Bits July

We have a major change here that started this month. Three days before our first important game, Tyler Rust moved in to our house. A year ago I wrote 12 Christian college football coaches and told them about football in Brazil. One way I said they could help is by sending players that would be willing to help plant a church and play football. One school showed interest and out of 4 players who contacted me, Tyler ended up coming. He played four years at the University of Northwestern in St. Paul, Minnesota. You can read about our exciting first win here as we beat a good team in our league 14-13. 

Last Sunday night Tyler gave his testimony to 26 adults that came to our house for our study. The Sunday night group is really growing and we have several committed faithful families! On Thursday we started another Story of Hope Bible study with the extended family of one of our families! We are excited about this! 

We have also continued to go to Tupanatinga (50 minutes away). We did two trips this month. I have taken three different musicians with me on these trips! The first time Gabriel, second time Alison and third time Pastor Ruy. Each time has been a blessing and seen different people listening to the studies. I am discipling Pedro with the Way to Joy book; studying a Proactive parenting seminar as well as teaching a Bible study. We cram it in, but it has been good for Chico and Bia there! 

Next Sunday I leave for Rio de Janeiro for the Olympics where I will be translating for an evangelistic group sent through Answers in Genesis. Pray for Sarah as she will be at home for 11 days by herself with the girls. Fortunately we have a good amount of support around us here in Arcoverde, but neither of us like being away from each other for long! (that is a good thing….) Pray also for the opportunities we will have in reaching the nations as the nations come to us in Brazil! Through this evangelistic idea many people have been reached and even churches have been planted at past Olympics and world events! 

This month we have received a couple VBS offerings with creative ideas! The whole football team will be receiving Bibles thanks to Faith Baptist in State College, PA! Then one VBS adopted one of our kid’s rooms and sent a bunch of money for decorating it! The construction has been slow this week due to the worker’s occupation at other works, but it should be starting up again soon. Our funds are up and down! Every time we raise money, we use what we raise! :) I guess that is how it works... Pray that God will continue to provide at the right moment, just as He has through this whole process. We are amazed to see where it all comes from!

This month an article about football in Brazil will come out in our mission’s “The Message” magazine! Be sure to check it out! Tyler and I are working together to invite lots more players for next year to play for different teams and help different churches throughout Brazil! I continue to be amazed at the doors God is opening through football! Please pray for this ministry. After a very exciting, strong, unifying team practice on Thursday I told them we needed to sing our hymn, or say the team prayer or something. Instead they told me to pray. I thanked God for the team and the spirit, and asked for us to be able to honor God through our team. They continue to be open to the gospel, more and more become faithful to the studies and a couple of them are thinking about salvation. 

Also, I am looking to start a Master’s program this month using the development of Servant Leader’s as a project. We developed more material this month in the program. 

We thank God for you all! Last month someone wrote saying he felt nervous about writing us and taking up our time with questions, but I assure you all that any email or letter is very encouraging; shows us your reading, and we greatly welcome and appreciate it! 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah, my entrepreneur Evelyn who started a cookie selling business that operates one day every other week and sells out every time and who also sends encouraging messages to all her friends on whatsapp, and my little food processor Anna Claire who eats like a teenage boy and somehow manages to spend all the energy she has just gained

Celebrating our first win!!! 

First Win!

There are several very memorable hugs I have had in life. That kind of hug where you squeeze the life out of someone as they squeeze the life out of you. I remember when Jeremiah Johnson decided to give his life to Christ when I was his RA in college and when I finally found him at room checks that night. This last year Gabriel gave me that same big hug after he made the same decision. 

Last night I received a bunch of those hugs. We have had an American football team for two years now. We have developed so much as a team as far as structure, knowledge and attitudes, yet we had not won any of the four games we had played so far. It is hard to gain confidence and trust in our community without victories. Last night was our biggest game we have had as a team so far as we started the national league in a conference of eight teams. The winner of our conference will have a spot in the big league (Brazilian footballs equivalent of the NFL....except not that high level of play) for next year. We played our first league game against the Natal Scorpions who have been around for eight years. 

It was an away game and the trek turned out to be way longer than the long trip we had planned. We left at a little before 5 in the afternoon on Saturday and didn't arrive until almost 5 in the morning. Needless to say; in a huge room full of guys with the little time we had left to sleep, we didn't get quality rest. On our way to the stadium we went to the wrong place and ended up on a long walk to the stadium where the home team didn't have our changing room ready for us. After waiting in the hot sun for a while, they finally found a place for us. The level of the competition calls for lots of registration and they informed us that two of our main players would not be playing. Thankfully, after a few phone calls and conversations we straightened that out, but all that led to a talk with the team about overcoming adversity. 

On Thursday of last week we had picked up Tyler Rust from the airport. Tyler came to both play football and help with the church plant. He played at the University of Northwestern in Minnesota (not the D1 team). He had one official practice with the team and we put him in a few plays. He ended up scoring our two touchdowns in the game. 

On our first offensive drive our quarterback called a great audible and threaded a pass between two defenders to Tyler who turned and ran untouched 40 yards to the touchdown. We then ended up getting scored on and on our next drive threw a pick six putting us down 13-6. It stayed that way through half time even though our offense did well in its drives. 

In the second half our defense held strong while our offense continued hammering away. One drive started at our one yard line and we drove steadily all the way to the six on the other end where a miscommunication led to an interception. They got the ball on the 1 yard line and we stuffed their first play and an initial safety call was overturned.We drove the ball down the field and Rodrigo found Tyler in the back of the end zone. We then ran it for the two point conversion and went up 14-13. Our defense held strong once again and the offense was able to run out the clock. We kneeled a couple of times and then they dumped a bunch of ice water on me. I hate cold water, but it had never felt better. 

Then the hugs came. There is something spiritual about football and it felt very strong as we celebrated our hard fought victory. Getting to know these guys has had its share of frustrations and joys, but this is a big step as we get involved in each other's lives. When I pray, I pray for fruit with the team. As I talked to a Pastor and his wife who had a son playing on the other team, they said they thought our team would have more prayers going up for the win. I told them that the prayers may actually be working against us as we may need more humiliation before we recognize our need for a Savior! Since yesterday the team has certainly recognized the role losing has played in the team's development. 

My mind still reeled as we arrived home this morning at 5 AM; what a rough couple of nights, but a good outcome. Besides the game I was able to have several great conversations including being able to share the gospel again. Praise the Lord and to Him be the glory for this ministry that has opened so many doors. Next month our mission ABWE's The Message magazine will run a story on this ministry. In it I say that we could put hundreds of missionary football players in Brazil to be on teams, be examples, teach football, but best of all, share the gospel!    

Family life

I grab my phone once again to try to film what I just witnessed. Anna Claire quotes Thumper from Bambi when he talks about eating his greens while Evelyn and Sarah coach her through and play the part of Thumper's mama. We make her repeat it to get it on video to show to our family.

This happens pretty much daily. Anna Claire says and does something cute or Evelyn shows responsibility and tells about the hilarious happenings at school. Yesterday Evelyn set up a cookie/brownie/lemonade stand and sold out. She learned about economics and responsibility and had a heart for giving through it all!

Family life has its share of stresses, like 1000 mooooms yelled out each day, but overall it has been fun and a huge joy. I wish I could say that I were the perfect father, but alas I can only say that the girls have a perfect mother. Well, pretty much. She does a great job giving attention and teaching them. She is the one who "puts up with them" when she needs to during the day. But she has done a great job of finding a balance in play and work. So much so that Evelyn gladly does her chore chart when asked and even when not asked. Both girls love helping their mother in the kitchen. Well, Anna Claire enjoys the process, using the word help may be exaggerating a little bit.

As Evelyn and I played Monopoly the other day I heard the sound of scissors cutting and then watched as my light brown hair fell in front of me. As my eyes popped out of my head I turned to see Anna Claire's popped out as well. "What in the world are you doing?" I couldn't really get too mad though, cause who would think? Anna Claire had already practiced on her own hair a month ago when she started working on one side of her own head. Crazy little energy bomb!


On the Fourth of July we had a wonderful family day. We started off with a good breakfast and talk with my parents and then headed off to the park. The girls played there for a while and then we came home, grilled and ate a delicious lunch. In the afternoon we played hide and seek in the yard. Evelyn continues to grow in strategy in all the games she plays as well as improving her inherited competitiveness (by way of her father) that can be a little strong at times.



Sarah and I love laying down on Sunday nights after the Bible study in our home has brought several families together. We know that the work is not about ourselves and it brings great satisfaction. We often find moments of laughter together during the day as our crazy life unfolds or our crazy girls act themselves. After each game I coach I relish the time after when I can just be with my family and hug and talk to them.

Although I still lecture them on me not being responsible for dressing their dolls, I do enjoy playing with the girls. Time with them is set aside as well as random wish granting. Children bring joy to life. If we become so indulged in our work that we see them of little importance, we miss out on one of God's greatest blessings in our life. Even more important than them is my wife! Any wife can be the greatest joy giver or greatest joy killer. Be careful who you marry! And once you marry, value your wife as the precious jewel that she is and that I know I have.

I hope you don't read this seeing arrogance on my part in regards to my family; my prayer is that it be a challenge to have a thriving family life!

Seeing Jesus in your selfie

What do we hope for in taking a selfie? Usually the idea is to show that you are having fun, show you are sure of yourself and that you have nothing to hide. Then there are the selfies taken in front of a mirror, usually accompanied by an inspirational phrase. 

What do you see when you take that selfie? Do you see Jesus? Of course not…But do we ever think about having that sort of vision? In Romans the Bible talks about being conformed to the image of His Son (or Jesus). God’s goal for our life is to be conformed to the image of Jesus. In this selfie culture it is probable that the focus is elsewhere. We can’t judge each person’s motives, but it would be safe to say that some people take them in search of compliments, others to show off progress in their latest health challenge, others to feel good about themselves. 

What would be neat is if someone invented an app that showed your progress through selfies in being conformed to the image of Jesus. You could gradually see a white robe appearing and a soft beard and eyes that penetrate love to the souls of those who like your selfie post. As you grow in the Lord, the features gradually appear in your selfie picture….

That might not be too realistic, but maybe our vision of that happening should be. What if we put just as much focus on that progress as we did on how we look in the mirror when we take a selfie? 

The funny thing is that when people think about being around us or being friends with us, they are not going to focus on your appearance, they are going to think about your character and personality. They are more likely to spend time/approve of you by your actions than by your looks. 

God approves of you. He loves you. He wants to take your life and shape it to be more like Christ. When you submit to God’s will and seek Him and how you can be conformed to the image of His Son, you do wonders for yourSELF. You turn out beautiful, not just physically, but in all other areas as well. 

As this world seems to be going south, we need Christians who will see Jesus in their selfie more and more. We need a movement that takes these steps in being salt and light to those around us! 

Bits June

June started with football camp. We had a great time and I wrote in detail about it here along with talking about the following week when we had Jonathan and Michelle Watson here helping out. We had a great couple of weeks!

After resting a couple days…. we got back to some rhythm here in Arcoverde. I always enjoy working on the construction site, although it is only a few hours a week. It is really coming along! God continues to provide funds. In May there was a matching gift where 1200 dollars came in. Another church gave a couple thousand dollars and the mission team over 1000. In the last few days we prayed a little harder as funds were running low again and then another gift came in to keep us going! God seems to provide at just the right time. Although we would love a huge gift where we really know we will have what we need for the whole project, we know that this is helping us continue to trust God and see His constant provision.

Today Sarah started a three day cheerleading clinic during the afternoon for 6-8 year old girls. She has spent a lot of time organizing and researching to put on this event and now it is coming all together. Evelyn had a great time with her friends and there have been several outreach benefits already through this ministry! Add this to the list of things we did not think we would be doing on the mission field!

For a while I have thought and looked into getting my master’s degree. I always seem to come up with an excuse. Recently a program was brought to my attention that peaked my interest. I looked a little deeper into it and it looks like I can get a Master’s in Organizational Leadership all online as I work on the Servant Leader’s project in Portuguese. This would be great as it would both keep me motivated in developing Servant Leaders as well as accomplish another purpose educationally. Pray for wisdom as I look into details.

This month has started the winter season here and has brought big temperature changes during the day. We have all fought some sort of cold/bacteria/allergies. Please pray that we would be able to stay healthy!

We did have a football game this month and lost a close one. The team has improved so much though. We have now contracted two Americans to play for us. One ex-military guy named Quintin played at the University of Tulsa and the other, Tyler played D3 college ball at Northwestern in Minnesota. Tyler will help with the church as well. But I hope to be able to invest in the lives of both these guys as they are here helping our team out! They both seem like solid guys and I am excited about having them arrive July 14. 

Our Sunday nights continue to be a blessing. We seem to have good groups and to have gained some families that are more faithful. Tonight I will be giving a lecture on leadership to the football team before practice. We are also going through “Proactive Parenting” material with some couples. Also we are looking to travel more often to see Chico and Bia in Tupanatinga (50 minutes away) and do Bible studies there. 

Thanks so much for your sustaining prayers! God bless!

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah (my birthday girl this month!), my cute little loud cheerleader Evelyn, and our energetic cat loving(we are on our second cat after the first one disappeared) Anna Claire 

Short term trips!

In some arenas short term mission trips are criticized for how much money is spent on a short term investment, but we believe that they are worth it! The last two weeks we had two different groups come down to Brazil. The first one was a group of football coaches to do a camp for football players in the Northeast. The second was a family, friends from college. Jonathan played soccer with me for four years and is now a Pastor.

The football clinic went really well. We picked up the team on a Wednesday and after a missed flight ended up getting to the camp in Igarassu, a neighboring town to Recife,  pretty late with half of the group. On Thursday we had a couple coaches arrive. The team was able to focus on them in a more laid back atmosphere. They passed on quite a bit to these guys and me as well!




On Friday afternoon seven of us loaded up our car (loaded up is an understatement) and went to the big city and after a slight detour (slight meaning we went to the wrong place and then got lost and ended up driving on the sidewalk to avoid getting lost again) we arrived at an English school where a big group of English students awaited us. Some kids sat on the floor and other adults stood as the room was packed. We talked about football and the coaches took in some stardom. We put some equipment on a little kid and had him hit the group leader Hoss who played Offensive Lineman in the NFL. The afternoon was set up by the american consulate which has been a neat relationship in the last couple of months.

On Friday night the players started showing up. We had 40-50 players that came and it was the perfect number for providing good attention for all of them. On the field was fabulous for everyone and then when the sun was a little hotter or on the other side of the earth we did 6 character lessons on the mental, emotional, social, intellectual, physical and spiritual side of football. The guys really liked it. My team especially needed a lot of these extra sessions.

The camp went really well and the group could clearly see our ministry with the football team. We really connected as a team as well and their testimonies throughout the week ministered to my soul. On Monday they headed home.

On Tuesday we picked up Jonathan and Michelle Watson and their daughter Victoria and we headed back to Arcoverde. We did not do too many extra things with them, just our normal ministries. But having them along was a lot of fun. They provided advise for friends, worked on the construction, made pom-poms for Sarah's cheerleading team she is starting up, prepared for a party and then on Saturday night Jonathan preached at our service where we had a great turnout.

They were very encouraging the whole time and it was neat to share life with them once again. We talked about our time in college and our lives since then. Sunday night we had a party and had around 40 people in our house and just ate and had a good time. Probably half of those people are unchurched and it was neat to have interaction with everyone in that way.

Short term mission trips help in several ways.
1. It gives a great boost to the missionaries.
2. It impacts the nationals and peaks their interest.
3. It impacts those on the trip.

Michelle said that everyone needs to go on at least one foreign mission trip because it opens your eyes to a different world. We would love for more teams to come down to help build a sport's court, do football clinics or do English clinics or VBS and there are more ideas as well!

Bits May

Tomorrow starts a busy couple weeks for us. We head out early morning to the airport in Recife where we will pick up a team of 8 that will help us run a football clinic for area teams. Well, we initially intended it to be for area teams and there are a couple, but we have players coming from all over Brazil for the clinic. Right now there are around 50 players scheduled to come. Pray for a great clinic!

They will leave next Monday and on Tuesday we will pick up Jonathan and Michelle Watson and their daughter Victoria. We studied in college together (and played soccer) for four years and now he is a Pastor. He will be speaking in our service on the 11th. We also have some other activities for them to do. Pray for a good trip for them!

This month we did a matching gift campaign for the Cetak construction. There is still a little time left if you want to give towards the matching gift, but you can always give after that because we will still be needing funds for the project! As of right now, around $1250 has come in that we know of. The matching gift is for $2000. The construction is really coming along too! I am excited about the progress and can’t wait to see it in a week as I am used to seeing it almost every day. 

This month the football team was a mess. We struggle with lack of commitment, jealousy, emotional phases, etc… A couple weeks ago I took the middle of the practice to tell them that we need the gospel. We need to serve each other. Many of these guys have nothing to do with church and we know that it will take time to reach them. I am just glad that they are listening and some of them are coming to the studies. 

This last week on Sunday night we had a really good group for the second week in a row. This is very exciting for us. We have a couple new families that have decided to be involved. It really stunk for us when our main couple we had in our group moved 50 minutes away to their hometown. We thought they would be back, but it looks more and more like they won’t be. So we are going to start going there more. This last week we went and had a little service there in their house. We are committing ourselves to go more often. Please pray for this work as we do not know exactly what God will have in store for it. 

Sarah is organizing and preparing to offer cheerleading for little girls. They will learn cheers, character principles and verses as well as have a good time. She is going to do a camp at the end of June and beginning of July and then start weekly practices. Please pray for this ministry to reach more families. 

We got to meet the Consul for Northeast Brazil this month. That was a big privilege. He enjoys working with the development of American sports and was curious about our story. I later wrote up a little bit about the history of football in Brazil for them and maybe I will post it soon. 

This month we worked with evangelism, discipleship and leadership development. It is neat to be in the different phases of the spiritual life with different people. Some of our main friends are now hearing the gospel for the 5th,6th or 7th times. We know it can take a while. Your prayers are crucial! And we know they are present! 

All for HIS glory,

David, Sarah, our little Molly Maid Evelyn whose firstborn personality thrives on a chore chart on which she goes above and beyond, and our little hairstylist Anna Claire….Yes, she cut her own hair…No, Sarah won’t let me post pictures.