We can't thank you enough for your prayers for our LST project in Niteroi, Brazil. We absolutely knew we were not working alone!

Wilburns and Sweeneys in Niteroi, Brazil

To give you an idea of how we spent our time: in 9 working days our team helped 45 different people practice their English by reading and discussing the book of Luke and spent 107 hours in one-on-one Bible study! Thank You, Lord, for the seeds you planted in these precious hearts!

We had 50+ in attendance at our second party, even after changing the location at the last minute! This photo shows a good example of why we have LST parties: connecting our readers with the local Christians. You see LST team members, readers Olga and Fabio, missionaries Carrie and Wes Gotcher. Many of our readers worshipped with us on our final Sunday in Niteroi as well!

The second LST team has arrived in Niteroi and will begin reading sessions tomorrow with many of our readers as well as some new ones. Please pray for the Factor family as they begin the work God has prepared for them.

Please also pray for the following readers that we were able to share Jesus with:

Guillerme Danuza Ronaldo Andre'

Thalita Thiago Flavio Ilanna

Bruna Rebeca F. Julia Raquel

Maurice Carlos S. Jose' Vinicius

Carlos H. Louise David Maria

Silvana Viviani Rebeca C. Marilene

Rosani Charabelle Ester Marlene

Andrea Barbara Edna Renata

Fabio Clara Brena Felipe

Thales

We are excited about where God might send us next time. Who wants to go with us???

Blessings,

Jamie

What, already???

Yes, this is how we feel about getting back on that plane at bedtime tonight and trying to sleep in an area barely big enough to sit in!

Actually this is a photo that 4-year-old Jonah Roberts took of Mr. Patrick with our camera saying, "look angry!". We will sorely miss that sweet boy along with the rest of our new family here in Niteroi.

We can't believe that the 2 weeks has gone so quickly and although we are ready to get home to loved ones and familiar comforts, the leaving is always difficult. At our end meeting last night we prayed for our readers by name, deliberately turning them over to their God and to His people here in Niteroi.

This morning we will worship with them one more time then spend the afternoon packing and organinzing what we are leaving behind for the team who arrives next week. We might get a moment to visit the yogurt or gelato shop one more time and get down to the water for one last view of God's glory displayed there. Then it's off to the airport for our 10 pm flight.

Please pray that we say our goodbyes well here, for our safety on the way home, for our luggage, and for our reentry into our lives in Tulsa. We have been changed.

Beach Party

You probably are noticing at a quick glance that you see no photos of the beach here. We had light rain and a cool breeze so we moved the party to the church building at the last minute and still had over 50 in attendance! We had about 35 readers and guests and the rest were church members there to interact with our readers.

2 of our readers playing some praise music

Quite a crowd!

Jonah Roberts age 4 (who decided this week that his name is "Foxy" and insists that he be addressed accordingly) can play a mean game of balloon futball

Reader Ester showing her prize won in a fiercely competitive game of "Chubby Bunny"

Have you ever played "Take A Hike" in a big circle of 50+ people in two different languages? It works and is a blast! The words that Carrie was using for "go" sounded just like "John Travolta" so that's what we listened for each round. The Brazilians thought that was hilarious.

The party was our last opportunity to see a few of our readers that can't come for reading sessions today. Some brought gifts for us and letters from the heart, things we will keep forever.

Please pray for our final reading sessions today. Patrick and I both have new readers coming today for the first time. Isn't it interesting that just when we are in "shutting down mode", God shows us that He is still making all things new. Thank You, Lord!


This in NOT a photo of our party. It's a street festival we walked through on the way home from the party. It was really late, we were dead on our feet, but that didn't stop up from trying a few of the food items sold at the festival! LST Warriors!!

It's all about the work....

As much fun as we have making friends with our readers and others in the community, hanging out with the missionaries, etc, it's all about the work: having conversations about Jesus from the book of Luke.

There is nothing like watching the Spirit work on a heart right in front of your eyes! As our departure time grows closer it is getting very difficult to say goodbye to these precious ones that we have grown to love so quickly.

Please pray for our reading sessions today and tomorrow, our party tonight, some special moments we will share with the missionaries, and for our team project end meeting on Saturday evening.

Initiantes-Beginners English Class

Last night, Carrie taught a class for those who responded to the advertising for LST but whose English was not advanced enough for us to read with. There were almost 25 people who attended! Carrie did a great job preparing and teaching this class and all the students left the class able to introduce themselves politely in English. At one point, they were all singing along to the Beatles " You Say Goodbye, and I Say Hello" for some practice!

You may notice some of our team members in these photos because we stayed around to assist after our last reading sessions of the day.

Yogurt Evangelism

Please meet Camila. She is a precious young woman who works at the Yogoberry around the corner. When we walked in last week, she looked up and started to ask if she could help us. Patrick waved and smiled and she dissolved into giggles, recognizing us from our visit in March. She speaks no English at all except "hello" and "goodbye" but is taking Spanish and loves to throw a little our way to see if we understand that any better than Portuguese.

I'd like to share with you a love note she brought outside to us (after having a co-worker write it)as we were eating our yogurt last night:

Dont go away
We like a lot yours.
Keep in Brazil.

Now, keep in mind that our only contact with this girl is purchasing yogurt 3 times, 3 months ago. Then we've been there twice in the last week, inviting her and her co-workers to our Bunko party which they did not attend. We have never had a conversation with her due to the language barrier. Just goes to show you how far a smile can go.

Yesterday, we were able to introduce Camila to Carrie Gotcher who CAN have a conversation with her. Wonder what God will do with that?

Party!

Here is one tiny, inadequate photo of our Bunko party with our readers. I've waited more than 20 minutes and the rest of them will not download. So glad my life does not depend on the internet here!
We had a great time. They loved the game and it was great to see our readers and their friends interacting with the missionaries and church members, which is the only reason we host parties on LST trips!

Tomorrow is our only free day of this project. We are going to try to see Sugarloaf, Christ Statue, and Copacabana/Ipanema all in one day. We'll see....

Reader Photos

Mitch and Andrea

Jamie and Edna

Jamie and Fabio



Shannon and Rebeca Ashton and readers at info mtg

This is not all of our readers, of course, but wanted to give you an idea of some of our new friends.

Big Moment

This is our typical day here: we meet in our apartment living room at 9 am for a team devotional/prayer/meeting. At 9:20, we leave for the church building, walking about 2 miles in 25 minutes down sidewalks crowded with residents and through a beautiful park. We have reading sessions scheduled at 10 and 11, lunch from 12-2. Since it is an hour's walk round-trip to work, whoever is cooking lunch stays at the apartment during the morning to shop and cook. Today, that is Patrick and I. The team arrives for lunch about 12:45, we eat and clean up, then head back to begin reading again at 2. We have reading sessions until 8 pm. Any breaks we have are filled with meeting people on the street to hand out flyers, read, study, maybe even play a card game with team members and readers.





Please pray for our reading sessions today! This afternoon, one of my readers is Luciano, our van driver from the airport.





And now for the Big Moment: the traditional mission trip blog Elvis Sighting!!

This was in a little sandwhich shop on the way home last night. Ashton found it for me! The shop is owned by a man who knows no English but loves to throw in some German at us along with his Portuguese.

Auf weidersehen!

Reading Sessions

There are few things more exciting than the first day of reading sessions on an LST project. We all went to work a little nervous today and God just blessed and blessed as He always does. All of our readers showed up or called to reschedule, they showed up on-time or early (which is a miracle in a Latin American country!), and all scheduled to come back again, some of them for every day.

We took turns between readers to stand out front and hand out flyers and some of the people we met came in to schedule a reading session or to stay and have one right then. We also had many come in from off the street to see what we were doing and to meet the Americans. The O Caminho church is on a major thoroughfare with a glass front so is very visible to the community, and making it easy for us to smile and wave at all passersby. ;)

Here is a picture of me with my reader, Edna, who says she is "a Baptist in the morning and a Presbyterian in the afternoon". Believe it or not, I understood her explanation of that statement.

Information meeting

Bon dia! (Good morning) Thank you for your prayers over our information meeting last night. We signed up 27 readers! Since the concept of an information meeting/orientation makes no sense to Brazilians, that is a huge number. There are many more readers that have responded to the advertising but did not attend last night so we will be calling them to schedule their sessions. Through the advertising for the LST teams, over 30 people whose English is non-existent or very low have signed up for an introductory English class that Carrie Gotcher will teach on Tues and Thurs evenings!

It was such an exciting moment to finally meet and see the faces of those who we have been praying for over the last few months. It's very difficult to keep our emotions in check while chatting with them because they have no idea of our attachment to them through prayer before we ever get here. It's a little like finally meeting that sweet baby that you've been waiting for for 9 months!

We have our first team devotional at 9 this morning then head out for our 25 minute walk to the church for our first reading sessions. My first reader will be Renata who is the Portuguese teacher to Jill Nichols, one of the Niteroi mission team. Very excited!

Arrival in Niteroi

Greetings from Niteroi! We arrived safely this morning, on time, with all of our luggage! We were met by Wes and Carrie Gotcher, settled into our apartment, had an orientation meeting, then went to lunch. Here is a video taken by Shannon Wilburn of Jake and Ashton being introduced to some potential young readers by Carrie Gotcher:

We have our information meeting tonight to which all those who have responded to the advertising are invited. We will meet our readers for the first time and schedule their first one-on-one reading session. We begin those reading sessions tomorrow morning!

Please pray that all those God has selected will be in attendance and for us to have good rest tonight to be ready for our work tomorrow.

Thank you for your prayers!