Our friends from Diaspora Ministry, WorldVenture
Remember when…
One of our first graduations from the Seminary in São Luis, c. 1992. Twenty-three, maybe 24 years ago! Back in the days of a full head of hair–& talk about skinny! What a metabolism, aided by amoebic dysentery… Actually, I don’t miss that part a bit. And Lord willing we’ll be seeing some of these same friends that we invested in after more than 20 years of their ministry in northeast Brazil.
Tomorrow we hit the Brazilian consulate to pick up our passports and visas–Lord willing (extends to all of these plans, greased by your prayers). Then on Thursday, off to Fortaleza where we studied Portuguese back in 1983. This time it’s at the request of a Brazilian mission wanting to expand their partnerships in order to impact the lives of refugees in Europe and the Middle East. Pray for fluency in Portuguese as I preach a number of times and as we share from our experiences in similar settings. I also have two workshops to give, and am still preparing. About 40 people are signed up for this round table conference lasting all next week.
Then a week of matando as saudades (“killing the homesickness” doesn’t quite do justice to the longings in our Brazilian-Albanian-American soul). We hope to visit a number of churches pastored by our colleagues and students, plus see friends, and rekindle the relationships that can be sustained so much more easily in this globalized world. And we are invited to speak at the seminary’s chapel in a couple of weeks.
So please surround us and our family with your prayers–for health, for protection, for travel mercies through May 16. Just to reemphasize after 23 years of being gone, pray for fluency in Portuguese. Every once in awhile we throw in a word of Albanian, to everyone’s confusion. On Skype with our good friends awaiting the beginning of chemotherapy, I tried to commiserate by asking whether the chemo would likely lead to hair loss. Imagine Vicente’s confusion when he heard me ask if sister Bete was going to lose her oatmeal! Yes, there are griefs to share with each other, as well as joys. Pray for good choices about what to share. Pray for God’s leading among Brazilians and on our side as to initiating new global partnerships.
D____’s book is almost entirely in the hands of the translation and editing team, but keep this project in prayer as well.
Please pray for God’s blessing on all of our team members for diaspora initiatives. While we may be able to connect from Brazil, it’s not guaranteed. Pray for fruitfulness in their plans to open new works to engage peoples on the move. Pray for those still developing their partnership teams before getting the green light to head out. Pray for those investing heavily in the up-skilling it takes to be effective in this new generation.
Thankful for you! Blessings!