Just a Bloom in the Desert

I'm a missionary mama serving in the semi-arid interior of Northeast Brazil. My three sons were born and raised on the mission field. Currently they all live in the USA and our house is rather quiet.

We've done it all mission-wise: missionary children education, big city church planting, evangelism, pulpit supply, Christian camping, small town church edification, and now we work in small communities along dirt roads.

Our lives have changed quite a bit over our thirty years on the mission field, but our call and our goals have always remained the same - serve God and tell about Jesus.

My posts are random and range between creative writing to news for my family. Feel free to browse old posts and look for new ones from time to time.

The Sun is Not Yet Set

Byron, the guy in the white helmet, turns 61 today. That's our son, Byron the Third in the black helmet. He'll be 30 on his next birthday at the end of the year. My husband and I were close to thirty ourselves when we had our first son. Lately it seems that every other day or so someone wants to know "When we are going to retire?" Sometimes it feels more like, "When are you going to leave" is the real question, but that's a story for another post sometime. Has the sunset on our work and ministry in Brazil? Is it time to hang our hats and pack it all up. Are we too old? Too old for what? Too old to tell others about the love of God? Too old to preach and teach? Too old to ride a motorcycle on dirt roads? Okay, you may have us on that last one! It took a few days to recover from our 8 days of motorcycle travel with our oldest and his wife last month. It took a few weeks to recover from all the bumps and aches of our ...

My Promise Verse

Job 23:10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. This verse has been a favorite of mine since I was a teenager. When I was a high school senior at a Christian school in Virginia, Job 23:10 was chosen as our class theme verse. At our graduation commencement, the valedictorian and saludatorian in their addresses that day divided the verse in its two natural parts as a basis for the core of each one's address. I was the salutatorian of my senior class that year. I chose to speak of how God would one day reward our faithfulness and thus, we should always strive to remain true. For many years though, the first part of the verse haunted me in a way. As a missionary especially when times were lonely or difficult, I assumed it was my "trial" or "test," and as such must be accepted in all humility. As I have grown older, I have begun to look more toward the pearly gates and have reconsidered the thr...

Old Film, Same Message

A missionary colleague recently uploaded some old films made about the work in Brazil by Baptist Mid-Missions many years ago in the 1950's. Yesterday I was able to watch the first of the series. All I can say is "Wow! Things haven't changed much in Brazil. And things haven't changed too much with the work of missions in Brazil either!" There are still donkey carts in the street. They have better wheels nowadays! There are still people who live in grass huts and high apartment buildings, too. Bicycles are still many people's only means of transportation, if they are that lucky! Many roads in the interior towns are still paved with cobblestones, if they are paved at all. And yes, chickens are everywhere, even in big cities. Brazil still needs missionaries! That's right, Brazil is not evangelized and in no need of foreign missionaries today. It still needs workers to spread the Good News of the Gospel and the Risen Saviour! Sadly that part of t...

Cactus Flower

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