The clock was about to strike midnight.  The place was packed for a very unique New Year’s Celebration — the tradition of bringing in the New Years on our knees, as a church, seeking the Lord and thanking Him for the previous year of provision, growth and blessing.  As we gave the first moments of the year to the Lord, we are thrilled at the thought of what He is going to do this year.  His promise in Proverbs 3:9 —

Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
your wine vats will brim over.

As we entered the New Year with excitement, we thought about God’s grace in 2011.  Just this last year in Santarém we

• Planted over 60 churches
• Grew to over 6,800 cell groups
• Won over 7,000 for the Lord

We also recently hosted a very special team from my brother’s church, Crossroads Baptist, in Fort Myers FL.  We had a great time with them as we spent a week putting up the roof and a brand new PAZ church along the Amazon river!  Then Jed stayed on for Christmas after the team left and his girlfriend Susan and our sister Hannah came down to spend time with us.  During that time, we planned a special outing up the mountain in Alter do Chão where Jed pulled out a diamond ring and asked “Will You Marry Me?!”  Oh yeah, it happened!  Nice work Jed.

So, what’s in store for 2012?  Just off the top of my head:

• Production of the church’s 2nd worship CD
• Multiplication of our cell groups and discipleship of their leaders
• A visit near you May/June
• Traveling and ministering in Brazil
• More movie productions for PAZ and projectamazon.org!

If you have a mini-van/SUV that you would be willing to lend us during our 2-months in the States, we would very much appreciate it. We will be doing a good amount of driving in the Midwest and some on the East Coast. Just shoot us an email, contact us or reply to this post.

We praise God for your involvement with us and wish God’s best for you in 2012.  Now check out the pictures from our exciting year end: a baptism of nearly 1,500 people, a week-long river trip to build a church, and fun time with family!  Oh yes, and the girls wheeling their way on their little bikes.  Click the first picture to start the slideshow or click any picture to see it full size.

In less than a month, the girls will turn 2 years old! It’s hard to imagine how fast they are growing up: walking, running, even conversing in English/Portuguese/Babiese, not to mention how much fun they’ve become. Wherever we are, they draw a crowd. The other day we were in a local children’s store, and they asked to put our kids on a billboard for children’s day (a big Brazilian holiday). I (Nate) am traveling quite a bit with our worship team, and everywhere I go I get to share about our twin daughters and how God is faithful! God is using their story to impact others to trust in God — praise the Lord! You’ve got to check out this little video we’ve put together of some recent highlights, including a new trick of Becca’s. What’s the trick? You have to watch and see! (Some of you have seen part of this video on facebook, however there is new stuff right at the beginning you don’t want to miss!)

Our missionary life is filled with diverse activities. Recently we had a missions team from New Life Christian Church come down and help build a new church. We spent nearly a week out on the Amazon River helping to put the roof and rafters on and prepare the floor to be poured. It was a great week of ministry. Check out this short video of the highlights and see what it was like — including some very exciting and lively piranha fishing! They were practically jumping out of the water, into the boat!

Now don’t you just want to come down and visit?! Teams are lining up for next year, and now’s the perfect time to start planning a team of 6-12 for 1-2 weeks of unforgettable ministry in Brazil! Each team brings Christ to a community in a whole new way.

And things just don’t slow down in our local church involvement. Besides our ever growing cell groups and disciples, our worship team is actively preparing for a 2nd CD. The CD will be filled with original songs from over 300 + people serving in the worship ministries at church. There are 51 services each Sunday for our ministry to lead — services held in buildings and campuses all across town. Right now we are gearing up for the 11th Annual MDA Conference, where pastor and leaders from all over Brazil and even other countries come to Santarém to learn all about how we do missions, cell ministry and one on one discipleship. It’s always a great and busy time.

Soon after, my brother will be bringing a team down from his church in Southern Florida. We can’t wait to have him down here and go out to impact another community! He is then staying over for Christmas and my sister Hannah is coming down. Many of Ruth’s siblings are also coming into town for Christmas, so we’re already looking forward to a great holiday time with family.

Once again we thank you so much for all your prayers and support — all of which fuel the great work God is doing in and through us! May God bless you richly!

July is vacation month here in Brazil. The PAZ base here in Santarém always kicks vacation off with a blast: Congresso da Paz — 3 nights of lights, cameras and action for the Kingdom of God! Praise and worship, preaching, huge sets, choreography, drama, dance — it’s like a great big Christian olympics! This year Ministério Paz (our worship team) had the privilege of leading worship at this great event. Watch the video I made to see how it went, but I’ll give you a little bit of a teaser: 647 lives were changed forever!

Our worship team has been traveling more and more, ministering all over Northern Brazil. In July our team led a praise and worship conference in the MDA vision in Fortaleza. Not only did we minister praise and worship, but Pastor Welson and I ministered 2 sessions each (for a total of 4 sessions). In addition we held workshops and several other practical sessions. My friend Pastor Welson is responsible for praise and worship at Central Church in Santarém as well as the youth. He also plays acoustic guitar with us on the team. He is a small guy of humble origins (a river community) with a HUGE God! Under his covering there are more than 900 cell groups (that’s almost 10,000 people)! He inspires me so much.

Then this last week our worship team led worship for the week-long MDA Conference in Southern Brazil. This conference is based off of the conference we have in Santarém every October that teaches the vision of cell-groups and one-on-one discipleship. Interest in the MDA Vision is just exploding all over Brazil. For example, last year (the 2nd year of the MDA South Conference) there were a little over 200 people signed up. This year there were over 800 pastors and leaders from all over the South, hungry to learn.

I was able to share our testimony of losing our first daughter Anna Rebecca and how God worked so powerfully in our lives when we continued to seek and humble ourselves before Him. Our testimony is directly tied to the song “Uma Vida” (One Life) that is on our church’s CD. It is based off of the powerful phrase Ruth’s grandfather Melvin Huber used to quote:

Only one life to live, ‘twill soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

I finished the song two days before we lost Anna Rebecca, and it stood as a prophetic message to me to keep going on no matter what.

It’s been so wonderful to see people respond with open hearts to the vision that burns in our hearts — that making disciples of the nations is the priority of every believer, whether pastor, teacher, musician or groundskeeper — then ministry in your field comes next. When this vision catches on, your regular “Joe Blow” Christian can do all things as he is equipped with the Holy Spirit to testify to the nations and make disciples! How exciting! It’s easy to get caught up by how people respond to the big Congressos, events and conferences, but they all exist because of what’s happening on the daily basis — regular people, filled with the Holy Spirit, leading cell groups, winning souls, discipling — growing the Kingdom of God. It’s the bread and butter of what we do, all stemming from a healthy time along with God.

While I travel, Ruth stays home with the girls. It’s always so wonderful to get back to them and hug them all! The girls are growing so fast and learning new things every day. Life with them has been a little bit of heaven with a lot of work! But it’s all worth it!

This coming week I prepare to head out on the rivers with our team from New Life Christian Church which is here to minister to a local river village and help build a church! So please pray for us while we minister and pray for Ruth while she stays at home to take care of the girls. We couldn’t do what we do without your support and prayers, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We appreciate that so many of you give, even sacrificially, so that the work of God can continue in Brazil while the Spirit is moving so powerfully. Those of you who are reading and not yet participating financially — we would love to have you join us with a simple donation. We could really use the gift, as the dollar has dropped significantly and we are at about 60% of what we were originally. We love you and appreciate you,

Nate — for Ruth, Rebecca and Anna

We just got back from a wonderful time with family in the States. In a little under 4 weeks, we participated in 3 family reunions, drove nearly 5,000 miles, and made tons of great memories. Ruth’s grandparent’s (her dad’s parents) celebrated their 80th/90th birthdays by getting the whole family together in West Virginia. Next, the immediate Hrubik family all got together in Orlando to shop and go to Disney for a day — a great gift from our friends in Orlando! The next week we took the exact same drive back up to West Virginia for the Reutter family reunion. We thank God for our awesome families and are so thankful for these rare opportunities for us to be all together.

But even as we arrive here in Brazil, things never slow down! Today begins the annual 3-night evangelistic event, Congresso da Paz and we are preparing for thousands of lives to be touched, healed and saved! Our Paz worship team will be ministering. We are excited and ready with new songs for our future CD Our team will then be traveling in mid-July to Fortaleza to do a worship conference there — ministering praise & worship as well as talking about worship in the MDA vision of cell groups & discipleship. When I say “we,” I mean me and the team — Ruth stays in Santarém to take care of the girls. Then in August we will travel to southern Brazil as we have been invited to lead worship for a large MDA conference there. We are excited and humbled by the opportunities coming our way to minister all over Brazil and I believe it is only the beginning of great and exciting things God has for us in His perfect plan!

Once again we thank you for all your prayers and support, which make all we do possible! Let’s pray for a great Congresso together!

Life in Christ has a way of growing. Our families grow, our ministries grow, our wisdom grows (and gray hairs with it!) and time goes on. Growth even hurts sometimes, but the results are well worth it. That is our update in a nutshell: growth in all areas of our lives, and we praise God for it!

Family Life Grows

I have included much proof of our cute, growing kids in this update – many fun photos! The girls are truly a joy to us; walking, running, jibber-jabbering and interacting with the world around them. They are just starting to learn words and use them. Some Portuguese, others in English. They have a way of attracting attention wherever we go and spreading God’s joy everywhere. I was watching videos of the girls the other day, and Anna came over, wanting to get up in my lap. I pulled her up when Becca came quickly over, also wanting up. With both girls in my lap, we watched videos for minutes on end and I was overcome with thankfulness to the Lord for all His goodness to us.

Ministry Life Grows

We recently celebrated a landmark moment in our cell group/discipleship ministry as our sector of cell groups multiplied and I became a sector leader. A sector leader is over anywhere from 3-12 cell groups. To become a sector leader, you need to not only have been successful in multiplying your own cell group, but also have raised up at least 3 other leaders who are under you, each one leading their own cell groups. Ruth and I are currently discipling seven different couples, three of which are leading cell groups (including our wonderful fellow missionaries Edson & Kelly Lee and John & Silvia Eisenmann). We have 5 healthy cell groups under us, with 2 more that have recently been started and 2 others that are nearly ready to multiply. Soon we will have 9! Praise God! This growth not only signifies more and more lives being touched by God in and through cell groups and discipleship, but also more and more leaders being raised up, doing the work of the Kingdom. We are so thankful to see the fruit that Jesus is bearing through us and we are so thankful for you who are a vital part of this ministry.

In addition to this, we continue to have opportunities to minister to the body of Christ here in Brazil. Ruth and I recently traveled to the PAZ base in Belém, the large capital of the state of Pará, to speak to the youth about Romance Real (“Royal/Real Romance”). The grandmas watched the twins back in Santarém while 500 miles down the Amazon River we got to tell our story and teach biblical principles on relationships and dating. I also taught about worship and led them in praise & worship. After the 2-hour workshop, I prayed over all who wanted prayer and a girl came forward to receive Christ as her savior — without any kind of invitation! When I told this story to the worship pastor here in Santarém, he smiled and said, “She probably realized that she didn’t have a true relationship with God.” God was truly working!

Pray for Us!

The harvest we’re reaping now is the result of the prayer and support that you sowed yesterday. For continued success and growth tomorrow we need your prayers of thanks and intercession today!

• Praise God for our family! Pray for wisdom and strength as we seek to raise our family in biblical principles the world needs to see lived out
• Praise God for the growth in our cell groups! Pray for the new leaders being raised up and continued growth in all members of our groups
• Praise God for our ministry opportunities and results! Pray for upcoming ministry opportunities in July, August and October (more on that to come).
• Praise God for his faithfulness to us! Pray for an abundant overflow in our lives to be able to overflow into other lives.

It’s hard for us to always put into words how much we appreciate you for all your love and support. It might even sound like a broken record sometimes, but we mean it when we say that we couldn’t do this without you!

Praise God that in Christ, life is always growing!

P.S. — Don’t forget to click these pictures to see them nice and big!

There’s almost an epidemic in the city. An unusually high number of cases of Dengue Fever have been reported, a terrible sickness transmitted by mosquitos (kind of like malaria). Dengue, in its several forms, completely debilitates a person for nearly 2 weeks — taking away all energy, apetite, and ability to function. The person is left with headaches, nauseia, and a fever that often fools people into thinking they have contracted some terrible virus. On the mission field, you put yourself at risk to all kinds of things you wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to. And Ruth got it.

A week and a half ago, Ruth started to feel awful — truly terrible. We had a get-together for our cell group, and she could hardly even stay out to be with everyone. When the sickness didn’t go away after a week, we began to wonder if she had contracted Dengue.

But there’s another epidemic sweeping the city. It’s especially intense here in Santarém — in fact, many Brazilians believe it’s the epicenter of this epidemic in Brazil. It is a move of God in “Acts” proportions. Ever since moving the Paz Churches to a New Testament-based cell group and one-on-one discipleship model, the growth of the church has been exponential. There are now nearly 6,000 cell groups meeting in Santarém. That’s epic.

Think about what this number means. There are six-thousand separate “home churches” meeting weekly across Santarém. They are led by 6,000 unique leaders — Christians who have taken God’s call to go and make disciples seriously and are committed to it, who meet every week for leadership training. At an estimated 10 people per cell group, there are nearly 60,000 people attending a Paz Cell group in the city! In a number of a few short years, the epidemic will soon take the whole city, and Santarém will become a completely Christian city! But that will be just the beginning. Because the church’s vision is to send these leaders all over the Amazon, Brazil, and yes — the world. It’s already been happening as we have started several bases around the Amazon. But it continues to expand exponentially. I truly believe that within our lifetime, you will hear about what God has done here in Santarém not just from me or from PAZ, but from major news media outlets, internet, TV, etc. Professors will talk about what God did in the middle of the Amazon jungle and you will smile when you think you were a part of it!

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In the midst of Ruth’s dengue fever, our cell group multiplied last Wednesday. It was a joyous time celebrating the new life (the new cell group) being formed — one more group of Christians growing in God’s purposes to win, disciple and send (multiply). Ruth and I are discipling many, if not most, of the members of our cell group, and now we have another cell group for which we are responsible. We prayed for the new leaders and celebrated with a multiplication party afterwards. Ruth went upstairs to lay down.

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The next morning, Ruth woke up with the telltale sign of Dengue fever — the red, itchy rash. We praised God, thinking the worst was over. Then Friday night, Ruth began vomiting everything. Diarrhea ensued. It continued all day Saturday, Saturday night. When Sunday morning came and she could barely move, except to dry heave, we knew we had to take her to the hospital. Not an easy task, when there are twins at home.

After tests were done, Dengue was confirmed. We are still waiting for more test results to see if she contracted two different types of Dengue — one right after the other (which is known to happen to a few unfortunate souls) — or if she just got a virus at the end of the Dengue Fever. Three days after admitting her to the hospital, and Ruth is finally home. Dad survived at home with the girls thanks to the grandparents’ help. Some forms of Dengue are very serious and can be life-threatening. So please continue to pray and we’ll share the results via facebook!

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At least a temporary sickness can’t take away the eternal joy of multiplying our group and seeing our disciples grow in the vision that God has for them. With the multiplication of this cell group, the cell group of our disicples Edson & Kelly and the addition of a multiplying cell group that our disciples John & Silvia Eisenmann are leading, we now have 5 cell groups under us! Praise the Lord!

This Christmas will mark 5 years here in Brazil, and I (Nate) still greatly miss the change of seasons, the good roads, the friends and family, the food, March Madness and Bears vs. Packers. We’ve lost a child here on the mission field, we’ve been sick, we’ve been robbed, we’ve been without power in the insufferable heat. But we’re not giving up now — we are in the middle of a huge move of God! There is already fruit of our short time here in Brazil, and I believe it is just a start of a great fruit-bearing time in our lives. Praise God!

If you would like to partner with us and this great move of God, we would be honored. We are so thankful to so many of you who are already partnered with us and have given faithfully, even when it hurts. We couldn’t be here without your support! We’re still looking to pick up more support to do all that we’re called to do and save for the girls future as well. Just click the link below. Years down the road, you’ll be able to look back and say “I was a part of that great work!” God has so many great blessings awaiting those who put His Kingdom first — in this life and the life to come! Thanks once again for all your love, prayers and support.

Judging by the start of 2011, it should be an exciting, fruitful year! The girls are quite busy people, walking around, climbing on anything and everything, blabbing away and even helping mom and dad with the housecleaning. They are more and more fun every day as they interact with us and each other. The word “no” is being taught, much to their dismay (but for their own good). Being parents of twins is not just a full-time job — it’s two full-time jobs. Fortunately over the holidays we had Ruth’s family in town to celebrate Christmas with us! We were so, so very busy last year that this year we are paring back a bit in order to balance our new life-responsibilities well!

Robbery Prompts New Security Measures

Among some of the more interesting happenings as of recently has been the theft of several things from our property. Just before Christmas, robbers started entering our yard when we were not home — jumping over the tall walls. Unfortunately, we had lots of the girls clothes stolen, their bedding, our clothes and many other things left on the drying line. Just two weeks ago they opened up our outdoor chest freezer and took everything in it — tupperware and all! Even the brooms and fabric softener went. We had to do something, so we installed a security-camera system to deter the thieves. But they just kept coming in, even entering while we were at home. When we saw them trying to break into our house (via the video footage), we knew something more had to be done. We got some quotes and installed some concertina wire around the walls. The stuff is nasty, and hopefully will deter the crooks. Hence the “sharp” start to the year.

But no security measure is perfect, nor could it be. Our treasure isn’t here on this earth anyway. Thank goodness our treasure is in a place where thieves can never steal it. Is yours? Sometimes you don’t know the answer to that until something is stolen. What would your attitude be then? In the end, we’ve been praying for the good of our “enemies” by praying for their repentance and salvation. But we must also be wise in this world and do our part to protect our family and the things God has given us to use for His Work, hence the fence.

2011 — The Year of Discipleship

Looking back on 2010, we were able to complete a vast majority of our goals. The CD was launched successfully, we had a successful (but quick) furlough in the States, our ministry and family grew (physically, not in numbers). But some of these things happened at the expense of other goals: cell group and discipleship growth. For 2011, we realized we needed to make these things a bigger priority, because they’re a priority to God. 2011 is the year of discipleship and multiplication (cell group growth). We are focusing on investing in our future leaders and disciples, to raise them up to take over the groups we’re going to multiply this year.

Our vision is to multiply our group early this year, supervizing the new groups as we train in two different couples in each group to lead. Then in October, we multiply both of those groups again, installing 4 couples as leaders. Please pray with us to see that happen! To invest in leaders, it takes time, but the harvest in great!

Praise and Prayer Requests

Praises
• Our continual safety in Brazil
• Generous year-end gifts
• A great 2010, with an even better 2011 coming

Requests
• The raising up of new leaders
• Wisdom in balancing all of our responsibilities in the mission, church, family and ministry
• Continued increase in support

We thank each and everyone of you from the bottom of our heart for your generous support of our family and Project AmaZon. We look forward to seeing all that God has for us in 2011! Enjoy these pictures and don’t forget to click them to see them larger!

Here’s our 2010 Holiday edition of our snail-mail newsletter, the Paperback Reutter. It’s packed with pictures and recaps our year in family and ministry — and what a great year it’s been! So much has happened through our partnership in missions. Just take a look!

Also included in this newsletter is a tear-off response card. With the addition of 2 lovely members to our family, we are looking to also add to our support base. Your support is what allows us to live here in Brazil and minister the Gospel to many who have never heard. It’s an awesome opportunity and we extend it to you. The response to the Gospel here in Brazil is tremendous and now is the time to act! Read the letter to see how to act, or simply click below to make a tax-deductible donation through Project AmaZon. So many have already partnered with us and we thank each and every one of you for the way you are blessing us and the Brazilian people. Have a wonderful Christmas!

The girls turned one year old! Tonight we are having a small party with our cell group and this Christmas, when Ruth’s family will be back in town, we will have another celebration. The one year party — or “Aninho” — is a big deal in Brazil. Those who can afford it (and many who can’t) spend thousands and thousands and thousands of Reais to pull off a party that the kid won’t even remember. I’m not sure why it’s such a big deal, but one of the best theories I’ve heard is that in older days, when a kid made it to one year old, it was a big deal because the infant mortality rate was so high. Even though we’re not having a HUGE party, we are sure thankful for our two beautiful girls. It has been a large part of the healing God has ministered in our lives. Enjoy these pictures from their birthday! Make sure to click them to see them full size, then use your arrow keys to advance.

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For the first time in over a year, there is no immediate project on my plate. A year ago I started work on PAZ’s new website, then we had the twins. The site launched last Spring and then I went to work on the church’s CD. We launched that at the Congresso and right afterwards we headed to the States. After getting back, we led worship for the MDA Conference and now, oh now, we breathe! We are also really working on growing our cell group and investing in our disciples right now. Soon enough, the new church CD project will start, video projects will start for PAZ — not to mention we have a team from New Life Christian coming down in a little over a week! Praise God for all the great opportunities here. Know that your support is having a great impact in and through our lives. We continually covet your prayers. We love you!

P.S. — Check out more photos from the girls’ birthday at facebook by clicking here.

We’re HOME! After a great, exciting but tiring two months of go, go, go, go, GO — we are back in Brazil and getting settled in. We really did have a nice time, and our waistlines (especially Nate’s) grew. The girls went from squirming on their backs to crawling to standing up all while we were on furlough! Thank goodness for many carpeted homes To see more great photos from our furlough, click here: Click Me!.

Now we are getting ready for the 10th Annual MDA Conference, a conference where pastors from all over Brazil, from many denominations come to learn more about the soul-winning, disciple-making system of cell groups and one-on-one discipleship. This is always such a great conference and I can hardly wait. Our worship team will be leading the worship for this great event and nationally launching our new CD that I produced last Spring. God is good!!

That’s all for now, check back later for updates on the conference! We love you!