Joel and Charlotte's Weblog

Merry Christmas!!

joelandcharlotte — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:42:52 +0000

We have just posted our newsletter for Christmas.

Christmas Newsletter 2011

Abigail celebrates her First American Birthday

joelandcharlotte — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 04:00:53 +0000

Today Abigail turns 4 years old. She only has 3 birthday parties under her belt so she is not an experienced birthday girl, BUT this one is really special. This is her first birthday in the United States. We are traveling so we will have to have a family birthday when we return, but we will be celebrating today. Our friends Steve and Patti are putting on a party for her. She has chosen a Princess Party. Not sure who is more excited about the party Abigail or Joshua.

Happy Birthday Abigail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Missionary Savings Plan

joelandcharlotte — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 12:10:37 +0000

Just over 3 years ago, I began a savings plan that was basic and simple. At the end of the day, I placed all coins with less than 50 centavos value into a used 2 liter soft drink bottle. Now that we are preparing to return to the States, we thought it a good time to see what we earned (A penny saved is a penny earned, Benjamin Franklin).

Our Bottle-o-loot

Our next task was to count the loot. We decided on a “divide and conquer” method. Dividing the coins into their respective denominations. Since the under .50 category only has R$.25, R$.10, and R$.05, that makes only 3 piles to deal with. The “penny” was done away with a few years ago by popular demand. Stores round the purchase price up or down to the nearest R$.o5. Even in the States, people leave pennies or take pennies from the little dish in front of the cash register…. just the next step I suppose, is to not worry about them at all.

As One-Eyed Bart would say.... "Ooohh, money, money, money, money...."

We then were able to stack the monies into appropriate counting divisions. This made us feel like we were REALLY counting some money. In the end, it was a grand total of R$ 141,90. That is about US$ 89.25. Not bad for loose change that I really did not want to carry around anyway…

So what now???? Dinner. That is right. After a family vote, we have decided to go out to eat at a nice restaurant (or semi-nice). The kids had fun and the parents had fun watching the kids. Now to look forward to our next term on the field. And a great big thank you to you for sharing in our little family entertainment.

Driving in Northern Brazil (Pará)

joelandcharlotte — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:52:28 +0000

While the journey may be something to enjoy, it can also be the cause of stress and future back surgeries. On our recent venture, we traveled a few rough roads. On one occasion, I seriously asked Charlotte “With more potholes than road, how does the 2 inches of asphalt stay between the holes?” And when I say 2 inches of asphalt, I don´t mean the depth of the pavement. No, that is just under one inch. That is the amazing part. Just one inch deep, and somehow two inches of asphalt separates each hole. Incredible.

Driving on the shoulder. It was smoother.

Sadly, we were unable to truly capture the true condition of the roads with our camera. Charlotte was able to snap this shot as we were going down a major highway. Yes, we were driving. Yes, we were on the shoulder. Yes, it was better than the road.

These photos were taken before the rain started for the day. Just imagine rain and water disguising everything in the road. Driving at 20 mph and slower, because you know that you will go into an invisible pothole. That was where the real fun began.

Oh joy, a bridge. Did I mention 'wooden?'

Just when things seem to be staying the same, they suddenly get worse. Sure, I thought that wooden bridges were rustic, glamorous, cool, and sometimes, even cute. But things change. I really wasn´t thinking of wooden bridges for everyday, overloaded use. Now my eyes have been opened

Looks good from here

We crossed a couple of bridges like the one pictured here. If pictures are worth a thousand words, this one is silent about why we were driving on the left hand side of the road. Apparently, someone else needed a few of the planks for a higher purpose, I am not sure, but there was a section missing from ‘our’ side of the bridge.

We are happy to say that all went well. No accidents, no flat tires, no bandits. Please pray for me as I return to this area on Friday and returning on Saturday. I will be visiting a remote community with some Brazilian friends to see what doors God may be opening. Also, a couple of my friends and co-workers will be traveling to the island of Marajó to do the same. Thank you for your faithfulness.

Traveling in the Amazon

joelandcharlotte — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:00:59 +0000

This last week, Charlotte and I were able to take the entire family on an exploration adventure. This was a combination research/family break time for us. While I was able to investigate possible future work in the interior, I was also able to spend time with the family for the week.

Swimming in an "igarape" or creek in the interior.

Of course with children, swimming is a wonderful pastime. It is also a way to cool off since we have no working air conditioner in our van. The water in the creeks is usually ice cold. This was no exception.

While we had a wonderful time on this trip, we also accomplished a great deal of work. I was able to schedule meetings with various pastors and city officials in the area that we were researching. Please pray for the unreached people groups of Northern Brazil. There are thousands of communities that have no evangelical presence. Most of these communities are difficult to access and many times difficult to find. Some are deep in the interior with little or no road access, others are hidden within the thousands of islands that make up the river system here in Pará.

This is Nuts!! More from a fruit lover.

joelandcharlotte — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:42:21 +0000

?? That´s right, this is Nuts! It is also a fruit….

Caju - Cashew

One of my all-time favorite nuts is the cashew. Now it is also one of my favorite juices. This beautiful red fruit is the cashew. As you can see, it has a strange hook on the bottom that looks suspiciously like a cashew nut. And it is. We have had the opportunity to drink many a glass of this juice, and helped remove the nut from the shell after it was roasted in a pan over an open fire.

The nut, in its natural state, has acid in it that will leave burns on your mouth and in your stomach if eaten raw. All cashews have to be roasted before eaten.

The fruit is more common in this yellowish color

While the fruit itself is fairly bitter, it has a good flavor. When blended and strained, the addition of sugar makes a wonderful juice. (Charlotte does not like the juice unless we get the fruit straight off the tree).

And to think that until we moved here, I had no idea….

Tough Day at Work

joelandcharlotte — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 08:00:36 +0000

Sometimes, even my job can be tough. There are days that building relationships becomes difficult. Here are some pictures of some particularly hard days.

My buddy Geraldo on the other end of our canoe. Fishing in the Amazon Delta. Can you sense the strain of work?

Cooking freshly caught fish on the deck of a wooden boat. Can you sense the tension?

Okay, so there may have been a tad bit of sarcasm in the post. Yes, I am happy to get to spend time on the water with new friends as we build relationships that open doors to reaching entire communities.

Please pray for the gentlemen in these photos. They still need Christ. Geraldo appears to be a ‘man of peace’ for getting started in a river community near Belém. He and I have shared some stories as well as many hours out on the water. Pray that God will use our time together so that His glory will be shown and that His will may be done. I personally would be overjoyed to spend eternity with men such as these.

Joys of a fruit lover in the Amazon

joelandcharlotte — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:17:05 +0000

Not only do we have fruits brought in from other parts of the country and from around the world to our markets in Belém, we also grow some of our very own. One of our favorites here in the Amazon is called ‘Açai’. Notice the ‘squiggly line’ under the ‘c’? That makes it into an S sound. (Ah-sah-EE). With the accent on the latter part of the word, it is a give away that it is an indigenous name adopted by the European settlers. For me the translation is “Wow! that´s good!!”

From the market

to the house for cleaning,

Through the machine to extract the pulp,

And to the bowl.....

Health benefits? Maybe. Delicious? For sure.

Ministry photos 2010

joelandcharlotte — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 23:54:27 +0000

Here is a slide show from some of our ministry opportunities in 2010.

The final voyage

joelandcharlotte — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 21:35:03 +0000

The bitter-sweet time to move away from our boat of 2 years finally arrived. As we remain flexible and deliberate about what we do, there are times that we must give up and give in to the things that we really do not want to do. For me, that was selling the aluminum boat and outboard. As Charlotte and I have been working with river communities with road access, planning our stateside assignment that begins in August, and looking forward to what we might be doing on our next term, we believed it was the right time to sell the small transportation boat that we had. It was an easy decision, but a difficult choice. Although I had never used the boat to just go fishing, even though I had hoped to do so, it was a thought that was endearing for the “aluminum canoe” as the Brazilian Coast guard calls it.

My brave co-pilot awaiting departure

As it turns out, the decision to sell the boat, was good for us and for continuing ministry here in the Amazon Delta area. The man who purchased the boat is a carpenter on an island who is also a devoted believer active in ministry. The boat will again be used to further God´s kingdom. So, while I am personally sad to see the boat go, I believe that I made the right decision.