Under the wire for 2011

From the date of the last post, this is looking more like a quarterly report than anything else. Let's take up where we left off:



What a difference a few months make! The front of the church building looks very bare at the moment. The one good tree had to come down, as well, in order to give balance. The front may be bare, but it's balanced. Why haven't we put anything back yet? We have more or less decided on what to plant on each side of the door, but we were waiting on the conclusion of the paint job. The whole building was painted inside and out, including the property walls and gates. After 7 years, it was time. Which leads to a couple of other pictures, as these last months have been spent in maintenance work in general.




One of the first items of business was to replace the lights that had burned out behind the "stained glass" windows. They aren't needed in the daytime, as the sunlight shines through the glass blocks of the exterior wall, but in order to have the stained glass effect at night, the lights have to be turned on. Because the panels were originally set in place and held by silicone, we couldn't access the lights without destroying the paint job when the silicone seal was cut (Pedro is working on one of the panels). That is why we put off replacing burned bulbs for so long, but when we set the panels back in place we used a different system so that we can access the light fixtures without ruining the paint job. Roberto (on the left) and José Carlos were there to lend a hand.

The finished result looked like this:



Maintenance of another sort

It's not only buildings that require maintenance. Relationships also need constant attention and upkeep. It was during this period that José Carlos and Marcia celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. They didn't know the Lord when they got married, and they wanted to reaffirm their vows as dedicated servants of God.




Many, perhaps most, of the people present were colleagues from their work (she's a teacher, he's an architect) who are not believers, and some of whom had never been in a non-Catholic church before. They both gave a clear witness of their faith in Jesus Christ and how their relationship with God had changed their lives and their own relationship with each other in the home. Some of you may remember that about 5 or 6 years ago Marcia was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma, and she went through a year of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, which have apparently defeated the disease. Although she was already a church member at the time, it was this experience that led her to "get serious" with God, and the testimony of the two was a clear call to those who have not yet given God first place in their lives.


With their daughter, Susana, and Marcia's parents, visiting from Brazil



Abbie and I celebrated 45 years of marriage this year while we were in the US in August. Shortly after this celebration in November and just before I turned 65 on Dec. 8, we passed the 35-year mark in Madeira, having arrived on the island on Dec. 3, 1976.



January 1981 -- the first Lord's Supper of the newly formed church, Santa Cruz, Madeira, with the entire membership in attendance.
(And no, I'm not wearing a wig...that hair was all mine)

What a difference a few years make!


And in the latest news...

The Christmas Cantata

For almost 20 years, Abbie has worked with a group that has ranged from 9-14 in number, every year a little different in composition, to present a cantata at Christmas and another at Easter. This year we even had people from England, Canada, and Finland calling to get the times of the cantata presentations, as they had attended in previous years and didn't want to miss this year's edition. This year's cantata, The King of Love, was presented in Portuguese (with a little mix of English) on Christmas Eve. We will sing it again in English on Friday evening, December 30, and on Sunday, January 8, in English (11 a.m.) and Portuguese (6 p.m.). Here are a few photos from Saturday night:


Abbie warming up before the start of the service.



The children of the church sang a couple of songs...


...including "Silent Night", in which they were joined by two "older children", who are taking violin lessons from Larysa. I started back in April, or so. Moral to this story: if you're afraid of making mistakes, there are some things you should never attempt, two of which are a) learning to speak Russian, and b) learning to play the violin. Either one provides the student with more than ample opportunities to really make a mess of things. Nobody fled the scene in panic, however, and it did go well enough to lend encouragement for continuing on with the lessons.





Abbie and couple of ladies of the church did the decorations, using poinsettias, which went well with the dress code for the choir: all black with red scarves/ties.



The church began to fill up, so I had to ask Roberto to leave both doors wide open and put extra chairs out on the entrance, which is actually the cover for the baptistry.

We pray that the next cantata services are as well attended, and more importantly as well blessed with the presence of the Lord in the singers and the hearers.

Thanks to all who pray for and remember us. A blessed 2012 to all.