Brasilia Bulletin

July 29, 2007

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings from Santa Clarita, California! It has been about 6½ weeks since I landed at LAX shortly after midnight on the morning of June 16th.  

Since then I have begun going through the process of adjusting back to life in southern California. But before I talk about what God is doing presently, let’s take a look back on my time in Brasilia…  

During my last 5 months there, the Lord blessed me with a wonderful group of friends in the InPact (singles ministry at the International Baptist Church) who truly love the Lord and showed His love to me in practical and sincere ways. At Christmas the group numbered 8 regular attendees. But by the time I returned to the US, there was normally over 25 people coming each week. We met at the church each Friday night and completed a study on the mind of Christ. We as a group focused of becoming more intimate disciples of Christ. The Lord allowed us to grow so close together. I will never forget the times of laughter and joy that the Lord blessed me with those awesome believers.   

My fellow staff members at Brasilia International School also taught me so much! A new family joined the BIS staff in February. Chris and Beverly Fryar, and their son Caleb, were an incredible blessing in my life. I began meeting regularly and praying with Chris. We supported and encouraged each other and held each other accountable in areas in which we struggled. It was awesome!  

I also became more involved in the worship ministry at the IBC during my last months. I joined the worship team and began singing on stage during the worship service each weekend. What a special blessing that was! At times I also individually led the congregation in responsive readings and moments of prayer. It was wonderful to be a part of glorifying God as a body of believers from around the world. It was also a great bonding experience for me and the other members of the worship team as we practiced on Saturday afternoons for the following day’s service. I will always treasure those moments. God truly blessed me with wonderful friendships, as many of the people I practiced with are also active members of the InPact ministry.  

These people, the International Church, the InPact group, the staff at BIS, were my family in a lonely and foreign land. God moved through them to show His love and intimate care for me. There has not been a day since I returned that I have not deeply missed those friendships. Through those people, the Lord allowed me to see the vital importance of relationships with others and the effect that can have on my relationship with our heavenly Father. I asked you to pray for friendships, and the Lord provided!  Thank you for praying!  I am so thankful for the friendships the Lord blessed me with there!  

The Lord also blessed me with a great end to the school year with my students. My most treasured moment was when Ignacio, the student from Spain who knew no English and ran away on the first day of school, prayed with me at lunch one day during the last weeks of school to become a Christian. He asked Jesus to forgive Him of his sin and be his Lord. What an incredible moment! The Lord allowed me to see so clearly His faithfulness in this young boy’s life, and my own! The boy I thought would be the death of me as we struggled to help him learn and understand English became a member of God’s family at the end of the year! What a great God we serve! It was difficult to say goodbye to my students this year, but I am so thankful that most of them will be with me in eternity, including Ignacio.  I asked you to help me be a witness and a light to my students, and 3 children in my class accepted Christ as their Savior and Lord.  Thanks for praying!  

The Lord also continued to work at the crèche in Santa Maria. The Kids’ Time ministry of Grace Baptist Church ended up contributing just over $6400 to the crèche to help fund the construction of a new building. The money will be used to build a new facility on the land of a nearby church in their community. I praise God for the generosity of the children of Grace Baptist in helping children they have never met. Please pray for the crèche as they have run into some difficulties with the local bank branch manager who is currently refusing to release the funds to the crèche for the construction costs since transfers of money from foreign sources are looked upon with suspicion and distrust. Thankfully we serve a God that owns the cattle on a thousand hills, so I know He will take care of the crèche as well!  Thanks for your prayers for those children!  

So the obvious question becomes, "What now, Daniel?"  

As most of you know, I will not be returning to Brasilia to teach next year. After much prayer and deliberation, I decided to return to the US. I plan to begin attending Talbot Theological Seminary in La Mirada, California, next month, where I will begin my studies toward a Master of Arts degree in Christian Education, with an emphasis in Children’s Ministries. I look forward to learning more about God’s Word and how to best meet the needs of children in ministry.  

In order to help with the cost of education, God has provided a job for me. But thankfully, it is much more than a job, it is a wonderful ministry. I recently became the commander of AWANA at Grace Baptist. I started working at Grace just in time to be a part of Vacation Bible School at the end of June. It was great to be a part of that ministry again, my 17th straight year. During that week I had the opportunity to lead a 4th grade boy named Tristan to Christ! God is awesome indeed!  

Since arriving I have begun the process of settling back into the culture of southern California, which has proven a bit more difficult than this native-born California boy was expecting. I am trying to get used to the fast-paced lifestyle here. Life moves much more quickly here than in Brazil, where a dinner could easily last three hours! I am also beginning to miss walking or taking the bus everywhere. A car is so very important in the Santa Clarita Valley! Thankfully I was able to buy one a few weeks ago, and I am already using it to its fullest capacity!  

The transition has also carried with it some challenges. I am currently living at home with my parents. This has been a time of adjustment for me as I learn again how to live with my family after becoming very independent while living alone in a foreign country for two years. Pray for a spirit of humility, contentment and thankfulness in my heart as I continue to transition. As you know, the cost of living is extremely high in the Santa Clarita Valley, so I am waiting on the Lord to show me if there is another place I should be living.  

My position at the church with the AWANA ministry has also proven to be a more significant challenge than I was anticipating. I am learning how to oversee a large ministry like AWANA, which has over 700 children and nearly 200 volunteers at our church. I am also learning how to perform some of the tasks associated with administrating the ministry, including reserving rooms on specific dates (which is done online at our church), recruiting, training, and organizing volunteers, and ordering curriculum and supplies for the coming year. Please pray for me as I am trying my best to understand how this ministry runs and how I can best guide and support the volunteers who so willingly take part in this ministry. The first night of club is Monday, September 10th, but the adult leaders begin their training and meetings in late August.  

I am also quite homesick for Brazil, believe it or not! I know this must come as a shock and surprise to many of you. I know that my time in Brasilia was difficult and challenging, but the Lord has blessed me and filled my mind with nothing but loving memories for that place and those people that I grew to dearly love. The most difficult part of not being there, the aspect of life that I miss the most, is the sincerity and love of my friends. I find myself crying almost daily as I am reminded of a dear friend or experience. The most difficult times are on Friday evenings when the InPact group there would meet and on Sunday mornings in worship. I have also experienced a unique form of loneliness in which I am acquainted with many people around me, but I know very few closely. Please pray for me as I seek to begin reconnecting more deeply with others. Pray that the Lord would ease the pang of loneliness I have been experiencing and fill my life with intimate friendships.  

Finally, please pray for me as I seek the Lord’s will for the future. My heart longs to be back in Brazil, and to be serving the Lord there, but I am unsure of what type of ministry the Lord would want me to be a part of. I am often reminded of the children of Brazil; many of whom are poor and undereducated and have a desperate need for the Lord. I think often of the street children who roam the cities without a hope and a future. I am also clearly reminded of the children of the crèche and others like them who need their material and spiritual needs met. Pray that the Lord would give me clear direction as to where and how He wants to use me in the future. Pray too, more importantly, that the Lord would give me a clear vision for the ministry and opportunities that I have here in Santa Clarita as I help to oversee AWANA and attend seminary for the next few years.  

I want to close by thanking each of you for the love, support and care you have showered upon me during my two year Brazilian adventure. Your prayers and financial support were a vital part of the ministry there. I am so very thankful for each of you and your commitment to the Lord’s work in Brazil. Thanks for your willingness to be a part of what the Lord is doing in Brazil and what He is doing in my own life. May He richly bless you for your faithfulness to His leading. On a more practical level, I will no longer be receiving support as a missionary in the Network of International Christian Schools (NICS). If you desire to continue supporting the mission itself, the funds you send will be directed to other missionary teachers around the world in need of support. If you have questions about your financial support of NICS, please contact them directly at 1 (800) 887-6427.  

As I reflect back on the last two years, and the challenges that are accompanying my transition back to the US, there is the temptation on my part to wish that the entire experience had never happened. That way I would not have to go through the emotional rollercoaster of saying goodbye to one place and group of people and hello to another all over again. But then I am reminded of Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.

How comforting and reassuring it is to know that nothing happens apart from the Lord’s purpose for our lives. The current condition of my heart, and my struggle to readjust to life in California, although difficult to experience, is a part of God’s purpose for me. I am so thankful for His love for me, especially at this time in my life. May His love be evident in your life as well!  Be well and be blessed!  

In His Service,

Daniel Luther