Phil & Rita Warkentien Ministries

During the last two weeks, Bethany's Brazil Team had many opportunities to see the needs in Caruaru. Many of the classrooms still don't have floors or finished walls. They are also getting ready to go on their own mission to the outlying areas where people have never heard the gospel and need financial support for those who cannot afford the 200 dollar cost.

They are doing an old style caravan of cars and buses and will bring their own food and beds with them. They will just set up in a park or church if there is one available.

If you have appreciated the updates and been blessed by the work that Bethany's Brazil Team saw God doing and were able to participate in, there is a link to the right for you to send a donation to Phil & Rita Warkentien Ministries.

The Brazil Team would love to see the Bethany family and everyone who has enjoyed the email and blog communications stay involved in Brazil by supporting Phil & Rita Warkentien's Ministry.

In His Name,
Mike

Warm reunions...

The Brazil Team was given a warm welcome at the airport last night by:

* Charlie and Bette Connelly (India Team 2008)
* Gary and Lynda Crocker (India Team 2008)
* Ann and Scott Storey (Kenya Team 2007)
* Ida Parenteau (Kenya Team 2007, India Team 2008)
* Jan Sieker (India Team 2008)
* Chuck Keek (India Team 2008)
* Tori Hipp (Devoted daughter!)
* Sabine Galvin (Devoted wife!)

The pictures say it all...

Home Again...

Jim, Betty, Barry, Charlotte, Joe, Ron and Mike are back in Southern California.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's update!

In the middle...

In the middle is where I feel today. With a soul that says after all God has blessed us with for the last couple weeks it cannot be time to go home yet:

• To leave the love and spirit of joy and worship that is on display at the church and in the homes in Caruaru.
• For the nights of sitting listening and singing to the music and talking about the great things that are happening in the Church and the community.
• For the boxes of candy and sticky goo that are hard to identify.
• For the God centered services and people singing together in English and Portuguese to worship him.
• For the gatherings centered around God.

My heart is full of Brazil for sure. In just two weeks they have managed to find a special place in my soul, these brothers and sisters in Christ. But I will be so glad to see all the friends and family who supported us before we got here and during the time we traveled. The prayers, the letters from the kids, the advice from those who have gone before and the blog comments. Bless you all.

I can truly say - Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I look forward to seeing everyone at Bethany on Sunday.

In his love,
Mike

Our Last Day in Brazil...

This was our last day in Brazil and we took a tour of the highlights of the city in a three car caravan with Phil, Rita, Malu, Conde and Johnson (making it a 12 person mob with only 5 1/2 who can speak Portuguese). Considering the traffic in Recife and the Brazilian driving style, this was an adventure in itself.

Our first stop was the center of the original settlement of Recife, which was settled by Jews from Holland in 1630 after the Dutch captured Pernambuco. All Brazilian States have a central point from which everything in the State is measured. Here we have the Point Zero for the State of Pernambuco -- the 0 Km mark. The picture shows the plaque which says (in Portuguese of course) "Starting from this point all the lands of Pernambuco are measured" along with the longitude and latitude of the point. Just a couple blocks away is the site of the first Synagogue in all the Americas, established in 1641.

State of Pernambuco Point Zero.

The Dutch ceded Pernambuco back to the Portuguese in 1654 and the new Inquisition forced most of the Jews to leave the country. Most returned to Europe but 23 were captured by Spanish pirates and eventually ended up in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam. It is this group who formed the nucleus of what would become the largest Jewish community in history, the congregation Shearith Israel in New York City.

Inside Kahal Zur Isreal Synagogue.

We then went up the hill to the north of Recife, a town called Olinda, to the main Catholic cathedral of Igreja da Se, which faces Rome (all other cathedrals in the area of Recife face this cathedral). The view was awesome. All during our time in Brazil the team has been amazed at how blue and clear the sky is (you can tell we are from Southern California, right?), and the beauty of the clouds by day and the stars by night. Since Pastor only trusts air he can see, I'm sure he wouldn't be happy here!

The mob minus two on the back patio of Igreja da Se.

Brazilian clouds - yes it rains everyday!

After a time of shopping, we headed across the city to the museum of Ricardo Brennand, which was filled with paintings, sculptures, a wax museum and an armory filled with swords, suits of armor, and ancient weapons of all sorts. However, before we could get there we ran into a traffic jam and the convoy cut across town on side streets ... which was most definitely the "E-Ticket" ride of Recife. Everyone cuts in front of you at the least whim and with just about zero clearance ... at whatever speed. It is amazing there aren't accidents on every block, but then again, Brazilians don't even slow down for a mere fender-bender. We missed lunch (first time since we arrived in Brazil) but made up for it at dinner (not that last night's dinner won't still be with us when we arrive in LA). We may be going home with 30% less luggage, but I'm sure the weight won't be any different.

Instituto Ricardo Brennand.

Phil told us that some teams come and don't really connect with the people, while ours parted with tears and hugs. He said it was a real blessing to have Americans connect so closely with the Brazilians of Caruaru and Serrote de Bois. We feel the blessing was all ours. I think that our opportunity to work on the Samaritan's Purse shoe boxes alongside the Brazilian volunteers made a big difference. When you work with someone, you can't help but get to know them. I am thankful to God that he timed the release of the container to coincide with our visit.

Tomorrow morning we head out to the airport for the long ride back home.

In Christ,
Jim

View of the Atlantic Ocean from our hotel.

WHERE'S THE BEEF?

The Team ready to head to Recife.

(Back) Mike, Barry, Joe, Ron and Malu
(Front) Phil, Charlotte, Betty, Jim and Rita

As we said earlier, with some sadness and a sense of time moving much quicker in Caruaru than it usually does. We had so much fun and so much work going on time seemed to vanish like the wind. Barry did some last minute work on a gate for Phil and we moved the boxes once last time so that the church can complete the boxes. We felt the joy of walking out with the Church still working on the boxes, they have about 100 to go and we feel sure they will complete within a week.

Barry doing some last minute work on the gate.

It is hard to believe that a tired team dragged in on the 13th of August without bags and now it is already time to head to Recife for the last couple days of our mission. We enjoyed some of Gods beautiful nature, with wind and rain and sunshine and many different versions in between. The drive to Recife is about 90 minutes and we had a smooth drive which is quite an accomplishment in Brazil. After we arrived in Recife and found the hotel we saw the Atlantic Ocean. We all had some view of the ocean from our room and we have balconies we can step out on and see the street below.

The drive to Recife.


The Atlantic Ocean

Phil had made arrangements and we were able to make our way to a Brazilian Bar-B-Q. MAN...what a feast, first you went to a buffet and picked out cheeses and salads and vegetables and fruits and all kinds of other taste treats. Then the real treat comes as they deliver all kinds of cuts of beef, lamb, pork and chicken on a spit. It was just amazing, everything from the hump of the cow to the ribs, to a couple different kinds of Filet Mignon, I am not sure how many different kinds they had, I stopped counting after twenty because I ran out of fingers and toes.

HERE'S THE BEEF!

Phil pointed out the Cashew Fruit and the Cashew Nut. In America we have seen plenty of nuts, but I don't ever recall seeing the fruit before.

The cashew nut AND fruit!

God is so wonderful with his creation and he really shows it in Brazil with all the different fruits and vegetables. What a great God we serve, and what a great time we have had. We have much more to share with you and tomorrow we get to go see some older churches and some other points of interest to view on our last full day in Recife.

As always we will find time I am sure to talk about God and to praise his name. What a great trip and what a great ministry Phil and the church have in Brazil.

Love in his name,
Mike

Departing Caruaru....

The team has had our final fantastic meal in Caruaru.

It is now 1:45 pm local time. We "left" the Warkentiens at the scheduled time of 1 pm.....which means we should be leaving sometime in the next hour or so!

We have said many good byes, given hugs and kisses and have our bags packed and loaded. Just waiting for the last few minutes before we leave.

We praise God for this blessing packed week! We thank Him for all of the people with whom we have connected and for a clearer understanding of the Warkentiens' ministries in Caruaru, Brazil.

Coming to a new chapter...

Yesterday we worked on the last of the boxes for the kids. We finished all but the last two rows and Phil wants the church to finish those. He had wanted us to start on the boxes and show the people here how to go through them and clean them. He was really happy as to how much we were able to accomplish in the short time we were here.

Today was our last full day here in Caruaru. We had a really terrific day. We started out with Sunday morning worship. The classes were broken up and Betty went with Rita and helped in the new believers class. Mike stayed with Phil in the adult class. Ron went with his kids class, Barry and Joe taught the young adults class, I taught the "adolescent" class (the junior high and high school). Jim was the team photographer.

Ron playing during the offertory for the morning service.

Ron in his Sunday School class.

After the morning service and lunch, the team took off out to the Village church. Communion was served and there was a great service. They made me stay behind as my foot was hurting and swollen. I was put on bed rest all afternoon. The rest of the team said that they had a really great time.

Afternoon Service at the church in Serrotes dos Bois.

Once the team returned, we had ice cream and then walked down the street for the evening church service. There was a young girl around 11 years of age who quoted 3 different chapters of scripture. She said the scriptures in a story form. She was quite impressive.

After the worship service, Phil called the team up and announced that we were there to pray for anyone who needed or wanted prayer. He had a translator come up for each one of us and then told the congregation to come forward as they felt lead for us to pray for them. It was totally awesome being able to share with them what their needs were and then to pray with them. As we finished praying for one, another would come forward. We prayed for some young boys who came and asked for prayer for their alcoholic fathers. It was such a blessing to be able to pray with each one for their needs. At the end, one of the girls that I prayed for wanted more counseling so we went into one of the classrooms and I was able to pray with her some more and show her scriptures in the Bible. I almost missed the team on the platform sharing just before the message. One of the guys came and got me so I was able to share with the church as to what a blessing it has been being here. We each were able to share what we had gotten out of our time here.

Evening service - My House shall be a House of Prayer

Mike then delivered the message. He did an awesome job. The whole message just flowed and was easy to follow. He closed the message telling everyone that God really wanted to come into their lives and that He was knocking on their heart's doors wanting to be let in. It was great.

Mike preaching during Sunday evening service.

Afterward, there were lots of tears and hugs. It was so hard saying goodbye to everyone. They tried to make us promise to come back next year. We just told everyone that it is up to God as to when we will return. They said that they would be praying that it will be God's will for us to come back again real soon. We all fell in love with the people here.

Everyone has been so warm and friendly. They opened their hearts and their homes to us. We are taking several back home in our hearts also. I have 3 young girls from my Sunday school class that said that they are not going to let me go. Barry told them to take our passports and Visas and then we will be able to stay. However, Barry and I will be returning with rest of the team.

Well, all of your prayers to keep me vertical worked. I had a couple of days with pain and swelling but I have been able to make it the whole trip and participate in all the activities except the Village today. I thank God for all your prayers.

This may be our last communication until we return. Tomorrow we will be going into Recife and we don't know as to what our internet connections will be. If we can, we will update you tomorrow.

Lots of love,
Charlotte

Rita's wonderful helper, Cida.
She cooked and washed dishes and clothes for us.
We will miss her friendly smile!

Mowing, Markets and Marvelous Worship!

Well, today started early, Phil mentioned something about the field needing to be mowed and I volunteered. I got up at six and went with Phil to get the mower from the worship leader's house. I got half of the field finished before the mower had enough and ran out of gas, but that was a good thing in that I could then go have a wonderful feast for breakfast.

Here we are trying to get the mower running properly.

After breakfast we tried to get the mower running properly but it needed more than I had time for, so someone else took over the mower rebuild while I tended to my regular task of leading the Project Christmas Child shoe box renovation project. We all worked on cleaning and repacking shoe boxes until around eleven then we had some tourist activities to take part in, so we packed up and went to the market.

This little shop was crammed with little figurines.

The market is a busy place with an amazing amount of shops and people all crammed into a small area, and the experience will not likely leave my memory. We each purchased some trinkets and various items to take home as gifts. After the market we went back to the house and had lunch, another amazing meal.

After lunch we went back to the church to resume the shoe box project, some people worked on the cleaning and repacking while Jim and I took over re packing the room with the cases of already completed shoe boxes. The one group went through at least fifty or so cases and we moved a few hundred cases back into the room dedicated to the storage of these life changing shoe boxes. As soon as we finished re packing the room it was time for dinner, so we went back to the house and had some delicious home made pizza.

After dinner we got ready and went to the night service on the field. We walked down there to find people had already set most everything up and the only thing left for us to do was sit and wait for service to begin. The service started by exciting the people with some music played through the speakers set up near the stage. Then, some talented people got on stage, prayed, and began to play music themselves. This was easily one of the most interesting services I have attended, I couldn't understand everything I was hearing, but it was outstanding. My favorite portion of the service was hearing Betty, Barry, and Mike's unprepared sharing of God in their lives.

Here they are getting nervous.

The fire was huge, the music was loud, the people were friendly, and the Holy Spirit was speaking. After it was all over, the clean up went by quickly and my turn to blog came fast.

No one could get any closer than about eight feet away without getting a first degree burn!

I have really enjoyed giving every ounce of my energy over to the will and service of God and oh how He has blessed me.

Thanks for reading what I have written.

A Follower of Christ,

Joseph B. Keleher

This represents about half of the people that were at the service.

Our Time is Flying By So Quickly!!

We leave in less than five days!

We began our day at 8:15 this morning in Rita’s living room as Jim shared from 2 Peter 1:5-9, we discussed our agenda, prayed and ended in song.

Following our wonderful breakfast, we headed on over to the church to do boxes…..you can smell the sugar/sweet smell of melted candy as we approach the boxing area. This morning, we found that close to a half dozen of the church members were already working on the boxes. Today I worked next to Geraldo who had some real method going!! He was doing TWO boxes to my one. We must have had about 15 on the line today.

Jim and Barry finished the cabinet project upstairs and then joined us in cleaning boxes.

Barry's "Office Cabinet"... all it needs are the doors!

We were telling Joe that he now has managerial experience for his resume since he is in charge of the Samaritan’s Purse Box Cleaning Project. He has assigned carton carriers, carton un-packers, tape cutters, box cleaners, candy stuffers, box tapers, carton packers and carton re-locators. Of course we try to leave the box cleaning to under 5 minutes a box. There are some boxes that immediately get put aside. Most likely they were next to the outside of the container and getting the full heat of the sun in triple digit Recife weather! We just put these aside for later processing. Fortunately, there are not a lot of the really bad ones. We are all becoming experts on what is best to pack for which age group and we LOVE it when people double bag their candy!

"Working the line..."

There were people working on boxes from about 9 a.m. through 6:30 p.m. We only broke for lunch during which we celebrated Rita’s birthday (I won’t say how old she is but she is a LOT younger than I am!). We sang Happy birthday and the team presented her with a gift Charlotte & I had purchased before we left the States. Here was another case of God working and preparing the way: We had no idea of her hobbies, her tastes or the color scheme of her home. We wanted to get her something special just for her. When we first arrived, Charlotte and I looked at each other and smiled…..all around were various teapots, tea cups and tea things…..that was JUST what we got for her!!

After lunch we all went to “work on boxes”……but really, Charlotte & I went over to Vaninha’s house to help prepare for tonight’s surprise party. Her house was a hive of activity! Stephanie and Vaninha were putting the final decorations on the cake in the kitchen and Charlotte and I were soon put to work. The rest of the people there were preparing for tomorrow’s fundraiser for their mission trip in September. It basically is a swap meet or garage sale but they call it a bizarre. A part of the entry was used to sort all of the stuff that people kept on bringing by…..shoes, clothes and tons of other things. The spirit of the people in this church is just amazing…everyone chips in to help and there is always laughter and a spirit of joy no matter the task at hand.

Once again we had a wonderful time as we celebrated Rita’s Birthday. She really was surprised, but may have had a hint as we could hear the music as we approached the house. We got there around 8:45. In what we now see as very Brazilian celebration, there was plenty of food, laughter, music and fellowship.

Jim met Dr. Frank who speaks English and they spoke of many different topics. I was able to speak with a number of people. It is amazing how much the Spanish helps in speaking. I spoke with Edela, Lucina and Sandra, to name a few. They show so much patience as I struggle through the words….but I so enjoy connecting with them.

Throughout the evening there was singing, guitar playing and drum. The evening ended with the singing of hymns – the same tunes with us singing in English and they in Portuguese. The party did not wind down until after 11. Once again we have had an awesome day with many blessings and the making of many memories with our new friends.

Much love & God bless you all,
Betty

Phil with his birthday girl... check out that cake!!!

Valdiel, Dr. Frank, Phil and Jim

Some of the wonderful food!

Singing is central to Brazilian get-togethers!

God Used His Power and Showed His Love...

Hello family and friends!!!!

What an amazing day God gave us!!! We woke up and spent time in prayer and song as a team. Then once again had an amazing breakfast with Phil, Rita and family. We originally planned to spend the entire day at the church working on boxes and the cabinets but God had other plans. And as always, his was perfect and he was glorified throughout the day.

Phil talked to his friend Ridley Rupert at breakfast and it was decided that we would go as a team and visit Ridley at his shop. He makes his own small airplanes. We took a tour and then prayed in one of the rooms for Ridley's safe travel to the states and that God blesses his shop.

Phil and Ridley at his shop.

Again, we thought we were on our way back to the church but we stopped at the home of Genivaldo and Antonia. The entire family makes statues out of river mud. That is their family business. The entire family works very hard morning to night to do this work. The children also help by painting the statues when they are not at school. Antonia is going on a short term missions trip with Phil's church in September. It cost her about $100 to go. Each statue, which takes a few hours to form and then fire, is sold for about $1.00 each. This had to be done over months and after finishing, she gave back her hard earned earnings to have a chance to teach the gospel to others in her country. It is extremely humbling to see a family who has very little give so much. They gave us a few statues as gifts and also gave us soda to drink.

Genivaldo and his finished work.

God's love was so apparent from these wonderful Christian brothers and sisters. What a blessing from God for us to be able to be a part of this visit. Can't wait to see them at church on Sunday and give them a big hug! After that Phil drove us by the 2 churches that Lou and Fay started many years ago.

After we returned to the house, we had lunch and then we all headed to the church for a few hours to work. Barry and Jim worked very hard on the cabinets and the project is coming along very nicely. Betty, Charlotte, Joe, Mike and I continued on cleaning and re-packing boxes. Many people came to help in the afternoon and it was a great time of work and fellowship. As we left at 5pm others stayed to continue on the boxes. The zeal of the Brazilian people to serve God is just unbelievable!

We all cleaned up and headed to a small village on the outskirts of Caruaru around 7:30pm for a tea and bbq. We got there and over the next 1/2 an hour over 45 ladies and 40 guys came, along with about 20 children. Betty and Charlotte ran a wonderful tea and I was blessed to be able to play my violin with them for special music. They passed out the hand made napkins and gave their testimonies. It was a big hit.

Betty passing out napkins at the tea.

Us guys all witnessed how great and powerful our God is with this BBQ. We all came without our bibles, as told, because it was going to be too dark to read. We all also came with a vision of what we were going to say if asked to speak. We started off with a short lesson from the pastor of the church and then worship through song. I again was blessed to be able to lead a couple of songs with the group and share my views of the meaning of the songs. Then each one of us got up and spoke.

Jim sharing his testimony and Phil translating.

Each one of us talked about something completely different than what we thought we were going to share. All messages led to salvation. After we concluded Phil gave an alter call and 3 young men accepted Christ to be their Lord and Savior!! Praise God!!! Leandro (18), Emiardo (12) and Jose (6) came forward and proclaimed him!

Leandro, our new brother in Christ!

Afterward all 5 of us were just in awe of God's power and through conversation found out that we all unexpectedly spoke of things different then what we thought we were going to. Be of good cheer, in the middle of nowhere, in a different country, God used his power and showed his love and now we have 3 more we will see in heaven. We are all fired up for Christ! We then fellowshipped with the men and ate some great bbq. We got home around 10:30pm and now at around 11:30 people are slowly fading to bed.

Thank you so much for your support in this Christ honoring, Christ glorified mission that you have sent us on.

We all look forward to Rita's birthday tomorrow and other things that God has planned for us!

Good night and God Bless!
Ron