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 |
