Dear
Friends,
Greetings
from Washington where everyone is a Seahawk’s fan! Above are the happy faces of
our fledgling church youth group. I hope they will become strong fans of Jesus!
We got started in December and meet twice a month for fun and a Bible lesson
(and popcorn). One of the moms, Blanca, is co-leader with me. We recently
wanted to raise money for the youth to attend a Christian concert. What do you
suppose was Blanca’s idea? She made about 90 tamales and we sold them to folks
at church and to my Line Dancing friends. Delicious! And I got a lesson in
tamale making. (It’s labor intensive.)
The biggest news since my
last update is that I was invited in late November to be a delegate to the
Seventh Day Baptist World Federation meetings in Brazil in January. I was
stepping in for someone who couldn’t make it, and all my expenses were covered.
I was thrilled at the opportunity and praised God for such a generous gift. I
had a current passport and was able to secure a visa in time, so off I went on
January 18. Four flights and 29 hours later I was at Hope Ranch (Chácara Esperança) in Curitiba, Brazil.
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| Pastors Fred Maduka, Malawi, and Daniel Nsubuga, Uganda |
It was summertime in southern
Brazil, though not above 80 degrees most days due to being in a mountainous
area. I enjoyed the unusual flowers and trees, especially a tree called the Monkey
Puzzle. It’s a type of evergreen that resembles an open umbrella and can live
up to 2,000 years! They’re very tall and are abundant in this corner of Brazil.
Our Brazilian hosts took us
sight-seeing one day, including lunch at a Brazilian grill called a
Churrascaria. It’s a buffet with the addition of waiters bringing an assortment
of grilled meats on large skewers directly to your table to carve off slices of
melt-in-your-mouth beef, shrimp, chicken, pork, etc. We also visited three
nearby SDB churches and enjoyed meeting many of the brethren there. At right is the First Seventh Day Baptist Church of Curitiba.
I have so many happy memories
of the World Federation week as we worshipped, studied the Bible, heard
messages, debated business matters, and ate meals together, but I think my
favorite memory is of the music. The members of the worship team were all
gifted musicians, clearly rejoicing in the Lord as they played and sang under
the direction of Luiz Miranda. Such music! Lively, worshipful, a variety of
styles, and usually in both Portuguese and English. Luiz gathered a small group
of us to be the first-ever World Federation choir and we sang twice on Sabbath. Below is a video sample of the music.
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| Presentation of the newly elected World Federation officers |
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| Pastor Fred Maduka and Yours Truly |
It was an honor to
participate and to make new friends with SDBs from so far away. One example is
Fred Maduka of Malawi who shared with me that he gave his life to Christ
because of the ministry of missionary David Pearson. Pastor Fred is now
president of the Central Africa Conference of SDBs. The theme for the week was,
“The Kingdom of God is like…” (Just as Jesus began many of his parables). I am
so grateful for this taste of heaven where there will be believers from every
tribe, tongue and nation.
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| Pastor Bernardino de Vargas Sobrinho of Brazil |
The weekly ministry at the
Auburn library is going well with four of us taking turns working the table in
pairs. I’ve had two lengthy conversations with a gentleman from the Jehovah’s
Witness table who patiently explained why Jesus cannot be Jehovah but is an
exalted being like no other. He showed me verses from their altered translation
of the Bible and I pointed out the similarity of Romans 10:9 (“If you declare
with your mouth that Jesus is Lord… you will be saved”) and 10:13 (“Everyone
who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved” NWT). He said I was getting
confused. Pray for his heart to open!
On Valentine’s Day I wrote on
our marker board, “Jesus said, ‘Love one another.’ “ A Muslim woman from Niger, fully covered
except for her eyes, came to our table saying she liked that sign, that we
should all learn to do that. She stayed to tell me how great Islam is and how
misunderstood. She agreed to take one of our gospels of John to learn more
about this Jesus who they acknowledge was a prophet. After our conversation she
said I was a nice person and gave me a hug. Praise God for that encounter!
At the Kent Library table we
have a pretty steady stream of visitors, perhaps because we are outside. One
man, an atheist, came several weeks in a row to chat and argue, giving me
things to look up and read, and open to my suggestions of things for him to
check out. It’s an interesting dialog, and reminds me how important it is to
understand another’s perspective in order to offer truth where they have weak
spots. I thought his definition of atheist was interesting as “someone for whom
the idea of God doesn’t make sense.” Let’s pray the Holy Spirit gives him
insight into the one, true living God.
I recently attended a
presentation on Islam by a local Imam, offered at our Senior Center. As he
stepped through his many slides it became obvious he wanted to convince us that
their God is the same as the God of the Jews and Christians, and they are
peaceful and do not force anyone to convert. From my research, I know Islam is
only peaceful at the start of the Quran, not at the end. Mohammad endorsed forced
conversions and led his people in military conquests. Their god requires good
works to earn his love and favor, with no guarantees about paradise. They gave
away many tracts and free copies of the Quran. “Jesus in Islam”, “Human Rights
in Islam.” The need is great for followers of Jesus to actively share the
true gospel to counter the influence of false religions.
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| Pastor Ben brings the Word |
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| "Let it rain" - "Haz llover" |
The home Bible studies are
going well. Blanca wanted a different day than Magali so we meet on Friday
mornings, and her neighbor (another mom) has joined us. We are studying the
epic story of the Bible through “The Story of Hope” (www.goodsoil.com). The lessons
cover key biblical events leading to the coming of the Messiah, with colorful
illustrations. Blanca recently posted to her friends on Facebook an invitation to
this study and thanked me saying, “This is helping me so much and I’m learning
so many spiritual things.” Magali added, “Thank you, Patty, for your patience
to answer all our questions.”
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| Pastor Ben and Marcela's 29th anniversary |
In other
news, I’m teaching the youth at church on Sabbath and occasionally bringing the
message during the worship service. I’m taking an online course on Sabbath Theology,
which is very interesting and has a challenging workload. It ends in June with
one week of in-class instruction at the SDB center in Janesville, WI. I’ll also
be traveling to New York State soon to attend the SDB Pastor’s Conference, April
25-27, as the assistant pastor for our church.
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| Crafted of PlayDoh by a youth to illustrate a story. |
I thank
the Lord fervently for your faithful prayers and giving. Because of your
financial support I’m able to travel to conferences, purchase Bibles for the
ministry tables, buy curriculum, and cover my monthly expenses. I am so
thankful to be able to work full-time in ministry, and I’m learning and growing
in so many ways (Pastor Ben confirms that). 😊
As always, donations can be directed to the church here, “IBS Dia”, and contact me for the mailing address. Be sure to
note my name on the memo line of the check. We can also set up
automatic fund transfers (EFTs), bank to bank.
Please
lift up these needs in your prayers. Thank you!
· Several of our families would like to go to
General Conference in southern California in July and will need to save for
that and take time off work. Please pray for everything to come together.
· For additional gospel outreaches as the weather
warms up, including “church in the park”.
· For our church as we add more structure and
organization.
· For pastors Ben, Marcela and me as we lead our
congregation.
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