On the 28th of February 2001, Buck and Luciene moved to the Amazon Basin of Brazil. We lived in Macapá, right on the equator. Why would a web designer give up his career and take his family from their comfortable life in Columbus, Ohio, USA, to live on the Amazon River? We came with a vision to save the Amazon, to tell people about Jesus, and plant a Vineyard church. We have planted a church, and we are turning it over to the national leaders, heading back to the States in Sept. 2009.

 
Zadok, our big male Rottweiler, hurt his paw, and over the weekend, it swelled up really bad. It was full of maggots Monday, pretty ugly. My friend John Ene and I pulled maggots out for about three hours Monday. The vets cell phone was turned off all weekend, I finally reached him Tuesday, he came and sewed him up, medicated him and all, but he is really bad off. He had an IV. He seems to be getting better. I thought he wasn't going to make it there for a while.
posted by Eduardo Buck at Wednesday, November 26, 2003

 
The dogs were going crazy last night. I kept getting up, and walking out in the yard, trying to determine if someone was trying to rob us or what. All night, our dogs, and some of the neighbor dogs barking.

When I left this morning for a "Purpose Driven Brazilian Church" preaching conference, I noticed that there was a little wooden shack in a nearby field, where there wasn't one the day before. Which explained why the dogs were barking all night.

Caddy corner from our house, there is a nice little soccer field, and a wooded, shady area. The neighborhood kids play in that area, ride their bikes there. Or at least they did. As I got back from the conference for lunch, the whole area there was full of posts and barbed wire. One of the movements, I think it was "Sem Tetos" decided that the area lacked squatters, and staged an "invasion".

I was pretty upset at first, because there are a lot of bad characters, theives, cutthroats, and greedy rich fat cats involved, and they took the only place in our whole neighborhood that the kids had to play in. They also squatted in the area where the city had planned to put in a road, cutting off the only alternate exit route for our street.

After I had thought about it for a while though, I was trying to get God's perspective. And I realized that I now had more neighbors to win to the Lord. God had just allowed more fruit, ripe for the harvest, to accumulate practically at our door. I am excited about what God will do when we finish the construction of our house/team center/worship center. The prospective member base just increased.

God, increase our vision! God, increase our passion! God, move in power and provision! God of miracles, release us to become all that You have planned us to be!
posted by Eduardo Buck at Friday, November 21, 2003

 
Raquel and I are both doing better. Thanks so much to all who prayed for us. Raquel was playing today, so good to see here up and around again.
posted by Eduardo Buck at Thursday, November 20, 2003

 
I (Eduardo) have had a cough for about a month. It got worse and
worse, and when it got to the point that I was having difficulty
breathing and was nearly passing out with the violence of the coughs,
I went to the doctor and found out that I was having an asthma
attack. The medicine has helped.

Yesterday, Raquel was coughing really bad, and then began to have
trouble breathing. I took her to the emergency room at about
midnight, and she was having an asthma attack. We spent the night at
the hospital. God was so good to us. Raquel got a bed for part of
the night. We walked past kids and their parents sitting in the
chairs and laying on the floor in the corridor, and got a bed because
Raquel needed to be near the oxygen.

They poked her body with needles, gave her shots and oral medicine,
and x-rays. She vomited and cried, and began to breathe easier. She
has asthma, and is starting to show signs of pneumonia.

This time of year is really bad for asthma. It is in the dry season,
so there is a lot of dust. It is also the time that people burn
fields, and where we live has just been horrible with smoke lately.
Our whole yard is one big dust bowl. Please pray for us, especially
for Raquel, and her health.


posted by Eduardo Buck at Sunday, November 16, 2003

 
John Lieb, pastor of the Tuttle Crossing Vineyard in Dublin Ohio was
here in Brazil visiting us. Tony Pfarr, a pastor with the Marysville
Vineyard was also here. On Sunday, they called home and learned that
there was a car accident in Dublin involving 4 teenagers. The
driver, who died on impact, Josh Finney, was the son of Joe Finney,
youth pastor at the Tuttle Crossing Vineyard. The 4 were going to the
Finney's home after church. Please pray for the Finney family and for
the recovery of the other 3 teens.

John and Tony left as soon as they could, on Monday morning at 4 am.
Their stay was cut short, from the planned seven days to only three
days. We don't understand why accidents like this happen, but we
trust that God, in His wisdom, will somehow use this
tragic accident for His glory. Please pray for all the teens,
friends, and family members.
posted by Eduardo Buck at Tuesday, November 04, 2003

 
We have been so blessed! John Lieb, our pastor from the Tuttle Vineyard in Ohio, and Tony Pharr a pastor from the Marysville Vineyard got in on Thursday night. We have had the opportunity to take them around, ministering to people, and have seen God moving. We went to the prayer meeting on Friday, and John gave a short teaching, then prayed and ministered. The presence of God was so strong that many of us were crying as they were praying for other people.

We went to the restoration meeting at the Novo Horizonte church on Saturday night, and John and Tony gave a teaching on the Vineyard 5 step prayer model. We began to pray for people, and minister to people. Many that were sick were healed, and people were deeply touched by God, and encouraged.

Thanks to everyone that has been praying! Please continue the prayers, that God would fall in power during the rest of their stay.
posted by Eduardo Buck at Sunday, November 02, 2003