Bud Simon

Iriri River Trip

Bud and a couple of his new friends on the Iriri River

I just spent last week on a great trip - two days driving and three days on the river.  It was rewarding to share the Gospel in new places, to travel new roads, and to see some new potential sites for churches.  I just posted some photos and I hope to post some complete stories in the near future. 

  Bud baptizing a new believer in the river

Another friend from the river - this woman is 85 years old and has lived along the river all her life. 

 Clyde Bergquist, a missionary from Oregon, and I relax  in the shallows of the river during the heat of the day

A Perspective from a Short Term Missionary

Suzanne & Kate

Kate Snow, from Columbus, OH, spent six months with the Xingu Mission here in the Altamira region. She is 20 years old and will be studying again this fall. It was a delight to have her here from January through July of this year. She worked hard, helping out in any way that she could. She plunged in without reservation, doing her best in each situation.

I asked Kate to share some thoughts about her time here in Brazil. She had a whole range of emotions and also had the opportunity to have a variety of different experiences during her time. A couple of the things that really made an impact were the fact that some things can not be experienced in a couple of weeks and the opportunity to learn new ways to express God’s love across the language and cultural barriers.

Here are some of Kate’s thoughts about her six months here.

When I went on the mission field for an extended period of time, I struggled with the provoking question, “Why am I here?” How can I be influential without knowing the language, culture, customs, or without material offerings (i.e. running an orphanage, AIDs awareness, etc…)? Is it right to dampen the awkwardness of meeting new friends by buying them lunch or a small gift, potentially igniting a misconception or dependency on North American’s who may seemingly ‘have more money?’ Stripped of everything from basic communication to the comforts of home, I wondered, was love limited to those with some thing to offer or is it truly possible to build friendships purely on love?

Every day as I rode my bike to a new person’s house, my life began to transform. My concerns moved from wondering how silly my broken Portuguese sounded, to focusing on the beauty of our simple conversations and the joy in laughing when conversations became too complicated. Daily I began demonstrating love through smiles, body gestures, a helping hand, listening ear, or an attempt at an encouraging word.

As time progressed and I began to gain insight into Brazilian culture and learn the language, I felt increasingly challenged to not become comfortable. I had to learn the culture but not become too much of it; to be in this new Brazilian world, but not of it. As well, I had to learn the balance between investing in nurturing friendships while continually meeting the rejected and lonely: to love deep and without bounds.

That which literature cannot prepare one for, and one cannot fully experience within a few weeks, I explored, experimented, and ultimately discovered a new depth of love. I experienced a love that truly extends beyond language, culture, material, and time. I gained a fuller understanding of Jesus’ words to love my neighbor as myself.

Kate with some Brazilian friends

Do I Love What I Do?

You know, life is short. 

We all come to grips with our mortality, sooner or later. 

But sooner is better than later. 

As I have reflected on a number of things over the past several months, it has become apparent that it is much better to focus on my personal strengths and on the things that I enjoy doing.  We all need to do some things out of responsibility whether we want to or not (I am thinking about taxes).  However, we can, with some forethought and insights, make good life choices that will allow us to do the things that we actually enjoy doing in life and the things that re rewarding. 

Not always, but often.

And, as I look around I realize that it is easy to drift from those things and get caught up in fulfilling other people's expectations.

Happy Easter

"God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him."

"God did not go to all the trouble of sending his Son to die just to condemn the world, rather he did it as the way to make people whole and right."

"My Righteous Servant will justify many and He will bear their iniquities...because He poured out His life unto death... He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the sinners."

Sin. Death. Destruction. Hell. Hopeless. Anger. Hate. Separation. Division. 

Righteousness. Life. Wholeness. Heaven. Hope. Peace. Love. Unity. Togetherness.

The difference He has made in me, He can make in others.  And the difference He has made in others, He can make in me. 

God's delight is to change, to save, to deliver, and to bring hope, light, and life. 

Happy Easter. 

I Want to Kill That Guy!

You know why we do a "New Believer's Retreat"?  Because it is an open door to let the power of God be displayed. 

Last weekend, a friend of mine was participating in the retreat.  Jose has been having a rough season in his life.  He has been through difficult relationships and struggles, too many to name.  One episode stands out.  Jose had been at odds with a man in his community and finally made the decision that he was going to kill this other man. 

This is actually pretty common in our area.  Local justice and people resolving their own conflicts in violent ways in regular news in our region. 

But, there is one thing Jose did not count on in his equation.  God. 

Jose went to the New Believer's Retreat which just happened to be our largest ever.  There were more than 100 men there, including those being ministered to and those doing the ministry.  The retreat covers a variety of subjects, including inner healing, confession any habitual sins, and other things that often are easy to over look and ignore in our lives. 

Well, as God orchestrates things, this very man that Jose was planning to kill was also there at the Retreat. 

But, Jose, being patient and orderly, figured he could wait until later to do his killing. 

However, there is that God thing going on.  Here he is listening to how Christ gave everything for us.  And Jose broke.  God broke his heart and gave Jose a new one. 

Jose stood up a little later on and said,"See that guy over there?  Well, I was planning to kill him this week.  But, I just can't now.  I know that it would be wrong."  What a thing to announce in public.  And, instead of the enmity that had existed, these two men were hugging and laughing. 

Only God. 

I want a little more of that in my life!  What an awesome God we serve!

A Word of Testimony

 
My wife, Suzanne, had a chance to serve and minister this last weekend at a New Believer's retreat.

Let me share one of the powerful testimonies that she told me from her time there.

A certain lady who was attending the retreat as a new believer shared that she was experiencing a very difficult season in her life.  Several weeks ago, she had a moment when she was frustrated and disillusioned and ready to give up on church as well as her plans to attend the retreat. 

At that moment, she saw a vision.  It was an image in her mind of a woman praying for her and talking with her.  Except that she did not recognize the other lady.  She took it as an encouragement and pressed on through her difficulties.   She ended up attending the New Believer's Retreat. 

When she arrived there, she realized that it was the place that God had for her and she was delighted that she had made the effort to attend.  At the end of the first session, during the ministry time, a woman she had never met before came up to pray for her.

It was the same woman she had seen in her vision.  Identical.  And, as they began to converse, it came out that they both had struggled with the same issue in their childhood.  The one woman had come to share and pray at a critical time in the life of the other woman.  She shared how she had passed through the same problems and struggles and come out victorious.  The tears flowed freely and the joy of being part of what God is doing in this moment was apparent. 

God delights in sharing his plans with his children.  He shares things in ways that we understand and in ways that will encourage us.  What an awesome thing to be a part of His family and a part of His plan. 

Thanks for your prayers and support. 

Why Plant Churches?

Kids along the beach in a river village

Boats serve as the major transportation along the river.  Here they "dock" at the door of a partially completed church building as the service is ready to start. 

Why plant churches?  In fact, what does that even mean? 

For the vast majority of us, there is no frame of reference for the concept of "planting a church". 

Allow me to introduce the concept with some thoughts that can hopefully clarify this concept.  We are familiar with the idea of when we are traveling on the road and we drive through a small town or approach one of those many off ramps along an Interstate.  As we look around we see nothing familiar.  And the thought floats through our minds and often passes from our lips, "This place needs a __________ (McDonald's, Taco Bell, Starbuck's, Tim Horton's, or whatever fills in your blank.)"  By casual observation, we realize that there is something missing that would improve the moment and the location. 

Now move that awareness into the spiritual realm.  Consider that there are places that have no church.  The thought process is similar when we consider the need that exists here in the Xingu region of the Amazon.  As we step back and consider the three dimensions of human life - physical, emotional, and spiritual - there is an awareness of a tremendous gap in the lives of these people.  The church is the only institution that tries to meet needs in all three of these dimensions. 

But often, we can not even imagine a place where there are no churches.  Literally, our imagination fails us.  Why? Because almost anywhere we drive in North America, we pass dozens of churches.  It defies our thought process to consider that there are corners of this world in which there is no church.   Or the thought of walking hours or paddling a canoe hours to go to church.  We are outside of our box, we are out of range of our reality. 

Of course, just because we struggle to imagine something does not make it less real.  This is where our faith moves into action.  We step out with the intention of helping change the story and reality of these people. 

That is one of the reasons that we plant churches here and why we need help working towards this goal that God has set before us. 

Angles - the lines of the boat come together

Storm clouds gather over a river community

ON LINE DONATIONS

Impressions

El Shaddai (El-Xa -Day) Bike & Tire Repair - It took me four days to figure out the El Shaddai part, you know, Hebrew spelled phonetically into Portuguese examined by the American mind

 Assurini Ferry Landing

Two days, one exciting night, alot of mud, a simple message, a team of eight people - this is the making of a good time.  I had the opportunity to visit Esperançinha, the location of one of our new church plants.  The seasonal mud gave the trip the characteristic that makes so much of the work here in the interior. 

There is a sense in which it is easy to view the work through a romantic lens.  Drifting carefree down the river, surrounded by white beaches, swimming in sparkling waters and sharing the message of love, hope, and peace with a people that delight in hearing it. 

Well, it just isn't always quite that simple. 

The truth is that most people in this region live the hard-bitten life of a pioneer settler carving an existence out of the wilderness.  The majority of people that live in rural area do not have access to electricity or running water, refrigerators, freezers, or motorized transportation.  It is the old tried and true of the last 20 centuries.  Horseback, water drawn from the river or from a well, and an oil lamp to burn at night. 

But, people still want to change.  They are passionate about finding the key to change in their heart.  And they enjoying seeing the human side of each of us.

Who we are with God.  Who we are to each other.  What we really want out of life and how we can achieve that end.  Those are thoughts and ideas that transcend cultural boundaries and touch lives. 

That is the goal of what we do, making a difference in the hearts of people.  Bringing hope to the hopeless and peace to the troubled.  Each of us need the option and the oppurtunity to be able to encounter that difference for our lives.  We ever we are in this world.

Anna enjoys a donkey ride in the community we visited

The Long Road

Finances and Missionary Life (aka - 5 Principles of Missionary Living - Part 4)

This is the fourth installment in a series on missionary living.  This has been several months in the sharing.  I say in the sharing because the article has been written for a long time.  Talking about finances is always a tough topic, and even tougher in these difficult economic times.

Here are links to previous topics in the series.  I encourage you to take a look.

 Part 1 - Calling

Part 2 - Convience

Part 3 - Uncertainity

Finances

There is never a good time financially in a person’s life to be a missionary.  At this moment, every single missionary that is on our team could be making more money back in North America.  Everyone.  Every missionary has taken from 50% to 90% pay cuts from their earnings potential by choosing to serve on the mission field.  A missionary couple currently needs $2000 monthly to live in our corner of Brazil.  When you consider that two people each work a minimum of 40 hours a week, that adds up to 320 working hours for the month as a minimum.  Or, $6.25 an hour.  Less than minimum wage.  Nope, there is nothing really financially great about serving on the mission field. 

 One of the biggest hindrances for people that want to become missionaries and support missionaries is the “American Consumerism” mentality.  This drives so many people into debt.   And then, they wait to pay off their debt, but they do not know how to fend off the monster.  School debt, credit card debt, car debt, house debt.  Personally, I have seen how a commitment to “debt avoidance” has been a huge help in achieving freedom to do ministry.  First, it made it possible for me to minister in the States for more than a decade in unpaid positions before I came to the mission field.  Then it smoothed the pathway while here on the mission field.  More than 20 years ago I made a commitment to God to take no debt.  This was while I was still a student at Arizona State University.  When I married Suzanne 16 years ago, she took up that commitment with me.  No debt for anything.  What an immense freedom to serve and not be restrained by the concerns that normally come along with a debt.

 It is difficult to “get rich” or fulfill financial dreams for those that serve on the mission field.  It should be clear that if someone is seeking temporal security (in finances) and wanting to go to the mission field, the two will probably not coexist.  The need for security is a strong pull in our lives.  We often let that desire be the rudder that steers the direction of our lives.  Scripture is pretty clear that there is much more to finding out what God wants for our lives than a simple financial formula. 

Where We Need to Go

I like C.S. Lewis.  I always have.  From the first time I picked "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" back in Middle School to this present moment. 

I always amazed at how relevant and thought provoking his books are. 

 

"A Year With C.S. Lewis" is mind stretching and spirit stretching.  It takes me where I need to go.  After getting there, I am glad that Lewis provoked my thoughts to travel in a new direction or reexamine a half forgotten line of thinking.  The book is a 365 day devotion, with snippets from most of Lewis' books.  The readings are short and concise, but this is the way Lewis wrote. 

Profoundness is the ability to concisely say what needs to be said.  Lewis understood this clearly.  Many mistakenly believe that by say more and saying it loudly, that we strengthen our arguments.  Quite the contrary. 

There are books that make us uncomfortable because we do not like the way an author treats a subject.  And there are other books that make us uncomfortable because we need to think, ponder and reconsider some of the ideas and images we have in our head.  Lewis' writings clearly fall into the second category. 

Lewis' book is a wonderful challenge on a daily basis.  It is a delightful departure from most of the easy reading that is so common.  And the relevance transcends cultures and eras.  This is a mark of a great writer. 

Take the time to enjoy this book.  The pleasure is that there is a morsel of insight every day.  The book just may turn into a long term companion on your bookshelf.