Cactus Flower

  Been feeling sort of well, old lately.  Yup, old.  I look at myself in the mirror and see wrinkles and crinkles.  In November I'll pass the 60 mark and hit 61.  I guess it's time to consider I may be older than I think.   Time has a funny way to getting ahead of itself and running away with all our plans before we even get there.   It just seems like yesterday that I was making curtains for the boys' new bedroom in our house in Sobradinho.  Now I'm trying to decide what to do with all the stuff they left behind:  toys, books, computer game discs, inline skates et cetera. Little by little, I guess it's time to face the facts and start preparing for the not so distant future.  I've already started cleaning out drawers and going through toys this past year, but I got stuck somewhere in the middle of all the memories and decided to leave it for a rainy day. Ah, but alas, it doesn't rain much in the desert Northeast.

  This month's video letter is not real long and it is a little bit late, but it's here and that's what counts.  Find out about what we've been up to by clicking the play button below.  Hang on to your hat!

  How does a missionary know when it's time to move along in a ministry?  Recently in one small community where we have gone weekly for Bible study with adults and children, we decided to throw in the towel, so to speak.  In the beginning we had been invited to have Bible study in a home.  The man and wife called in their neighbors and friends.  For a while there was a good number. I started staying outside with some of the children and playing some games and having a small lesson.  Those children called their cousins and friends.  Before long there was a good-sized group of kids.  They would arrive early and began to bug the lady of the house for water and even snacks.  She got tired of them and told them all to go away. She still wanted us to have Bible study for the adults, but she didn't want all those kids coming early to her house.  It was quite the sticky situation.  For a while Byron would go to her house, and I would round ...

Gramma Michele has been a little tired of late and got a little behind on her letters - video and mail.  But today, I sat down and got it done!  Hope you all like this one!   Don't forget!  I love you!

  I hesitated and wasn't sure I really wanted to, but it seemed it was time.  Time for new dogs!  The old ones haven't gone on to doggie heaven yet, but that was all the more reason to make it happen now, and the fact that our neighbor's dog had nine puppies!  My husband and I both remember how much harder it was with the last round of puppies we had.  Teaching them from scratch was harder than having an older dog who knew the lay of the yard and the rules of the house! So here we go with two new pups. We decided on names after asking our grandchildren and boys and daughters-in-law.  The choices were good, well some of them.  R2 and C3 didn't make the cut.  Miss Priss or Missy and Cocoa came close.  We finally settled on Sahara for the more yellow one. (Although it is still up for debate and might get changed.) It was a name that Byron had wanted when we got our other yellow dog, Tiny. And the marbled brown dog got the name of Ginger.  W...

  It's been a long month, but it's done.  And today starts another.  I'm counting done the days before I see some loved ones again.  Time is always ticking, isn't it? This month we focused on getting more of the people in our congregation involved in the ministry. Remember these monthly videos are not meant as a report of our missionary activities, but they tell a story nonetheless.  They are made specifically for my grandchildren.  Enjoy.

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.  

Yesterday the sand rail started sputtering up a big hill as we came into Abreus. Byron adjusted something or another before we left, but just outside of the community it started up again. The poor little car lost all its get-up-and-go.  It was already dark and we were way behind schedule. Years ago, I would have asked a million questions and began to worry about what in the world we were gonna do and if we would have to sleep in the bushes. Last night I didn't have a care at all. I trust my driver and I had just had a great cup of coffee and a few crackers at house where we have a small group Bible study. Faith is just like that - no cares in the world, just trusting in God to take care of the matter, even if it's big or small.  Often over the past year, trust has been hard.  Many times, it seemed that all of our hopes and dreams for the ministry had been thrown to the wind.  I began to feel that I was asking the same question every week, What are we going to do now?...

The sky folds into paper thin,  each crease a trace of storms within.  Roots beneath the ground arise,  whispering of forests to the skies. A lantern sways, its flame will chase, turning shadows into paths of lace. Constellations sing and guide, echoing dreams where hopes reside. You are the tide’s unseen hand, building bridges from salt and sand. Though footprints fade, You will stay. May I remember Your grace each day. [AI guided poem]

There is a new video letter up on my silly, little YouTube channel.  These are made for my grandchildren, but anyone is free to watch.  They are meant to tell a little of my life in Brazil and what has happened over the month. January was an usually warm month in our part of Bahia with the threat of thunderstorms from time to time, but little to no rain.  Northeast Brazilians know that if no rain comes in January, it is a bad sign of more drought to come.  We pray for rain to come soon.

January of 2025 found us leaving a light snow in North Carolina, and arriving in Brazil to start a fresh new year of ministry.  Our hopes were high with two missionary couples all set to begin assisting in the interior work of church planting and evangelism. The new rented space for our church meetings in Lage dos Negros was full on many Sundays and people seemed excited for the possibility of seeing a Baptist church established with a list of members and leaders. Byron and I did something we had never done in Brazil - we bought a motorcycle.  Our oldest son and his wife were all set to travel overland from the USA to Brazil by motorcycle.  We wanted to meet them along their route sometime in the summer.  We started getting ready. In May our regular summer visitor, Phillip Layne came with a fellow named Alex.  Their time with us was actually rather brief.  On this trip Phillip spent half of his time with one of our national missionaries and quite a bit of t...

  Wishing all our loved ones and friends a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.  We hope that 2026 brings much peace and joy to you and yours.   We plan to keep on keeping on and taking the Word of God to people living down the dirt roads of the Salitre Valley of Bahia. Remember that these video letters are made for my grandchildren, but you can enjoy them as well.  Take care!

The last of our long run of Bible institute students from the church in Sobradinho has graduated - Adrielly Santos.  She is on the far right in a yellow dress.  Pray as she considers what God would have of her for the new phase of her life. If you would like to have a PDF copy of this letter for your church missions bulletin board, just send me a message or comment on this post.

This past week on Thanksgiving Day, I hit the big 6-0 mark.  I wasn't quite sure how Byron and I could best celebrate the holiday and my birthday far from all our family.  Living overseas can be the pits for traditional American celebrations.  A friend who came through recently from the USA had brought me a cranberry sauce.  Other items for a festive meal would be hard to find and the whole planning process for just the two of us seemed rather dreary.   So, I asked my guy if he was game for an overnight adventure.  When I mentioned "motorcycle" and a place he'd always wanted to visit, he said, "Yes!" I did the planning and found a cute place to stay and made sure the route was mostly paved. The place is called Canudos , and was the site of a famous battle between a group of poor religious zealots and the first government formed after the removal of the royal family of Brazil in the late 1800's. We arrived just before noon on the Wednesday before Thanks...

     It's time for another video letter from Gramma Michele in Brazil.  Hope the grandkids and others like this one.  Not as long as some in the past, but just as full of news and smiles.

A couple of years ago we bought a little house in a little rural community where we had hopes of placing a young missionary couple and starting a new work.  Alas the best laid plans of mice and men often don't go the way they hope. The couple came, but went somewhere else and now they aren't there either.  It's complicated, and the little house has sat empty collecting dust ever since.  We would stop and visit it from time to time, but we had not time to begin to use in ministry. But recently the little green house was opened up and cleaned up and put to use.  In July a large group came to Lage dos Negros with doctors and nurses and free medicine.  At the end of the week there was quite a bit of supplies left over.  But we didn't know.  Just a few weeks back, someone asked what we planned to do with all the leftover stuff. Some of the medicines were close to their expiration dates.  We needed to move quickly if we were going to be able to use them...

  Years ago in one of the houses where  we lived, we had a "party line" telephone.  When the phone rang, you had to answer and listen to see for whom the call was.  There were several other phones associated with ours. If it was for you, you stayed on the line.  If it wasn't, you were supposed to hang up. I should mention that the phone was attached to the wall and to hear you had to pick up the receiver part and place it near your ear.  If you called a number that was part of your party line, you could talk to them all at the same time if you really wanted.  We knew most of the people on our line.  They were neighbors.  My mother could ring the phone and talk to several other ladies at once. It was kind of cool for a while.  Eventually we got our own line.  I don't remember when.  But for a long time, that was how it was.  Today phone's are just plain scary.  With one touch on the screen you can book flights, order g...

  Somehow, I missed the whole month of August!  I didn't even take very many photos!  But here's a short, newsy video letter to cover August and September!

A few years ago, we had a wild idea.  The camp where we had worked closed.  The church where we had assisted got a national pastor.  All of our boys left the household.  It seemed like a good time to consider a move or a new type of ministry.  We weren't too old, but not too young.  It was around the end of 2017. We briefly considered going to Mozambique.  Local churches had made some trips to the country helping a national missionary there.  One of our sons had gone on a missions trip.  There was a definite need and we already spoke the language.  Culture adjustment at our age could be rough.   Byron took a three-week trip up and down the Amazon River.  He had always thought it would be a possibility with his boat and mechanical experience.  We knew a few people in the region, and the language and culture part wouldn't be too much of a problem.  After his trip, he just didn't feel that someone else running up an...