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.

 
We asked for prayer for Suzana yesterday. We went to Eberson's house last night. He is Suzana's brother and attends our church, and we heard yesterday that Suzana had gotten a little better, that her kidneys had started working and things were looking up.

Today, things have taken a bad turn, her kidneys stopped working again, and they said that she could die at any time. Eberson left for Belem this morning at 2 am. Her husband is also there with her. They have a daughter that is about four years old. Suzana is about 25.

Please continue praying for Suzana, and her family.
posted by Eduardo Buck at Friday, June 25, 2004

 
I just ran across this quote here, thought it was good.

"A call, ... is pure process; it cannot be measured, quantified, or controlled by institutions. People who are called tend to violate the rules in annoying ways." ~ Cloister Walk, Kathleen Norris.
posted by Eduardo Buck at Thursday, June 24, 2004

 
Our friend Suzanne, (a relative of Luciene's, our sister-in-law's sister) is in
Belém in Intensive care. She is hanging between life and death. She
went for routine surgery. She is a Christian. Please pray for her.
Check our site for updates.

This is from our latest e-mail prayer letter. If you don't currently recieve it, and would be interested in what is happening with us or willing to pray for us, just subscribe to our e-mail prayer letter by sending an e-mail to
Schmidt_Newsletter-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

posted by Eduardo Buck at Wednesday, June 23, 2004

 
Newton Guerra and I (Eduardo Buck Schmidt) just went to the Intervinha 2004 in Brasilia. It was actually held about two hours away, in a place called Cocalzinho, at the Hotel Cabana de Pirenes (or something close to that :-)

We had a great time. What a pleasure it was to meet other pastors from around Brazil and the United States, and Fernando Mora from Venezuela. To me the best part of the whole experience was the opportunity to meet with and share ideas with like-minded people, to share vision, to spur one another on to good works, to rub shoulders with those like Steve Nicholson, someone that I have long respected and studied church planting techniques through tape ministry.

The setting was just beautiful. Our room was literally right on the lake. This is the view from our room.

There were many neat things that caught my eye, like this wheel of an old cart.

This is Fernando Mora, from Venezuela, and Mark Fields, from the US.

My friend Ricardo Costa is developing an online study course for the Vineyard Brazil, and here he is showing us his presentation. From left to right seated, Richie Bouthilier, Ricardo Costa, Eduardo Schmidt, standing behind is Newton Guerra.

"And you are inviting us to come and visit you on the Amazon?" Manga, Boris, and Newton are looking over Richie's shoulder, to see the photos of the snake that ate a man in Altamira.

Newton, Richie, Boris, Eduardo, and Clenildo.

Joe, Newton, Steve Nicholson, Celso, and Eduardo.

Marcos and Newton standing, Fernando Mora, Joe, and Jason seated.

Roger Williams, Steve Nicholson, Mark Fields, and Fernando Mora pray for the four that were selected coordinators for the Vineyard Brasil. The four coordinators are, Elba Nolan, Bebeto, Celso (am I spelling your name right?), and Milton Lucas.

Praying for and blessing the coordinators.

Praying for the team in Altamira, officially made Vineyard now, Igreja da Vinha.

Roger Williams, Eduardo Buck Schmidt, and Steve Nicholson.

Lincoln, a very courageous guy to live in Rio!

If there are errors in spelling, please let me know! Se tem erros por favor me avisa!

posted by Eduardo Buck at Sunday, June 20, 2004

 
God protected us once again. I was taking the girls to school, and as I got to the end of our street, the steering broke, and the car went all crazy. Thank God, that once again, it happened on our street, and not on the main road. I just can't believe how good God has been. I think that is three times that the steering broke like that. And three times God has kept us from serious harm.

The motor has to be fixed too, it is throwing oil out all over the place. The tire has a huge hole all the way through it, I got a flat yesterday on the way to pick the girls up from school, they were almost the last ones to be picked up. Sometimes I just don't even know what to do with the car right now. Lord, please provide us with a new car!
posted by Eduardo Buck at Thursday, June 17, 2004

 
There was an robbery right in front of our house last night, at about 6:30 pm. I just saw on the news that they caught one of the guys, and got his gun. He is a minor, so he will probably be back on the street tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers, we got home about 20 minutes before the robbery. It could have been us. God has been so good to us, and has protected us and provided for us, and I know that a lot of that is your prayers, so I just say, thanks so much!
posted by Eduardo Buck at Wednesday, June 16, 2004

 
Newton and I just got back this morning from the InterVinha in Brasilia. I am very glad that we went , we had a great time. We met a lot of good people. We got to meet Mark Fields, Roger Williams, and Steve Nicholson, among others. We got to form relationships with some of the main Vineyard pastors from Brazil. We were much encouraged, and very excited about the partnership possibilities with some like-minded pastors that we met. We would ask for your continued prayer that we could continue to grow in favor of both God and man.
posted by Eduardo Buck at Tuesday, June 15, 2004

 
I once again have gotten behind on getting photos up. Hannah turned eight years old on June 1st. We had her party at the school. Luciene made an excellent cake. The first layer was orange cake, there was a guava (goiaba) filling and the second layer was chocolate. The icing was blue with marshmallow fish and octopusses and sharks, and the little mermaid graced the top.

Luciene made a wonderful cake for Hannah's birthday.



Photo by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Hannah's party was at her school. The Staub's brought Rachel to share the time with her.


Photo by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Patsy Staub helped paint faces for Hannah's birthday party.



Photo by Greg Staub

Eduardo Buck painting Raquel's face.



Photo by Greg Staub

Josiah Schmidt, jamming on the guitar.



Photo by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Josiah likes to keep his sandals clean.



Photo by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

In a real answer to prayer, we were able to get a sign painted. A local Christian man did it for us at cost. Here they are transporting it down Rua Equatorial, the street that runs directly on the Equator, where the church is located.



Photo by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

Here are a few of the main people after a recent meeting, in front of the Igreja da Vinha (Vineyard Church).



Photo by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

A recent meeting at the Novo Horizonte small group.



Photo by Eduardo Buck Schmidt

posted by Eduardo Buck at Monday, June 07, 2004