Save the Amazon- one person at a time. BuckSchmidt.com |
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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. 
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Monday, December 31, 2007
 The Servant Evangelism Hair Do Day We wanted to share a few highlights from this past year. It is hard to believe that this year has already come and gone. Time seems to go quicker the older I get. We had our third camp, and it went very well. We put on our first women’s tea. Luciene has started giving English classes to kids from the neighborhood. We started a chess club, and have been teaching the neighborhood kids how to play. We did a servant evangelism event, doing the hair of women in the neighborhood. We now have three family groups going, and another that is just starting.  Luciene translating for Connie Wragge at the Women's Tea.  The Chess club has been an interesting experiment in icarnational mission. I was able to go to Altamira for the InterVinha, a meeting of the Vineyards from the North, and it was such a blessing to get to see old friends, and to make new friends. Fernando Mora and his wife were also a great blessing, and really challenged all of us there, and I was so blessed to get to know them.  The YWAM team helped do a children's event We had various visitors stay with us this year. We had a team from YWAM Brazil stay here, they were involved in evangelism, and we did a children’s event and an Impact event in a park. Steve and Elba Dolan from the Xingu Mission in Altamira, Tony and Susie Pfarr from Marysville, Natasha Seigrist from New York, and Connie Wragge from PhotoMission all came to visit us this year also. It was such a blessing to have each of them, and it would be a blessing to have you too, please contact us if you are interested in visiting and getting to know more about what we do here.  The YWAM team and the Evangelism Impact in the Park Luciene and I attended a “School of Prophets” training, done by Martin Scott of England. We both learned a lot, and we were blessed to receive a prophecy from Martin that really encouraged us, as it was a confirmation of many things that the Lord had already revealed to us, and drew back the curtain a little on the dreams that God has for the future here in Macapá. I was also able to do a very intensive month-long YWAM training (called EIFOL in Portuguese), which was such a blessing. Luciene was able to do the SILCI training that was running in conjunction with it, and that was a blessing for her too. Besides getting to sit at the feet of some of the top teachers in Brazil and learning tons, God ministered directly to our lives also.  Coty and Eduardo- Pastor Coty is one of the top Brazilian leaders, as well as being an excellent author and speaker. Space won’t permit to tell about all the parties, the evangelism impacts, the large soup meals and food for the poor. I thought I might close with a story.  Breathing fire during an evangelistic outreach A group of us from the church were praying and worshipping here at the house, and I felt that we should go to the equator monument, and to the Sambadrome where they have carnival, and pray over those places. What we didn’t know is that they were getting ready for a big party at the Sambadrome, and it was full of people. We just walked right into the middle of the mob of people and started praising the Lord. Someone asked me for money, and I told him I didn’t have any, but I could pray for him. He accepted prayer, then started calling his friends over. “Pray for this guy, he really needs it, he killed his brother.” In talking to him, I found out that he had shot his brother in the chest with a shotgun, as well as killing an old man at another time, but “He was boring and no one really liked him anyway.” Each one of those young men had a story, one had been shot in the head and lived, another lifted his shirt to show the knife scars. We prayed for them, witnessed to them, did what we could to show them Jesus’ love. Some time later I walked into an event at the Marco Zero Monument. Someone started waving. I looked behind me to see if he was waving to someone else, but no, he was waving at me, so I walked over. “You don’t remember me, do you?” he asked. “No” I replied. “That night, at the sambadrome, you guys prayed for me. I started going to church, and God has changed my life.” We don’t always get to see the results of seeds that we plant, but sometimes, God pulls back the curtain, and shows us a glimpse of what such a simple act, done in obedience, can yield for the kingdom.  Martin Scott and the School of Prophets A big thank you to each one of you that has invested in the ministry here in Macapá, each of you that has prayed for us and sent letters or boxes and encouragment. You make it possible for us to be here impacting lives and advancing the kingdom of God. May God richly bless each of you, and may you know greater peace, and greater depths of the grace of God in 2008. Eduardo (Buck) and Luciene Schmidt and Family  A hillbilly party that we had at the church was a lot of fun! (0) comments Thursday, December 13, 2007
Well, it’s official, I have just broken one of my own records, an 11 day running streak. I mean, 11 days of streaking runs. The old Amazon revenge had a good hold on me for a good while. I am so thankful that things are back to normal. It is amazing how even bowel movements can awaken in us thankfulness. Sorry if you find it crass to speak of such matters, but it is just a fact of life that often discussion among missionaries turns to health and bowel movements. Thanks for your prayers, we are so grateful to have so many people committed to praying for us regularly. May God bless you! (0) comments Wednesday, December 05, 2007
I just finished “The Forgotten Ways” by Alan Hirsch. What can I say? It has been like a watershed moment in my life. Like all of these things that I have felt for so long have finally been articulated. Many of the things that have been screaming within me have been given a voice. As a church planting missionary, I have been stumbling my way through these concepts, experiencing hardship and making mistakes, seemingly just to prepare me to be receptive to these radical, yet completely historical and world changing ideas that have been in our very DNA as believers. The whole idea of the church returning to our roots, to mission, and forgoing institutionalism, power plays, and hierarchal control. Releasing God’s people to be the incarnate missionaries that they were created to be, and doing it in ways that would drive many Christians mad but that will release Apostolic Genius and multiply growth potential- what is not to like about that? Concepts like these will change the world! I cannot recommend this book highly enough. (0) comments Tuesday, December 04, 2007
There was recently an earthquake here in Macapá. There was a large one in the Caribbean, and we felt shocks here in Macapá. It cracked some buildings, and caused a bit of a panic. It was also felt in Belém. We used to talk about how blessed Brazil was that there weren’t any tornados, earthquakes, or volcanoes. We have personally seen a tornado and been saved by the hand of God from it, we have now been through an earthquake, and they recently discovered that one of the oldest volcanoes in the world is right here in the Amazon, somewhere on the Tapajos river if I remember right (it was reported in Time magazine I think). I still think Brazil is blessed though. When I think about what heaven will be like, it looks a lot like the Amazon- without the mosquitoes, venomous snakes, stingrays, and with vegetarian piranhas of course. Then on Sunday afternoon while a storm was brewing, there was a boom, probably an exploding transformer, and then a crackling in the house. I ran and unplugged the computer, and my nephew yelled that the DVD player was smoking. I ran and there was smoke pouring out of the DVD player, so I unplugged the DVD players and TV, and ran back to the office to unplug the rest, but they were smoking also. We lost our American DVD player, our printer, and our speakers. They were all plugged into surge protectors (the computer stuff into two, one plugged into the other). Even though this was a tough blow, we give thanks that it wasn’t worse. We got the fridge and the computer unplugged in time, I turned off the water pump, all of the things that we most need and are most expensive were spared, and for that we give thanks to God. I have been thinking about thankfulness for weeks. A couple of weeks ago, there were forty accidents in one weekend as it was reported on the local news. We have had our car for almost three years, and have never had a serious accident. I am so thankful to God for that. There have been times, like when a truck ran a stop sign and almost side swiped me, that God’s hand of protection was so evident. I thank God, and each one of you too, that lifts us up in prayer. We are very grateful for each one of you, and couldn’t be doing what we are doing here without your prayer support. May God bless you! (0) comments Monday, November 19, 2007
This is something I have been trying to hammer out, trying to refine. This is the short, condensed version. If you have any ideas or comments, I would love to hear them. Drop me a line at holylamb (at) yahoo (dot) com, but make sure to put something relevant in the subject line so that I actually see it. Plan for expansion of the Vineyard Church in Macapá, and in Brazil
(0) comments Sunday, November 18, 2007
Of course, as soon as I said that I could get back on, I couldn't get back on any more. Our connection of late has been soooooo very slow and tedious that it is difficult just to get e-mail and post text on the site. This should have been up weeks ago, but I simply couldn't get on blogger to put it up. Why I came to Macapa Now, in 2007
(0) comments Saturday, November 17, 2007
I can't believe I am finally able to get on to blogger.com so I can update the site. It has been over a week that I just couldn't get on. Our internet access has been horrible the last week, maybe monkeys are playing on the wires :-) (0) comments Monday, November 05, 2007
We are hosting Connie of PhotoMission.com in our home right now, we are having a great time, sharing good food and good photo opportunities too. If you are a Christian photographer, consider joining photomission. If you need photography for your business or ministry, check out photomission.com, there is talent from all over the world. (0) comments Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Macapá just received a tour ship called the Astor, I believe it is German owned and operated. I worked as a tour guide, and I found it fun and challenging. I was very impressed by the level of competence and how smoothly everything went. My friend Inacio, who really put it all together and was the driving force in even getting the ship to stop here, really did a great job. He of course had lots of help from his wife, and from other tour operators from Belém and even from Rio. Inacio has been working on getting tour ships here for two years, and we have worked together on various projects, like bird watching guides, and information on the area around here. It is nice to see it all coming together, all of his hard work is finally paying off. There were seven busses of tourists in the morning, each with between forty and forty five people. The busses were nice and air conditioned, there was more than ample security both in uniform and out of uniform, and everything went smoothly, especially considering that this is the first time in years that we have had a tour ship stop here. As I said, I was much encouraged, and hope to see more of this in the future. I really see tourism as a necessary step in saving the Amazon. Here in the state of Amapá, we have like 75% of our area as protected jungle, and if we can show to the government and to the people that this is a good thing for the economy, perhaps we can change the mentality of a quick profit by cutting down and selling the trees, to investing in eco hotels and areas of preservation that tourists can come and spend time in the mighty Amazon jungle. Labels: amazon jungle, Macapa, tour guide, tourism (0) comments Monday, October 15, 2007
We have been having difficulty getting internet access, I couldn't connect all afternoon, so please, if communication becomes delayed, have some patience. Thank each of you that regularly prays for us, we so appreciate it, and we do so need it. God bless you! (0) comments Saturday, October 06, 2007
After years of faithful service, my Leica Digilux camera is literally falling apart. Some screws fell out- of course from strategic locations :-( The on-off switch now falls off. I hope I can get a replacement screw from Leica. The new M8 looks beautiful, but is a little out of my price range :-) The only other camera I have is a manual Leica M2, which I find hard to go back to now, after being so accustomed to the digital age. (0) comments Tuesday, October 02, 2007
The dollar is at an all time low. The lowest it has been in over seven years. On top of that, prices are soaring. For example, the price of milk has risen 60% in the last month, from R$5 to R$8 for 400gr of powdered milk. This has led to some serious discomfort. Please pray with us, that God would give us wisdom, guide us every step of the way, and provide every need. (0) comments Tuesday, September 04, 2007
I (Eduardo) am doing a training on the Formation of Liberators that is done in partnership with YWAM. It is in an isolated place, and lasts one month. I may be out of touch for a while this month, as I won't have access to e-mail except maybe once a week. Please pray for me during this intensive training, and pray for my family. It is hard to be away from them for so long. (0) comments Monday, August 20, 2007
Many good things have been going on, we started a chess club, and we started a youth group. God has been opening doors into other neighborhoods recently. New worship is beginning to flow from within the ministry, and there is a sense of expectancy, of hope. We are still experiencing attacks, many in the area of finances, even money that is ours that we should be able to receive has been tied up for months. We have been trying to sell some land of ours also, to help pay bills and car payments that we are behind on, and haven’t been able to sell it. This is definitely a spiritual battle, to wear us down, to discourage us. Please join us in prayer, that we could sell our land, and get caught up on bills. We are praying that God would raise up some one time gifts and/or regular monthly support to help us move forward with kingdom projects, construction, training, and in buying Bibles and discipleship materials. Would you pray with us, that God would provide our every need? We don’t want to be anxious about anything, but to learn to be content in all things, and trust in God in every situation. (0) comments Friday, June 29, 2007
I have found that it is so often the case, in the midst of the most intense battles, there is a sense of being alone, all alone, isolated from the rest of the world. I don’t know if this is exacerbated due to the fact that we live on the Amazon River. I suspect it is a common feeling. Checking e-mail, and there is nothing. Calling friends and family, getting only answering machines and voice mail messages. One time our telephone system went down and it took a month for them to get it fixed. A whole month of feeling complete isolation, no phone, no internet except by going to one of the local cyber shops where I could share space with 20 kids yelling cuss words at each other and worry about how many worms and Trojans might be on the computers stealing my passwords every time I logged in to some account. As I write this, I cannot access the internet. There is some problem in the phone, or the access number of the internet provider. I’ll post it when I can connect again. God wants to be our only source. Our source of satisfaction, our source of provision, our source of desire. Any time we look to something else to be our source, we will find disappointment, deception, and frustration. Whether it be a friend, a pastor, a family member, husband or wife- if we look to any human to fulfill what God alone can fulfill, we will be sadly disappointed. God wants to be our all, our goal, our deepest most passionate desire. We are His greatest goal, we are His deepest most passionate desire. Have you ever really stopped to think about that? That God is deeply, passionately in love with YOU? That God desires nothing else more in this whole universe than to have more intimacy with you and with me? Sometimes it takes isolation to help us truly see how much we really depend on others, and on our own strength, instead of relying completely, wholly, and entirely on our Lord and Savior, Who alone is able to meet our needs. Sometimes it takes isolation to break us out of our codependent relationships. If you find yourself feeling alone, lonely, desperate, without hope, completely isolated, call upon the name of the Lord. Seek the Lord with all of your heart, and He will answer. “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” Jeremiah 33:3 Let the Lord be your deepest, most passionate desire. You will never be disappointed in Him, for He is more than able to meet your every need. (0) comments Wednesday, May 09, 2007
I want to thank everyone that is praying for us and the work down here. I (Buck) went this past month to the Regional Vineyard Pastors meeting held in Altamira, a 34 hour boat ride from us. It was a great time, I got to see old friends that I haven't seen in a longtime, and meet new friends. I was really encouraged and challenged, and thank God that I was able to go. The Sunday that I was gone, after church, as people were leaving and getting into the van, our next door neighbor got home drunk, and grabbed a machete to attack our neighbors up the street. Right there, in front of the church, they fought, and one guy was cut in the face, and they beat the one that had attacked them with the machete almost to death. Our members in the van were screaming, and at least one lady passed out. This past Saturday, at the Equator Monument next to our house there was a dinner and ceremony dedicated to a demonic entity. That night, seven teenagers died in the neighborhoods around our house in fights among themselves and at least a couple killed by police. Seven lives in one night, facing eternity without Jesus. It is no coincidence that there was a demonic ceremony in the middle of the carnage on the same night. Three more died the next night, ten teenagers cut down in one weekend. It really brought home how much of a spiritual battle it is that we are in, how much we need the power of the Holy Spirit, and how important intercession is in seeing the Kingdom of God advance. Please continue your prayers for us, and for the work down here.Prayer Requests
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Here is the prophecy that we received from Martin Scott on the 7th of April, 2007, in Macapa, during the "Escola de Profetas" (School of Prophets). I hope that this works. C%3A%5CDocuments%20and%20Settings%5CLoren%20Schmidt%5CMy%20Documents%5CMy%20Music%5CiTunes%5CiTunes%20Music%5CMartin%20Scott%5CEscola%20de%20Profetas%20Macapa%20Brazil%5C01%20Prophecy%20for%20Eduardo%20%28Buck%29%20and%20L.m4a Labels: escola de profetas, martin scott, prophecy (1) comments Thursday, April 12, 2007
 Martin Scott was here in Macapá doing a "School of Prophets". He is from England, and had team of people with him, mainly from England, I think, and some Brazilians. The whole conference was a huge blessing, but on Saturday morning there was a special blessing for Luciene and me. Martin Scott said that he had a prophecy for one couple that was there. It happened to be me and Luciene. Now, when you get a word of prophecy, it can be daunting. But when you get it in front of a room filled with 700 people, well, that is more daunting still. There was much confirmation of what God has already revealed to us through prophetic words, and there were direct answers to many of our doubts. We have the audio and video if I can figure out how to get just that section of prophecy recorded I would like to get it on the site. Until then, here is some of what was prophesied over us. That God had brought us to Macapá, and that Macapá would be our base of operations for this next phase. That God had sent us to start something new, something different. That the business aspect is not going to be a distraction, but will be an integral part of what God is doing. That we should persist with the original vision that we came with. That this would be a place where people would come from all over North America and be sent out all over the world. That we would have mobile teams. That God would begin to give us connections in Europe, as well as connect us all over Brazil. That we have an apostolic call on our lives to release the body of Christ. That we have a strong anointing to release worship. That there is a new sound rising up, and it will rise up from within our work, not old songs revisited, but a new band, a new style of worship. There was just so much, and most of it confirmations of words that we have already received by some of you as well as Brazilian pastors, there was much more than I have put here. In fact, this is the second time in a year that we have received a public prophecy of this sort, we already received one at a meeting with about 1,000 people present, and it was amazingly similar to the one we just got. I just want to thank each of you that has been praying for us, and wanted to encourage you, that your support and your prayers is not in vain, that God is doing something here, something new. Please continue to pray for us, and for the work here, that the words prophesied over us would be manifest in our lives. Pray for protection from attacks and from criticism that will arise against us. Pray that what is being birthed here will be new, will be fresh and anointed, and that the structures and everything that inhibits the children of God would be shaken and brought down, so that the people of God can be released into the future that He has prepared for us. Pray that God would open doors, and that we would hear His voice clearly, and that the Name of Jesus would be glorified here in Macapá, and throughout the earth! Labels: escola de profetas, martin scott, prophetic, school of prophets (0) comments Thursday, March 15, 2007
 We have some big helpers!  Natasha is teaching English.  These wasps have built numerous homes on our land.  Homeschool on the Amazon.   Ramputan looks really weird, but it is so sweet! It has the texture of a peeled grape, and is much sweeter.  Josiah is a ham. Labels: english as a second language, homeschool, Ramputan (1) comments Wednesday, March 14, 2007
 We just had a servant evangelism outreach that went very well. Some women from the church came over and treated the hair of women here in the neighborhood in honor of the international day of the woman. It was a really cool thing to see all those women hanging out and talking while getting their hair done. I had been asking the Lord about evangelism, and exactly what He wanted us to do, and I felt like He lead me to "101 Ways to Reach Your Community" by Steve Sjogren, a Vineyard pastor. I preached on servanthood for a couple of weeks, then shared the vision for servant evangelism. It was like a fire was lit in the church. Right away the women planned the hair outreach, and it went so well that some of them want to do it every month. Others are currently planning their own outreaches- we want to do at least one a month, I would like to see the kinship groups each doing one a month. It is just so cool to see how excited people get when they get to see the kingdom advancing through their efforts.  This past week six people accepted Christ. I had asked people to give testimonies of what God had done in them at camp, and a common theme was that they were no longer ashamed to tell their friends that they were Christians. God has renewed and restored so many people in the church just recently, during the camp and afterwards. As with any time, when God is moving and the Holy Spirit is bringing conviction of sin and purifying the Lord's church, there are times of counter attack from the enemy. Please pray for unity in the body, and that satan would find no foothold in us or in the church.  These are the before, and the after photos of Natasha. Natasha is from New York, she came to check out Brazil, and help us get started homeschooling. The kids just love her, and she has been a real blessing. We so appreciate everyone that prayed about the homeschooling. God is faithful!      Labels: Brazil, Equator, Macapa, Servant Evangelism (0) comments Tuesday, March 13, 2007
 A big thank you for your prayers for the camp. It went very well, God was very faithful. God showed up in a powerful way, the first night I think that there was hardly a dry eye in the place, even the children were weeping. There were many words of prophecy about missions, and people going to the nations, and the calling of God on our lives. We have seen that our church is a missionary church, many of the members are dreaming of serving on the mission field or planting churches at some point. Please continue to pray for these young believers, that they would never stop dreaming big, dreaming the dreams of God. There are photos of the camp that you can see at http://vinhamacapa.blogspot.com/  Luciene had this to say: "I always give praise to God when I remember you. Big thank you's to everyone that prayed for us, for the camp, and for the church. In the month of February in Brazil there is a big holiday, the biggest of the year, called Carnival. Many people die, women dance almost nude, and in the guise of "culture" the devil is given praise and much blood is usually spilled on these days. Every year, the news reports are filled with how many people died. It is at this time of year that we have our camp. Even though it is a lot of hard work and is very tiring to organize, it is something we like to do. Eduardo (Buck) as always made various trips, taking the big pans, the instruments and sound system, the ping pong table, food for the four days of camp, the chairs, tables, hammocks and bedding needed to make the camp a success. We had a speaker from another state in Brazil, Pastor Silvio, who is used a lot in the prophetic. There, in that place, God confirmed many of the things that He had spoken to us in the States, and confirmed to many others words that have been spoken over them. In that moment, when I saw many people with runny noses, tears running down their faces, in that very moment, God was calling many to other countries. Everyone was worshipping God, lifting their hands and giving glory to God, declaring that Jesus is Lord! One of the stories that the speaker at the camp told was of a girl whom God called to the mission field. She received a clear and distinct call, but instead said, "I want to get married first". She got married, and God called her again, but she replied, "I want to take care of my children." When she was old, and close to death, God showed her millions of people going to hell, to face torment for eternity. "Who are these people?" she asked of God. "Those are the ones that you didn't evangelize when I called you to be a missionary. They will spend eternity in hell because you didn't answer My call." Please continue to pray about Brazil, and if God is touching you to come as a short-term or long-term missionary, don't leave it for tomorrow. Millions are crying out to hear the good news. Pray that the Lord of the Harvest would send forth workers for the harvest."  Floats like this are common- snakes, and dragons, demons and skulls, death and sex, those are the themes of Carnival, which means "festival of the flesh".  These young children are looking through the trash, trying to find anything of value.  Demons, dragons and snakes dominate carnival.  Labels: Carnival Brazil, Cristoval, Vineyard Camp, Vinha Camp (0) comments Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Hey, I just got the news that one of my photos from the Global Day of Prayer was just put in a newspaper in Sweden. You can see the pdf file at http://www.photomission.com/servlets/newsmedia/dagen23feb.pdf, (the photo is on like the second page, a guy on his face at the Equator monument) or go to the link from http://www.photomission.com/servlets/newsmedia.jsp and look under articles for the Feb-23-2007. Dagen, Stockholm, Sweden link. (0) comments Friday, February 09, 2007
I just want to say a big thank you to each and every one of you that has been praying for us. We have felt your prayers since we have been back in Brazil. Initially, when we got back, it was very difficult. It was just very hard to say goodbye to our friends, and our family. We miss you all terribly. Recently, we have really felt a sweet spirit in the church, and in the small groups. God has been moving, and has been doing His work among us. Again, I just want to say thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray that the Holy Spirit would fall on us in a fresh way, and that revival fires would burn in our hearts. We are praying for a fresh move of the Holy Spirit, that will raise up workers for the harvest, a fresh move, something like what the world has never seen since Pentecost. Come Lord. Change history. May Your name be glorified!  (0) comments |
