No, not the title of some “alternative history” novel. Two actual pictures I received as part of a collection of pictures taken by the first BMM missionary in Brazil. The first one shows the airship over a typical northeastern Brazilian home of the time: This next one leaves no doubt as to the nationality of…
Ever since I returned from my short trip to the US I have been scanning some old pictures and posting them on my Flickr and Facebook pages. These pictures were originally taken by Edward (Guy) McLain, the first Baptist Mid-Missions missionary to serve in this part of Brazil. The are from the 1930’s and 40’s….
If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter you know that I am currently in the US. You probably don’t know all the details. So here they are. Several months ago the pastor of our home church contacted me about the possibility of my coming to the US to participate in the ordination of my…
Last week marked the third and final ministry of our seminary puppet team over this vacation period. Since the end of classes they have ministered to roughly 150 children and reported at least 20 decisions for Christ. I am very proud of their dedication and hard work. Below are some pictures of this last week…
During our trip to Petrolina and Treasure Island this past week, I had an amazing experience. I was eating lunch with our seminary team at the home of one of the church brethren. A man and his wife came in the room, and I immediately recognized them as a couple I had met on my…
Last week I took our seminary puppet team (Amiguinhos de Jesus) and our puppet school (Cidade Feliz) to Treasure Island, where they worked at a camp for (mostly) underprivileged kids administered by missionary colleagues Doug and Renate Reiner. In one word, the week was awesome! The four seminary students that went with us did an…
The following is the transcript of a recording made in 1955 by pioneer missionary Jim Willson. It was transcribed by our colleague Jim Leonard. It is surprising to see how much of the information is still quite relevant to the field today. I am posting it in its entirety, along with a few footnotes. We…
By my calculations, Itacyara and I are part of the third generations of BMM missionaries to serve in this part of Brazil. It is always helpful to me–especially when I am tempted to think that times are tough–to go back and look at how the first generation lived and worked. Recently Philip McLain–son of Guy…
Over the weekend I made yet another trip to the city of Exu, this time with our seminary puppet team, the Amiguinhos de Jesus (Little friends of Jesus). Our team worked very hard, both in preparation and presentation. We did four separate performances, one in the main square of the city, one in a school,…
If you have been reading the most recent blog posts, you may have gotten the impression that last weekend was somewhat busy for us. That would be a very correct impression. In fact, between after the puppetry school on Saturday afternoon and the youth conference Saturday evening, I was wiped out physically and emotionally–and I…