Three Months at Home

June 8, 2020

As days run into weeks and then months, it's hard to remember what day of the week it is much less believe that it could possibly be June already.  But alas, my cell phone says it is.  The cat could care less.  She just sleeps in her little places.  Her favorite being Byron's big office chair.  If you happen to be sitting in it when she feels the need to nap, she'll give you 
"the stare."


The dogs are still happy with our constant presence.  In fact, sometimes I shut them out during the day just so they don't get too used to it!  

Brownie dog got her first "calm" bath this week.
She usually got absolutely loony if she even thinks a bath might be next on the list of things to do.  Byron held her nicely and spoke kind words in her ear while I started hosing off the back parts and working my way up to her neck.  We left her punking head alone!

The doggies continue to enjoy our never ending presence.

During the first five weeks of the big quarantine lockdown situation here in Northeast Brazil, I dedicated hours developing thematic prayer devotionals with our local version of Umbrella Prayers which we published on Saturdays.  For the last five weeks along with my friend and partner we shifted to a less time consuming weekly prayer moment where we encourage all to make a creative visual prayer on the topic of the week.  We also started a Covid Prayer List that's updated weekly.  It's been a challenge and a blessing.  Here are a few examples of some of my own prayers...

One day this last week Byron and I cleaned out the old schoolroom out back that had more recently turned into a storage room where things had been thrown in haphazardly with little organization.  We got up early one day, took every thing out, cleaned the room, went through each box, labeled all the boxes, got rid of some junk, and then put the good stuff back in neatly.

Byron has stayed busy fixing things and was able to test drive the sand rail with its new engine and some new gadgets.  The old Mitsubishi got an overhaul with new springs and other new parts.  Byron has a different project every day and stays busy.  He recently started putting some of his Bible studies on video as we consider sending them out to our interior students.  We continue to stay in touch with our last two families on a weekly basis.We have been able to help neighbors with small problems, and reach out in safe, social distant ways throughout the week.  

Byron did his first "live video" for the Sunday School message of a nearby church who are without a pastor.  I'm including the link just in case you'd like to see him in action!  You can watch even if you don't have an Instagram account.

Link:  Byron on Instagram Live June 7, 2020

As the coronavirus is just now hitting our area, and it seems this whole stay at home thing is going to linger on for many more weeks, we continue to look for new and creative ways to minister.

Pray for us along those lines.  I haven't included all of what we've been up to here, just some highlights.  We are thankful for small interactions with neighbors, praying with friends via WhatsApp, and lots of messaging with loved ones in the USA.