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.

 
It’s like a national holiday. The banks shut down. The schools close. Brazilian flags are everywhere. The streets are painted. There are balloons. Everyone has a Brazilian shirt on. It is harder to find a store open than it is on Independence Day.

I can’t think of anything like it in the United States. There is nothing that I can think of that brings Americans together like this brings Brazilians together. The Brazilian soccer team played Tuesday in the World Cup, against Ghana. (That is the biggest world event for soccer for you Americans reading this that may not know what it is.) The country shuts down to watch and support their team.

The whole world cup plays on TV here in Brazil. Most Brazilians have strong opinions about the Brazilian team, their favorite player, why so and so on the bench should be starting. But they don’t just know their own team. Most Brazilians can speak intelligently about the other teams and the other players, their strengths, their weaknesses. I would venture to guess that half of Americans don’t even know what the World Cup is.

This is not some simple game of soccer. This is not just a game for Brazilians. It is the game. It is a matter of national pride. Brazilians are the best in the world, and they know it. After winning the World Cup five times, everyone else in the world knows it too.

There is nothing that I can think of that unites Americans in this way. There is no one sport that could bring the nation to a standstill, that could shut down the grocery stores, the banks, all government offices, shut down the schools, and turn the commercial sectors into a virtual ghost town. I have never seen anything like it except here in Brazil- every World Cup is like this. The more games that they win, the more fevered becomes the support, bigger are the fireworks and bombs blowing up at every Brazilian goal, and the more of the city gets painted in yellow and green. Friends and family meet together to scream and yell at the TV screen, and set off enough firecrackers to blow up a small country.

We invited some people over Tuesday to watch the game together. We had a great time. It ended up turning into an improvised worship service. Nice to see God getting more glory than the soccer team.


posted by Eduardo Buck at Thursday, June 29, 2006

 

posted by Eduardo Buck at Thursday, June 29, 2006

 
Some girls show off the Book of Hope that they just got.

Here are some of the young people that got the Book of Hope. Brazilians really take advantage of their school space. Schools are used in three shifts. There is a four hour shift in the morning, another in the afternoon, and then one at night, usually for the older kids. In this school there are older people learning to read too- so we are reaching kids from five years old, up to like fifty year old adults, in the same school building. That is a cool thing!


Josely, Hannah and Raquel get the kids warmed up with John 3:16 and some stretches.




Here we are practicing the skit for the Book of Hope project. This has been great, it has gotten a lot of people involved. Even Hannah and Raquel were in the skit. They love drama- and they are really good at it.


We took advantage of a nice day recently to wash the car. It has been raining a lot.

posted by Eduardo Buck at Wednesday, June 28, 2006

 
On June 17th, we had the pleasure of participating in the Marcha para Jesus.


José Sarney, a former president of Brazil and now a senator of Amapa was there too (the dark suit jacket in the center of the foto).

posted by Eduardo Buck at Wednesday, June 28, 2006

 
Six of us from the Igreja da Vinha Macapa were able to take part in a training for the Book of Hope, or the "Livro da Vida" as it is called here in Brazil. This is Daniel, he is a good trainer for doing dramas, we had a blast learning how to present the gospel in the schools here.


The training took place in the Igreja Batista Memorial. We learned a lot.


Luciene (far right) got together with Nora (far left), the leader of the YWAM base here in Macapa, to do a training for young women. It went really well.


There was a lot of personal ministry, and the Holy Spirit really moved. Lives were being restored.


The food was also good!

posted by Eduardo Buck at Tuesday, June 27, 2006

 
The children's ministry at the Novo Horizonte building is growing. It is nice to have this extra space for the kids, but it fills up fast.



Josiah got a haircut- Paulo, the barber, was hurt by church leaders, and stopped going to church, and I had the opportunity to share with him. Lord, bring him back to Yourself!



We were finally able to put glass in the windows, a definate plus in this land of insects. Photo by Hannah Schmidt



The kids have been enjoying the CandyLand game that they just got!

posted by Eduardo Buck at Tuesday, June 27, 2006

 
Pastor Adson blows the horn at the Marco Zero Monument in Macapa.

We participated in the Global Day of Prayer on June 4th, at the Marco Zero Monument here in Macapá, which marks the equator line and is only half a block from our house. God moved in a special way. We collectively asked for forgiveness for the sins perpetrated against the Indians of the Amazon, against the slaves brought from Africa (about 3 times as many as were taken to the US), and as an American, I asked for forgiveness for the sins that North Americans have committed against Brazilians, stealing and taking advantage of the people of Brazil. I really believe that some strong spiritual strongholds were broken. Please join us in prayer that this brokenness and contrite confession of sin would continue, and that the body of Christ would be united.














posted by Eduardo Buck at Sunday, June 04, 2006