Andrea and baby Kate are doing so very well for which we are so thankful to God. It's been quite a busy schedule the past few days, but they've been good days for sure. Saturday morning brought the arrival of Andrea's parents who will be with us for three weeks. O how good it is to be with them and for our kids to see their grandparents. We're planning to take in some of Ireland's sights and her dad and me are planning a one day trip to Edinburgh, Scotland (he has Scottish roots) to visit the former  birthplaces, homes and churches of Scottish preachers such as John Knox and Robert Murray McShane, men whom God used to raise His flag in that land. It's so cheap to fly throughout Europe, so we saw it as an opportunity we couldn't pass up. The both of us are able to get a roundtrip ticket from Dublin to Edinburgh for $30 dollars each! Incredible! We're really glad Russ and Judy are here. We've missed them.
   
    Saturday morning also brought the Area Clean-up day in which I was in charge of for our street. Thankfully we had great weather and several neighbors on our road joined in as we cleaned the road together. It enabled me to meet and know some neighbors I had yet to meet, and even more so, to earn the all important credibility and respect so needed when it comes to showing and sharing the hope of Jesus. Near the end of the clean-up most of us were discussing that we needed to plan an end of the summer party for all of our kids, which was exciting to hear as this just provides more opportunity to knit us together as neighbors and to open up more opportunities for kindness and chats. After the clean-up several of the neighbors thanked me for the work put into the clean-up, and it was obvious that God is using this opportunity He's given me as the road representative to earn respect as a fellow neighbor and friend, and as someone who genuinely cares about 'our' community. Even some of the little neighborhood girls made little medals that they gave out to those who helped. We had a good turnout for our road and that spoke highly and reflected well on us, which ultimately reflects back onto Jesus. The goal of all of this anyway is to show in a practical way the love of Jesus, and that purpose was met I truly believe.  I'm excited to see where this leads and how God continues to use this opportunity of community and neighborhood leadership as the road rep.
   
    Today Russ, myself, Grant and Luke, headed into Grace to be with the Church this morning. It was good to be back as we had been away for a couple weeks due to baby situations. There were three new Brazilian girls there for the first time and they got chatting with Russ when they found out he was in Brazil for 40 years as a missionary. Through the conversation he invited them to the Wednesday night Cell Bible Study which they seemed really excited about. So, we plan to see them this Wednesday.

    Tomorrow involves a trip back to the Immigration Bureau as Andrea and I have to renew our annual immigration card. If you remember, when we did this last year we had all kinds of issues which involved us being in that office numerous times in one week and getting the cards on the last day possible. Needless to say it was a chaotic time yet we saw God do what only He could do through the prayers of His people as He enabled us to receive those all important nationality cards. So, here we are once again headed back in tomorrow for renewal. Our hope is that since we were given cards already we won't have any issues this time around, but as you've heard us say before....'assume nothing'. We plan to head into the Bureau sometime around 11 a.m. our time. We will keep you posted and would appreciate your fervent prayers on this issue.

    This week involves our Immigration visit (which could involve days, but hopefully not),  reviewing and studying for Wednesday Cell Bible Study, as well as for the message I'll be preaching at Grace next Sunday morning. I also have another driver's lesson scheduled in for Tuesday, the boys have tennis every weekday from 10-11 a.m., and mixed in and around it all we hope to get in some of the local sites with Andrea's parents.

    To be continued...

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