The Eisenmann Initiative

December Update - To the South

2011-12-10T07:43:00.000-03:00

Hello Friends and Family, and Hello December!

We write to you with thanksgiving on our hearts and minds for the faithful and tireless support that you give us. Whether it is a simple prayer, quick note, financial gift, or daily intercession, we are indebted to all of you. We realize more each day our utter need for spiritual and physical support. THANK YOU for taking a part in meeting that need!

Since our last update, things have really picked up, if that's even possible! I've continued to travel with the church construction supervisor, and I continue to find more and more interesting forms of travel and more adventuresome trips! You can check out one trip where we used five forms of transportation to arrive in the community of Baixão!

We blew through the fourth quarter of 2011 with speed and agility! It's seems like such a blur. We recently attended our churches disciplers' retreat as well as the National MDA Conference. These were two great opportunities that we had to sit down and soak in some great teaching to be more effective in our ministry. We learned much and are now trying to apply it all. We are seeing growth and sanctification in our disciples, so that is always encouraging, walking and growing with close friends, living in community. A couple weeks ago we were parents for two days as we babysat a two year old kid while his parents, our disciples, went to a couples retreat. It was quite the experience!

Last week we loaded our car on a barge, shipping it down the Amazon River to Belém. A few days later we flew there to pick it up and drove it to Southern Brazil, a trip over 2,000 miles! My father-in-law and I each drove our cars with our wives co-piloting and made the trip in 47 hours! Sounds crazy, huh? Well, our car (one that Silvia has had for over 7 years) was starting to rack up lots of maintenance costs and almost in need of major engine work! And since we're always hauling people around and would like to have a family some day, we decided it was time to upgrade to a bit bigger and more reliable car. The catch was that our car didn't have air conditioning, and so was unsellable in Santarém, at least for a reasonable price.

Here in Curitiba, we were able to trade it in on a wonderful, low-mileage car that will really meet our needs! Praise God for the quick work he made of this! As of yesterday, we closed on the car and brought it home, now just waiting for the new plates! We look forward to the blessing it will be to have a car with air conditioning in the tropics! With special gifts from many people, we were able to have to funds to buy an almost new car, that will be problem free for years, but hold it's resale value. If you would like to help with this purchase, we are still paying for the documentation and will have to transport it back to Santarém on another barge. Also, the taxes for the car will be due in January, which is 2.5% the value of the car! You can go here to learn about the various options for giving!

This next week will be spent with family and friends in preparation for the wedding of Silvia's sister. This was the real reason we made the trip to the South, but we just decided to take advantage of the car market! We look forward to this special time and blessing in their lives as we celebrate together!

Most people don't know this, but Silvia is also officially a citizen of Portugal! She was in the process of getting her passport when we decided to get married and totally messed up the process with the name change! We were able to go to the Consulate of Portugal yesterday, only to find out that she has to open another process at the consulate in the state where we now live. Please pray that this process will go smoothly for her! With a passport from Portugal, she won't have to worry any more about United States Visas for entry!

Thanks again for your love and support! Watch your mailbox for the year-end Eisenmann Initiative! If you've never gotten one but would like to, respond to this email with your mailing address.

Praises

Wonderful time at the disciplers' retreat and MDA conference.

Safe travels to southern Brazil and an upgraded car

Growing Cell groups!

The end of a fabulous year, filled with blessings and fruitful labor

Prayer Requests

Safe travels returning to Santarém

Blessed time together with family at the wedding of Silvia's sister

Ease in processing Silvia's Portuguese passport

Joy and fulfillment during the holidays in the absence of our family in the US

Blessings to all! We wish you warm Christmas memories and celebrations in honor of our Savior and Lord, Christ Jesus! With the hope of eternal life in our hearts, we joyfully contemplate His goodness and grace demonstrated in the fulfillment of His Word. In His Name, we send our love to you all!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

John & Silvia

www.eisenmannfamily.com

Field Address:

Missão Projeto Amazônas

John & Silvia Eisenmann

CP 232

Santarém, PA, Brasil

68005-970

Running for your Life!

2011-11-28T10:11:00.001-03:00

Last week I had an interesting experience, or rather, encounter. Looking back, I wish it could have been filmed. As I tell the story, you may well remember a similar scene from the movie Tommy Boy.

I made a trip to gather GPS data at my in-laws farm. I found myself and my mother-in-law hiking through the brush, a thick tangled mess of grass, fallen branches, saplings, and other trees, when our guide decided that it would be best for us to wait while he went ahead to look for the boundary marker. This man, Haroldo, has lived on this land for almost 30 years, knows it well, and knows how to operate a machette in the forest. We didn't.

After some time, we heard Haroldo coming back for us, so we got up and tried to see if we could meet him on the way. Nope, I couldn't even find the first trail made, that's how thick the underbrush was. As Haroldo arrived within a few feet of me, hacking away with the machette the whole time, I felt a couple sharp pains on my face, one on the cheek and another right between the eye brows. As I tried to figure out what was happening, I suddenly heard the buzzing and felt another pain, on my ear this time.

Now it dawns on me, bees! I didn't know if I was supposed to run, freeze, or stop, drop 'n role! So as I start dancing around and swatting at my attackers, I hear Haroldo yell to me, RUN! All this time I'm wondering if I have an allergy to bee stings, could these possibly dangerous, or just pesky, any then how in the world I could run in this mess of a forrest!

Keep in mind that one can barely walk in this place! And we were on the side of a 45 degree slope as well. So in place of running, I think we did more falling and rolling and screaming! In the process of the swatting and falling I managed to lose my glasses, and our water bottle, and pick up a few more stings, five in total. Between my mother-in-law and Haroldo, we picked up about 15 stings total. It was then the Haroldo enlightened us by saying how "lucky" we were to only get that many! Apparently, Africanized Bees are common in the tropics.

Now I laugh, but believe me, there was no laughing going during all this!

Got to saddle up for the first time in a long time!

Just Getting There....

2011-11-22T17:22:00.001-03:00

Our first leg on the Seja Abençoado

I know I've been writing mostly lately about my travel experiences, but I promise, this one takes the cake!

On a recent trip to the community of Baixão (last time we went there by dirt bike and a ferry), I couldn't help but laugh. I'm not sure that I could even have dreamed it up, but my Brazilian counterpart never blinked an eye, nor lost faith, in our ability to arrive at this community. 16 hours later, he was right!

We started out from town on a boat, loaded down with lumber, headed up the Amazon River. The next morning, after spending all night piloting up the river, we jumped into our little speed boat to make the next two-hour leg of the trip. Up to now, everything is going as planned. Arriving in the dried up lake where the community Ponta Grande is located, we figure out that there is no way to actually arrive at this community because the water is too low! So do we abandon the trip and head home? Nope!

Leg #2 - Speed Boat

Luckily we found some men loading farinha into a boat to take to the city. After a bit of questioning we figured out that we could land the boat there and store the motor at this guys house. So, using his ox cart, we loaded up the motor and went for a ride. Arriving at his home, we unloaded the motor and his mother quickly sat us down for lunch! Now the problem is that we were still over 10 miles from our final destination.

After a bit of conversation, we found out that the local school bus could get us within a couple miles of our destination. So shortly thereafter, we found ourselves in the midst of a dozen screaming grade school kids!

Leg #3 - Ox Cart

Jumping off the bus, and looking around, we only had one option now, hitchhike again. Keep in mind, we've each got a backpack with our clothes and gear, a bag of tools, a sledge hammer, a post hole digger, two shovels, and a framing square.

Luckily, we were dropped off right in from of a little house with several motorcycles. So we paid the guys to take us the last little bit. (Remember the gear? Now imagine us on the back of motorcycles!)

And then we had to get home.....

Pure adventure!

Thumbs up on the bus!

Sorry, no pictures of the motorcycle ride because I was too busy holding onto the tools! But here's a picture of me working, just so you don't think we have too much play time with no work!

Ferries in the night

2011-11-10T16:18:00.000-03:00

As you can seen by my recent posts, I've been traveling more and more supervising the church construction projects. And last week after the National MDA Conference, I was ready to get out of the chair and cover some ground.

Adding to my list of various forms of Amazonian transport, we caught a ferry to head across the river. A couple hours later, we hit the ground running, or riding, to arrive in the community of Baixão before dark. After getting all the plans laid out to start their construction project, we ate some dinner, conversed and relaxed a bit, and then jumped in our hammocks.

At 3 AM the next morning we got up and headed off into the dark for our 50 km ride to catch the 5 AM ferry back to Santarém. The road was decent by Amazonian standards, but full of washboard style bumps. Once on the ferry, we noticed that the license plate was missing! No problem, easy fix right? Just get a new one. HAHA! TEN hours at the DETRAN (Brazilian Department of Motor Vehicles) and $60 later, I left with a new license plate.

If this next license plate falls off, it's gonna go with the whole back half of the bike!

View Larger Map

The inBetween Time

2011-10-24T10:11:00.000-03:00

Last night my wife and I got back from the EDD, or Encontro de Discipluladores com Deus, or in English, Disciplers' Encounter with God. It's a weekend of ministry for people who are desiring to be more effective in their discipleship ministry, which is the foundation of the PAZ church ministry model. This is essential material for our church members!

With the MDA Conference coming up, this retreat is opened up for people from outside of our Santarém church. The result, over 700 people in attendance! There is NO facility in our city of 200,000 people that is capable of holding this kind of event, so everybody is crammed into our camp.

It's pretty amazing to think about how God is using the simple people of the Amazon to His Glory! All of the ministry is done by our local pastors, most of which came from river villages, sons of simple fishermen. And now, people from all over Brazil, "the first world" are coming to hear them minister and speak about the move of God in the Amazon Basin!

Praise God for this wonderful event that we could participate it. Pray with us for the ability to soak it all in and apply it to our personal ministry situations. Now we're preparing for the MDA conference that will start on Tuesday night, also to be filled with visitors from all over Brazil. It's sure to be a busy week. Pray for us!

With our Love in Christ,
John & Silvia

October Update - It's a little bit of everything

2011-10-18T16:17:00.000-03:00

Hello Fall! I'll admit that this time of year brings on a little bit of "climate jealousy," with the fall being my favorite season of the year back in IL; harvest time, leaves changing, breezy days and nights with sunny brisk mornings. But lately we've had a few rainy nights here to cool off the Amazon steam. I was just thinking this morning how much more I enjoyed a cup of coffee in the "cool" 80 degree morning!

We are thankful that even though thousands of miles separate us, in Christ, we're side by side working together! Our hearts are full of gratitude, recently passing my second anniversary of moving to Brazil in September and also our first wedding anniversary in August. The Lord continues to reveal His steadfast presence in our lives and ministry, and so we persist in our declarations of His boundless pleasure in being glorified through the ministry of the saints! Thank you so much for your specific acts of support for us, prayerfully and financially! Just imagine the thanksgiving overflowing towards our God because of your service! (2 Corinthians 9:10-15)

The Cement Crew for the pour in Santarém Mirim.

You'll remember in the last update that I had been traveling with our church construction supervisor. Well, these past 50 days he's been in Japan with a team of American and Brazilian PAZ missionaries serving in the Tsunami disaster area and ministering at the PAZ Japan churches. So I took up the slack in his absence, supervising the two churches that were in-progress when he left. I made another follow-up trip to Mucambo, again by dirtbike, but alone! Dirt and sand roads in the middle of the jungle are a bit longer without a traveling partner! I also returned to Santarém Mirim to help pour the floor and supervise the ongoing work. I made a second trip there to follow up on the finishing work. Overall, I now have much more respect for all of the dedication and supervision that must take place to ensure these churches are being built with excellency! But what an honor to serve in this capacity!

I just returned from a water filter supervision trip to a couple Amazon River communities. It was a short trip, but we accomplished our goals. These two communities are situated in the Amazon River flood plane. It was an honor to help the people of these communities escape the realities of polluted drinking water. We pray for them to come to know the true fountain of life, Christ Jesus, so that they may never thirst again! I look forward to a return visit. Silvia has also made a couple trips recently with the health team, one inland and the other to a river community. One of the trips she coordinated and even had to be the driver of the 4x4 truck!

Our two cell groups are growing! We've had two conversions in the past month, one in each group! Praise God for His faithfulness in salvation! We also held a baptism for our area where I had the pleasure of baptizing one of my disciples! What an honor to share in that grand moment and declaration of faith in Christ! Continue to pray with us for the growth of each individual in the groups, for their spiritual growth and for our ability in ministering to them. This coming weekend Silvia and I will be participating in our churches Disciplers' Retreat. We're looking forward to learn how we can improve our personal ministries. Then next week begins the annual MDA Conference here in Santarém, where hundreds of church leaders from all over Brazil will come to learn about the vision and move of discipleship that began with the PAZ church. We're excited for this week full of learning! Pray with us for the application afterwards!

Be sure the check out the embedded links to get more details on our website!

Praises
Two people coming to saving faith through our cell groups!
Safe travels throughout the region by dirtbike, 4x4 truck, and boat!
The Gospel that travels on the feet of faithful men and women in the Amazon.

Prayer Requests
Ability to receive and then apply the teaching that we will receive in the coming weekend retreat and then next week's conference.
Continued desire and time to study Portuguese (I definitely still need to improve!)
Spiritual strengthening and growth of our cell groups as well as our disciples.

Serving Him,
John and Silvia Eisenmann

Celebrating the graduation of Silvia's father from law school!

Water Filter Supervision on the Amazon!

2011-10-18T11:30:00.000-03:00

I just returned home from a quick water filter supervision trip on the Amazon River. It had been a while since having been out on the Amazon, especially in this season where the level of the river is so low. Remember the depth of the river has a more than 8 meter (25 feet) annual swing! I thoroughly enjoyed my time traveling on the boat, reading, conversing with the pastors and wives, swinging in my hammock, praying, and just generally soaking in the marvelous beauty of the Amazon River Basin.

Our focus was two villages in the flood plane of the Amazon River. These communities spend three months of the year living above water! And of course their ONLY source of drinking water is the Amazon River. Imagine if you had to head down to the banks of the Illinois River or Lake Peoria for your daily supply of water! And then carry it home!

Walking to another home in Vila Vieira.

We split up in teams and set out by foot throughout the communities (one day in Vila Vieira and the other day in Vila Barbosa) restoring 20 filters and collecting information about the status of the other 50 or so filters in that area, planning for a return trip where we can help restore the remainder. Many of these filters were damaged during the 100-year flood of 2009 that ravaged this region of the Amazon.

We took in the local Igreja da Paz workers to spend time encouraging and discipling them, helping them to grow in their relationships with the Lord. It was a great time of community and service in the name of The Magnificent Author of Life, Christ Jesus.

View Larger Map

Back to Mucambo

2011-08-25T09:15:00.000-03:00

Another 500 km dirtbike trip and I'm home again! I basically made a repeat of this trip, visiting the communities of Santarém Mirí and Mucambo.

Monday afternoon I headed out to join up with a short-term american team that is here to help with the church construction project in Santarém Mirí. So I stopped there to give a hand and sleep. On Tuesday, I headed off to Mucambo to give some instructions for the finishing of the church there. After a wonderful fish lunch, it was back on the trail to Santarém Mirí, wrapping up the daytime adventure just before dark. Then yesterday morning I helped out the team again, and was back home in Santarém before cell group!

I forgot to take pictures of the trip between Santarém Mirí and Mucambo. In that area, the dirt roads tend to be more sand pits than roads, so that makes the riding a bit more fun and interesting. But I did snap a couple shots of the trip back to Santarém.

I love riding down the roads that wind through the jungle, with cool air and shade, surrounded by huge, towering trees!

But I must say, when I arrive to areas that have been cleared for farming, I get a little anxious for Illinois! And I realized yesterday, that in my mind, the farming style landscape is more beautiful.

The lone trees you see standing in the middle of the fields are called Castanheiras, which are the the trees that Brazil Nuts come from. They are illegal to cut down. I love how they stand majestically in the middle of the landscape!

But there's nothing like the view of the Amazon River as you descend back into Santarém! Home!

outwards

2011-08-18T12:59:00.000-03:00

Where does the rubber meet the road? How does my faith in Christ affect my life? How does what I have learned through the Word and Spirit change me and my mission? Am I living what I believe? If I'm not living it, do I really believe it?

Maybe these are some hard questions for you, as they are for me. None of them are easily answered. But today I was reminded of the awesome place I am at in my life, physically and spiritually...right in the middle of some "messy Grace." And I'm not just living in it, but wallowing in it! For me, the concept of grace is incredibly hard to grasp. As a recipient, I'm flabbergasted, often left with no words to describe how I feel about this gift from my God. As a giver, I stink at it. My selfishness is brutal. And so this is where it gets messy. In spite of me and my selfishness, God has promised to bring to completion the work that he started in me. He didn't start it, see me and my sin, and then quit. He's promised to never leave, nor forsake me, but to take me through to the end, no matter how messy it gets along the way. So we pray for the bonds of selfishness to be broken and the characteristics of grace to shine through, according to the measure of Christ's gift. Then I believe we'll start to see some answers to the questions above.

I am encouraged regularly. I am thankful to live in the middle of a spiritual community that encourages discipleship, evangelism, and Kingdom attitudes and lifestyles. I'm thankful to see transformed lives and to be in the middle of the mess, in ministry, in community, pursuing the Glory and Honor deserving of Christ Jesus. This is where we see grace at work and get a taste of just how messy it can be.

I found this video today about a church based in Tacoma, WA called Soma Communities. Most, if not all, of what the pastor explains is also found at the core of the Paz church model. Enjoy, but prepare your heart for a challenge and some introspection.

JAE

August Update - More Travels, Land and Water

2011-08-09T13:54:00.003-03:00

Happy August! There's definitely some similarities between August in Illinois and August in Santarém; back to school and crazy HEAT! The rain has stopped and we're into the dry and HOT season. July is a holiday month in Brazil, but it seamed that Silvia and I were far from vacationing!

In the last update, I asked for prayer for our annual evangelistic event in the city, which we participated in through the theatre ministry. There was lots of long hours of rehearsal leading up to the event and some late nights, but it all came together in the end. Hundreds of people came to saving faith in Christ and now the church is on to the task of discipling them all. You can see a highlight video of the event here. I played the role of Jesus, which was a definite honor.

In the past month, I made two separate trips with our church construction coordinator, one by boat to the village of Mucambo, just down the Amazon River, and the second by dirt-bike, to Santarém Miri as well as Mucambo for a second time. Yes, Mucambo is reachable by both water and land. By boat it takes about ten hours and by dirt-bike about five hours, including the crossing of a river where the bikes are loaded up on a canoe. It was quite the adventure, which you can read about on our website. The purpose of these trips are to supervise the construction projects of our new church plants, prepare for upcoming American teams, and equally important, minister to the local church and leaders. It's always a true blessing to participate in the growth of a local church body!

Don't think that I do all the traveling, my wife gets out of the city too! Just before I left on the second of these trips, Silvia returned from a health trip to Aninduba, on the Amazon River. The health team was there ministering as part of a cell group conference hosted in that community. Her pictures are here. During that same time, I was on a trip with some fellow PAZ missionaries to document and evaluate future construction sites for new churches!

Silvia and I traveled together to the villages of Uruari and Jacaré, participating in health clinics, evangelism, and water filter supervision. These two communities are located along the Amazon River as well. We had with us many young adults who were very passionate to evangelize and share. We had a couple great services as well. And as a first for me, I was asked to share the Word in the worship service! I have shared before, but this time it was to be alone, with no translator, so of course, in Portuguese. I was hesitant at first, but ultimately succeeded. It has helped my confidence to know I am capable of ministering in Portuguese! It's also given me reason to be more faithful in my language studies!

We just celebrated our one year wedding anniversary this past weekend. So to do something a bit different, we headed out to a local beach and went camping for the night. We had it all to ourselves and spent the time reminiscing about the goodness of our God, where we've been this year, up and downs, and where we are praying to be in another year. We were very thankful for some time to pray and enjoy each other's company! What an honor to do ministry together!

Praises
Fabulous first year of marriage.
Successful first time ministering publicly in Portuguese.
Safe traveling by land and water in the name of Christ.
For the Grace-upon-Grace that is showered on us daily by our God!

Prayer Requests
Continued desire and time to study Portuguese (I definitely still need to improve!)
Strengthening and growth of our cell groups as well as our disciples.
Consistency in our intimate time with the Lord and in the Word.

Serving Him,
John & Silvia Eisenmann

Fresh Off the Trail

2011-08-05T15:23:00.000-03:00

Most aspects of missionary life in the Amazon Basin have become the norm for me at this point, boats, bugs, alligators piranas, dirt roads, and 4x4 trucks. But this week marked another first for me! I was asked to travel along with our construction supervisor, Joaquim, to visit two communities that currently have works in progress, Santarém Miri and Mucambo. The catch was that we would be traveling by dirtbike!

Now this is starting to sound more like play than work, so I readily accepted. (Special thanks to fellow missionary Edson Lee for loaning my his bike for the trip.) The purpose of the trip was simple, travel to the two communities and make sure that the construction projects were in order and on time. I had already been to the community of Mucambo when we laid the foundation of that church. This is part of what it takes to make sure that these projects are ready for the American teams that come down to help out and bless these people.

So on Monday afternoon we headed out, taking with us a bricklayer that we would be leaving in Santarém Miri to work the next couple weeks. After two hours in the sun and rain and some slick clay roads, we arrived to out first stop. We spent the night there with the local pastor and helped get some issues straightened out. The next day after lunch, we were on our way again, taking three more hours to arrive in Mucambo. These three hours felt more like trail riding than on a road, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In Mucambo we found the church all but ready for the American team next week and so our work was light. We had some blessed fellowship time with the locals in their prayer meeting and with the worker and his family. But most good things come to a close and so the next day after lunch we were on our way again, this time with the entire five hour trip in front of us to make it home in time for cell groups that night.

I learned about what a blessing a dirtbike can be here. I think a 4x4 might have made the trip, but I'm sure it would have been more like 15 hours instead of 5 to make the 200 km one-way journey. Plus we had to cross a river in a small canoe, which was readily available. A truck would have to wait for a barge, which sometimes doesn't operate for days at a time. And by boat, it takes twice as long, and twice as much fuel. So praise the Lord for the efficiency of motorcycle-church-construction-supervision!

It was a superb time for me to spend with Joaquim, working, playing, and ministering to everyone we came across. It doesn't get much better than that.

View Santarém to Mucambo - Supervision Trip by Moto in a larger map

Here is the link to see more pictures on Facebook.

To be the King

2011-08-01T13:16:00.000-03:00

A month ago I was privileged (actually, my wife had to convince me) to have an acting role in the theatre piece presented during the local church's evangelical crusade. I was invited to play the role of Christ, which brings lots of interesting pressure in the idea of how do I actually personify Christ?

It was a test of my portuguese skills and required several late, sleepless nights before the show, but I believe in the end, I was encouraged and even complimented.

Here's the video of the event. As a prayer request, you can join with us as we strive to integrate these new souls into solid discipleship and spiritual growth, in effect, proving our their faith and new desires in serving the Lord. May they be showered in Grace!

Sleeping in Strange Places

2011-07-25T16:00:00.000-03:00

Uruari

Not to many people can say they've done it, but I have. I spent the night in the "mouth of the Aligator!" OK, so "Aligator" is the name of the community and we anchored our boat in the "mouth" of the bay, so there you have it. Jacaré (portuguese for aligator) is a small community in Lago Grande, or Big Lake, just up the Amazon River from Santarém. This may sound familiar to you from my recent trip to Curuai, also located on Lago Grande. It was one of two communities that we visited this past weekend.

On Thursday morning, a group of about 15 of us headed out from Santarém, the mission health team, the boat crew, some water filter supplies, and a half dozen young adults anxious to help out. Eight hours later we docked the Portador da Luz in Uruari, right in front of the local PAZ church. The dentist and his assistant got right to work as did myself and a couple other doing water filter supervision. Other headed out to spread the word about our health clinic and worship service planned for the next evening.

The following day was busy with dental and medical patients while I worked with the local pastor to make house visits and do checkups on the PAZ water filters scattered around the community while others engaged in kids ministry. Unfortunately, it rained early in the evening, so our worship service had a slim crowd, but we took advantage of that time with those few people that lived next door to the church.

Ministering the Word in Jacaré

After the service we took off, heading for Jacaré, where we would sleep, waiting for the next morning. Much of the same took place here, but just that the evening brought some new challenges for me. I was asked to share the message during the evangelical service! I'll admit, I was a bit hesitant, mostly questioning my ability to express myself in portuguese for an extended time, especially in front of a large group. But, to the praise and glory of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, I succeeded in the challenge, conveying a message of reconciliation for those in attendance. Now we're praying for the seeds planted, that the local worker and church there would reap the fruit of our efforts!

We love the work we are called to here in the Amazon, seeing first hand how Kingdom work overcomes climate, transportation challenges, and languages. Thanks for your prayer and support!

View Trip Destinations in a larger map

It's All in the Foundation

2011-07-11T12:27:00.000-03:00

Some of the most pleasurable moments I've had here in Brazil take place at some odd times. We set off on some adventure, not really knowing what we're getting ourselves into, with maybe just a slight inclination of what the journey may entail.

On Friday morning, I returned off the river from a three and a half day construction trip to the community Mucambo. In many aspects this trip was typical. Moving materials from our boat to the construction site, digging trenches for the foundation, mixing cement, tying rebar, participating in local ministry through prayer sessions and cell groups. In other ways it wasn't so typical. Sporadic rains, broken generator on the boat, having to stop and reprime the fuel system on the diesel engine of the boat, only to find a dead battery, sending us on a nighttime Amazon adventure to seek a loaner battery.

Mucambo lies due east of Santarém, about a 6 hour boat ride down river, but 11 hours to get back home because of the currents. During part of the year, this area is reachable by road, but boats continue to be the most reliable and safest form of transport. The community is powered by a generator for 3 hours a night. Locals anxiously wait for the arrival of 24 hour electricity, which according to the politicians, is on the way.

View Larger Map

I'm not sure where the best moment turns out to be, maybe seeing the joyful face of the local worker's wife who served up banquet style lunches for us each day, or maybe it was the midnight run across the glass-like Amazon River at 15 knots soaking in marvelous views of the Milky Way, or perhaps the daybreak view of Santarém from the river amid the anticipation of returning to our wives and families.

And then there was the community, hungry for the Truth, studying the Word, realizing their death in sin, but basking in the victory of Gospel Grace. OH GOD, MAKE THEM YOURS!

It was a privilege to work along side the locals and help kick off this project. I hope to some day return and see the fruit of an eternal investment.

JAE

With the local worker and his family.

Construction site

Mixing a cement/sand slurry for the foundation.

June Update - It's Never Dull Around Here

2011-06-30T17:34:00.000-03:00

Greetings to all! This update comes on the brink of one of the largest events in Santarém for the year. The local church is preparing for the annual "Congresso" that will take place this coming weekend. It will be three evenings filled with worship, teaching, dancing, and theatre all with a Gospel emphasis designed for non-believers to hear the Gospel. The event is well know and thousands and thousands of people will attend and bring their unsaved friends. This year Silvia and I were invited to participate in the theatre portion, so we'll be taking our places in that ministry. Pray with us for a great event and a clear Gospel message falling on the ears of receptive souls, those prepared by our God to receive saving faith in our Lord!

I ended the month of April with a quick trip out on the Maro River to a community far from Santarèm. We arrived there via speedboat, taking almost six hours to make the 200 Km journey. Fellow missionaries Jeff and Joaquim and I worked together with the local villagers to prep the church construction project for a coming team of Americans. We were blessed to share our time with those locals. This community is located in an area where they selectively harvest lumber and sell it to make a living. The community spent several weeks to cut and rip all the boards for their own church and then continued to make twice as many so they could donate all of the lumber for another church construction project! What a blessing! I love to see lives transformed and people giving all they have for the sake of the Gospel and the kingdom work going on in the Amazon Basin! This is a true example of sacrificial living for the Gospel! The next time you're at the gas pump with your car, remember the people on the Maro River, who pay over $16 per gallon of gas!

In May, Silvia and I were invited to attend a course given by the local church to teach how to better minister the Word within various teaching opportunities in the church. The course was three nights a week for 13 sessions so that kept us occupied for the month of May! We were blessed to be taught and learn by some of the local pastors. I appreciate the efforts of the church to bring a high standard to the teaching standards within the body. I am sure that the church will reap these benefits for years to come! We also started a cell group that we host in our home on Saturdays! We had been praying for this group for some time and now it's finally come true!

In June, the normalcy returned as Silvia got back to traveling with the Health Team. They headed south of town by van and truck to arrive at five different villages to host clinics over the course of a week. I also recently returned from a trip on the river doing water filter maintenance and training in the village of Curuai. June also brought a couple holidays, including the city of Santarém birthday, some people birthdays, as well as a couple races for me to run in. We also participated in the March for Jesus, where the evangelical christian churches in the city join together to have a parade and pray for the city.

Our disciples got married!

Thanks again for your love, support, prayers and partnership in the Lord's work through us in the Amazon Basin! We continue to grow as a married couple as well, learning more and more each day about how to balance ministry and family life while not forgetting the radical lifestyle that Christ has called us all to participate in, namely that of making disciples of the nations!

Praises

Safe traveling by land and water in the name of Christ.

For the Grace-upon-Grace that is showed on us daily by our God!

Recent approval of my second one-year Religious Visa to Brazil and accompanying ID card.

Prayer Requests

Strengthening and growth of our cell groups as well as our disciples.

Time and consistency with our intimate time with the Lord and in the Word.

Consistency in our new cell group that is now meeting in our home, that it may lead to future growth!

Water Filters in Curuai

2011-06-28T11:29:00.000-03:00

Welcome to Curuai

Last week, at the last minute, I decided to join up on a water filter supervision and maintenance trip to the village of Curuai, located on Lago Grande just up the Amazon a bit from Santarém. Along on this trip were some fellow missionaries and some brazilians. The purpose of this trip was two-fold. We needed to do home visits and maintenance on water filters already installed in the community. Since the town has more than 300 filters installed, this is a big effort. Secondly, as we went house to house, we trained several of the local church people to be able to do this maintenance work.

The village of Curuai has approximately 600 families. An 8.5 hour boat trip up the Amazon will get you there. Recently benefiting from a rural electrification initiative, the town has grown in both population and physical size, now having several neighborhoods, three schools, and five full time health workers. Portions of the villa have public water (non-treated water), but not all parts. Many homes have open wells where buckets can be dropped in a water pulled out. The water table lies in some places less than one meter below the surface. Of course the danger is contamination to the ground water supply, and thus the great need for these water filters. People in the community talk of times before the filters when diarrhea and other intestinal problems were prevalent, but how since their introduction, these health risks have greatly diminished.

Teaching how to do maintenance.

Please pray for the local Paz church workers who diligently serve the people through this ministry. Pray for their interactions, that they would bear spiritual fruit, offering sweet times of communion and prayer within homes that may not otherwise hear the gospel. After all, the real life-giving water is Christ Jesus, and it is in His name that we serve. Pray for them as they volunteer their time, being away from their families and livelihood to pursue the Lord's work. Pray that they carry with them the aroma of Christ, the aroma of life eternal and joy in our God!

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Growth Rate of Evangelical Christianity

2011-06-27T11:12:00.001-03:00

Here's a relevant graphic pertaining to the growth of the world population and Christianity. What sticks out in your mind?

Taken from the GMI website.

Deceit Turned Incentive

2011-06-22T08:00:00.005-03:00

Most any frontier missionary will agree that significant barriers often impede our attempt to enter the foreign mission field, or even embrace a passion for missionary work and lifestyle. One such barrier is the misconception that the missionary must be an evangelist, or preacher, or know how to save people. Another is that there is just too much to leave behind in the way of family, friends, and community.
The only real way to overcome this type of deception is to embrace biblical truths. I appreciate John Piper's ministry as one of the most influential forces in my inclination towards frontier missions. In this excerpt from his book, Desiring God, Piper addresses these two misconceptions and shows how they should actually provide incentive. He writes:

These, then, are two great incentives from Jesus to become a World Christian and to dedicate yourself to the cause of Frontier Missions as the twentieth century comes to a close.

1. Every impossibility with men is possible with God (Mark 10:27). The conversion of hardened sinners will be the work of God and will accord with his sovereign plan. We need not fear or fret over our weakness. The battle is the Lord's and he will give the victory.

2. Christ promises to work for us and to be for us so much that when our missionary life is over, we will not be able to say we've sacrificed anything (Mark 10:29-30). When we follow his missionary prescription, we discover that even the painful side-effects work to improve our condition. Our spiritual health, our joy, improves a hundredfold. And when we die, we do not die. We gain eternal life.

Taken from the Desiring God Blog.

Double Holiday Week!

2011-06-21T10:15:00.000-03:00

Happy 350th Birthday, Santarém!! This week, in Santarem, we celebrate two holidays, the local holiday and celebration of the founding of the city on June 22nd, 1661, followed by the national Catholic holiday of Corpus Christi (The Body of Christ) on June 23rd. The city will shut down for a couple days, with only a handful of gas stations remaining open. Lot's of partying will ensue. My wife and I will spend some time with family, some time with our cell group, and some time relaxing and resting. Oh, and I will be sure to participate in the 4K Running for Santarem event.

A couple weeks ago, I was privately lamenting over not being able to celebrate Memorial Day. Of course I don't expect to celebrate Memorial Day in in Brazil, but that doesn't cut the nostalgia created by thousands of miles of separation. Holidays are not just holidays, nor are they just days off of work. What we do on those days makes them a special part of our culture.

But combining two cultures isn't so bad. I may not get twice as many days off, but I still get to celebrate twice as many holidays! And it's fun for all the ex-pats to get together and share a bit of our home culture with the locals.

But who needs Memorial Day and Labor Day when you live in a climate where summer never really starts or ends?

Making Disciples and Our Relationship with Christ

2011-06-02T14:09:00.000-03:00

I appreciate the seemingly simplistic passion that Francis Chan exudes when he preaches. Here's a short clip of him talking about how our relationship with Christ may change when we're out making disciples.

Francis Chan - The Presence of Jesus in Suffering from Verge Network on Vimeo.

Diet or Lifestyle?

2011-05-17T09:36:00.000-03:00

I'm kinda nuts about running (and maybe getting there with biking). But in a good way of course. Beyond the spiritual transformation and miracle that took place in my life in 2006, I underwent a physical transformation in 2007-08, shedding over 100 pounds. Many of those that knew me during that time, and even people that have only known me as the current model, ask for me to reveal the "secret" or "trick" to losing 100 lbs. Most are then severely disheartened when I reply with "close your mouth and exercise!"

Of course there was a change in diet, but that was really a secondary aspect, resulting in my desire to run. My diet at the time left me feeling sluggish and in constant hunger. Cutting greasy food, excessive red meat, heavily processed foods, soda, and most sugary items left me feeling ready to get out and exercise, even at the end of a 10-12 hour day at the office.

All this sounds pretty tough, and maybe it is at the beginning, but it's really a change in lifestyle. After living a month eating healthy and exercising, I no longer had the desire to go back to all the junk.

I appreciated the take of this doctor about the "Mediterranean Diet." I think she has lots of good things to say about what diet, eating, and meals used to be a couple generations ago. And she definitely gets it that fad's aren't the trick that most people are looking for to shave some pounds.

...It is about the values, habits, relationships, quality of how food is grown and the quantity of how food consumed by these particular groups -- not just how or what they eat. A point that is often missed by the media is that health is not isolated to one's diet. The whole health of an individual is about the physical, emotional, nutritional, environmental and even spiritual components that create our overall state of health. Our dietary choices and habits can be seen as a metaphor of what the overall or whole picture of that individual's health is expressing. We eat how we think, feel, work and behave, all of which are influenced by our environment, values, age, financial and education levels and even by our gender. [I would add spiritual to this as well.]

Beyond just nutritional health, the Mediterranean Diet promotes a way of living that includes the following components, which could explain the positive health benefits.

Intense physical activity that includes work and all its forms of movement; farming, building, planting, gardening, dancing, sports, house work, child care or any activity that provides a non-sedentary daily routine.

The Medditerrenean Diet: It's Not Just About Food - Georgianna Donadio, MSc, Ph.D., D.C.

She goes on to list some aspects of the Medditerrenean lifestyle that go along with the diet. I especially enjoy some of her concluding remarks, one of which is as follows:

What is missing from many "nutrition books of the week" is the organic, common sense understanding that the food we eat is just part of a multi-faceted set of choices we make in how we choose to live and behave. Many of these choices are based on our personal and collective social values.

Up the Maro

2011-05-05T22:38:00.000-03:00

I used to think a six hour car ride across some Midwestern states was a long ride. But now I've been introduced to a six hour ride in a four meter long aluminum boat! Our experiences have the ability to quickly change perspective and adjust the statements of relativity that we make on a day to day basis.

Thumbs up from the workers kids!

Last weekend I headed out to the Maro River with fellow PAZ missionary Jeff Turner and the mission construction guru Joaquim. I've traveled with both of these men before, but this trip was special because of it's nature. Our goal was simple. Arrive in the community of Vista Alegre, install the twelve main support beams for the church, install the six trusses, put on the roof, and then come home. And in the name of the Lord, this was accomplished.

One significant praise report from this trip was that for the three days we were there, it never rained! OK, that doesn't sound too radical, but this is the rainy season in the rain forest, and according to the locals, it "never" happens that three days pass without rain during this season! So praise God for holding the rain for us to accomplish our goal and get home a half day early! Interestingly enough, the rain did cut loose one hour after we finished and we got to spend the first hour of our trip home in the driving cold rain on an open boat at 42 kph!

This was my first time up the Maro River. One has to go up two other rivers to arrive at the Maro, but once you get there, you quickly realize your location in the middle of the jungle on a winding river of dark, cool water swiftly making it's way to the Amazon. We traveled 200 kilometers to arrive there (127 as the crow flies) taking six and a half hours to do so and filling up with gasoline four times. We hauled with us over 200 liters of gasoline to make the trip!

SIDE NOTE: At current exchange rates, gasoline in the city of Santarém costs approximately US$7.10 per gallon. In a river village such as Vista Alegre, located 200 kilometers from the city, a person must purchase gasoline from a boat that makes weekly trips up and down the river, at a cost of US$16.56 per gallon! And he will need gasoline to power his boat engine, generator, and chain saw!


Hauling hand-cut lumber out of the forest.

The local people make their living cutting and selling wood. It was great to see how they had sacrificed their salaries in order to provide all of the wood for this church! I'm continually impressed at their capability to use chain saws and cut by hand all of their boards! I was shown how they pick trees, cut them down, rip the boards, and then haul the planks to the rivers edge so it can be loaded on a boat and taken back to the community.

We share some blessed time of conversation and were able to encourage the families of Vista Alegre. God has made a huge move in this ten family community. To date, all but one family as been saved! I look forward to seeing what God has in store for this place and the local worker. It was an honor to work along side of the local men in building their church. I really hope I have a chance to return.

The local church worker "Mandioca" and his family.

Praise God for His marvelous works of Grace in the community of Vista Alegre on the Maro River!

The start of the church building, as we left it.

Questions

2011-05-03T11:25:00.000-03:00

As an American abroad, I get lots of questions regarding how I view various situations or crisis around the world and in the US. I field questions such as: 'Do you like President Obama?' and 'Did you like President Bush?' or 'Do you agree with what the US is doing in the Middle East?' One of my favorite questions is 'Why don't Americans like Canadians?' And I especially like the correlation that most Brazilians make between Chicago and Al Capone. It usually goes something like this... "Oh, you're from close to Chicago? That's where Al Capone lived, right!?"

Joking aside, this line of questioning often brings opportunity for me to analyze just how much influence I carry with my passport. I don't think my opinion matters any more than the next person on the street, so I try to give as much of a biblical response as possible. That's the influence that I want to have.

Yesterday brought a new question into light. "How do you feel about Osama bin Laden being found and killed?" I think my emotions cover the spectrum: joy, happiness, relief, remorse, sorrow, pain. Ultimately, God brings justice, and in that I rejoice, but I grieve the death of a human life that brought terror upon the earth and harmed so many people. I know that outside the grace of my God, undeservingly poured upon me, my fate would have been the same as Osama bin Laden. My sins warranted the same fate--eternal damnation and separation from God. Only Christ's obedience to the death could save me. And that's the reality of what separates me from Osama bin Laden.

PS - I appreciated the Holy Scriptures brought to light in this blog.

April Update - Trips and Cell Group

2011-04-26T09:15:00.000-03:00

Hello everybody! We write to you with praise on our lips for the wonderful faithfulness of our God, the Father, in the fulfillment of the Law through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus! Our recent Easter Week was spent with our missionary family in the context of a member care conference. We are learning how to better interact and perform as a multi-cultural ministry. Also, we learned some ways that we can better take care of each other as field missionaries. The four-day conference was truly a blessed time of prayer, intercession, worship, contemplation, and learning. These are all essential topics for our team as we engage our task of discipling the nations!

Silvia with a family in a river community.

We ended February in an amazing rush of events and trips, Silvia traveling on a health trip and then me taking some of our cell group members to the teen camp. We kicked off March with both of us traveling on a health trip where Silvia's dad performed eye surgeries and I spent some time data collecting for our church database and mapping project. Thirty hours after we returned, I was headed to the airport for my quick trip back to the US to meet up with family, supporters, and stand in a wedding. But before I could return, Silvia was off on another health trip on the Maro River which is 16 hours by boat! But we were finally reunited at the end of March after 16 days apart!


Team shot in Auerana

Immediately we got back in the groove and helped with the planning for a river trip for a church construction team from Indiana. We traveled with them to the Amazon River community of Auerana. We blessed that local church their with our hands by painting the church, installing a hand rail around the church, as well as installing and maintaining almost 40 water filters! We were blessed to take part in this endeavor with this team! One incident that happened on this trip that demonstrated the hand of God upon us was a case of physical protection. While installing water filters, our boat motor caught on fire with 6 of us in the boat! But, praise God that no one was hurt and the situation was under control in short order. This was just one incident that shows some of the dangers of church planting in the Amazon Basin and how quickly situations can arise. More importantly, this incident showed us the sovereign hand of God over us and protecting our bodies from physical harm!

Cell Group Getsêmani

But now we're back in the city, discipling and caring for our cell group ministry! We really appreciate your prayers for the young folks to which we are ministering. This is one of our focuses for this year is seeing our cell groups growing and the members well cared for, with young people rising up to the challenges of a God-filled, and Spirit-led life. We need your prayers for this to happen!

We want to say thanks again for all of you who are supporting this ministry in any way, shape, or form! We appreciate you all and look forward to sharing with you in years of fruitful work for the Lord! Be sure to check out our website to see more details and pictures of God's work in our lives!

Praises
- Refreshing cool rains
- A God who has chosen to demonstrate His purposes through the gift of grace, given freely to us at His cost!
- The Spirit upon Brazil and the PAZ ministry in the Amazon Basin, evident in thousands of conversions and amazing stories of God-sized power!

Prayer Requests
- Wisdom in how to manage many young disciples as well as two healthy cell groups
- Continued Growth in our cell groups - members who are excited to share their knowledge and grow in their personal relationship with the Lord
- For our disciples to maintain strong relationships with the Lord and to desire growth and embrace leadership possibilities
- Our marriage relationship, for strength and protection against the enemy, that we could model and lead as examples
- For the Lord's hand on our plans to start another cell group in our home, focusing on young adults and couples

In the Name of our Risen Lord,
John & Silvia

Cell Group Getsêmani

2011-04-14T09:02:00.000-03:00

Igreja da Paz is a church of cell groups. Ministry starts with one-on-one discipleship and then to cell groups (sometimes called family groups or small groups). These groups meet once a week and are really where the Body of Christ is able to interact on a personal level.

Our Cell Group, called Getsêmani.

Silvia and I are blessed to lead a cell group. Last February, we multiplied our group into two, with fellow PAZ missionary Micah leading the other. Please pray with us for our growth. We believe the Lord will be glorified by both growth in number (more souls come to saving faith, thus increasing the size of the Kingdom) and in intimacy (each soul is well cared for and growing in their personal relationship with the Lord, ultimately bearing more fruit for the Kingdom).

And please pray for our growth as leaders and disciplers of this group of believers! We are anxious to learn. We want to become more effective ministers of the Truth so that we are prepared to go out as part of a church plant team!

Blessings,
JAE

Gun Shots?

2011-04-11T08:00:00.001-03:00

Transportation in the Amazon Basin isn’t always the easiest. We’re always dealing with mud, torrential downpours, big rivers and waves and wind, and grass or other floating debris. Up til now, the only incident I’ve been involved in was a trip where we were traveling to a community via speedboat (that’s what they call it here, but it’s really just an aluminum jon-boat with 30 HP outboard motor). Somewhere in the middle of the Amazon River, we ran over a log in the water, jarring the motor and killing it. We tried to restart it but to no avail. So we drifted over to the side after about an hour or so and along came another boat that happened to be going by the community where we were headed, so we hitched a ride.

But this recent trip to Auerana adds another experience to my list of Amazon adventures. We were using a similar boat, well, actually it may have been the same boat, to carry around people and supplies to install water filters in people’s homes. We had just finished installing a filter, all of us sitting patiently in the boat waiting for the pilot to start the motor and for us to take off. He was having a hard time getting it started, but I thought nothing of it.

The next moment, I heard a strange noise, like the motor trying to turn over, but not really making it. Then BOOM! People in the neighboring houses, almost a mile away, say it sounded like a rifle shot. I turned quick to see the lid of the motor landing in the water some 20 feet behind the boat. It still hadn't all registered what was happening. But then I saw some flames inside of the motor compartment, which quickly led to flames leaping and dancing on top of the motor. And soon the motor was completely engulfed in flames! We were all scrambling to the front of the boat, while the pilot was trying to grab the gasoline can and pull it away from the fire.

The neighbors quickly jumped in their boats and came to help put the fire out. Pr. Samuel was able to get the gas can away and one the neighbors arrived with an old shirt, dipping it in the water and then smothering the fire.

Everything happened pretty fast and the whole thing was over in less than a minute or two. Unfortunately, the motor received significant damage and were not even able to identify what actually caused the fire. But praise God that all of the people in the boat were safe! The situation could have been much worse, but we were protected by the Hand of the Lord.

And praise God that even though we were short an outboard motor for the rest of the trip, one of the locals loaned us his own to use for a couple days with our boat! And we went "fishing" with a net and found the lid to the motor.

Please pray specifically for the safety of our workers and their families as they traverse the Amazon Basin in the name of our Lord!

The Finishing Touches in Auerana

2011-04-08T19:18:00.003-03:00

It’s always great to see a project come to a close. And that’s what we got to do this past week in Auerana, a 40-family community on the Amazon River, northwest of Santarém.

I was just there four and a half months ago, but this was a whole different community. As is common in the Amazon River flood plane, these communities spend part of the year underwater! In November when I traveled there, we docked our boat along the main channel of the Amazon and then walked for 30 minutes to arrive in Auerana. This trip, we docked the boat so that we could step directly on to the church! Talk about a great parking spot!

This team from Indiana worked to paint the church, inside and out, as well as install a handrail for the walkway around the church. They finished the floor on the stage as well. But one other activity they did was ministering to the children of the community through singing songs, performing a skit, and playing games. Over 30 kids showed up and some parents as well.

We also worked to install almost 20 new water filters and fix almost 20 others that had been damaged from the flood in 2009. I specifically worked with this effort and enjoyed the time visiting almost every home in the community. We evangelized and invited everyone to the two services we were planning to have in the church.

Clean water is a resource that as Americans we take for granted. Right now, life is much easier for people in Auerana, because the water is right under their house. They just have to throw a bucket down and pull it up, as opposed to walking down to the river with buckets and carrying it back. However, this water is covering their outhouse, cow pastures, and who knows what dead animals. The gift of fresh water is precious, and even more so when the Gospel comes with it.

At one of the services, almost 70 people from the community came to hear the Word preached! We were excited to see that kind of attendance, but the most exciting part of it was the 4 people who were saved and came to saving faith in Christ! Please pray for these two adults (Cledevaldo and Derlei) and two children (Reinildo and Alexandre). Several others received prayer for healing.

One praise report that we had from the community was a man who was saved during my trip there in November. Only he was flat out drunk when he professed faith. But now, almost 5 months later, it’s confirmed that he’s never drank since and is one of the most solid believers in the community! It reminded me of the bondage to alcohol that God pulled me out of when I was saved.

We left that church painted and ready to go. But now we’ll be anxiously awaiting reports of how the real church, the body, grows and is able to utilize this simple building for God’s honor and glory! The people there were excited to see the progress of this building and received us well and with lots of gratitude. May God pour out His Spirit upon that community, Grace upon Grace, so that the name of Jesus may be exalted in Auerana.

Auerana Again

2011-04-03T14:53:00.000-03:00

So I've barely been back home in Santarém for a week and it's time to head out again! We're enjoying hosting a team from north-eastern Indiana, a couple families, and will be traveling with them to the Amazon River village of Auerana. You may remember that name from this trip back in November of last year. This time we'll be painting the church, installing water filters as well as performing maintenance. We are also planning to do some children's ministry and distribute some school supplies. Of course this will accompany evangelical services in the evenings and visits to families during the day.

Please pray with us for Spiritual Freedom to reign over this community, dispersing and efforts of the enemy to disrupt our efforts. As with many communities in the Amazon Basin, this one has some specific struggles with alcoholism. Please pray for this bondage to be broken! We're going there in the Name of our Holy God, believing His purposes will be fulfilled!

Now is the flood season, so we're likely to encounter some rain. Pray this does not get in the way of our work or the evening services! Also, since this is a flooded community, you can pray for the safe transportation of all the Americans in the little wooden canoes that we'll use to get around at the community! I'll look forward to updating everyone when we get back!

Oh, and here's a great 5 minute presentation of the Gospel. Enjoy.

G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

Things You Stand In

2011-03-22T22:55:00.001-03:00

Leaving the US is different every time, but some things never change...like airport delays!

I just enjoyed a sweet time of fellowship with some of the most influential people in my life, especially as a young christian man, outside of my immediate family. Being half way around the world as your friends get married is tough, but not because you're missing the wedding, but because you're missing all the sweet fellowship of past friendships. Everybody get's together, but life is different....wives, babies, minivans, jobs, and houses. And the jokes fly, conversations ensue, and then everybody complains about how they can't stay up late any more!

But I was honored to attend a beautiful wedding last weekend and stand in honor of my Best-Man, Tony and his beautiful bride, Sarah. Congratulations to both of them on the wonderful, God-honoring, service and reception!

Compliments of Imagine Artists

Before and after was some super-sweet family time as well. It's so cool to see how much my nieces and nephews are maturing! They are "growin' like weeds!"

For the other two of my groomsmen that are getting married this year, if you're reading this....SORRY! I guess I'll have to see it on Facebook!

New Prayer Card

2011-03-11T05:20:00.000-03:00

Special thanks to our missionary friend Becca who helped us out with the new design.

Please feel free to click on the picture and print it out. You will also find it located under the Prayer Card page of this website.

Boa Vista do Cuçari

2011-03-08T21:51:00.001-03:00

We're almost home. I'm actually on the boat ride home now, on the Amazon River, but surprised to have cell phone service enough for the modem to work! It's been 9 hours now but Santarém is in sight!

This was a great way to spend the Carnaval holiday...out on the river! We were blessed to have Silvia's dad with us on this trip doing eye surgeries for Pterygium. He was assisted by fellow missionary Micah Gregory as surgical technician and they completed about a dozen procedures! This was a huge blessing for these people! Everybody was thankful to have Dr. Ribeiro in town!

Dr. Ribeiro, Micah, and Isaura in surgery.

Also on the trip were a couple visiting doctors from Southern Brazil, one general practicioner and another plastic surgeon. They also attended people with varying sicknesses as well as removing cysts, moles, and other skin diseases. Mission nurses Isaura and Katie assisted with various surgeries and attended patients as well. Adriano, Silvia and I helped with the pharmacy and various other logistical needs for the clinic. I'm not sure how many patients were seen but it sure seemed crazy!

Katie assisting the Doctor to remove a mole.

We participated in the local Sunday worship service as well as showed an evangelical film on Monday night. We had great gatherings and so there is no doubt in my mind that this even will bear fruit in the weeks to come! Pray with us for the local pastor, Genêsio, and his wife who will follow up and care for these God-hungry people! They were so thankful to have us!

I was able to spend some time getting around with Pastor Genesio to the various surrounding communities where he is supervising new churches and cell groups. We visited four communities yesterday via speed boat and five more today via motorcycle. I was able to gather GPS coordinates for them to help us get more data for our Church-Plant Mapping Initiative that I am leading for PAZ.

Making our way through the grass in the river to get to the next community!

Thanks for your prayers for this great work in the Amazon Basin! The Spirit is moving here and we're all taking advantage of the Great Harvest!

Our Team!

Boasting in Christ,
John

On the River Again

2011-03-02T09:27:00.001-03:00

Don't worry, I don't listen to Willie Nelson....well at least not much anyway :-)

I'm about to head out on the river and would appreciate some prayer support. This afternoon I embark on a supervision trip with our head missions pastor, Nilton. I look forward to spending a couple days with him traveling and gleaning from his more than 20 years of church planting experience in the Amazon Basin.

Also on this trip is fellow missionary Scott, PAZ board member Matt and his guest, Nate. Thanks to some generous donors back in the states, we are privileged to present some new musical equipment to a couple river churches that then will be able to use to host services. This is a huge blessing and no doubt we will get to see humble men of God receive gifts from the Body of Christ in the "other hemisphere." I'm honored to have the chance to go.

[Update: Feb 3, 2011 - Due to some unfortunate transportation issues that arose last minute, I was unable to go on this trip. Despite my absence, the prayer requests remain.]

After that, Lord willing, the health team will head out during the Carnaval holiday to the village of Boa Vista do Cussari. This will be a special trip for us as Silvia's father, an ophthalmologist, will be performing surgeries in the village. The focus of the surgeries is to fix a common eye disease, Pterygium. The cause of this disease is related to UV light exposure. In this region, the sun is very strong and people don't often wear sunglasses, especially in the villages. Also along are two visiting medical doctors, one general and another surgeon. The rest of the PAZ health team will be along to to provide nursing care and nutritional counseling.

Please pray for these trips. We believe that the Lord's purposes will be fulfilled. Pray that we could encourage and support the local people. Pray that through the gifts of equipment and medicine, God would be glorified! It all comes from God, we are just the bearers, the feet! We go in love, but our goal is not strictly physical healing, but rather, spiritual healing! May we see grace upon grace poured out upon these villages and their people!

Thank you all for your partnership in prayer!

Silvia just got back this weekend from another health trip, so look for her post soon!

Grace and Peace,
John

Parties and AcampTEEN!

2011-02-27T17:28:00.000-03:00

We wrapped up last week with a great afternoon of fun and fellowship with our HUGE cell group out at Silvia's parents house, but that was just the start of a great week! On Wednesday night, we had our Multiplication Party with our cell group! The turnout for the party was fabulous, with over 30 people attending. We spent the evening getting to know each other better with some ice-breaker type games and then had our "area" leader and his wife pray over our cell group and the leaders of the two new cells, Micah as one and Silvia & I as the other. The incredible thing is how with the number of people we have, we'll soon be ready to Multiply again, as soon as we have new leaders in place! Praise God with us for the amazing growth in our groups and for the new leaders to rise up!

Praying in the new leaders at our Multiplication Party.

Since Thursday, our churches teen camp (AcampTEEN) has been happening. Seven kids from our two cell groups are attending, and Micah has been working there as a First Aid guy. With swimming, hiking trails, and lots of games, there sure to be a kid or two with some minor injuries! We're praying for them to come back on fire for the Lord and that God will use this time to teach and mold their young spirits!

I took a couple of the older ones from our group out to the camp yesterday just so we could meet up with our guys and have fun playing games and swimming in the afternoon. It was a fantastic day! We got home tired from all the fun in the sun, but well worth the day trip.


All our cell group that went to AcampTEEN 2011, minus one.

Saturday Afternoons

2011-02-22T13:45:00.000-03:00

This past weekend our cell group headed out to Silvia's parents place to have some fun swimming, playing volleyball and soccer, and eating some cake. This was also our last outing as our current group before we multiply this week on Wednesday night! It's awesome to see this group of young people developing and growing as believers. We're blessed by them, and in working with them. Especially because it makes 30 seem just a bit further away!

Group Shot!

Time to Eat!

Pool and Volleyball!

Kayak or Caiaque?

2011-02-18T22:21:00.000-03:00

Last weekend was about the most adventurous I've been in a while. In the name of team building and just pure fun, we headed our on a couple activities with our youth cell group. Yeah this is the one that's about to multiply!

Saturday afternoon we were out at the local beach town, Alter do Chão, and climbed their "mountain." It's not really much of a mountain, but by my math, it's a nice 200 meter vertical climb that take about 30 minutes to do, in flip-flops. Once at the top, you are rewarded with some great views of the Tapajós River and the villa. I was first introduced to this hike when I led a team to do church construction in 2007.

Starting the hike from the beach to the base of the mountain.

The View from up top. The Tapajós River.

Then Sunday afternoon, we headed out on the river....in kayaks! (I always get a kick out of words that are written so that Portuguese speakers can say them and it sounds like the English word...so caiaque it is.) This was the second time out for me. It's a great team building activity, especially those who get to pair up in the two-person, sea kayaks. This outing was complete with a rollover! Don't worry , they were close to shore, but to say the least, we had some good laughs. After a few hours of paddling around, stiff muscles prevailed and we headed in....or was it the dark???

February Update - Rain, Dengue, and Multiplication!

2011-02-17T09:49:00.001-03:00

Graduation Day!

Hello dear family, friends, and supporters! I hope for the sake of all the Midwestern folks that this email brings with it some more heat! Here in Santarém we are having some chilly 85 degree days lately! Praise the Lord for the cool rains. It sure is rejuvenating to have this season upon us.

These past couple weeks have been a bit abnormal for us as well! We finished a hectic January with the graduation from our leadership course at church. But then shortly thereafter, Silvia contracted Dengue Fever! There is an epidemic in Santarém right now, with little relief in sight as this rainy season is upon us. Dengue Fever is a virus spread by mosquitoes, which we have a lot of around here. Fortunately, the local health organization is saying that the strain going around is less harmful than others. Still, she spent over a week in bed with fever, headaches, body aches, and itching. Praise the Lord that she has all but returned to normal!

Our discipleships are going well and our cell group is growing! This being the down season for short-term teams and health trips at Project Amazon, we have really been able to focus on our personal ministries and cell group. We've been visiting people, kayaking on the river, eating our, going to the beach, hiking, and participating in church worship services with our kids and teens. In fact, the recent growth of our cell group has put us in a place to multiply next week on February 23! Praise the Lord with us for this awesome milestone! We petition your prayers for a smooth transition to our two new groups, blessings over our new leader Micah, and for continued growth!

With tax time upon us, I am currently working through all those pesky details. Please pray for knowledge and wisdom in this area as the deadline approaches.

As special occasions come and go back in the US, I am made more aware of some of the sacrifices I've been called to as part of this missionary endeavor. Three of my groomsmen are set to be married this year. I guess I started a trend! I have committed to attending one wedding in March, that of my Best Man. I've succumbed to waiting for pictures on Facebook as opposed to seeing all the rest "live." I wish I could more directly participate in all of those life events, but neither time nor resources allow.

I'm planning to be in IL from March 11 through March 22, just 12 days! It will be a short trip, focused on family and the celebration of my best friend's wedding. Unfortunately, Silvia won't be traveling with me so that she can stay home and manage our ministry responsibilities. Everybody will just have to wait a couple more years to see her again! If anybody would be willing to loan me a vehicle for those 12 days to help manage my travels around Central Illinois, I would be most appreciative. Please contact me via email.

I would also like to encourage anybody who has a desire for ministry to check out the PAZ Summer Internship Program set for June and July of this year. It's great for college kids with summers off or anybody else interested in getting a better look at missions in the Amazon Basin! It's sure to be an edifying two months. Please share this link with anybody who may be interested!

Praises
- Our cell group is multiplying! We've seen exponential growth in the past two months!
- Silvia's recovery from Dengue Fever
- Refreshing cool rains
- A God who has chosen to demonstrate His purposes through the gift of grace, given freely to us at His cost!

Prayer Requests
- Wisdom in how to manage many young disciples as well as two healthy cell groups
- Continued Growth in our cell groups - members who are excited to share their knowledge and grow in their personal relationship with the Lord
- For our disciples to maintain strong relationships with the Lord and to desire growth and embrace leadership possibilities
- Our marriage relationship, for strength and protection against the enemy, that we could model and lead as examples
- For the Lord's hand on our plans to start another cell group in our home, focusing on young adults and couples

TaxTime

2011-02-09T15:41:00.000-03:00

Tis that glorious time of the year, Tax Time! I don't by any stretch of the imagination enjoy fulfilling my obligation to support my government, especially as they demonstrate, in my estimation, fiscal irresponsibility. But it is an obligation none the less. I dread having to part with what seems like a mountain of money, but then I realize that it was never really mine to start with. And of course I'm not going to take it with me from this world to the next, so why fret? I'll steward what I've been given by the Lord to the best of my ability. I strive to keep as much as I can for the Lord's purposes and give to the IRS what they rightly deserve. This morning as I was reading the Word, I came across a couple reminders of this:

[Paying Taxes to Caesar]
Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
(Matthew 22:15-22 ESV)

Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
(Romans 13:7 ESV)

Before I came on the field, I could easily sit down on Turbo Tax and in the matter of a few hours file all my taxes and be waiting for the refund. Now I pay quarterly estimated self-employment taxes, file a Schedule C for my "missionary business," file taxes in Brazil, and muddle through tax laws pertinent to expats with income in their resident country. I really took for granted just how much work it is and the expense of doing your taxes as a self-employed individual. Now tax time is all year long.

Happy Filing!

Dengue Fever

2011-02-08T12:27:00.000-03:00

No, that's not a dance party....far from it. But if it were, Santarém would be bustin' it up! Not that dengue is much to brag about but that's the jist of the past week or so. Some pesky carapanã got ahold of Silvia last week. You're probably thinking, whoa! that must have hurt! Well it wasn't the mosquito bite that hurt so much as the dengue symptoms that followed. (Carapanã is the indigenous word for mosquito and is only used in this region of Brazil. Interestingly, in southern Brazil the name they use would be translated as "long leg.")

Last Monday brought the fever, aching body, aching eyes, headache, and absolute weakness. Then as the fever and aching subsided this weekend, came the red rash and slight itching. But praise the Lord, today is much better and the light at the end of the tunnel is shining! We had a blood exam done over the weekend to confirm that it was dengue, and it was. Most people experience the various symptoms anywhere from a couple days to 10 days, depending on the severity of the case.

Santarém has already seen 145 registered cases of DF in January, and our state over 2,000 cases. But keep in mind that most people don't even go to the doctor to get it checked out, because there is nothing they can do! You just have to rough it out! So you stay at home, take a fever reducer, drink water, and lay in your hammock!

Unfortunately, the only way to prevent dengue, is to keep from getting bit by an infected mosquito. So as they say around here, you have to "wear insect repellent like it's perfume!" Check out the WHO and the CDC to learn more about Dengue Fever. Can you smell the DEET?

Reading for FUN! Is There Time for That?

2011-01-30T20:19:00.000-03:00

Amongst the changes of married life, I'm trying to balance out some of the extremes that I demonstrated in my life as a single. One such extreme was my use of the internet. I want to more purposeful with my time on the web. While I have never been one for pointless surfing for just whatever I could find, I know that sometimes I would get up from the computer and wonder where the last hour went. In the States that would be 15 minutes, but because the internet is so slow here....

All joking aside, I've decided to read more. I'm sure you all realize the benefits of reading. And since experiencing the grace and mercy of my Lord several years back, I'm always reading the Word and another book on doctrine or theology or missions or something of the like.

But now I want to read for fun. Stretching my mind. So I'm off and loving it. And how great to have an e-reader!

So by making better use of and prioritizing my time away from the computer, my time at the computer will need to be more directed. I know this will help.

Based on some recommendations from my friends, I'm kicking off the year with a Joel Rosenberg fiction series. He writes political thrillers with a biblical twist revolving around his take on prophesy. The first book is titled The Last Jihad.

I've been challenged by some teachings from Mike Bickle on time management. I've always been one for scheduling and planning, but he really helped me to look deeper into how I am using each and every minute of my time. Is it with purpose or not? If you don't manage your time and fill it with purpose, the world and other people will. And you'll be busy without purpose.

One of the hardest things for new missionaries to handle is their time. Most missionaries leave the working world, where they have a job and a boss who gives direction to enter the area of ministry on the mission field. Missionaries really are self-employed. In the midst of all the life changes, they lose the structure of a regular 8 hour word day and all of the built-in regulation that comes with it. That is a challenge in and of itself, less the cultural aspects.

How are you being more purposeful for the Kingdom?

Abortion

2011-01-25T08:00:00.004-03:00

I recently came across a couple videos regarding abortion. As some people celebrate the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, as does the current President of the Unites States, I weep. And I want to cry when I hear such words from the mouth of my president. But I will pray...

President Obama's remarks on the Roe vs. Wade anniversary:

Today marks the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, and affirms a fundamental principle: that government should not intrude on private family matters.

I am committed to protecting this constitutional right. I also remain committed to policies, initiatives, and programs that help prevent unintended pregnancies, support pregnant women and mothers, encourage healthy relationships, and promote adoption.

And on this anniversary, I hope that we will recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights, the same freedoms, and the same opportunities as our sons to fulfill their dreams.

I believe this video echos my heart-cry:

And this video depicts the reality of abortion. Also, the site has many great resources for pro-life apologetics.

In the US, over 1.3 million abortions are done annually, but this only accounts for 3% of the abortions done worldwide. Here in Brazil, abortion is illegal, but this stance seems to be up for grabs. But don't let this fool you. Thousands upon thousands of abortions are done illegally each year.

Pray.

January Update - Back to School!

2011-01-23T15:54:00.000-03:00

Of all the holidays, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was always one of my favorites. This may seem like an odd holiday to list as a favorite, but it gets that title for the simple reason that it always falls within a week of my birthday! So I always got a three-day weekend to celebrate. But here in Brazil, I have no such luck, so birthday # 28 came and went. I was blessed by my wife with some homemade pumpkin ice cream with pecans!

As we returned from our holidays with Silvia's family, we hit the ground running here in Santarém. We landed on the 3rd and got to see our new furniture! It is great to finally be all settled in and be able to host people! We have already been able to have several lunches with our disciples and others to whom we are ministering! And special thanks to all of you who have helped us financially and made it possible to establish our home!

On the 5th, the biannual PAZ leadership conference kicked off at our camp outside of the city. For this event we spent over fours days at the camp, serving and sitting under awesome teaching of the word! This conference is sponsored by PAZ and designed specifically for the leaders and workers scattered around the Amazon and Brazil. Families come by boat, truck and plane to participate. Our guest speaker came from southern Brazil and spoke about familial inheritance and how that can affect our ministries. Overall, the conference went off without a hitch and the attendees were blessed by the moving of the Spirit! Thanks for your prayers!

The day after the conference ended, we began an intensive three-week course focused on ministering people and liberating them from their sin. We are privileged to sit in this course with 150 other leaders and look forward to applying all that we are learning in future ministry opportunities. We just finished the second week of the course, and at 9 hours of class per day, it is very intensive and feels a bit like being back in college. Please pray with us for stamina in learning and then applying all this! It's really the ministry aspect that we look forward to!

Our cell group is exploding with some new growth and we are quickly approaching the time of multiplication! Thanks for your prayers! This is really the focus of our ministry right now as we really learn the techniques and skills necessary to care for budding as well as mature Christians. These are the skills we will need as we look to fulfill our desire of participating in a new church plant!

Praises
- A successful and Spirit-filled PAZ Leadership Conference
- Safe holiday travels
- Growth in our Cell Group
- A God who lives within us, and continues to demonstrate His Power through grace and saving faith in a Savior

Prayer Requests
- Growth in our cell group - members who are excited to share their knowledge and grow in their personal relationship with the Lord
- For our disciples to maintain strong relationships with the Lord and to desire growth and embrace leadership possibilities
- Our marriage relationship, for strength and protection against the enemy, that we could model and lead as examples
- For the Lord's hand on our plans to start another cell group in our home, focusing on young adults and couples

In Christ,
John & Silvia

Rappelling in Santarém

Success

2011-01-16T11:27:00.000-03:00

I love being a part of something successful. I've been on sports teams that were practically undefeated, academic teams with superior knowledge, and a fan of teams to play in national championships. I've led an engineering design team in college that was one of the best in the country. I graduated from the number one agricultural engineering department in the country, maybe world. I participate on teams in my engineering career working on projects that would soon be the leading technology in the world for construction equipment.

These were some great teams to be a part of in my life. But the team I'm on now puts it all to shame. My team is no longer dependent on men, but on God, and his ability to fulfill what he has promised. This guarantees success.

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
(Genesis 12:2 ESV)

Right now, in the middle of the Amazon, God has mounted a team, a portion of his corporate body, and given it a passion to fulfill a global vision of discipleship. The vision is not just to see the body growing, or reaching people groups, but to see it filled with disciple-making-disciples! People who live out their faith, who understand how to receive from above and move it out in front of them, demonstrating just how powerful a grace-filled movement can be.

Part of the vision is to do three things: win for the Lord, care for the person (mind, body, and soul), and send them out. It's not the numbers that matter, it souls who are cared for in the name of the Lord, who will then pass on the love that God poured out on them. This is disciple-making-disciples, a concept practically forgotten about in the Western church. Here, Francis Chan shares a few thoughts about discipleship and the spirit.

All believers have received the Holy Spirit. We must go forth in his power with confidence. God has placed people in your path. You are called to disciple them. We too quickly direct converts toward podcast preachers and neglect our God-given mandate to disciple. We must believe in the power of the Scriptures themselves, and we must trust in the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

I love that I have so much information available to me, teachings, preachings, studies, music, books, and much more. And I believe that it is mostly edifying for me. But I agree with Chan on this one. What God has given us is not meant to stay with us. This is no place for selfishness. It should be passed on, and on, and on.

Are you a disciple-making-disciple?

JAE

cleaning up the wreckage

2011-01-13T17:50:00.000-03:00

You take for granted your generational inheritance. So do I. But I'm not really sure how aware of that I was until today.

Starting this week, over 100 leaders in the PAZ church are engaged in an intensive three week course meant to equip us in biblically assessing and counseling wrecked lives. I'm not really sure of any other way to put it.

Most of us are familiar with the phrase "you don't know what you have until it's missing," or at least a thought along those lines. So far this is really ringing home for me as I analyze the status of the Body of Christ here versus in the US.

Back in the US, we are conditioned to accepting pastors coming from three generations of pastors. They all went to seminary. The worship team all were bible college students, maybe even the door greeters. As a church, we reap the blessings of centuries of Christendom and a land developed under biblical principles. We are trained in how to "deal with" our blessings.

Don't get me wrong, there are broken families in the US. Divorce runs rampant. Abuse is prominent in certain classes. The family model is being threatened more and more every day. Half the country is on anti-depressants.

But what if your pastor's family came through 400 years of slavery, generations of abuse, incest, alcoholism, and molestation. Oh, and his mother tried to abort him, but it didn't work so now he's raised by his big brother. Or maybe his parents consecrated him to the demons in the world of spiritism/animism. Or maybe he experimented having sex with animals or other men.

These are wrecked lives.

But the amazing part of it is that they are also REDEEMED lives.

No matter what I inherited from my family, or endured as a child, or fell prey to as a young adult, once I'm covered by the blood of the lamb, I am RIGHTEOUS before GOD! That's the Glorious news of the Gospel!

Pray with us. Join us in the fight of breaking down generational curses through the Blood of the Lamb! Pray for the church as we deal with wreckage. Pray for first generations Christians who don't know what it means to be a Christian. Pray for disciples who are dedicated. And then pray for the second generation of believers that is on the way...and praise God that they are the second generation!

Rescued from Tragedy

2011-01-05T15:23:00.000-03:00

God shook me up. My life was upside down. The status quo didn't cut it. My spirit was restless. But by most standards, I was winning. Receiving saving faith in Christ, radically freed me from the chains of sin, and ultimately allowed me escape from mountains of guilt. I could have sulked around and wallowed in the guilt of my past, but instead, I was able to embrace a theology of freedom from death, having been justified (punished and counted righteous by God) through Christ.

This put me in a position to accept an atypical lifestyle, at least by the standards of Western Christianity. God used many people and events in my life to bring me on board, but I especially appreciate two books that I read back in 2007 and 2008. One was John Piper's Let the Nations Be Glad and the other was Francis Chan's Crazy Love. Both of these really got the ball rolling on my missionary endeavor.

Beyond the theological grounds for missions, John Piper's call to a "war-time" attitude of christian living has always challenged my secular lifestyle. I was reminded of this today by an article that I came across (thanks Luke). It's titled "How to Deal with the Guilt of Sexual Failure for the Glory of Christ and His Global Cause." At first glance, you might wonder how these really fit together. I'd encourage you to read this article and evaluate how past sin in your life is affecting your ministry. If it is hindering you and your dreams of radical living for Christ, you had best reevaluate your understanding of justification.

Here's a few excerts that hit hard for me, now as well as when I was contemplating missions 3 years ago:

The great tragedy is not mainly masturbation or fornication or acting like a peeping Tom (or curious Cathy) on the internet. The tragedy is that Satan uses the guilt of these failures to strip you of every radical dream you ever had, or might have, and in its place give you a happy, safe, secure, American life of superficial pleasures until you die in your lakeside rocking chair, wrinkled and useless, leaving a big fat inheritance to your middle-aged children to confirm them in their worldliness. That’s the main tragedy.
The point is: This is what you do with your life. You don’t want always be sitting high in your SUV dropping nickels into other people’s dreams. Satan wants that for you. But you don’t! You want to dream your own dream for the glory of Christ. Why am I on this planet? What has God put me here for?
And what is distinctively Christian about the teachings of these chapters is that our rescue was most decisively accomplished for us by another and was done outside of us. In other words, Christ did something in history before we existed that obtained and guaranteed our rescue and the transformation of all who would come to trust in him. The distinctive and crucial thing about Christian salvation is that Christ accomplished it decisively for us and outside of us and without our help. And when we put our faith in him we do not add to the sufficiency of what he accomplished in covering our sins and achieving the righteousness that counts as ours.
Knowing how your punishment for sin has already happened in Christ and knowing how your perfect righteousness before God has already been achieved in Christ, and holding fast to these truths with heartfelt passion, is a tremendous weapon against the devil, when he rises to tell you that your sexual failures rule you out of Christ’s mission and condemn you to a life of meaningless, middle-class, American prosperity.

We all have to decide what inheritance we want to leave. What's yours?

New Year's Irresolution

2011-01-01T17:49:00.000-03:00

If you're in the US, you probably watched football. If you're in Brazil, you probably watched the inauguration of the new president from somewhere. If you're on one of the other five continents, I don't know what you might have done.

But all over the world, the talk of the day is resolve; to deal successfully, clean up or reach a firm decision about something. Just what it is that you resolve to do different this year. You desire for something to change, and now's the time. Lose those 15 lbs you gained by overeating the past 6 weeks, or more time with your family, save more money, start going to the gym, read through your bible, or pray more.

Actually, if you're an American, you are more likely to make a New Year's Irresolution than a New Year's Resolution! According to the FranklinCovey Co.'s survey done every year, 33% of Americans break their resolution by the end of January and 75% by the end of March! Do you hold true to the odds?

One thing is for sure, if you don't plan, the odds are pretty certain you will fail. It is important that we plan, and the bible teaches us to do it. John Piper give's an excellent overview of four biblical examples of planning. But it's up to you to put this practice into place.

The Proverbs teach us to plan. The greatest missionary who ever lived was a planner. God is a God who does all things according to plan. And Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem because of the most loving plan ever devised.

He planned for our joy; we ought to plan for his glory.

A New Years Plea: Plan! by John Piper on December 31, 1984

Happy New Year!
John

What is Christmas About?

2010-12-23T11:00:00.001-03:00

Here's an interesting video produced by a church in London. It takes a quick look into what might be the popular opinion of Christmas in the UK. I believe it's representative of the US as well.

That's Christmas (Short Film) HD from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

When was the Nativity?

2010-12-22T11:00:00.003-03:00

I don't know about you, but I was always under the impression that the nativity was between 1 BC and 1 AD. Well, actually, it is more likely that the Christ child was born in 5 BC. Interesting? But why would that surprise me? There is lots to consider, even how the "star of Bethlehem" fits in astrological records, the darkness on the day of the crucifixion, the taxation recorded in Luke, the magi and their trip, the reign of various other leaders, political records and Pilot's actions during the crucifixion, and even Luke's statement of Jesus being "about 30."

If you enjoy reading academic papers and seeing how biblical accounts align with other historical accounts, take a look at Paul Maier's paper here.

Light of the Whole World

2010-12-21T11:05:00.000-03:00

I enjoy the simplistic accounts of biblical stories that are easily presentable to children. The words are powerful and potent. Listen closely and you'll find the one true source of joy in this life. This will give you a reason to celebrate!

(The story starts at 0:45)

And then there's another aspect as well.

Confirmed...

2010-12-19T16:25:00.000-03:00

...that airline routings and ticket pricing make no logical sense.

Yesterday, Silvia and I traveled with her family to her grandparents home in rural Paraná, a state in southern Brazil. Only in the name of cheaper prices, tickets were booked on an alternate route, that eventually took us on a 17 hour tour of 8 Brazilian airports! As the crow flies, it's nearly 3,000 km (1,864 mi) from Santarém to here. But the way we came, all 7 legs of our trip, took us over 7,000 km (4,350 mi)!

At least we had traveling partners. And got fed on each flight (the same sandwich). But needless to say, I don't think any of us will be taking this route any time soon!

How far do you have to go to get to family Christmas?

Post # 107

2010-12-17T22:48:00.000-03:00

I recently passed an important milestone in blogging...my 100th post! But in the midst of living life, I didn't even notice. It just so happened to by my November Update that got the honor of this spot in history.

I just took a quick look at my first post, 3...2...1...Lift-off! and I believe that we're making progress in those goals I first set out to accomplish.

This blog is devoted to God and glorifying his name! I'll use it to keep people informed of how I progress in the ministry that God has given me, namely JAE for Christ serving in Brazil with Project AmaZon. Over the next couple months it will primarily deal with the challenges of preparing to move overseas as a full-time missionary. Eventually the transition will be made to life on the mission field in Brazil!

May God's sovereign purposes be made manifest through my feeble attempt to share His work in my life!

I've definitely moved on to the life on the mission field phase. The blog name has been changed to The Eisenmann Initiative to honor that fact that this ministry is now "us" and not "me," but otherwise the purpose of glorifying God and keeping people up to speed with what's going on in our ministry holds true.

May the graciousness of our God be evident in the next hundred posts!

JAE

December Update - Happy Holidays!

2010-12-15T10:58:00.000-03:00

Glory to God in the Highest!

I'm sure this finds you all in the middle of holiday parties, caroling, shopping, and relearning winter driving techniques! Some days a foot of snow sounds pretty good, but then I remember what 0 F feels like and I'm not so consumed by the idea of a winter wonderland.

These past few weeks have flown by in usual fashion! We made a couple trips and participated in a church event or two and are still waiting for the last of our furniture to show up. In the mean time we were able to get our car maintenance done. We are so thankful for all our dear partners who have helped us kick off our married life and blessed us in many ways!

One such opportunity that we had a couple weeks ago was to travel to the river village of Uricurituba. This community is blessed with fertile soil and being close to Santarém. It is only accessible by boat, but only a couple hour ride at that. Their island had been eroding away, so the church needed to be moved. Some of my wedding visitors stuck around after the wedding to help work on this project, so it was extra special for me to head our there when the church was inaugurated. I find it a huge blessing to help pack a church full of people for these special moments. Visitors come from the surrounding villages, a cow is butchered, and a huge party ensues! And with no better way to wrap it up than with an awesome evangelistic and dedication service! It truly was a Spirit-filled event.

The following weekend, during the PAZ church's "March of Love" where the church dedicates a weekend to giving special care and treatment to all of the river and jungle workers, Silvia was able to share with about 300 of them how to improve their well-being through proper nutrition. It is a great opportunity to bless the real "feet" of the gospel here in the Amazon Basin. The national workers sacrifice what little they have for the sake of living a life dedicated to the Gospel and making disciples!

Be on the lookout for The Eisenmann Initiative newsletter in your mailbox soon! It'll give you a great recap of 2010! If you don't see it but would like to receive it in the future, just send me back your address and I'll get you on the list!

Also, check our some recent posts to see more details about what has been going on here in Santarém! You can learn more about the church inauguration in Uricurituba, or Silvia's word on nutrition to the local workers, or even a few thoughts on how the Christmas season looks from inside another culture. And it has more pictures too!

Praises
- A glorious church inauguration in Uricurituba
- A car and apartment to use for His Glory
- The ability to share and commemorate the birth of the God-man, Jesus Christ
- A God who lives within us, and continues to demonstrate His Power through grace and saving faith in a Savior

Prayer Requests
- Growth in our cell group - members who are excited to share their knowledge and grow in their personal relationship with the Lord
- Our furniture to show up quickly - we are still waiting
- Our marriage relationship, for strength and protection against the enemy, that we could model and lead as examples
- Safe travels as we visit family in Brazil for the holidays

In Christ,
John & Silvia

--

www.eisenmannfamily.com
www.projectamazon.org

Mailing Address:
John Eisenmann
(aos cuidados de) Missão Projeto Amazonia
CP 232
Santarém, Pará, Brasil
68005-970

It's beginning to feel alot like...

2010-12-13T12:55:00.000-03:00

AUGUST!!!

At least that's what I thought of this morning as I was running around the city park at 6 AM in the 86 deg heat, sweating like it was an Illinois summer afternoon in August. Christmas was the last thing on my mind.

Actually, there's not much around here that reminds me of Christmas other than the music coming from my iTunes and buying a few presents online. We don't have much in the area of Christmas decorations yet, and since we still don't have any living room furniture, we didn't bother with a Christmas tree. (Next year!) Although the church is decorated, so that helps.

I'm reminded again of how dependent I am on the environment. I guess 26 years in IL will do that to a person. Midwestern seasons in the States is all I've really known. I'm not sure if it's the cold weather or short days that make it just seem like Christmas time. Or maybe it's not any of that and it's just the force feed of media and consumerism back in the States.

Last week I was running down on the river front, sweating like crazy, and went by Santa's House...I chuckled, must have arrived at the North Pole, I thought. Shivers ran through my body. Not really.

I wonder how long it will take for my body to not associate Christmas with cold weather? Or maybe the next time I'm in the States for Christmas I'll think, "What? Can't be Christmas, I'm not sweating!"

Happy December!
JAE

Isn't this the basics?

2010-12-06T20:04:00.000-03:00

Thanks for the prayers! The workers were blessed to receive instruction on how to care for their bodies through proper nutrition. I was again amazed to hear the gamut of questions that followed Silvia's talk. As North Americans who are constantly bombarded with information from the first signs of life, we quickly take for granted what we would consider our most basic knowledge. For instance, would you ever expect to hear from a grown adult a question such as "Why is it when I drink coffee at night I can't sleep?" or comments like "I don't know what's wrong, but whenever I don't eat I get a stomach ache."

It's easy to hear this and take it the wrong way, to judge someone for their apparent lack of knowledge. But why don't they know? Because nobody ever told them! They never read it in a book or saw an article in the paper or on 60 minutes. They were never taught!

And so it goes with the gospel and the basic teaching of the Word. People are JUST SUPPOSED TO KNOW that Christians don't lie, cheat, or steal. They don't swear and cheat on their wives or get drunk. Right? Well not if they weren't taught. Not if they've never seen or heard a word of the bible. Not if that is the only lifestyle they've ever seen or heard or been a part of.

Pray with us as we minister to a first and second generation of believers! Pray for our river and jungle workers who are zealous for their Lord, but maybe have only been saved for a short time but are now leading others to the Lord with just a bit of knowledge. Pray for the Word and the Spirit as they partner in reconstructing broken lives. This is why we're here.

Caring for the Feet

2010-12-03T17:03:00.000-03:00

Tonight kicks off the 2010 Igreja da PAZ Missions Conference. This three day event will feature special guests, PAZ missionaries to Japan, Tim and Christine Huber. They will speak at each of three sessions held in Santarem.

In conjunction with this conference, the church holds the March of Love. Essentially, this is a way for the city church to step up and support the river workers (i.e. the workers, supervisors, and pastors who handle the ministry to the river and jungle communities). They will be blessed with clothing, transportation such as bikes and canoes, health exams, dental exams, nutritional advice, and special teachings. Tomorrow, Silvia will be sharing with approximately 300 workers on how they can improve their well-being through proper nutrition. Please pray for her words as she shares with them!

These workers are the beautiful feet that carry the gospel to the interior of the Amazon Basin of Brazil! What a privilege it is to bless them physically and spiritually! Pray for their time of rest, relaxation, and rejuvenation.

Thanks for your support!
John & Silvia

Reflection - Post Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T17:35:00.000-03:00

This may be a bit late, but our PAZ family of ex-pats, finally were able to gather and celebrate the holiday with a table laden with the fruit of the earth. We were read the address that President Abe Lincoln gave the nation in 1863, in the midst of civil war, which officially marked the fourth Thursday of November as the official national holiday.

Take some time to reflect and honor how privileged our country is to have had such a wise president.

October 3, 1863

By the President of the United States

A Proclamation

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and provoke their aggressions, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict; while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United Stated States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Abraham Lincoln

Inaugurating the Uricurituba Church

2010-11-29T10:48:00.000-03:00

How often to you see something, or hear something, or participate in an event and when it's all over, the only thing you can say is "Wow, you can't deny the Lord's work in that place!" My thoughts exactly as we boarded the boat last night leaving Uricurituba to return to Santarem.

Uricurituba is just one story of the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Amazon Basin of Brazil. And now, after months of hard work, this community has a place to gather and worship our God. They have a place where the body can gather and share stories of grace, love, and mercy in their lives, where they can come and be taught about the Word, where they can commune with their family in the Lord. This church is a Light in the Darkness. It's a symbol of a Living God, who chose us to participate in His sovereign plan, to be the beautiful feet whom carry the Gospel to the unbelieving.

And lets pray for this church, that it will fulfill it's glorious purposes in the Lord. To be a strong light. Pray for Junior, who is the local man who leads this work in progress. Pray for his leaders who visit him, teaching and counseling him, discipling him in the ways of the Lord. Pray that this little 10 meter by 26 meter wooden church on the Amazon River will explode! That it will burst at the seams, full of life and joy in our Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus!

Awestruck,
JAE

November Update - Blessed Beyond Belief

2010-11-25T17:13:00.001-03:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Brazil!

Most of you are enjoying a day of relaxation, worship, family, and food. Here in Brazil, this is just any other day, but I was blessed with a surprise Thanksgiving meal at lunch today! I come out of my office to find my father-in-law, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and wife had prepared a nice little meal, complete with pumpkin pie for dessert! I look forward to celebrating with all of the PAZ missionaries next week (right now there is a team of Americans here to work on a church, so no time to take a holiday!)

This month we were able to realize in a physical sense how blessed this ministry has been from the start! We returned from the states to a partially completed apartment remodeling project. We relieved Silvia's mother from the position of "general contractor" and took over the remaining tasks. Now, five weeks later, we are almost all settled in, just waiting for the last of our furniture to show up! We are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to open up our small home for HIS glory and purposes. so pray with us that our dining table, chairs, and sofa set arrive soon! We have already started to have our disciples over! And we are steadily catching the hang of married life! Please pray with us for a strong marriage relationship, grounded in the example of love by Christ and His church, unshakable and protected from intrusion by the enemy!

As this phase of setting up house nears completion, we are gaining steam in our focus for cell group ministry and discipleship. This is our main request for prayer right now, that our cell groups (one that we currently have and another that we would like to start soon) would see the movement of the Spirit in raising up committed leaders and disciples of Jesus Christ!

I just recently returned from the Amazon River village of Auerana. This village is rather unique in that it has never even seen a Catholic church in it's area. This area is known for it's resistance to "religion." But the good thing is, we're not bringing religion, but rather riding the wave of the Holy Spirit, alive and powerful, breaking down barriers of darkness and evil! During the short time I was there, I had a chance to work along side of several of the locals, some saved, others not, and was able to encourage the local PAZ church worker. Due to the extreme dry season this year, and resulting low water, we had to walk 25 minutes just to arrive at the village from where the boat docked along the river! Then our boat got stuck on the bank of the river and we had to dig it out of the mud, allowing us to arrive home a day late. I was reminded again of the challenges of transport in this part of the world.

We are still praying about our car and the expenses that it is causing. We believe the Lord is asking us to wait on upgrading, and in light of our recent expenses in our home and traveling, as well as not quite having reached our support budget, this would seem to be the wise decision. So lately I have been visiting mechanics to get some estimates, and the repair bill should come in at just under US$850. We are blessed with this car and strive to be good stewards of our resources from the Lord. Please email me if you would like to help us with this expense! Or go here to join our team financially!

Please send us your Christmas Cards or Letters! If there is one thing we like to see on the field, it's how our friends and family back in the States are doing! My address is at the bottom of this post. Also, if you did not receive our last mailing, please email me or contact me through the PAZ website.

Praises
- Safe and prosperous river trip to Auerana
- We are living in our apartment and have Internet again
- A car and apartment to use for His Glory
- A God who lives within us, and continues to demonstrate His Power through grace and saving faith in a Savior

Prayer Requests
- Growth in our cell group - members who are excited to share their knowledge and grow in their personal relationship with the Lord
- Our furniture to show up quickly
- Our marriage relationship, for strength and protection of the enemy, that we could model and lead as examples
- Better Portuguese language skills

In the name of our almighty God,
John & Silvia

In Auerana with fellow missionary and the local worker and his wife. We took a break from the roof of the church to eat lunch. We are a typical river village meal of grilled fish, manioc flour, and cucumber salad.

Out for ice cream with fellow missionaries and our cell group members!

Mailing Address:
John Eisenmann
(aos cuidados de) Missão Projeto Amazonia
CP 232
Santarém, Pará, Brasil
68005-970

Ticket to Somewhere

2010-11-11T12:42:00.000-03:00

I found out this morning that because of some extenuating circumstances I am needed to travel with a construction team out on the Amazon River. That was three hours ago, and one hour from now we'll be taking off! I'm not sure where (some indian name that I can't pronounce) but I know it's a 7 hour boat ride up the river and I've got a ticket. All I know as of now is that the village has started to construct a church and that our team of four Americans, another missionary and I, and some brazilians will see just how we can contribute to their efforts in 4 days. I know they'll be blessed as will we. We will serve, they will serve. We will worship our God, and they will too. And we'll lift up His Name to the Glorious positions, high and exalted, that it deserves. But not because we're required too, or someone asked us to, or we want to feel good, but because disciples are being made, cell groups are growing, and The Lord is working in a small village on the Amazon River. Most importantly, we will encounter the evidence of GRACE. Faith, perseverance, love, joy, and hearty smiles is the fruit of a HOLY SPIRIT filled life. Oh, but don't try to find me on the map, because you won't find it....

Also, please pray for Silvia as she travels for a few days on the Tapajos River to the village of Piquiatuba to aid with a PAZ project and support the church supervision there.

For His Glory!
John

Fall in Illinois!

October Update - Back to Brazil!

2010-10-24T23:00:00.001-03:00

Greetings from Brazil!

It sure is nice to say that! To say the least, life comes at you fast, but we're taking it in stride and loving it! After returning to the states from Africa, we had one more week in the Midwest before heading south. So we spent some time enjoying the fall weather in IL, drove to Indiana so I could stand in a friends wedding, made some last minute visits to friends and family, and even got a couple hours in on the farm harvesting soybeans! But finally Oct 14 arrived and we headed to Miami for some last minute shopping and to catch our flight back to Brazil.

Coming off an amazing time in the US and Africa, we returned to find our apartment nearing completion! Special thanks to Silvia's parents for heading up the remodeling while we were gone traveling! We hope to get things wrapped up this week so that we can move in next weekend! It sure will be nice to have our own place! I have yet to meet a couple who spent the first three months of their marriage on the road. The crazy part is that this week since we have been back in Brazil and are staying at Silvia's parents home is the longest we've been in one place since we've been married!

Praise the Lord that we had a successful trip to Africa! We saw so much that's it really is hard to sum it up; poor, wealthy, malnutrition, drought, rugged beauty, skepticism, delight. It's amazing to me how much difference a border can make, even in the middle of the bush. We saw this first hand traveling by car between Mozambique, South Africa, and Malawi. Most of all, we saw the need for a church that will care for the people. This is God's design for His church and we know it is His Will for Africa! Aids has taken its toll there, which can easily be seen by the lack of older people. This is also one of the main reasons for so many orphans. We visited several ministries and spoke with various missionaries which helped us to better understand some of the hurdles in starting a ministry in this part of the world like cost, legal processes, strategies, and possible locations. May His Will be done!

Thanks again for your support and prayer! Mostly we look forward to a prosperous cell group ministry! Please pray for our cell group that Silvia leads for young people, that we can be good role models and see vibrant growth and blossoming love for their Lord!

We are praying about purchasing another car. We are blessed to have Silvia's car from when she was in college, but to say the least, the brutal roads here in the Amazon have taken their toll and we are beginning to see the repair cost pile up! Pray for our ability to make a wise decision about this! If you would like to help us specifically in this financial area, please send me an email. Also we are still shy of our monthly budget, but we know our God will provide the increase! Go here to Donate!

Praises

- Safe travels from Africa to the US and back to Brazil

- A great MDA Conference

- My Portuguese is coming back!

- An apartment nearing completion!

Prayer Requests

- A prosperous cell group ministry in Santarem, that we would see our youth with vibrant spirits

- Wisdom and stewardship in finishing to remodel our apartment

- Focus on a strong beginning to Silvia and I's commitment to a marriage relationship and ministry to each other

- Wisdom for our car situation

In the name of our almighty God,

John & Silvia

With the kids in Malawi

The Final Countdown

2010-10-10T17:42:00.000-03:00

So that title brings back some high school pep band memories :-)

But it's true...we're counting down the days until we return to our home in Brazil! Four more days until departure and we'll be south-bound! In the last couple weeks, we have realized just how much we desire to be in one place for more than a week and not have to get dressed out of a suitcase, or share a bathroom, or drive 1000 km, or get on an airplane. The prospect of being in our own place, focusing on the start of this new phase of life is quite invigorating, if not downright exhilarating.

Of course this past two months has been one awesome honeymoon, if you want to call it that. We are also anxious to be home and have some time to soak it all in. But until then, we'll enjoy our family and friends and too much American food.

This past weekend I was in the wedding of my good friend Josh in Indianapolis. Weddings are always a great reason to see everybody from days gone by, and this was no exception. Now it's time to focus on a couple last visits, one more day of shopping, and some suitcase packing.

God blessings to you and thanks for the continued prayers!

John & Silvia

Maputo to Kruger!

2010-10-06T03:25:00.000-03:00

Good Morning Everybody!

We just finished off a great time in Africa with a day and a half at South Africa's Kruger National Park! It was a fantastic time of experiencing God's creatures. I'm simply stunned at the shear SIZE of the animals here! Hippos, rhinos, elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, lions, and so much more! We saw almost EVERY animal that we wanted to see! Praise God!

On Monday, we dropped off some of our co-travelers and headed up here to Nelpsruit, South Africa with our hosts, a simple two hour drive across the border from Maputo, Mozambique. We have stayed a couple wonderful evenings at a missionary guest house here and now will be heading to the airport shortly to embark on our 32 hour trek back to Cissna Park.

Our time here in Africa has been an intense time of learning and exposure to more of God's kingdom and purposes for His people on this earth. We are both anxious to have some time to digest it all and get a better feeling for what all we have seen, heard, and done. We see the signs of spiritual life here and passion in the people...so now we pray for the Spirit to move...and only the Lord knows where that will take us.

Thanks for all the prayers during our travels! Now it's back to the States for a week and then on to Brazil.

Peace,

John & Silvia

Map of African Travels

2010-10-02T12:22:00.001-03:00

For anybody keeping up with our travels in Africa, here is a map of our journey, all done by car.

View Larger Map

To Maputo

2010-10-02T04:09:00.002-03:00

Thanks for all the prayers! We continue to see how the Lord is speaking into our lives here in Africa!

Yesterday we were able to safely travel from Chimoio to Maputo, a 1200 km trek from Central Mozambique to the extreme South. We made great time on decent roads and didn't have much stress until arriving in the city traffic, which is best described as chaotic. Maputo is the capital and largest city of the country and we can already see an extreme difference from the Northern parts of the country. The trip was uneventful, which always a praise when it comes to traveling!

Last Sunday, we left from Chimoio headed to Blantyre, Malawi. We successfully made it through immigration and made it to our destination in the early evening. On Monday, we spent the day taking care of more visa issues so that we could re-enter Mozambique later in the week. Then Tuesday morning we headed to the extreme south of Malawi into the bush to visit a couple more child care centers. We drove several hours from Blantyre to the city of Nsanje, almost to the Mozambique/Malawi border, where we stayed for the night. One of the centers we could drive to so we visited it that day. The other was much more remote, requiring a 25 minute walk through a plantation (after the end of the dirt road), a 25 minute canoe ride across a river (that has hippos and crocodiles), and then another 90 minute walk. That was a tiring morning! Be we were blessed by the kids for sure!

So that afternoon we headed back to Moz, and after some interesting conflicts with the Moz immigration causing us a two hour delay, we werre greeted by a rather rugged 200 km drive on dirt roads. This set us back some so we were forced to stop 3 hours short of home to stay in the city of Tete, Moz.

Thursday morning we made it back to Chimoio, rested and clean and got prepared for our trip yesterday from Chimoio to Maputo.

We were blessed to experience some of the remotest and poorest parts of Malawi and Mozambique. We really are seeing a broad range of culture here and now we get to se the city. Thank you for your prayers for our vision trip! We are believing that God is speaking vision and strategy into our ministries! We feel much more knowledgeable about what it would take to start church planting here. Pray that God will continue to reveal himself to us here!

It's very interesting to learn about new culture and to be able to compare it to Brazilian and American cultures and see how missions may interact with these two cultures! I look forward to giving more info about our trip when we get home to Brazil!

God Bless!
John & Silvia

Central Mozambique

2010-09-24T12:35:00.001-03:00

Thanks for the prayers! I look forward to sharing more about this experience, but for now this will have to keep you updated!

We safely arrived in Beira, Mozambique two days ago and have spent the the time since then in Chimoio. Beira is one of three main port cities in Mozambique while Chimoio is inland to the northwest towards Malawi and Zimbabwe. Our host, Eddie, picked us up there and after a brief rest and planning meeting we started the 200 km trek to Chimoio, arriving here in the evening and hitting the sack early after a long day of traveling. Keep in mind that the driving here is far from easy and often treacherous in light of the smoke from the burning of the land plus all of the trucks hauling goods from Zimbabwe to South Africa. Praise the Lord for safety!

Yesterday (9-23) we spent the morning visiting the child care center that was started by our host. We have spent much time conversing and praying about how church planting may be done here. We appreciate your prayers as we continue to evaluate the land and the culture and the city of Chimoio. We are blessed to be a part of a church and mission that desires to see God glorified by making disciples of the nations and has seen the fruit of a Godly church-planting model!

Today, fellow missionaries Isaiah and Erin Huber met up with us as they have already been in Mozambique for a month. They will spend the rest of the trip with us as we scout this area and move on. We are thankful for their hearts for the expansion of PAZ as well and believe God has a fruitful ministry ahead of them.

Tomorrow is a Mozambican holiday to celebrate the end of the civil war that took place in the 1980's and 90's. Then on Sunday we will be driving to the southern regions of Malawi to visit two more outposts that are run by our host. We will also need to go to the larger city of Blantyre in order to handle our visa issues. Later next week we will return to Mozambique to finish up our trip in the capital city, Maputo.

Please continue to pray for us and our fellow PAZ missionaries and leaders as we all seek the Lord's will for the expansion of PAZ! May the Lord reveal to us his will for PAZ in growing the global body of Christ! Rejoice with us for the great things that God has done through PAZ in Brazil! Amen!

Also, please pray for our travels as this part of the world has it's own unique dangers associated with traveling. Also, that we would not have any problems with procuring additional visas for both Malawi and our return to Mozambique.

Traveling in the name of the Lord,
John & Silvia

Travels Abound!

2010-09-17T15:48:00.000-03:00

Hello everybody!

This update comes your way from South Africa! Silvia and I arrived here on Tuesday, September 14 after a pleasant 18 hour plane ride from the states. On Wednesday we were able to go to the Mozambican High Commission to apply for and receive our visas! This was a great blessing as we had recently been forced to rearrange a portion of our trip due to visa issues. We did not receive visas for Angola, so the first leg of our trip now will be spent with PAZ directors Jeff & Becky Hrubik here in South Africa. We covet your prayers as we then leave for Mozambique on Wednesday 9/22. At that time we will visit a ministry in the Chimoio, Mozambique area as well as the country capital of Maputo before we head back to the US on 10/06. During this time we ask that you pray for the Lord's special revelation on the possibilities of Project Amazon church planting in this region of Africa! The Spirit has moved in Brazil and blessed PAZ with an amazing church planting strategy. Pray with is as we seek how to apply it on a global scale!

We were blessed with a great trip from Brazil to the United States, honeymooning our way from Santarem to Cissna Park. We spent much time with family and friends before my family threw a great reception for us. Special thanks to all those who helped out with the preparations!

We shared with Christian Bible Church in Cissna Park before heading over to the Morton area for a few days. Morton was my previous residence before moving to Brazil so we had many people to see! We then returned to Cissna Park for Labor Day, headed to downtown Chicago to see some sights, and then spent some family time at Starved Rock!

Fourteen hours after returning from Starved Rock, we left Cissna Park for Chicago's O'hare airport to catch our flight to Johannesburg, South Africa! So here we are...

Praises

- Precious time with family and friends in Illinois
- An amazing wedding

- A great wedding reception in Cissna Park

- Safe travels to Africa

Prayer Requests

- Continued safety in traveling around Africa

- Special revelation from the Lord about future PAZ church planting opportunities in Africa as well as how Silvia and I may be involved

- Focus on a strong beginning to Silvia and I's new commitment to a marriage relationship and ministry to each other

For the Kingdom,

John & Silvia

We're Married!

2010-08-28T15:49:00.000-03:00

It's all done! We're hitched and engaged in an updated, lifelong journey of Love and Joy in serving our Almighty and Glorious Father!

Today we celebrate with family and friends in Cissna Park, Illinois. Tomorrow we share with Christian Bible Church, here in Cissna Park as well. Then we're off west to visit the Morton, Illinois area for a week. Go here to see our schedule.

Thanks again for all your love and support! We look forward to sharing more about our lives and ministry in the near future!

God's Blessings to You,
JAE

One Crazy Week!

2010-08-01T16:02:00.001-03:00

One week from today, I will have officially launched my honeymoon and ensuing two month visit to the US...but in the here and now, life is so good. It's such an awesome blessing to have my parents and a few friends in town to visit. It's a blessing to reminisce and remember good times together from previous chapters of life as well as see how God can merge two families from neighboring continents.

We're still awaiting the arrival of two more of my friends from the US and Silvia's extended family. Until then it's great to enjoy this celebration of God's work in our lives and help my friends and family get to know this little corner of God's awesome creation.

A relaxing Sunday morning and lunch at Silvia's house before church. We ate the Brazilian national dish, Feijoada.

God's blessings to you all!

JAE

Update - July '10

2010-07-29T11:49:00.001-03:00

Good Morning from the Amazon! I am writing in the cool of the morning here, enjoying the frequent early morning rain showers. I don't think it's supposed to be raining this time of year...

This past month has been filled with a flurry of activities and planning for various things, my family and friends that have just arrived, my upcoming August 7th wedding, and Silvia and I's ensuing visit to the US! But short of a few last minute items for the wedding, we are ready to have a blessed time with my parents and friends! We plan to relax, see the sights, and check out the mission work on the river.

We covet your prayers as Silvia and I begin our marriage "on the road" so to speak. We will be honeymooning in the States and then immediately arriving in Illinois to spend some time with my family. We have two main needs to aid in our travels in the US, a car and a cell phone. If you or anybody you know would be willing to loan us a car or cell phone from Aug 20 until Oct 14, please contact me. All of our driving will be around Illinois.

You can catch us in the following locations! (any changes will be posted here as well)

Aug 19 - 29 Cissna Park, IL

Aug 22 Washington Apostolic Christian Church

Aug 29 Cissna Park Christian Bible Church

Aug 30 - Sep 5 Morton, IL

Sep 5 Bloomington Apostolic Christian Church

Sep 6 - 12 Central IL

Sep 13 - Oct 6 Trip to Africa

Oct 7 - 13 Cissna Park, IL

Oct 14 Depart for Brazil

We look forward to seeing and sharing with many of you during this visit!

For three weeks during this trip, we will be blessed to travel with the directors of Project Amazon and several other missionaries to Africa. This will be a survey trip for PAZ church planting opportunities in Africa! We are excited to be a part of the future of PAZ as the Lord directs us to share His Gospel message of truth at the ends of the earth! If you would like to partner with us on the added expenses of this trip, please check out the Support Update on the right side of my blog!

Praises

- My Bride!

- Continual improving of my ability to communicate in Portuguese

- The immense Harvest of souls taking place in Brazil

- The opportunity to travel to the US and Africa

Prayer Requests

- For a blessed and safe time hosting my family and friends

- For a DRY wedding! (it is outdoors)

- For our travels to the US, that it would be filled with blessed fellowship with family and friends, and to Africa, the the Lord's vision for PAZ would be laid clearly on our hearts.

Married by Law - Silvia and I had our Civil Wedding on July 23, 2010, so we are technically married, however, we will not officially be married until we do so before the Lord, with family and friends on August 7, 2010.

Trying on some wedding clothes! Nice and simple.

Abounding in Grace,

JAE

Mailing Address:

John Eisenmann

(aos cuidados de) Missão Projeto Amazonia

CP 232

68005-080

Santarém, Pará, Basil

The JAE Journal - Volume 2, Issue 1

2010-07-24T21:32:00.001-03:00

Welcome to my paper newsletter! If you haven't received this in the mail and would like to, please email me or contact me here. Enjoy!

Click on the individual pages to see them in the letter size or for printing.

Unconditional Sharing

2010-07-22T19:21:00.001-03:00

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a training course given by a Brazilian missions organization. It was great perspective and really encouraging to see how the church in Brazil is working towards more generous giving towards missions. The Brazilian culture historically views missions as a role supported solely by the church and thus is not inclined to give personally. This makes it difficult for Brazilians to enter full time missions. Please pray with us as the church here in Brazil transitions into an era of more generous giving to the Lord's work!

Overall, I was reminded of the many challenges in building a team of supporters, how much faith it requires, utter reliance on God, and pure humility. It is a challenge to our ingrained way of thinking in the United States as we are taught from our youth to be independent. But oh how sweet it is when we are able to see God working through the Body of Christ...

Here are a few random thoughts or snip-its of what I learned...

We see evidence of maturity in support team building when:

a) we believe that raising support is not an interruption in our ministry, but rather a part of our ministry
b) when we recognize that God will supply ALL of our needs
c) when we recognize that God is teaching us about faith
d) when we understand that people have a God-given capacity and desire to give generously
e) when we believe that donors need and want to give which is more important than our necessity to receive
f) when we have an attitude of gratitude in and circumstance.

One of the beautiful things about the body of Christ is our ability to share and have communion with each other, under the common bond of Christ, outside of the boundaries of nations, race, culture, age, or wealth. We should all be working towards the same goal, ultimately, glorifying our Almighty Lord and Savior through worship and praise of His eternal being. And to this end, we call up other beside us and explain the Way, the Truth, the Gospel...

"For the early Christians, Koinonia was not ... tea, biscuits, and conversation in the social room at church after the sermon. It was an unconditional sharing of their lives with other members of the body of Christ." Rondald J. Sider

Covered in Grace,

JAE

A Battle Cry Call to Fasting and Prayer

2010-07-18T12:54:00.001-03:00

Attention! All Christian Soldiers and Prayer Warriors of Jesus Christ

The time has come the time is now!

Jordan & Katelyn have considered their medical treatment options with no hope of improvement or a cure against this enemy and agent of death, this ever growing cancer; and they have decided to move Jordan home and cry out to God, the only source of Miraculous Hope...[more]

This is the opening to the latest post on some friends of mine's blog...This is the crying out of a couple of Saints in the Lord's Army, as they face a battle against cancer, a battle against the workings of pain and suffering from the Enemy of our Soul, and are rallying the troops to with them in this intense battle.

Take a moment to read their requested call to fasting and prayer beginning tomorrow, Monday, July 18.

Let's join in the battle with Jordan & Katelyn and their two beautiful little girls, Jaycee & Arawen.

Fighting,

JAE

From Where Do They Come?- Second Edition

2010-07-13T09:01:00.002-03:00

As a person partially dependent on the interconnectivity of the internet and it's various communication avenues to maintain relationships with family and friends 4,000 miles away, I like to see how people find my blog. So here's the second edition of "From where do they come" a posting of my Top 5 Referring sites in the past month. Go here to see the first edition.

Top 5 Referring Sites (in the past month)
1) The Sauder Family
2) Facebook
3) Project Amazon
4) Unfading Beauty
5) Is It Friday Yet?

Your Kingdom Come

2010-07-11T09:58:00.000-03:00

This past week during the mission's daily prayer meeting, we took a look at the Lord's Prayer. Simplistic and concise, yet one could meditate on it for hours and hours and even after a lifetime it's unlikely that we will fully understand it's implications on how a human lives out their life on this earth.

It appears in two places in the scriptures, once in Mathew (ch 6) and once in Luke (ch 11). Christ uses it as a teaching tool for how to pray. In Mathew, Christ uses it to counter how the hypocrites and pagans pray, full of pride and babbling. In Luke, Christ explains how we are to approach God with boldness in our petitions. Pray with humility before the Lord, but go to Him boldly! God knows are needs before we ask.

One topic that we spent some time talking about was the phrase "your kingdom come." The basic meaning of this petition for me is saying "your victory is coming." This encapsulates the truth that the Kingdom of God is coming, there will be a battle against darkness, and grand battle, but God has already told us how it ends. As believers, we will see a marvelous demonstration of power and glory by the creator of all. And what an honor to confess my position on the winning side. A post today at The Resurgence blog says this about the Kingdom of God, "At its simplest, the kingdom of God is the result of God's mission to rescue and renew his sin-marred creation. The kingdom of God is about Jesus our king establishing his rule and reign over all creation, defeating the human and angelic evil powers, bringing order to all, enacting justice, and being worshiped as Lord."

The Lord's Prayer (1928 Anglican Book of Common Prayer with Doxology)

Our Father who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us,

and lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

[The 1928 BCP adds:

For thine is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory,

for ever and ever.]

Amen.

The Fight is Brutal

2010-07-07T19:06:00.000-03:00

The closer you get to the front lines, the more intense it gets. The Enemy is real. He is working to devour us. But we have already won the fight. And don't be fooled and think that there is anything necessarily physical about this fight. You don't need to be at the end of the earth to find it. Start making disciples and boldly proclaiming the Gospel where ever you go. The fight will find you. But be prepared....it's brutal.

Be prepared to sacrificially act in ways that may seem radical or offensive to other people, even other believers. The Word of the Lord calls us to it.

Fast. Pray. Fight. Arise Victoriously. Worship.

JAE

P.S. John Godson over at the Lausanne World Pulse has a great article on this.

Serve, Serve, Serve

2010-07-06T22:30:00.000-03:00

As a missionary in a developing nation, I have had to make just a few changes in my life. My personality has changed, expectations for a life lived on this earth have changed, my "rights" have changed, and yet my role-model for my life hasn't changed one bit...

Fellow missionary to Brazil, Bud Simon over at the Xingu Mission in Altamira, shares some thoughts about missionary living in a 5 part series. Check out the full article here.

When someone goes as a missionary, they must take a servant heart. They seek out opportunities to serve. They don’t say, “well I didn’t know” or “No one called me” or “No one told me”. They are on the mission field as servants.

The most valuable questions are:

“What can I do to help?”

“How can I help?”

“What needs to be done?”

“How can I make you more successful?”

“How can I lighten your load?”

Clearly, the words are a reflection of the attitude. This is by far the toughest hurdle to jump. We come as missionaries thinking we will do something important. We forget that our King of Kings came “to serve, not to be served”. People focus on efficiency and impact and strategy and adding value and what the latest church growth guy has to say or the latest guru has to impart. We all need to look back at the example of Christ. The shadow Jesus cast stretches to this day. Serve, serve, serve.

Looking Back - Congresso da PAZ 2010

2010-07-06T13:37:00.000-03:00

It's all in the past, countless hours of preparation and 13 hours of "showtime" in three days...but for hundred's of people, they now have a future, a hope of eternal glory; a hope founded in undeserved grace from the God of this universe, realized by saving faith in The Perfect God-Man, Jesus Christ, and to be seen for eternity as glorious worship in the heavens...

Congresso da PAZ 2010 is over, but now the "work" comes. Now as a church we have the responsibility of caring for these new disciples. Pray with us. Praise with us. We declared the grace of God on this city, and we saw it. Now we proclaim perseverance and victorious lives in the name of Christ.

Check out the view from the congresso's head photographer, Micah Gregory's blog. Also, more photos at the Project AmaZon website.

God Bless!
JAE

Night One - Congresso da Paz 2010

2010-07-03T19:54:00.003-03:00

I've never been a part of such an awesome display of God's saving grace. Simply put...Powerful.

Check out the Project Amazon website for details and photos.
http://www.projectamazon.org/2010/congresso-da-paz-2010/

Keep Praying!

The Start - Congresso da Paz 2010

2010-07-02T16:41:00.000-03:00

Friends, today marks the start of Congresso da Paz 2010, the single largest event that will take place in Santarém this year! In just a couple hours, thousands upon thousands of people will fill the local stadium, but they won't be there for a game...but rather to see the Holy Spirit descend upon Santarém in a powerful movement of live-giving beauty!

The purpose is evangelism. The result is salvation. The way is grace through faith. Here in Santarém this means three nights of powerful worship, prayer, preaching, dancing, and dramas. The highlights of this years event will include preaching by Pastor Abe Huber of Igreja da Paz in Fortaleza, a three part drama depicting the life of Joseph, as well as the launching of the first ever CD by the Igreja da Paz worship team in Santarém!

Over 50,000 people are expected to attend. Many will be church members, but the push is for every believer that attends, they bring with them one non-believer.

Please pray with us! We expect the Spirit to work powerfully and swiftly during this event! We declare the salvation of thousands of people! We pray that God will use this event to HIS HONOR AND GLORY! Pray for all of the teams and the logistics that must take place for an event like this to happen. It's a lot of work, but we know that God will be glorified through it!

To see what happened at Congresso da Paz 2009, check out this link to the Project Amazon website.

In the Spirit,
JAE

Where is the USA headed?

2010-06-22T20:01:00.001-03:00

Thanks to a recent post on a blog that I frequent, I was given a taste of the spiritual climate in the United States of America in the era of its independence. Please draw your own conclusions on what the Bible teaches about the nations of this world, where the US was, where it is now, and what might be in store for the future.

From the post Flag Day on the blog How Great The Yield From A Fertile Field:

Since today is Flag day, I thought I would post the lyrics to The Star-Spangled Banner. The last three verses are rarely heard. I think the fourth verse in particular is often overlooked in our society today. Few of us have sacrificed to obtain the freedom that our flag represents. Many forget that God has the power to raise Nations or put down Nations. Too few are grateful for all that we have.
None of us have done anything to deserve the spiritual freedom that we can have.

[Star-Spangled Banner, Verse Four]
O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

May God´s mercies be renewed.

Update - June ´10

2010-06-22T17:56:00.001-03:00

Olá, Queridos! And goodbye to the month of June! Time keeps flying by and I’m sure that everybody back in the States is busy with summer cookouts and long sunny days…I miss those. Here on the equator, the sun rises and sets at the same time every day, all year, 12 hours of daylight. I am blessed to write you in the midst of a blur of activity and with praise of my lips of the faithfulness of our God!

Last month I struggled through a time with no computer after my one year old Dell notebook went out of commission with a fried motherboard. As that provided several days of frustration, it has also given me reason to praise God and to declare of his goodness and faithfulness. In short order, the Lord provided funds for me to buy a new laptop to replace my cooked Dell! I look forward to receiving it when my parents come to visit for my wedding at the end of July!

I participated in the city wide event, March for Jesus which took place a couple weeks ago. Many of the churches in Santarem were involved and invited their members to participate. We started at a park and walked throughout the city (about 8 Km or 5 miles) being led by trucks with speakers. We worshiped throughout the walk and stopped to pray at strategic locations as well. At the end of the march, there was a praise and worship concert as well as a message given. We are believing in the Salvation of the entire city of Santarem!

Another praise is for my ability to speak Portuguese! Lately, I have been encouraged by many people whom have commented on how well I am doing in communicating. I am far from perfect, but am able to carry on a decent conversation and feel like I am now in a place where I can be more effectively used in ministry, especially in the roles of discipleship and in cell groups. It is still difficult for me to give a detailed account of my testimony with the level of emotion and detail that I would like to portray, but that is coming along as well.

With my wedding only a short 46 days away, I am also busy with those preparations, getting everything in order for living accommodations as well as preparing for my friends and family who will be visiting for the occasion. It is an honor to receive them.

After the wedding, Silvia and I will be traveling to Illinois for several weeks to spend time with my family and friends. We will be in Illinois from August 20^th until October 14^th. During that time we are in need of a car to use. If anybody would be willing to lend us a vehicle for this time, we would be extremely blessed! Please email me if you have any information or ideas. We look forward to visiting many people and sharing of the awesome works that the Lord is performing in our lives and through the PAZ ministry in Brazil. I am finalizing our itinerary now and will be sure to let everybody know where we will be visiting.

Also please pray for the upcoming Igreja da Paz Congresso, the annual city-wide evangelical campaign. The church puts on a huge event in the local stadium with dramas, praise and worship, preaching, and dances. The purpose is for members of the church to invite anybody and everybody they know who is not saved to come and share in these three days of God-honoring festivities. As a church, we are now fasting and praying for this event to take place on July 2-4. Please join us in prayer and petitioning for a great harvest of souls during this time!

Praises

- For continuous improvement in speaking Portuguese

- For the provision of a new computer

- For the ongoing, glorious harvest of Souls in the Amazon Basin of Brazil!

- For the Lord bringing me my helpmate!

Prayer Requests

- For continued brokenness before my God, in seeking how to utilize my abilities and resources to bring Him Glory and Honor

- For wisdom in utilizing our time in the United States, that we would be refreshed and be able to spend an appropriate amount of time visiting friends and family

- For provision and wisdom in our search for appliances, household item, and wedding gift registries

- For wisdom in deciding how to become more involved in ministry and discipleship

- Congresso da Paz, that it would be an honor to God and that He would use it powerfully to bring thousands of souls to saving faith in Christ Jesus!

With praise on my lips,

JAE

Mailing Address:

John Eisenmann

(aos cuidados de) Missão Projeto Amazonia

CP 232

68005-080

Santarém, Pará, Basil

Update - May '10

2010-05-20T12:08:00.000-03:00

Hello Everybody! I pray this update finds you enjoying the spring weather back in the States! I'm learning here that I've lost all track of what's going on back in IL. When the weather never changes, locked in a continual 'summer', it all just blends together! But the Lord created this climate as well as what I grew up in back in IL, so for that I praise Him!

But one area that I'm struggling to keep the proper attitude of thankfulness is with my 1.5 year old laptop that just cooked its motherboard. Please pray for my ability to make wise decisions about replacing it and that in the Lord's timing I would be able to get the replacement here from the States. Also, as this is an unplanned expense, that the Lord would bless my budget. Also, please pray for patience as I go day by day bumming other peoples computers and the internet and going to cyber cafes to get my essential online work done.

This past month has flown by and June is just around the corner! That and my wedding is only 79 days away! In this time I've been blessed to travel twice and participate in a conference. I've also been able to take a bit more comprehensive role in my cell group by leading the Word, or the discussion. This has been a boost to my Portuguese and really is helping me to be more aggressive in using it.

Back in April, I traveled with a team from upstate New York to the Tapajos River community of Lago Central. We were blessed to help them really make some progress on their church and hold a health clinic. Half the foundation was done when we arrived when we left, we had made some great progress on the block walls. We had hauled much of the materials necessary for the project on our boat, so we also had to unload them and haul them up the beach. The team shared some strong testimonies and skits and the pastors preached convicting messages about the Gospel of Christ. God was moving there and several people came to saving faith in the Lord! Check out the details here.

We came back from that trip and immediately joined the rest of the PAZ missionaries to a conference and some relaxing time together as a missionary family. It was a blessed time and we heard from a guest speaker about member care and how we can support each other here on the field. More here.

After a couple weeks of normalcy, I was blessed again to travel to the jungle community of Renascer. The health team went there by truck, but I was enlisted to escort a visitor there by bus. And that's 5 hours by bus on horribly torn up dirt roads! We went to several communities and hosted clinics and held worship services. The locals were blessed to have us and we were blessed to share the love of Christ with them, both in bodily form and in the way of Salvation of their Souls!

Praises

- For two successful and safe trips in the name of the Lord!

- For the safe arrive of a friend from the States here to visit.

- For successfully leading the discussion in my cell group!

- For the ongoing,glorious harvest of Souls in the Amazon Basin of Brazil!

- For the Lord bringing me my helpmate!

Prayer Requests

- For continued faith and pure trust in the Lord for our financial provision even when my short-sightedness wants to worry

- For wisdom and provision in acquiring a new computer

- For provision and wisdom in our search for appliances, household item, and wedding gift registries

- For wisdom in deciding how to become more involved in ministry and discipleship

Broken before the Lord,

JAE

Computer Quemado

2010-05-20T11:03:00.001-03:00

Yeah, so it's never good to use quemado and computer in the same sentence...

I'll elaborate...

Last Friday I was eating dinner with a couple friends and we were talking about computers and buying them in the states and bringing them to Brazil. I bought my Dell Studio XPS last spring and it has served me well. But in the spirit of conversation I mentioned that I was thinking about buying a new one when I come back to the US this fall (you can sell used computers here in Brazil for a great price and essentially get your new one paid for).

Than evening I got home and hit the power button on my laptop...nada. Uh-oh, this isn't good...

Within 36 hours I had figured out that the Motherboard was toast. Worse yet, I was 1 month out of warranty. So here I am looking at a worthless computer. I will hopefully soon be able to get my data off the hard drive.

So a new computer definitely wasn't on the "must have" list for this year, but it has now made it's way into the budget. So the past couple days I've been looking at my options to buy a computer and get it down here. I don't really like this floundering feeling of not having one. I am able to get buy bumming around the other missionaries and going to cyber cafes. I've also written more letters in the past few days that I have since I arrived here in September. That has been a blessing in this age of instant communication, but doesn't relieve my need to work on a computer.

Please pray for me to have wisdom in deciding what to buy and when to get it and that the Lord would provide the means necessary to finance it. If you would like to help in this endeavor, please contact me.

Some of you will like to know that I am leaning towards a Mac now. I've recently been turned on to the amazing functionality that it will provide me in creating multimedia for my ministry on the mission field. I'm looking at new, used, and refurbished, warranty or not, size, and processor...and of course cost. Lord please give me wisdom to be a wise steward of your resources that you have blessed me with and will bless me with in the future!

Computer-less,
JAE

Renascer…Revivial!

2010-05-13T08:17:00.001-03:00

Well, my trip out to Renascer didn’t exactly go as planned, but that’s pretty normal here and I would say it turned out for the better. The bus ride alone makes for an interesting story, most of which involves some cultural adaptation…

I knew where the bus would pick us up, but we had conflicting information as to what time the bus actually would leave Santarém. Some people said 8 AM, some 8:30 AM, and yet others 10 AM! So to be on the safe side, Becca and I got there at 7:45 and then would up waiting until 9:15 for the bus…not the time that anybody told us, but right in the middle. We quickly settled in for our 5 hour ride.

Once out of the city, the bus started making a few stops. We would stop at the various communities along the road to drop people off (the route is an out and back from Santarém). On several occasions the driver would turn off the main road and drive several kilometers to somebody’s house and drop them off, turn around, and head back to the main road. Now that’s customer service! Then about 3.5 hours into the ride, we came to a little house and a woman and little boy got off the bus, but the so did the driver, and they all went running up to the house…I was a little confused at first, until as saw the boy and woman give the daddy a kiss and sent him off to finish the bus route :-)

The very next stop, every person on the bus except 3 or 4 got up without saying anything and got off. I was thinking, wow, I guess this is the place to be. I kept chatting with one of the older gentlemen that I had become acquainted to we went on down the road for another 10 minutes. This gentleman got off, then we turned around and went back, stopped at the previous place and everybody got back on the bus! I guess nobody bothered to let the gringos know that this was just a watering hole and rest stop…sure would have been nice to let our butts rest a bit…next time I’ll ask!

At 2 PM, we arrived in Renascer, exactly 3 minutes longer than the driver told me it would take. I guess he’s made the trip before. The whole 5 hour trip was only 13 Reis or about $7.20. What a deal for such a long ride! We were greeted by Silvia and Katie and had a joyous reunion. In this community, God is building and strengthening his church! The community even changed the name from Macaco (meaning monkey in English) to Renascer which means revival!

That evening we traveled with the supervising pastor, Ronaldo and his wife, the local worker, Adilson and his wife, and the health team another village (I forget the name). We made some house visits and then held a service in the local school. There was a great turnout! Praise God. I was able to share my testimony, with the help of my beautiful fiancé, who translated for me. The the pastor preached the Word and we had some awesome worship!

The next day I stayed with the team and we traveled to the village of Nova Vitória. We set up a clinic there and the ladies saw patients all morning and some of the afternoon. This community already has three functioning cell groups. It was a blessing for them to have us and for us to be able to strengthen and encourage them that evening with another service.

I was planning to leave Renascer on the 4 AM bus yesterday, but instead I traveled with the team to the village of São Raimundo. From there a blessed brother gave me a ride on his motorcycle to the village or Trevo, 10 km away so I could catch a bus back to Santarém from there. A couple hours later, I was back home…

Last night I was blessed to have to opportunity to share the Word in my cell group. Thanks to all of you who were praying! I believe it went well and was definitely an encouragement to me. I am seeing more and more fruit from my language studies and need more experiences like this to build confidence in using the language. I keep trusting the God is being glorified by my language learning!

In Christ,

JAE

On the Bus again…

2010-05-09T21:07:00.001-03:00

Here’s to the end of a great weekend…a former PAZ intern and mutual friend of Silvia and I arrived in Santarém on Saturday! It’s always exciting to receive visitors! (Hint, feel free to take on this role in the future by offering to visit and support one of your missionary friends! They’ll be blessed and so will you.)

Tomorrow morning we are taking off for the village of Macaco, or Renascer if you want to use the unofficial name as given by the locals. The roads are rough and tough and impassable with a car, so we will be taking the bus…a 5 hour noisy, bumpy ride in the sweltering heat (the last two days it has been almost 100F in the afternoon), packed in with who knows how many people! We’ll arrive there tomorrow afternoon at about 2 PM and then 12 hours later, I’ll climb back aboard to return to the city. For all you math majors, that’s right, the return bus leaves at 2 in the morning…not much sleep to be had that night :-) Becca will be staying there with the health team that is currently ministering in that community and some others in the vicinity. Please pray for their work this week.

But the reason I have to come back right away is that I will be sharing the message in my cell group for the first time since I’ve arrived here and have been learning the language. This is a big step and has me a bit nervous. Thankfully, Brazilians are very gracious and patient in listening to foreigners stumble through some thoughts in broken Portuguese. Please pray with me for a calmness and ability to focus and remember what I’ve learned. I’m sure that when I successfully come out on the other side, I’ll have been encouraged by my ability to communicate, in the name of Christ Jesus!

Living in Grace,

JAE

Godly Ambition

2010-05-09T07:47:00.001-03:00

(From Justin Taylor’s Blog)

“Ambitions for self may be quite modest. . . . Ambitions for God, however, if they are to be worthy, can never be modest. There is something inherently inappropriate about cherishing small ambitions for God. How can we ever be content that he should acquire just a little more honour in the world? No. Once we are clear that God is King, then we long to see him crowned with glory and honour, and accorded his true place, which is the supreme place. We become ambitious for the spread of his kingdom and righteousness everywhere.”

—John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (IVP, 1993), 172–173.

Cited in Dave Harvey’s Rescuing Ambition, p. 117.

Lago Central

2010-05-08T13:05:00.001-03:00

A few posts back I mentioned that I was about to leave on a trip to the Tapajós River community of Lago Central. Well, I’ve long since returned but have been swamped with things to get done and thus have slacked off a bit on my communications efforts. So here’s to getting back on track!

This trip was with a team from upstate New York, associated with fellow missionaries Edson and Kelly Lee (Go here to see Edson’s pictures. They are fabulous). They were a split of men and women here to do both church construction and health ministry. I was also blessed to have with us my fiancé, Silvia. This was especially exciting for us as it was our first boat trip together! Of course with that came much teasing that I was rather distracted, but I wouldn’t hear it! This was also the first time I’ve been out during the rainy season. This made for some slow mornings waiting for the rain to stop, but also provided some cool weather. I also experienced what I believe was the hardest downpour I’ve EVER seen.

We set out on the Portador da Luz on a cheerful Monday morning for the 3.5 hour trip up the Tapajós River. Once we were there, some fine navigating was required to get through the channel to the lake where the community is situated. Because of this, access to this place by boat is only available for a portion of the year. Once the river resides, you would have to walk several kilometers from the river to get there.

That afternoon we started up on the construction right away. This church is just in it’s infant stage of constructions. When we got there, about half of the foundation was done. So we finished digging the trench for this and hauling sand as well for the concrete. We also got to break up some large rocks to use in the foundation. The nurses fired up the clinic and saw some patients as well. That evening we held a small service at some believers’ home next to the church site. This is the first time I’ve ever been carried away by huge, man-eating, blood-sucking, life-taking mosquitoes. Thankfully they didn’t take me far and some deet was within reach…

The next morning we were greeted by a nice rain shower which pushed back the start of our construction work, but after a nice breakfast and some devotion time, the rain backed off and we were able to get started. We brought with us on the boat thousands of clay bricks, cement, water filters, and fiber roof tiles. So we began unloading those items as well as making cement and laying blocks…the church was starting to take on some shape! The clinic was under way again and stayed busy most of the day. Again we hosted a service in the evening. The local PAZ worker Francisco opened and the boat captain, Pastor Geraldo preached a strong message about living for the Lord. The team was also able to share a couple testimonies and a skit. I really appreciated the worship! We know God was working there!

On Wednesday, much of the same happed, a bit of rain, some church construction and a health clinic. This was the last night we would be there so we planned the “grand finale” worship service. We had some more great worship, complements of Pr. Geraldo, and then another skit by the team. One of the team members had a miraculous healing in her life and shared her testimony. After that we had a strong time of prayer for healing and miracles in the people lives. Then Pr. Renaldo, the supervisor over this church, shared the gospel message and shared his testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness in his life. In the end, the evidence of the Lord’s hand and Spirit over this community was present as we were able to praise God with the angles as 3 people came to faith in Christ!

On the last day, we headed were greeted by a nice steady rain all morning. I few people still came for the clinic (some from far away and across the lake in the rain) and us men consigned to being soaked and worked on the church. This isn’t as bad as it sounds, as working in the rain is often preferred over the hot Amazonian sun, although, not the best conditions for laying block.

That afternoon, we headed back to the city, having witnessed the movement of the Holy Spirit. I see on a weekly basis, almost hundreds of people coming to faith in Christ, and all for His glory! Disciples-making-Disciples! May I never stop praising God for being blessed in participating in His miraculous life-giving ministry here in the Amazon Basin of Brazil!

Please pray with us for Francisco, the PAZ worker in Lago Central. This man is volunteering to lead this church and minister to the people there, on top of his fishing and carpentry work. These people don’t have much, but they’ll give it up for the sake of the Gospel…

JAE

Renewed

2010-04-28T07:28:00.001-03:00

I just returned from a two day PAZ missionary conference here in Santarém. It was a blessing to get the whole team away for a couple days and have some quality “family” time. What a blessing to have them!

The main topic was Member Care. But we also shared in some amazing worship and fellowship time. Below is a portion of fellow missionary Micah Gregory’s blog post about the retreat. It’s worth the read, a very entertaining take on the conference. Oh, and for reference, I scored 786 on the stress test!

”

Is missionary care important? That is what I was thinking going into the meetings.

I did, he did it, she did it, others will do it and make just fine. Is that true? Kinda.

Anybody can survive in the mission field, I believe that.

However, we´re NOT here to play Survivor or our own version of Castaway Brazil.

We´re here for a calling, for a purpose and most importantly…to serve.

In order to be effective, you to need to BE ABLE to be effective.

To share our hearts, be consoled in difficult times, to lick our wounds at times, and to remember God´s faithfulness.

Christ, poured himself out to God before he was crucified and wept at the grave of a friend.”

Renewed,
JAE

In Between Times

2010-04-24T11:54:00.001-03:00

I just returned from the river Thursday night, and there has been no shortage of excitement since! I was blessed to have traveled with the Resurrection Life Fellowship team from New York and a host of Brazilians. There is no doubt that the Spirit is moving in Lago Central! I’ll share more about my experiences there when I get a chance to sit down and write it out.

After returning late Thursday night from the trip, I got a short night of rest and then yesterday was able to celebrate the birthday of my fiancé, Silvia, and then send her off with a couple other missionaries to do a one day health clinic in Monte Alegre, a town “just across the river” from Santarém. I’ve been getting caught up with emails and such and then beginning tomorrow, all of our missionaries here will be having a couple day conference/retreat at a hotel here in town. Please pray for our time together as a team!

I look forward to letting you know about Lago Central soon!

In Christ,

JAE

Blessings over Lago Central!

2010-04-18T23:31:00.001-03:00

Tomorrow morning I will head out on the Tapajós River again to a village called Lago Central. Traveling on this trip with me will be fellow missionaries Edson, Kelly, Betty, and Silvia. In addition we have a team of six Americans here who will help with a health and dental clinic, church construction, water filter distribution, and evangelism. Several Brazilian missionaries/workers will be along as well for a total crew of 16. We’ll be returning on Thursday night.

Please pray with us over this trip! We need your partnership in this spiritual battle against the enemy! Strongholds are being broken and the Name of the Lord is storming forth, but the enemy is attacking. We must battle this with fervent prayer!

1) Safety of the crew and equipment.
2) Powerful deliverance of the Gospel message.
3) Indwelling of the Holy Spirit on the lives of those we are in contact with during this trip.
4) Uplifting days for the community and church workers.
5) Physical and spiritual healing.
6) Good progress on the church building.

Thanks for your partnership! I’ll look forward to reporting back upon my return! God Bless You!

JAE