Owsleys in Brazil Blog

Does God Care About Our Dumb Stuff?

We left Brazil quite suddenly in June of 2009 because of medical issues.  We mistakenly thought a few months in the U.S. would clear them right up so we left our fully furnished rented house in the hands of a friend who promised to housesit until we returned.

Three months later we received the devastating news that we would not be returning for at least another year.  Unable to return to Brazil, we wondered how to remove our belongings to make room for the next renters.  Thankfully, another missionary couple, the Lamps, said they’d look for renters who might be willing to live with our furnishings.  A Brazilian couple was willing to rent the place, but they did not want all the furniture.  Another Brazilian missionary couple came to town and found housing, but had no furniture so the Lamps loaned them most of ours.  Books and files were boxed up and stored somewhere else. 

As the year went by I often wondered who was using our stuff and where it all was.  “Lord, you know all about it.  You gave it to us and you can give it back if it’s Your will.   If we never get it back, it’s okay, but please help me not to worry about it.”

Recently, when Dan visited Sao Paulo to renew his visa, he stopped at our old house to see if anyone knew about our belongings.  Levi, the present renter, showed him around.  His wife said that when she entered the house for the first time and saw that we had left everything she felt compassion for our troubles and determined to take care of our things as if we were family.  Hence, everything that was stored was carefully stored.  And everything that was used was well taken care of.

When Dan told me this, I couldn’t help praising the Lord for His lovingkindness.  I don’t think God cares about our stuff, as much as He cares about us.  Allowing Leila to watch over it vigilantly was His way of reminding us that He WATCHES OVER US with vigilance.  What a precious reminder! 

 

Because You're Supposed to Share!

While in Peru for meetings, we went to a restaurant with Guy and Betsy Crawford, Free Methodist missionaries to Mexico.  We were sipping our fruit juices and waiting for the food to come when a well dressed little boy came to the table and reached for Betsy’s glass.  She quickly put out her hand and explained that it was not polite to drink someone else’s juice.  Then he reached for Guy’s cup.  The child was obviously not a beggar so Guy smiled and asked why he wanted the juice.  “Because you are supposed to share!” declared the boy.  We watched in amazement as Guy handed over his glass.  After some quick sips on the straw, the boy put the drink down, put his arms around Guy’s neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek. 

Later as Betsy and I talked together we regretted that we had been lacking in generosity.  Why had we been more concerned about germs than kindness?  As I walked the streets of Lima that week I looked into the hundreds of faces and wondered if any of them would question me for being full of Living Water and for “not sharing”.  Though my heart was sore because I couldn’t speak their language, it was comforting to hear the other (Spanish-speaking) missionaries reaching out to others.  In one gift shop Brian and Laurie Yost called us over to pray with the salesclerk who had expressed interest in the Bible.  They talked together and then we all prayed.  It felt good to share!

 

 

Latin American Missionary Summit

Recently Dan and I were in Peru for meetings.  For the first time in decades Free Methodist missionaries who serve in Central and South America gathered together for strategizing, planning and prayer.   We heard marvelous lectures on missiology from Area Director Delia Neusch-Olver.  Paul Olver shared inspiring messages from the Emmaus Walk passage in Luke.  Allison Coventry was used of the Lord to lead us in times of praise and worship.  

The combination of lectures (on reaching global cities for Christ), sermons, and prayer and praise times served to motivate and unite our hearts for the purpose of reaching the lost.   Dan and I may be the only FM missionaries in Brazil, but we are NOT alone in our vision and purpose to make Christ known in Latin America.  What a privilege and a joy it was to spend those days with like-minded co-workers.  May His kingdom come and His will be done  
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Brazil Trip

    Dan heads to Brazil tomorrow to renew his visa and tie up a few loose ends before our return in June.  Of course, I'm insanely jealous, but I know that my turn will be coming soon.  After a few days in Sao Paulo he'll head over to Lima, Peru where we'll be gathering with other missionaries to talk, pray and strategize about future ministry opportunities in Latin America.  Would you please pray that our travels will go smoothly and that the Holy Spirit will direct our meetings?  May we hear His voice above all others.

 

Prayer is not monologue, but dialogue; God's voice is its most essential part. --Andrew Murray

 

Prayer & Therapy

My friend just had knee replacement surgery and I went to visit her in a rehabilitation center.  I arrived just as she was going into therapy and was invited to sit with her until her therapist was ready.  She told me how hard it has been to do therapy each day and that the various workers have pushed her until she was in extreme pain.  She laughingly called the dark haired one “the black witch”.   To the patients, the health workers were “out to get them.”  Yet as I looked around the room I saw half a dozen physical therapists patiently and tenderly working with each person.   

Today another friend shared with me that she was seeing a counselor to help her face some painful issues from her past.  She was not enjoying it, but knew it was necessary to help her achieve healing and freedom. 

Often the Lord works with us to straighten out the broken parts of our lives and we cry out for mercy, thinking He’s oblivious to our feelings.  But instead of being oblivious, He’s absolutely cognizant of what we are going through and of what we really need.  In our darkest hour He knows what we are experiencing and tenderly enables us to make it through.   As we trust and pray, we are learning “knee placement” therapy. 

 

Job Descriptions

Oswald Chambers wrote that our first job is to know God and all other tasks fall into place after that.  You’d think that after all these years of walking with Jesus that I’d have that figured out. 

Most people have a vague idea what missionaries do.  They live in another country, sharing the love of Christ through preaching and teaching, and then come home every four years for a furlough.  The word “furlough” was misunder-stood to mean vacation so a few years ago the term was changed to “home assignment” to convey the reality that the missionary is still on full-time duty. 

Clearly, when we are in Brazil, we are doing our job and, clearly, when we are on home assignment we are doing it too.  But what about the year we were “on hold” while recuperating from a stressful time on the field.  If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that this time of inactivity was a challenge.  How could we write ministry newsletters when we weren’t “doing” anything?   But as often as I asked the Lord that question, He sent words of affirmation from prayer partners or through devotional books we were reading.

The most recent encouragement comes from Priscilla Shirer’s book on Jonah.  She writes that what we consider to be an interruption to our plans is often just a new assignment.  Shirer says, “God graciously gives divine interruptions to His children.  He presents them an opportunity to partner with Him in purposes they could never conceive.  A life interrupted by a holy God is a privilege.” (p. 16)

So in between our field and home assignment was another one, just as surely a divine appointment as the other two.  He called us who were weary and burdened to come to Him and find rest.  And, yes, it has been privilege.

 

Decide to Abide

I was in Wal-Mart the other day and saw them removing the Christmas decorations and replacing them with exercise equipment.  Next to those items were boxes of gum, the kind that helps you quit smoking.  Obviously, retailers are appealing to America’s love affair with New Year’s resolutions.

In Brazil we rarely hear of such things.  In a culture where financial success is elusive, most folks have pretty basic goals:  to get through the year without debt and without illness.   Never-theless year-end customs do exist.   Some believe that wearing white clothing will usher in a year of good luck.  Others think that eating lentil soup on Dec 31^st will bring them wealth.  And if someone is particularly superstitious, they may go to Rio de Janeiro on New Year’s Eve to light candles on the beach to Yemanja, the goddess of water, in the hope that she will grant their requests for the coming year.

But the best custom of all takes place in evangelical churches.  Many of them have a late night prayer meeting followed by a potluck supper.  We can’t think of a better way to welcome in the New Year than by praying together as a church body.  It’s wonderful to put our faith in the true and living God rather than in clothing, soup, or candles!  He alone knows what the New Year will hold and we can trust Him unequivocally to do what is best.

 

 

Stop Minding Your Own Business!

Pastor Mark Van Valin often says that our personal stories only make sense in the context of a much bigger story.  I caught a hint of that while watching The Christmas Carol last week.  When the ghost of Scrooge’s old partner appears, he is heavily chained.  As he explains that he is being punished for past sins, Scrooge interrupts, “But, Marley, you were a good business man!” And Marley snaps back, “But my business should have been MANKIND!” 

I heard about a woman living in Southern Brazil whose neighborhood was plagued by robberies.   Her own house had been broken into several times and she was fed up and anxious to leave.    The Lord began to change her heart and instead of moving, she invited poor children into her home for afternoon activities.  She helped them with their school work and fed them.  As she switched her focus from her own well-being to caring about the needs of others, the robberies stopped.  Her reputation as someone who loved the neighborhood kids influenced the local thugs so that they not only stopped robbing her, they prevented others from doing so!

She made mankind her business and found a new purpose.  Her story was transformed in the context of God’s story.  May the Lord keep us from being so focused on our own lives that we miss the bigger picture.

 

Thoughts on Thanksgiving Week

Two weeks ago we had a mini family reunion in Michigan with many of Dan’s cousins.  This weekend we’ll be in Illinois with his parents and siblings for an early Christmas gathering.  Last week we had the joy of visiting Hope’s family in Mississippi and Kentucky.  We basked in the balmy weather and familial kinship at our first stop.  And although Kentucky weather was colder, we were received with just as much as warmth and love. 

We are grateful to the Lord for His safekeeping over many miles.    And we thank Him for the tremendous treasure He’s given us in our families.  They have loved us.  They have never questioned our call to missions.  Our parents, in particular, have always encouraged us to say “yes” to Jesus no matter what the cost.    We praise the Lord for their tremendous encouragement and support.

Since we spend most of our lives thousands of miles away from loved ones, we cherish the time the Lord gives us together as one of His precious gifts.  It’s a taste of the “forever fellowship” we’ll have when we finally get to Heaven.   There will be no more endless hours in the car and no more goodbyes - only joy in His presence forevermore.  I can hardly wait!

 

Heavenly Preview

Dan and I plan to buy a home in about ten or fifteen years (after we retire from missionary service in Brazil).  But since the housing market is so good right now, we’ve taken a look at a few places “just for fun”.

We know the number of bathrooms and bedrooms we want.  We know we want trees in the yard for beauty (but not too many for raking).     We don’t want a “fixer-upper” although we are willing to make changes on a house that is “almost right”.  Something compact for easy maintenance, in a good location, and practical for our missionary budget. 

And yet we weren’t prepared for the impact one particular house would have on us.  As we entered the side door, the first thing to catch our eye was the bay window with sunlight pouring in. Then came the fireplace and the built in book shelves.  Around the corner was the cozy den with homey touches.  At every turn there was a nook or a surprise and we wandered through each room, gasping at each newly discovered treasure.   We were enchanted, charmed, captivated.

Interestingly, we don’t feel compelled to rush right out and buy it.  It has serious structural issues and frankly, we don’t want to deal with renters for the next fifteen years.  So why am I writing this?  Because Dan and I both agree that what we love about the house is that it reminds us of heaven.  Psalm 16:11 tells us, “At His right hand are pleasures forevermore.”   We had envisioned ourselves in a cheap cracker box type house and Jesus seemed to be saying, “You’ve got no idea how fantastic the home is that I’ve prepared for you!  Just wait!  There will be joy around every corner.  You’ll never cease to be astonished by my glory and beauty.”   We got a taste of heaven yesterday and we can hardly wait to get there!