OK! It’s about
time to write a new journal entry since the last one was two
months ago. Sue is just finishing up a
discipleship right now and I am waiting for Mario to stop by for a
visit he requested yesterday.
We
received news yesterday that my sister Jewl Ann will be having another
surgery this afternoon-- right about now. That was something we weren't
expecting, but are praying that everything goes well for her.
I just checked weather on woodtv.com from Grand Rapids and
am glad we are not there. Brrrr!
I
didn’t get too far with this entry before Mario stopped by. He has been
working with us as assistant pastor at the church these past two years
and has been a great encouragement in the ministry. Along with a
seminary degree, he also has a degree in psychology as well
as owns his
own store. He wanted to share with us this afternoon that he believes
that God is not calling him into any fulltime ministry, and
that he will be stepping down as assistant pastor.
He
and Marta will continue attending at our church and work in areas of
music and some counseling, but nothing beyond that. Just like in that
book Who Moved My Cheese? we learn that change
happens, so adapt, enjoy and be ready to quickly change again and
again. I
have said to people that we may be taken by surprise with things that
happen in our lives (which has happened many times since we moved
here), but God is never surprised. He knew
about this change, and we must trust Him for what is to come next.
Last
week was a change of pace as we had our ABWE Bauru Field Council family
retreat. It was a nice change for me to not have to chair the
meetings-– a first! It was held at a
beautiful resort on
an island in a huge river about two hours from here. Cars were left on
the mainland and everything and everyone was transported out on a boat.
The Blazer family was first to arrive and, of course, their first
suitcase unloaded unto the dock fell into the river.
Fortunately,
nothing was lost, only some clothes got wet, and it didn’t happen
again. The whole atmosphere was like an escape, very relaxing, which
all of us needed. While the kids had
hotel-supervised playtime all day, mornings and evenings the adults did
daily Bible studies using the book The Life You’ve Always
Wanted-– a very encouraging study. Annual
reports were presented and some planning done for the year ahead.
Afternoons were free for swimming, kayaking, a schooner ride and other
water activities-– what else when you’re surrounded by water?!
Changes have also been going on at church. It
has been filled every Sunday for the past month. Right
now I am trying to set a time to meet with an engineer to decide which
walls can safely be taken down to open up our worship area is the first
step. The project will then be presented to the owner, and if she
approves, we will begin the renovation. We really need the space. It would be so nice if we owned the place and
wouldn’t have to go through that approval step.
Speaking
of change, the last day of January we received word that the owner of
the house we’ve been living in wants his house back by the first of
March. We had to scramble, working with
seven different realtors, looking at apartments and houses in all
different price ranges. First
compromise was to go with an apartment as there were very few nice
houses available. Second compromise was to go with a smaller apartment
with a lower rent. To move from this huge house to an apartment will be
a big change for starters. Along with
everything
else that’s going on we have had to sell a lot of the furniture we’ve
accumulated here over the past four years, but it is good quality and
almost everything that had to be sold has been sold. That money will
help with the expenses of the move. Another
change is that we will be living in a different part of town that we
don’t know well and is farther from church, but that can be handled by
adjusting schedules during the day to coincide with church activities.
We
have started doing more evening visiting now that people are back from
summer vacation, and after the Carnaval holiday next week, we will be
starting two new prayer groups-– one in the early morning before work
for men and another in the evening for ladies that are not involved in
our small groups.
Now,
it is time to stop for a while. We learned last week that solitude is
good. I could use some of that. Have a great week ahead, and I’ll try
to be more regular with these entries once we are moved-– if everything
comes together, probably next week Thursday. That’s it for now. Tchau!