Author: Nathaniel Reutter

Update

6 Months, 2 Babies

I arrived home in Brazil to this beautiful woman! Ruth is 6 months along, and she and the babies are doing well. We just had an ultrasound done yesterday and found that one baby is 1 kg and the other 750 g. This is well within the normal range but means that there is a 2 week difference in the due date of the babies. We’re praying that the smaller one catches up with the bigger one. In just the last week (since the last ultrasound) the smaller one made progress, so praise God! Doctor’s orders are for Ruth to eat well and rest much. Wow! Not bad 🙂 Our doctor here is great and meets with Ruth almost once a week to keep a close watch on those precious babies.

I had a wonderful trip to the States, visiting family and friends, running across the States like a madman! A few of the highlights included:

3 family reunions (dad’s side, mom’s side & immediate) in 2 weeks
Going to the Henry Ford Museum
Visiting a couple churches, pastors and missions teams
Staying in 6 different homes 6 days in a row!
Seeing a car go through a building (not on purpose either)
Golfing the worst and best golf game of my life
Enjoying hot tubs everywhere I went
Seeing how much things have (and in some cases have not) changed in 3 years

I got a chance to see many of you and thank God for allowing me to pack in so much in such a short time.

Good thing I handled my own travel arrangements - these guys aren't the safest

Speaking of packing, I was able to bring down lots and lots of baby goodies as well as lots of the food cravings Ruth had. Using nearly every pound I had, I got everything down and nothing broke or spilled. Now that’s packing! I passed one of the important tests of missionhood.

Now that I’m back, I’m being put to work on an exciting new project with Project AmaZon. It’s our largest communication effort and I’m excited to dive in, but it means lots and lots of work. Work I need to do before the twins come! So off to work I go. Thanks for your prayers and support, they are making a huge difference here in the Amazon.

Update

A Desert in the Amazon

At the end of July, we had a team from New Life Christian Church in Morton IL visit us. Our purpose for this trip: construct a new church building in Canp – a key city a good distance from Santarém. It was also the first time I had a good friend from college visit me down here in Brazil, Jason Duke!

As always, you can click any of these pictures to enter slideshow mode and see them larger. Use your arrow keys to navigate.

From the top deck of the line boat, Joaquim and Dad overlook Santarém

We left Santarém via line boat, or the public transportation of the Amazon Basin. It’s like taking a very slow bus on the water. Make sure to bring your own hammock, so you have somewhere to relax! It’s around a six hour ride down river to Monte Alegre (or “Joyful Hill”). We went right over the wedding of the waters where the blue Tapajós and brown Amazon rivers meet.

The chocolate brown Amazon meets the Carribean cool Tapajós

It was a beautiful trip to see the Amazon, with a number of rainbows appearing and a spectacular sunset over the Amazon River. We arrived in Monte Alegre at nightfall, and the city looked angelic as the sun had already set behind it.

Down below people hang their hammocks for a long, lazy ride

A blazing sunset lights up the Amazon jungle

Appearing angelic, the city of Monte Alegre basks in a glorious sunset

Read more about this exciting trip! Clip Page 2 below!

Lives

A Great Kick Forward

We just got done with a marathon of conferences, and we have come out more challenged then ever in the great task of reaching the Amazon Basin, Brazil and South America. Ruth came out of it exhausted and a little sick, as she was very involved in the planning and implementation of the two conferences.

Welcome to Camp Shalom and home of the 2009 PAZ Leadership Conference — Welcome to Camp Shalom, home of the 2009 PAZ Leadership Conference

Our speaker for our last 2 conferences was Pastor Harold Weitsz of Little Falls Christian Center in South Africa. He and his wife Maude blessed and wowed us with their presence. Over the last 2 weeks we have learned so much about how to be a victorious Christian. Pastor Harold and Maude have plenty of room to talk about that area, being some of the largest, modern-day spiritual giants I know.

Pastor Harold told us about how, when he got serious about God, he thoroughly studied the Bible – going through New Testament 6 times in the first month of his studies – not just reading, but studying!

Lives

4 Weeks, 3 Boat Trips, 2 Film Crews and 1 Great Response!

Post author By Nathaniel Reutter
Post date 12 Nov ’08
2 Comments on 4 Weeks, 3 Boat Trips, 2 Film Crews and 1 Great Response!

Finally! The update I’ve been promising is here, and what an action-packed update it is. The title alone makes you wonder what all has been going on, doesn’t it? Since Anna died, God has been doing some absolutely amazing things that is getting us more and more excited about the future. Let’s start where I left off before the “My Hope” updates, right before Ruth and I sang at the National MDA Conference in Santarém.

On Thursday, October 23 both Jeff and Becky Hrubik spoke at the MDA Conference, an annual conference where pastors and leaders from all over Brazil come to Santarém to learn from some of the most successful church planters in the world and be equipped to make disciples in all of the world. The theme of the conference was “The Spirit of Faith that Makes the Difference” and it marked each address. Jeff talked about how a strong spirit of faith in the midst of trying times can allow us to bend and not break when our circumstances get tough. We felt so honored as he used our story with Anna as an example of a godly response to trying times. Becky spoke afterwards about living a life that is worth the living, telling real stories of her mom and dad who, in the end, lived an amazing life with a huge eternal impact. They gave up so much to live how they lived, where they lived, and in the end it was all worth it.

It was in that context that Ruth and I sang a song I wrote two days before Anna died, inspired by Melvin Huber’s life and testimony – a song about living life for the fullest eternal impact.