JONATHAN AND TAMBA
ABEL
(Editor’s Note: Excerpts
Taken from Their Spring Prayer Letter)
“From the rising of the Sun to the going down of the same
the
Lord’s name is to be praised”.
I thank God for all of you who in brotherly love have
invited us into your homes, have fed
us, have prayed for
us and have encouraged us with
your words and
your financial support.
You have helped us to plant churches in other lands and
bless people such as Grace. Grace, a beautiful young girl starting down the
road to delinquency came to know Christ as her personal Savior, and in the
enthusiasm of her new found faith, led her sisters, mother and estranged father
to the Lord. Today she is married to one of our pastors that she met in Bible
School
and is helping him in one of the toughest neighborhoods of her city. Grace is
one example of the blessings we see of God’s love as we share the Gospel with
others. Thank you for helping make this possible.
Plans
& Prayer Requests
- In April we
will be sharing at 3 WMF Rallies and several churches. Pray for us as we travel
to these different places: for
safety and to be a blessing to all.
- Pray that
all our needed support comes in for our salary and travel expenses.
- We plan to
go back to Brazil
in the later part of May. April and Thomas need to go back for official reasons: April, to renew her visa, Thomas, to register for
the army (it is mandatory there). Then both of them will return to the US to
continue their studies.
Once again, thank you for your much needed & appreciated prayers and
financial support. If you want to see how you can be of greater help, contact
“aflc.org” for ministry in Brazil, projects and prayer requests.
(Editor’s Note: Taken from AFLC World Missions News and
Prayer Page)
Nate and Rhoda Jore have announced the birth of Julia Hope. She
was born on Thursday, April 19.
Thanks for all who have been praying for the Jores during this
time.
(Editor’s Note: Excerpts taken from her April Prayer Letter)
Filling Up The Tank
I
mentioned that Carnival just ended - the biggest street party in the world; and
one of the saddest. Carnival is a four day tribute to the flesh before Lent
begins. During the streets parties people feel free to do whatever they want
because forty days of repentance follows—thousands upon thousands of lives are
destroyed, slavery to sin is forged deeper and stronger, all based on a
spiritual lie. But Praise the Lord, during the four days of Carnival this year,
210 young people from the AFLC church of Brazil
celebrated another way.
ACAMPA
‘12 was a FLY like retreat that sought to fill up young hearts and minds withe
the grace and power of God! The theme was “Born to Win” and every session spoke
who God had created each young person to be!
From preaching the Word, to breakout groups and even the game times worked
to help each young person understand who they are and who they can be in Christ
Jesus!
The
four oldest Miriam Home residents took part in ACAMPA ’12 (Larissa,
Deise, Diane and Jaqueline) as well as Josivaldo (no longer in the Miriam
Home,
but still very close to us! He visits at least once a week, and is faithful and
firm in the La Parana Church). For our young ladies the retreat was wonderful.
For Jaqueline and Larissa (on the shy side) it was thrilling to see them, day
by day, joining in more and more in the small group activities, sitting at
lunch tables with new friends and leaving the retreat with a list of new Orkut
friends (more popular in Brazil than Facebook. But more than a chance to
improve their social skills, all four girls learned more of their true value
before the Lord. Because these precious girls are with us for a short time it
is a huge blessing to have these days set apart to invest in their lives!
Please Keep Praying!
- It is likely that Luis will be back with his family
shortly. Please pray that he will allow
the Holy Spirit to continue to move in his life.
- For Paola, 11, Caroline, 15, Ana Paula, 15 and Andreza, 17; the
newest Miriam Home residents.
- For the Bible school students
especially that they would feel at home here.
Bless you all!
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MORE NEWS FROM JONNI
I can’t
even tell you how blessed I have been by the WMF. Precious women from churches
I have never seen have literally poured their love out in gifts, in boxes and
in prayers. So many times I have just laughed as I have opened boxes to find
EXACTLY what we were needing on that day. A month earlier, when the ladies at
Bethany or Our Savior or Ny Stavangar were packing the box a new child hadn’t
even arrived to us yet – but when the box arrived, what Vanessa or Cleber
needed was inside. It just thrills my heart!
The
laws have changed in Brazil
over the last few years and so the structure of the Miriam is also changed. We
now have more children and few babies. We have a good supply of baby materials
and the current on going needs are for children and teen-ager supplies.
Bless
you and precious ladies of the WMF!
Jonni Sliver
The
year has started with a lot of action! In the first three months we had 28
children in the home. Some came and went within a week or two, but ten had been
with us for three months or more. As of the beginning of April we have ten
children in the Miriam
Home:
Larissa
(17) – has been with us since the end of last year. She is very intelligent
(because of her good grades she was offered a scholarship to the best private
school in Campo Mourao, where she is doing very well). She is here because she
was kicked out of her home, but as our social work has looked more and more
into the situation it appears her mother may have bi-polar disorder, causing
the problem in relationship.
Deise
(16) – she lived with us for several years, when she was fifteen she went to
live with a foster family, but after just over a year some problems began to
appear in the home and it was decided that it was best if Deise returned to the
Miriam Home.
Diane
(15) – is another precious young woman, hard working and caring. She really
looks after the younger children in the home. Diane came to us because she is
an only child, her father is older, her mother passed away when she was 11 and
her father remarried. The step-mother and Diane don’t get along very well,
especially when the father is out of town (he is a truck driver).
Caroline
(15) a young lady who has been with us a short time, and is extremely damaged
emotionally. Her mother has severe mental problems and forced Caroline to act
and dress like a boy. She was mistreated at home and abused and harassed at
school. She is a precious but terribly confused girl and she needs the healing
power of Jesus@
Ana
Paula (15) a sweet, gentle girl, here because she has no family. She is
probably only going to be with us a few weeks
Vanessa
(12), has lived in the Miriam
Home before, and just
arrived back again today. Her mother is involved in prostitution and wants
Vanessa to work for her. Because the child does not want to her mother beats
her badly. Please pray the authorities let us find a new home for her.
Ezequiel
(12) – he was orphaned quite young, was adopted by a woman who had HIV, and
recently the woman passed away from AIDS. Losing one mother is painful, imagine
losing two! Ezequiel is honestly a good boy, but he has difficulty learning
made worse by ADD. When Jean (another 12 year old boy who had a big problem
with provoking and tormenting the other children) was here there was often
problems and fights. Jean and his twin sister Jacqueline went home last week
and Ezequiel is noticeably better.
Paola (11)
– is the most recent arrival, she has been here for a little over a month and
we still don’t fully understand her history. Her mother is very ill and hasn’t
taken care of Paola for quite a while. A grandmother had her for a year or two,
then an older sister, but the sister can’t take care of her right now (though
it appears to be a logistical problem, not that she couldn’t control Paola).
During the time she was at her sister’s she went to church and has a lovely
faith in Jesus, and is a sweet young girl, who was a good influence on
Jacqueline before she went home!
Luis
(10) has been with us for quite a while. He came to us because his mother is an
alcoholic who is completely dominated by her addiction. She would often get
drunk, leave home and not come home for days – only Luis would follow her and
end up on the streets with her – exposed to a multitude of dangers and
witnessing things a child should never see. Praise the Lord, Luis’ mother
agreed to go in to a recuperation program, because she desperately wants her
son back. It took quite a while for an opening in the rehabilitation center to
open up, but last week she signed in!!!
Cleberson
(5) is a sweet little boy who has suffered terribly in his home. He has several
siblings, but his mother has literally thrown three of her children away. It
appears that she chooses which children she wants and which she doesn’t -
those she doesn’t are very badly treated in home and then she goes to the
juvenile authorities and hands them over – like giving a dog to the pound. When
Cleberson arrived he was obviously under weight, he had marks of abuse and it
was soon obvious that he had been sexually abused also. It is amazing to see
how quickly and radically this little boy has changed and grown! He is, in fact,
very bright, very affectionate and very obedient – he just needed to be cared
for! Please pray the right family comes soon to adopt Cleberson – he needs a
consistent, loving home, preferably with no other children or grown children.
I am a
secondary worker in the Miriam
Home – that is I am not a
house mom, but when they are on vacation I take their place. The house moms are
Eva, Odette, Nueza and Niede and between them they work 24 hours a day, 365
days a year. They really are like moms- they make the meals, together with the
children keep the house clean and wash the children’s clothes (girls 12 and
older wash their own clothes). We also have Silvia who is a psychologist,
social assistant and all around helper; and Suraia who is the general director
of the house. I fit in how ever I can in the middle – I do a lot of the general
running: grocery shopping, picking
up donations, mail (we are in a non-delivery area so we have to have a p.o.
box), take the children to the dentist, courses, etc. It is hard to explain how
my day is structured because every day is different depending on what chores
need to be done. I try to spend at least two or three hours on communication –
that is my primary role both in the Miriam
Home and the Bible School
– keeping in touch with the WMF ladies who send boxes and letters, doing
newsletters and preparing presentations. Along with the monthly newsletter I
send home I do three one page newsletters each month for the AFLC in Brazil. One is
new from the Miriam Home, another is news from the Bible
School and the last is news from the
churches around Brazil.
One problem we have is that there has not been good sources of communication
(like the Ambassador) so the churches in one state don’t have any idea what is
going on in the churches other cities and states – and few of the churches knew
about the happening in the Miriam Home and Bible school. Now everybody gets a
reminder at least once a month. I also have had a chance to visit every church
at least once and my goal is to visit each church twice a year to give face to
face updates on the Miriam Home and encourage the churches to take part in the
work of the Miriam
Home.
As far
as the Bible school goes, I really enjoy teaching. This semester my class is on
“The Facets of Nehemiah” – how the same story provides wonderful lessons from
several perspectives – specifically for this class, the historical account,
lessons for leadership and principles of Spiritual Warfare. It is one of my
favorite books and it is really fun teaching it! I also did a seminar for the
students on Godly use of finances and the end of May I will be doing a seminar
on Building Relationships. We have 11 students full time and several that are
taking specific classes. Last year we only had three full time students so it
is exciting to have a fuller class room!
