Thursday, 8. June 2006, 01:02:24
ministry
Mollie made it. Mollie and Micah are two college girls helping us for the summer. Micah will get here in about two weeks, and Mollie arrived Saturday. We had our Friday night Bible study, soccer from 11-1am, and then took a group to the airport to meet her at 1:30. Of course, any flights in and out of Manaus have to be in the early am. Mollie is already doing great! She is trying to learn Portuguese, which is very encouraging. And she is ready to go for whatever we throw her way. She's had lots of surprises (we're very spontaneous) but never complains. "Sounds good" is her catch phrase. Friday night we're going to cut our Bible study short. Then we are going to have a birthday party for her, complete with the aforementioned custom of egg-splatting on the head. Should be fun! After the party, it's on to soccer... of course. Yesterday we were at our church all afternoon. We had the English, kung fu, and dance classes, and then were hanging out on the mat. Today she told me, "Yeah, we were just kinda sitting there and I was like, hmmm, this is what a missionary does... hangs out". She liked it 
ha ha. Hanging out=Relationships... and that's what we're about!
Wednesday, 17. May 2006, 16:08:39
ministry
Ashley has gone. There were lots of tears shed as she boarded the plane... most of them Stephanie's. She had a nice going away party, with lots of Brazil presents. She has enough shirts and earrings to last a good long time. We're going to miss you Ashley!
In the last blog, we mention Raphael. I want to share with you a beautiful story of God's redemptive power. November of 2004 we had just started Guerreiros de Deus, our martial arts ministry. Bruno, a troubled teen whose mother and younger sister were believers, came to our gym. He began to train and hear the gospel. One night after the devotion I gave an invitation. I think it was the first invitation that we gave. Bruno got saved that night as I shared with him the Romans Road. He left our meeting and went home to tell his mother. When he got home he fell on his knees and prayed in thanksgiving to God, and he asked God to take all of his bad ways away and to help him to live a new life. He dedicated his life to God. His mother and sister rejoiced. They had come to our church Shalom Baptist from another evangelical church called the Vine, because we had a jiu-jitsu ministry and they saw that it was reaching their loved one. His brother Rafael looked on with scepticism at his brothers conversion, and soon strife arose in the home. There was strife between the brothers, and between the dad and everyone. Soon the dad abandoned the family for a teenage girl. Shortly after, Rafael lost his job, and now the family had no income. They struggled for over a year, praying as Jesus taught us, "give us this day our daily bread". Recently Rafael got sick and it scared him. He is not easily scared. He is big, muscular, and has been training Jiu-jitsu for five years. As part of our strategy to win him we made him a teacher in our ministry and brought the gym to his home. At times I doubted my wisdom in doing it, but his mother was vary grateful for our interest in her son. When the gym was at Shalom Baptist we did not have to worry about the rain. Now when it rains there is no class, for the classes are held in his front yard under a mango tree. Even though the gym does not have the best facilities, one of Rafael's white belt beginner students, Marcello, won his three fights to become a state jiu-jitsu champion! I have been witnessing to Rafael for a while, I have never pressed him for a decision, but always told him when he was ready that we would talk. I have been sensing for some time that he was ready to make a decision. He hit his head during training one night, and ended up with stitches. After hearing about his stiches, I thought that tonight would be a good opportunity and what a blessing it was to see as you will hear in the story below.
Tonight I went to Bruno's house for Jiu-jitsu and our discipleship study that I give on Fridays. After the study and everyone went home, I sat with Rafael in the kitchen and we went through the Romans Road. When I asked him if he wanted to pray to receive Christ he said, "Yes!". We called his mom Neiva, sister Andressa and brother Bruno into the kitchen and then he prayed.
He said, "Senhor, eu sou um pecador e eu quero que voce me liberta do pecado. Liberta me e me perdoe. Me livra dos maus caminhos. Eu quero te servir com a minha vida. Eu estou me entregando. Liberta me, liberta me, liberta me do pecado."
He said, "Lord, I know I am a sinner and I want to be freed from sin. Free me and forgive me. Save me from the wrong path. I want to serve you with my life. I am giving myself to you. Free me, free me, free me from sin."
After his prayer he cried. Bruno, also in tears, asked Rafael for forgiveness for not being a good brother, Rafael asked his mom for forgiveness for not being a good son. Andresa was crying too. When we told Sonia, a friend of the family, who was in the living room she yelled glory! Now they say that it is a matter of time for the Dad to get saved. Praise the Lord with us for this dramatic and long awaited conversion. We will begin Rafael's discipleship tomorrow. For me this was one of the hardest and most gratifying spiritual battles. I have been praying for Rafael for a long time. We moved the jiu-jitsu from Shalom to his house primarily so that we could reach him. Imagine a whole gym training jiu-jitsu to get the teacher saved. God's ways are not our ways. Their family still faces great difficulties. Pray for Rafael to find a job. Pray for his fiance to get saved. Pray for his dad too, who has abandoned the family and is living with a teenage girl. After Rafael got saved, the first thing he wanted to do was go tell Marcia his fiance. When I left his home he was headed to her house with a copy of the Romans Road in his hand and his new Bible. I wouldn't be surprised if he leads her to the Lord tonight.
Here is a picture of Thomas, Raphael, and Ronny. Ronny is not a believer, and we have been praying for him. We hope to have a post about his conversion one day!
Friday, 5. May 2006, 23:56:20
ministry, family
Tonight, Teresa is going to watch a movie with the kids. Perhaps the best movie ever made. Our video store finally had Narnia in tonight. We're all excited! Thomas is going to a Bible study. He is going to witness, once again, to Raphael. Raphael's brother gave his life to Christ about a year and a half ago. When we started Ju-jitsu at our first church plant, Shalom, Bruno was one of the first guys to show up. He accepted Christ as his Savior almost right away, and has grown into a man on fire for the Lord. He has been on a couple of mission trips, and helps lead praise and worship at Shalom. His mother and sister have begun attending Shalom, and continue there today. When his father abandoned their family, the church was able to help with basic necessities. We have been working with Raphael for about six months now, explaining the gospel, praying with him. He always says he is not ready yet. He has a girlfriend that he doesn't want to give up, and he doesn't want to be a Christian living that kind of lifestyle. Teresa was finally able to meet the girlfriend at a recent Ju-jitsu tournament, and hopes to build a relationship with her. The good news is that they have decided to get married. Wouldn't it be great if both of them accepted Christ? We are definitely praying for a miracle!
Thursday, 4. May 2006, 15:41:44
ministry
This post is a little more serious than previous posts... We're feeling a bit introspective today. Last night a young man gave his life to Christ after Ju-jitsu. Two days in a row. I tell you, working in the harvest field is amazing! So now what do we do? So many young men have given their lives to Christ since we started this martial arts ministry. We're ready for them to begin their own work, start new churches, evangelize, disciple. Yet, how do you know when they are "ready"? Also, we don't want to be in control of them... they should be ready to start when they start. But what about discipling them? We feel that discipling new (and old) believers is important... and that's an extreme understatement. Do we help these guys launch their own ministries (churches) and keep in contact with them, discipling them, training them? Or when they launch are they on their own? If we are to continue discipling, which we feel so strongly about, then how do they maintain autonomy while being mentored by us? Is it that easy to seperate ministry (their autonomous church plants) with their personal lives (being discipled)? I recently read a blog about new converts planting churches right away. Man, I sure agree with everything it said... I like the statement about not just warming a pew for 25 years. But was the example of the new convert starting a church common, or one of those wow experiences? We pray that God shows us where to go from here, and gives us the courage to go there.
Wednesday, 3. May 2006, 21:56:59
ministry
Tuesdays and Thursdays are fun days. We go to our church, Liberty, and spend the afternoon teaching English, Kung Fu, Ju-jitsu, dance, and aerobics. Okay, we don't personally teach all of those. But we go to hang out, teach some of the classes, and just be available. So yesterday these two guys walk in. William is from South Africa, was imprisoned for two years in French Guiana for drug trafficking, then sent to Brazil, which tried to send him back but they wouldn't take him. So now he's here... no identification, no job, no money, no place to live. He wants to make his life right, he doesn't know how. Thomas had a long talk with him about his options, and William prayed to receive Christ as his Savior. He also invited him to our English service, since the guy doesn't even speak Portuguese. Man, I feel for him! We're praying that he comes Sunday. If he does, then we are going assume his desire to change is sincere, and we are going to give him a lot of attention over the next couple of weeks. Pray with us for William. Even if he was trying to scam us (I mean, dude told us his middle name is Clinton... of course we're wondering what's really up with him), God knows his heart and can work miracles in his life!
p.s. I was going to start this blog, "So these two guys walk into this church..." Would anyone out there have gotten it??
Tuesday, 2. May 2006, 00:52:28
family, culture
Stephanie turned 18 today. Her family, the Barbosas, sort of adopted us about a year ago. Or we adopted them. Since we live so far from our families (Thomas's in southern Brazil, and Teresa's in Alabama), it's been nice to have a "family" here. We celebrate holidays and birthdays together, and just like to hang out. We went to Steph's aunt's house for a pool party. Again it was overcast. Everyone was upset because we couldn't work on our tans... but again it was good for Tiago We stayed all afternoon eating, playing, eating. We did the great Brazilian tradition of breaking eggs on her head (look out Michelle, your b-day is coming up!). The girls had fun giving each other Sharpie tattoos. Ashley is quite the tribal-look expert. Now at a quarter till nine, we are getting ready to go play some soccer. Supposed to play 10-midnight. But I feel if we don't leave soon I am going to just crash right here right now. Ohhh... I sure hope I can rest tomorrow!
Monday, 1. May 2006, 03:59:52
family
Thomas preached tonight at Liberdade. He talked about his background... grandparents and parents, his childhood as a missionary kid growing up in Brazil, his military experiences, and all the way through to now. It was fun to hear him get to the part of when we met. It brought back some great memories. He mentioned our first date, when he took me to see Clear and Present Danger. How romantic. He had everyone laughing at his dating "mistakes." Must've worked though... we're happily married 10 years later!
Sunday, 30. April 2006, 04:38:46
ministry, culture, family
Man... we need days like today. We got to go to the pool and hang out for a few hours. It was overcast, so we didn't have to worry about Tiago burning. And the kids played together so well. Teresa was able to just hang out with Ashley a bit. That was nice since Ashley is leaving soon.
We celebrated with our first church, Igreja Batista Shalom, tonight...after getting home from the pool and all having a good long nap. They are having a 3 day celebration to commemorate that they were recognized as a church a year ago this week. (Mother church sponsors a new church plant... they meet for awhile... when they can support themselves and have enough people they are voted on by pastors of other churches. Then they are a church independent from the mother. Make sense? Took us awhile too.) So it "started" at 7pm. Knowing the good folks at Shalom well enough (left it just about a year ago to plant Liberdade, where we are now), we thought we'd play it safe and get there 1/2 hour late. Course, that means we got there at 8, since we usually show up late. But they didn't start for another 10 minutes.Yep... we're in a different world here!
Saturday, 29. April 2006, 13:43:28
ministry
April 23, 2001 we stepped off a plane in Sao Paulo with wide open eyes. Wow! We were like the proverbial 5 year old arriving for his first day of school. Excited to be there, yet nervous with anticipation. How would God use us? We never imagined that God would use us, the Latham family, in so many incredible ways. We don’t know why He chose us, we really don’t. We do know that it is amazing and humbling to look back over the past five years. God took all of our plans and He made them bigger and better. We didn’t plan to start a new church with Pastor Francimar… we barely knew him when he approached us with the idea. Guerreiros de Deus was not in our plans… we stumbled upon it. As we plan for our next five years, we step back and ask... How will God use us? Will the next five be as incredible as the first? And we wonder. With wide open eyes we wonder. What will our Father have us do?To read the entire five year celebration letter, click on this link...five year celebration letter.doc
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