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.

 


Here is Luciene with some of the kids from the Children's ministry. This was on the second Sunday service that we had this last Sunday. Five kids accepted Christ!

Thanks to each one that has been praying for us, we really appreciate it.
posted by Eduardo Buck at Thursday, May 27, 2004

 
I just figured out how to turn the comments on. Amazing how something that simple took me so long to figure out. Hey, anyone have experience with the photoblogging that blogger.com now has? Let me know what your experience has been.
posted by Eduardo Buck at Saturday, May 22, 2004

 
We are at war. We wage chemical warfare, and kill the bloody infidels full of blood by the hundreds. But there is no shortage of them, and the more we kill, the more of them there are to kill. These bloody infidels, also known as “mosquitoes”, are responsible for bringing death and sickness to our people. We have two friends right now from YWAM here in town that have dengue fever.

We spray our room every night with poison. Amazing how many mosquitoes can hide under a bed, or behind a dresser. It is a part of our daily routine, everyone out of the room, spray it full of deadly chemicals, wait until the deadly gasses recede, open the windows, sweep up the dead carcasses and give thanks to God that there are that many fewer mosquitoes to perturb you all night.

I was out with our little Rottweiler puppies yesterday. Of the six that were born, there are three still alive. What I noticed though was how many mosquitoes were attacking them. They were trying to sleep, and mosquitoes were biting their faces, their bellies, anywhere that they could get in to suck their blood.

posted by Eduardo Buck at Friday, May 21, 2004

 
This last Sunday we just had our first service of the new church plant, Igreja da Vinha de Macapa, it was really a blessing. A Christian Brazilian singer, Judson Oliveira, was here in town that weekend. Newton, one of the pastors in our church, had helped pick him up at the airport, and got to know him, and invited him to the service, and he came!

He ministered some worship, and prayed for the three leaders and our wives, and prophesied that there would be people going out to the whole world from here in Macapá, that God would take our humble beginnings and bless us and help us grow. There were many tears, and the presence of the Holy Spirit was very real.

It was such a blessing. There were 50 people there for the first day. God is so good!

The opening of Igreja da Vinha Macapá, you can see the worship band way up front.

Judson Oliveira ministers worship. He also prayed, prophesied, and just really blessed us. Only God could bring a well known Christian artist to a small church for the first meeting.

Luciene is ministering to the children.

posted by Eduardo Buck at Wednesday, May 19, 2004

 
Here is our latest e-mail prayer letter.



At a time when our ministry has taken a great leap forward, when the
construction project has progressed beautifully, when God is using us
to minister to the needy, we find ourselves in a time of spiritual
attack. We really need and appreciate your prayers right now.

Raquel and Eduardo (Buck) have been coughing, struggling with asthma
etc. Please pray for complete healing.

We were going across town on Saturday to lead a new home group in
Novo Horizonte, and the car broke down on the way. We never made it
to lead the group. Our transportation situation has begun to affect
our ability to effectively minister the gospel, please pray that God
would supply new transportation for us.

We have recently embarked on a journey to plant a new Vineyard church
here in Macapá. Knowing our financial situation, I was quite
apprehensive about the start-up costs, and my faith wavered. The
Lord clearly gave me Isaiah 54:2-4, "Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back: lengthen your
cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right
and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle
in their desolate cities. Do not be afraid: you will not suffer
shame. Do not fear disgrace: you will not be humiliated. You will
forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of
your widowhood."

We decided to step out in faith, and rented a building literally
right on the equator (check our website at www.holylamb.com for
photos). God has given us favor, and has been so very real during
the home meetings we have had so far. The needs are great for the
new church plant however. We need chairs, instruments, children's
material, cement to pour the sidewalk, electrical material to fix the
lighting, paint, and many other miscellaneous things. The Brazilians
are very excited, we have been gathering used clothing to sell,
planning bake sales and a craft sale. We are planning to have the
first service the 16th of May, please join us in prayer that God
would show up and change lives!

We also committed to helping a national worker, Newton and his wife
Angelica. Newton is a hard working and loveable guy, and is right
now attending theological seminary. We are praying that God would
raise up someone with a burden to sponsor national workers, to help
him with the costs of seminary, and provide a salary for him so that
he can continue in full time ministry while pursuing his degree.
Newton is a rare gem of a person with a good heart as well as a good
head, and has the ability to connect with people and propel the
church forward against the gates of hell. Please pray for him and
his family, his three children Rafael, Gabriel and Heloisa. Rafael
is almost 14, and he is getting to be a handful.

I know that we should not be surprised at the attacks that we have
found ourselves under, the slander should not surprise us, we should
not be fearful of the lack of resources, nor the fact that the bank
made an error once again and some of our funds are unavailable until
it can be straightened out: none of this can shake us, because we
have a great big Daddy that loves us and takes such good care of us.
When we talk to our Daddy, we always give thanks for you, our friends
and family, that lift us up in prayer and help sustain us through the
times of trial and testing, and who rejoice with us in the times of
blessings.

Prayer Requests
1. Anointing for the new church plant, signs and wonders and
above all, unity and real love for one another
2. Favor with God and man, wisdom to lead
3. For an increase in regular monthly support
4. The Lord of the Harvest to raise up workers for the harvest,
and sponsors for national workers
5. For funds to finish our house and the guest house
6. For funds for a down payment for new transportation

posted by Eduardo Buck at Tuesday, May 11, 2004

 
Our latest prayer letter just went out. If you don't get it, and you want to, just sign up below.





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posted by Eduardo Buck at Tuesday, May 11, 2004

 
It has been a while since I posted any photos, so there are a lot of them.

Eduardo (Buck) and Luciene Schmidt have been released to plant Vineyard Churches, and Rick Spinos and the Videira Church invited them to receive a send off blessing.


Photo by Greg Staub

Rick Spinos praying for blessings for the Schmidt family, who have been released to plant Vineyard Churches.

Photo by Greg Staub

These cashews came from our land.


Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Dancing Green Hannah


photo by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Josiah and Luciene at the table


Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Please, no cameras, no interviews.


Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Josiah in a JC Penney catalogue pose :-)


Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Hannah, Raquel with a silly face, Josiah and Daddy on a ride at the shopping center.

Photo by Luciene Schmidt

This year we did Raquel's party at her school, and she invited Rachel Staub (on the left), newly arrived in Brazil, to go to her party too.


Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

This is at a meeting for the new church plant. God really showed up in a powerful way.


Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

We rented a building for the new Vineyard church plant in Macapá, Igreja da Vinha in Portuguese. There was a lot of work to do- there is still a lot of work to do. First we cleaned out the trash and mud that was inside.


Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

This new Vineyard Church plant is right on the equator- you can see the Equator monument in the background on some of the following photos. To get the building ready, we have to fix the water problem. We cut steps into the hill in front of the building, put in a drainage ditch, and a handicap ramp.

Foto by Newton

Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

The guys joked that this puppet looked a lot like Newton


Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

We had a get together at the house on Sunday, to eat together and compare blisters from Saturday :-)


Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Foto by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

posted by Eduardo Buck at Sunday, May 02, 2004

 
We have rented a building literally right on the equator, on Rua Equatorial, the road that runs directly on the Equator which goes right through Macapa. We will use it to start the children’s ministry, and for the new church plant, a Vineyard church in the middle of the world! Please pray that God would raise up people to partner with us to get this new church plant started, to share in start up costs such as instruments, rent, salaries, material for the children’s ministry, transportation, chairs and tables for the kids, and chairs for the adults.

We went and worked all day there, cleaning mud, dirt, and loads of trash out of the building, fixing the front of the building, carving a sidewalk out of the mound of dirt in front of the building, and carving out drainage so that it stops flooding. Part of the reason that we got the building, and at a great price, is because no one else wanted it since it filled up with water. We saw it with eyes of faith though, and came together as a body to work and get it ready.

If you or your church would like to partner with us in the new church plant, or would like to adopt a national worker, please contact me at holylamb (at) yahoo (dot) com. If you or your church would be interested in coming down for a short-term missions trip, please contact us at the same address.

We were so happy to see some good friends back in Macapa. Today, Rachel and Mike came over to the house. They are from a Vineyard in New Zealand, and they have been doing some intensive neighborhood development training with YWAM. They are back here to live in Macapa, and we are very happy about that :-)

God has been so good to us. We have been struggling with our phone, we have gone almost a week without a working phone, and it cuts out at odd times, so we would sure appreciate your prayers about that situation. Thanks to each one of you that has been praying for us, we love and so appreciate your prayers!

posted by Eduardo Buck at Saturday, May 01, 2004