Here’s a fun, quick video of our twins, Rebecca and Anna. Welcome to our fun new life! It involves a whole lot of baby time like this – it’s 2 full-time jobs. Fortunately our cell group meets in our house, our disciples come here for discipleship, my current work with PAZ involves all kinds of creative work (website, video, etc) I can do from home. And best of all, we can meet with God wherever we are. In other words- we hardly leave the house, except for when I go to church for meetings, practices and worship on Sunday! But God has sure blessed us with this work that we can do from our home! Enjoy this cute video!
And those are earrings you see! Yes, here in Brazil, all little girls have earrings as soon as they’re born. We waited until they were both healthy before piercing their ears, but now they’re all ready for a girly life in Brazil.
Be praying for continued growth and better sleeping and eating patterns. Right now they sleep for 3 hours straight at night (on a good night) until they wake up and need to be fed. So mom and dad don’t get a lot of sleep. And then they are full-time work for 2 people during the day. I (Nate) will be launching a brand new PAZ site with videos and lots of great new content in the next month or so. After that, I will be starting a big worship CD project with the church. Actually, it’s already started, they’re just waiting for me to start recording!
And in the midst of all of this, we never forget our primary God-given purpose- make disciples! We plan to multiply our cell group early April, which means lots of visiting, sharing Christ, starting discipleships and developing leaders. Whew! But with God’s help, we can do everything He’s called and equipped us to do. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. They continue to have a big impact in and through us!
Here’s a Christmas present from us to you- pictures of the girls!! The girls are doing very well. Rebecca weighs 7 1/2 lbs and Anna a little over 6 lbs! I’ve been planning to post these pictures for awhile, it’s just that every time I went to post them, I had to leave to help with the girls! Now that Ruth’s family has arrived (Bruno and Beth from São Paulo and Paul from Fortaleza), there’s much more help available, which means Dad gets to mark some things off his to-do list, including this post!
OK- enough talk- look at these pictures!!! Click them to see them larger.
New headbands, on display
Anna getting fiesty in her new summer clothes.
Dad imitating Rebecca!
Mom and Rebecca numa rede (in a hammock).
Mom with Anna.
Anna in her favorite burping position. Oh yea.
Rebecca, on the edge of the pillow, braces for the worst.
Who’s imitating who? Anna, or mom? or both!?
Sharing will have to become normal for the girls!
She must be dreaming of Christmas presents.
Rebecca lends a helping hand. How considerate of her.
Our “White Elephant” cell group celebration was a great time of fun and growing our cell group
My, what a shirt you’ve got, dad. It will look good with spit-up on it.
Grandpa Hrubik and Rebecca
In the midst of adjusting to life as new parents, we’ve had a number of get-togethers and Christmas parties, all to grow our cell group and share Christ’s love. In short- they’ve been great and we’ve been growing our group. Also, I will soon be talking more about a new CD project that is coming together as result of the great MDA Conference we recently had. I’ve been asked to produce the CD for the church which will be launched at next years’ huge Congresso (where we pack the stadium with 30,000+ people for 3 nights)!!! I’m super excited to be a part of this brand new project.
Needless to say, we need your continued prayers for:
Being new parents
Health in the midst of not sleeping much
Special blessing on winning others for Christ and growing them in our cell group
Grace to get my work done with the mission (website, video, etc.)
Blessing on the big CD project coming up
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For now, it’s time to enjoy the holidays and our family. Thank you for your continued love and support, and we wish you a wonderful Christmas full of God’s love and peace. If you have snow, enjoy it!
Sugar and spice and everything nice have taken over on this years’ Christmas Paperback Reutter! Seriously, Dad, get out of the way because this home now has 3 girls in it come Christmas time. Get ready for a house full of pink and purple, talks about clothing and shopping and when the next vacation will be. Life sure has changed as we celebrate both the birth of our girls and the coming of our loving savior Jesus Christ into this world. He is our hope and light and the reason of our great celebration! Click the picture below to download this years’ Paperback Reutter. This was just sent out last week, and if you didn’t receive one in the mail and would like to, contact us and let us know! God bless – now I’m sure there’s a dirty diaper somewhere that has my name on it. Maybe I can find a grandma willing to change it.
Click to download the 2009 Christmas Paperback Reutter
The day after helping Joaquim and the short-termers with the finishing touches on our new church plant in Iruçanga (see the last article), I went out with Joaquim again, this time on the flooded Amazon River to go visit another church construction work in progress. The community of Piracaoera lies along the Amazon River and is completely under water. PAZ has been helping this area recently because of the devastating floods that have destroyed many homes. In the midst of these floods, we are also building a new church! This church was recently featured in a video I put up on the PAZ website – click here to see it. The purpose of our trip was to prepare for the next work team that will be helping soon.
We piled into the little speedboat and went out into the great Amazon. I was amazed by how high the water is, even after it’s gone down by about a meter. So come with us now on the flooded Amazon River. Just click the first picture below and advance the slideshow with your arrow keys. ?????? ?????? ???????????? ?????? ?????
The PAZ hanger is so flooded that our boats actually float inside without assistance. Although this isn’t ideal, it sure makes it easy to store the boats!
The PAZ water filter factory – under water and out of operation
Out on the river you pass many a line boat transporting people and goods down the highway of the Amazon
The river has gone completely over these islands – only the trees and tallest houses stand out
This whole area is usually green pasture
Many of the trees remind you more of the midwest, not the Amazon
A lot of this grass isn’t rooted in the ground- its a unique kind of grass that grows and floats in the river
Joaquim and his son enjoy the shade
A bird takes off from a patch of floating Amazon grass
Arriving in Piracaoera, the church is the only building above water level
Inside the church, Joaquim and the local church worker talk about the construction
Local fisherman use the church to mend their nets
I couldn’t help but to feel like we were in a modern Noah’s Ark – a great wooden refuge in the midst of a great flood
The worker’s wife and another local believer were there helping in the work
Right out the front door of the church line boats would pass by – a surreal experience to say the least
Done with our preparations, we head back to Santarém and say goodbye to our brothers and sisters in Piracaoera
The floor of this church isn’t even done yet, and people and fisherman are already using it for shelter! It’s one of the only places for miles around that is above the water. Because the church has opened its doors (that aren’t even hung yet), good will in the community has grown greatly, and by God’s grace we will see this church grow greatly because of it.
Thousands of years ago, Noah built a wooden ark as instructed by the Lord. It was a refuge to him, his family and all sorts of animals. Today we are still building arks as instructed by the Lord, but now for people. These arks are called churches and are a refuge for those in the flood; a place to find salvation in Jesus Christ.
The March for Jesus this year in Santarém was huge and powerful. As Santarém is being won for the Lord and the number of Christians grows, so does events like the March. The March had a great turnout, and it’s amazing to see how God is using His church to win a city that even just 50 years ago had a handful of Christians. Take a look at these pictures. (Don’t forget to click on them to see them fullsize- a must! Use your arrow keys to advance the slideshow. To view all the pictures and read an update on Ruth, make sure to click “Read More” below!)
The Amazing March for Jesus in Santarém Approaches
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Read Anna’s Story
Read more about our precious daughter Anna who impacted our lives and the lives of many others with her short stay here on earth. Click here
The girls are doing very well. Rebecca weighs 7 1/2 lbs and Anna a little over 6 lbs! I’ve been planning to post these pictures for awhile, it’s just that every time I went to post them, I had to leave to help with the girls! Now that Ruth’s family has arrived (Bruno and Beth from São Paulo and Paul from Fortaleza), there’s much more help available, which means Dad gets to mark some things off his to-do list, including this post!
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