Cactus Flower

Next month Byron and I will celebrate 30 years of marriage of which 26 have been in full-time missionary service - 4 years of deputation and 22 years on the field in Brazil.  Over the course of all those years it seems we have seen more people leave the field than come while we just keep on staying.  Some left because it was just not their cup of tea - missionary life.  Some retired.  Some were called to other places or ministries.  Older missionaries have gone on to glory.  And yet here we are.  Is it because we are some sort of super saintly missionaries?  Nah, it must be something else.  But what?  How is it that some people live out their adult lives on a foreign mission field where some many others have come and mostly gone?  Here's a few things that may have made the difference for our stickability... HAVING FAMILY PETS Yes, having pets kept me from thinking about leaving the mission field time time and again, becau...

When I was a girl I thought the chicken crossing the road joke was the funniest thing of all.  Have you heard it? Why did the chicken cross the road?   To get to the other side.   It's an example of the kind of joke that is easy to retell with other crazy answers.  When I was a girl and went to a big elementary school, kids loved to ask the question but with some other crazy answer just to trick their friends.   Why did the chicken cross the road? To prove he wasn't chicken!   Why did the duck cross the road? Because it was the chicken's day off.   Why did the chicken cross the playground? To get to the other slide!   Years ago Grandaddy got a newspaper every Sunday.  The newspaper on Sundays was a bigger edition with a section of comics, an insert with advertisements and coupons, and even a special section with a TV schedule for the week.  The Roanoke Times newspaper even had a special mini-newspaper for kids.  Every week they aske...

This same content was posted on the blog I write for my stateside nephews this week. Every Friday I post some real life story for them to read.  I don't see them very often - just on furloughs.  So it's a way to relate and keep in touch and for them to know a little more about their crazy missionary aunt. My boys have been blessed over the years with visits from their real life Uncle Wesley, their paternal grandmother, and their maternal grandfather and grandmother on numerous times.  But not growing up in the States meant that they lacked in the extended family area of life - cousins and family reunions and every body at Grandma's on holidays.  Things that I did have as a girl. But my boys did have and still do some incredible missionary uncles and aunts and many adopted MK cousins.   I can still remember the first time William might a cousin's son about his age at a wedding on one of our furlough's.  He insisted I take a photo of him and his newly dis...

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Werica and Anderson have decided to change their original plans to go to Mozambique later this year.  The costs of the trip are very high and another opportunity arose that is much more viable and applicable to the learning experience both wish to gain on a missions trip. Anderson was also highlighted in a post here on the blog.  He and Werica have been presented with the chance to accompany Wordless Ministries on a missions trip to the Amazon region of Brazil.   This trip will be July 1 - 11 of this year.   Each participant needs about US$500 to go on the trip.   Please pray with us that  Anderson, Werica and two others - Eliana and Luis Vinicius from our church group will be able to take part in this event.   We are very proud of all of our young people and are encouraged in their interest in world missions.   Meet Werica This young lady is a hard working girl who after she was saved at the age of ten....

Have you ever heard about the time Uncle Byron got robbed at gunpoint?  There are three different versions of the story.  There is the real, true tale told by Uncle Byron.  There is the version told by missionaries Uncle Tim and Uncle Doug.  And then there is the version repeated by one of Uncle Doug and Tim's cousins who lives in Winston-Salem NC.  Each time the story was repeated it grew like a fish in the account of a fisherman.  The fish was this big... No, it was thisss big.  No, it was THISsss BIG ! I'm going to try to recount the event without a lot of embellishment. When we first came to Sobradinho, Uncle Byron would go into town at least once a month to buy parts and what not and to get money out of the bank.  We could get cash out of the bank machine here in town but the limit per day was lower and the fee per transaction was higher.  So one fine morning, Uncle Byron went into Petrolina over the barragem (the big hydro-electric dam...

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Werica and Anderson have decided to change their original plans to go to Mozambique later this year.  The costs of the trip are very high and another opportunity arose that is much more viable and applicable to the learning experience both wish to gain on a missions trip. Anderson was also highlighted in a post here on the blog.  He and Werica have been presented with the chance to accompany Wordless Ministries on a missions trip to the Amazon region of Brazil.   This trip will be July 1 - 11 of this year.   Each participant needs about US$500 to go on the trip.   Please pray with us that  Anderson, Werica and two others - Eliana and Luis Vinicius from our church group will be able to take part in this event.   We are very proud of all of our young people and are encouraged in their interest in world missions.   Meet Anderson Souza Anderson is a great fellow.  He is currently the leader of our young p...

Here's one of my favorite all time photos of our youngest.  The red flowers in the tree seem to match so perfectly with his shirt,  and that little smile is just right.  Sometimes we lament the growth of our babes.   We think about how nice it was and how we'd love to go back.   But I'm quite content to keep going forward.  I'm good to remember the sweet smile,  and be glad that the boy's still around for a bit longer here in our home to keep us delighted.

Saudações, My apologies to anyone trying to read this out loud to a group.   Maybe you can start with "There's a funny word here in Portuguese   that I don't know how to say that means 'Greetings'." Life seems to go in tides where there are times things are a little slower and sometimes a little faster.   Sometimes it's an all out Tsunami.   Things aren't that crazy yet, but it has been one of those "convergence of projects" times where several things seem to come due at once.   After a holiday hiatus we've restarted the Neighborhood Sunday School project.   It's never produced much though we often see kids who ask when we're going back to their street.   We had one club near the house of one of our members, Eliana.   Attendance fluctuated but was encouraging.   Like always we invited the kids to church and offered them a ride home if they made it there.   It was our most distant club location.   Imagine our surprise ...

Years ago when we still took care of the island camp, Uncle Byron decided it would be nice to have various activities available in the afternoons.  One of those was shooting.  Now, most guns are illegal in Brazil.  But, certain pellet and bb guns are acceptable.  So, Uncle Byron got a nice pellet gun to use on the island. Before campers were allowed to shoot, they had to listen to a talk about gun safety.  Uncle Byron always talked about the  4 immutable rules.  If you didn't show up for the lesson, you were not allowed to participate.  The boys and I heard the speech so many times that I could have given the class if needed! Only point at what you want to kill. Verify your target and beyond. Treat all guns as loaded. There are no toy guns. Some campers had never ever even touched a gun or any kind, much less been allowed to point and shoot. Some people acted as if they knew all about it and thought they could skip the class and shoot anyway....