Thursday, June 21, 2007

An Acts 8 Story


A few weeks ago we went down to Sarasota, FL to be a part of a very special occasion - Joe Bruno's wedding. It was a long time coming, but it was an amazing event. The wedding was held on the beautiful white sands of Sarasota right as the sun was setting over the Gulf of Mexico. Here's a picture of Joseph and Sam Bruno right after they were pronounced husband and wife.

So, Saturday, June 9th was a great day because of the wedding. But little did we know that God had a great surprise in store for June 10th.

In Acts 8, we read the story of Philip and the Ethiopian. Philip is directed by the Holy Spirit to run up to a chariot. As he does, he meets the rider, explains the good news about Jesus and then baptizes the Ethiopian and goes on his way.

On Saturday while I was preparing for the wedding with Bruno, one of our friends Caroline Sofarelli asked Kay if she could come and study the Bible with her mom Tina. Tina lives in Alaska and was only down for that week to spend time with Caroline. Since we were going to be there anyways and Kay had helped Caroline become a Christian, Kay gladly said yes. After about three hours of studying the Bible with Kay and Caroline, Tina saw her need for God and decided she wanted to be baptized. Kay encouraged her to think and pray about it some more and call us in the morning.

Sunday morning we got up and Caroline called us to tell us that her mom wanted to get baptized. So we drove just a little north of Sarasota to another great beach. We met Tony and Caroline along with Tina. After a brief time of talking and sharing scriptures, Tina confessed Jesus as Lord of her life and was baptized.

Now Tina is back in Alaska worshiping God and rejoicing in her new found salvation. Praise be to God!

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Our new adventure


So, its been a long time since we've updated our blog. That's because a lot has been happening and a lot has changed.

The short version goes like this. In the last two months, we've sold almost all of our posessions, visited two new countries and significantly changed direction in our missionary adventure.

Since telling three stories at once is a bit too confusing, I'll start with the change of direction with our life plans.

Proverbs 16: 9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

Our plan for the past 10 months has been to move to Montevideo, Uruguay to help reinvigorate the struggling church there. However, all along God has been working to accomplish His will and as we've recently discovered His will is a little different than what we had been planning. And that's actually really great.

After seeking advice of many wise and spiritual men, and after praying a lot, we along with others decided that right now was not the best time for us to go to Montevideo. Instead we will be going to Santiago, Chile. For a number of different reasons, we feel good about starting our missionary adventure in Chile instead of Uruguay. We've visited Santiago 4 times in the past 4 years and we have many dear friends there. We'll be able to learn spanish with the support of a large church. Also we'll be able to help raise up leaders that can help plant more churches all over the southern cone.

And so the question comes, What about Montevideo? We still have dreams for what the church can be in Montevideo and we believe that God is working right now to make great things happen. There is already a couple that has been leading in Chile that is being prepared to go to Montevideo sometime within the next year. Our hope is that for the next few months we can visit the group that is already in Montevideo and encourage them until this other couple can move there permanently. We have continued to be in contact with our friends in Montevideo and they are faithful that God is and will provide for them.

So, on July 2nd we'll take a few suitcases, board a plane and begin our new adventure in South America!