Preaching in Petropolis

It is Saturday July 15th and my wife and I just arrived in Brazil yesterday. We are in the town of Petropolis and will be preaching in a different town and city every night for the next 16 days straight. This is something neither of us have ever done before, so we appreciate all the prayer we can get at this time.

Last night, we ministered in a church of 1,000 people. My wife shared her testimony for the first time. Many people do not know this, but at one point in her life, she thought that suicide would be the only way out for her. My wife used to suffer from terrible fear and low self-esteem. Her story gives hope to women everywhere who are also dealing with the same issues.

As far as the church, it reminded us a lot of Christ for the Nations Institute where we went to Bible School. The worship was passionate and beautiful-like the Brazilian people themselves,

I really enjoyed talking with the pastor afterwards. After telling him that we have been married for almost five years, he asked us if we had any children. After I told him no, I thought I would get the typical I´ll pray for you response, but then he proceeded to tell us that he and his wife did not have biological children either and that he and his wife had adopted two abused and neglected children. He said that sometimes we pray for miracles and God asks us to be the miracle. What an encouragement to us considering that Rhiannon and I are going to be taking classes in September to qualify us to be able to adopt through the state of Missouri´s foster care system! Isn´t it wonderful how God sends people along to encourage us along the way? Have you said a kind word to someone today?

On a side note, the evangelist Dario Luiz, the man who is hosting us, told me yesterday that I looked like Bill Clinton. I thought that was funny. People have told my dad that, but never me. I guess I have a lot to look forward to over the next 20 years!