, the standing-room-only crowds would usually pour out into the street where most people had only an obstructed view and were vulnerable to rain.

The “move-in” date is not necessarily synonymous with the “completion date”. The building is still without running water and a bathroom, the floor is only half completed and the lights are comprised of two temporarily hung bulbs.

None of this, however, stopped the congregation from celebrating what they surely viewed as nothing short of God’s miraculous provision. The 3-year-old church is made up of a mostly under 25-year-olds, with limited to no income. Although most of the financing for the project came from North America, they certainly sacrificed what little resources they did have.

Other posts about the Muturão church:

A Garage Church

Philanthropy