60% - The Good and The Ugly

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Sixty percent (60%) is more than half, but not quite full. Sometimes 60% is really good. Sometimes it's just plain ugly.

Let's get to the ugly first:

• 60% is about how normal our return to Brazil has been since January 23rd. When we expected schools to start-up in February, COVID-19 got in the way. In Belo Horizonte, elementary schools have been delayed from starting in-person classes for the new school year until Feb 14th. Our kids, and Tathiana, thought that was really ugly. 

• Our COBH team was planning our first team-building retreat since September of 2019. However, COVID-19 got in the way and we decided to cancel for now as we had several positive COVID tests pop-up on the team and in our church.

• Our car needed some service, nothing major, but because of a lack of mechanics and parts caught in the supply chain issue, we are on day 4 of being "car-less". That limits what we can get out and do by about 60%.

• Overall, life and ministry feel about 60%. That's not a complaint, it's still just the overall reality of a late-stage pandemic in a tropical metropolis.

The good 60%:

• Our trip to the US for connection with family and supporters was really great. COVID-19 did limit us some, as during the end of the year the Omnicron variant was in full swing in Chattanooga, TN and Birmingham, AL. We had several meetings canceled and overall decided to not expose ourselves close to our return trip as not to test positive and risk not making our flight back to Brazil. So, the trip was a great 60%. It's better to have a 60% visit than not come at all!

• Lastly, our 20/20 1-Time campaign celebrating 20 years on the field has closed its first 2 months, and we are happy to report that we are already at 60% of the goal, with over $12,000 in donations so far. Thank you to all who have donated, encouraged and prayed for this important campaign. 

Please continue to pray for us as we try to live-out 2 Timothy 4:2, "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season."

US Trip 2021-2022

Quick summary and requests for our upcoming visit:

• We will be coming back to the US for Christmas 2021 and January 2022.

• I will be visiting with supporters and working on support maintenance.

• I will focus on our up-coming 1-time campaign, stay tuned for more info!

• We are looking for a vehicle we can use for local Chattanooga use, only. Please let me know if you know of any options or good deals on car rental.

• Another need is for a cell phone for Tathiana. She is used to iPhones, so a good quality, used iPhone is preferred, if anyone is looking for a good place for their used iPhone!

Conference & Contributions

October 2014 is going to meet me with some drastic climate changes. I will bid a brief farewell to Brazil's dry season finale and its 95º dry-heat and brushfire-smokey air. Then, I will say hello to a brisk Fall in the Southern US. Then, I will close out October with a return to Southeastern Brazil's arrival of its monsoon-like rainy season. These rushed travels do have TWO good reasons; not one of them having anything to do with the weather.

I'll start with the second, but most pressing, reason. During my time in the US I will be meeting with some support contacts and churches in Chattanooga and Nashville to try and raise $6500 in one-time donations. Over the past 2 years, Tathiana and I have had an above-average loss of support for various reasons, and we now need to raise a lump-sum in order to finish the year in the black. If any of my monthly and annual supporters desire to give beyond their pledge, it would be graciously appreciated.

Now, continuing the reverse order, the first reason is that I will participate for the first time in an annual conference of all the Campus Outreach administrative directors in Atlanta, GA. We call ourselves Resource Directors because we want to be administrative teams that are a resource to the front-line work of evangelism and discipleship on the college campus. These meetings bring together conversations and meetings about best practices, networking, vision for the future as a ministry and fellowship between us Resource Directors. In my almost 4 years as Resource Director in Belo Horizonte, I have not been able to participate in person because, well… I live on another continent.

I will be leaving Brazil on October 4th, spending some days with my extended family in Tennessee, then a trip to Nashville sometime in the middle, and finishing up with the conference in Atlanta, where I fly out of on Oct 30th.

Hope to see as many people as I can, and raise as much support as God allows me to.