Dear friends,
This is a letter that I'm sending for only a part of our contacts. You are
receiving this letter because you have been with us for a long time, or because you know us very well. Some of you, I know, are faithful as our
intercessors and/or financial supporters. This is more like an intimate letter than a normal newsletter. Later I will send my newsletter for the
bigger group. But this letter is for you. Therefore I ask you to read it carefully.
We've been living in the instantaneous information time. While people
are
twitting, blogging, sending messages the whole time and sharing so many
moments about their lives, I still struggle to be able to send at least 3
or
4 newsletters during the year.
I'm exploding because I've been keeping in my memory so many rich
experiences. Those experiences have to be shared with the rest of the Body.
They can't be filed. And I'm also exploding of frustration for trying to do
way more than what I should do. I can't. I remember, nine years ago, I
cried with a friend of mine, pastor Silas Andrade, saying that I'm not
the right
person to conduct a ministry such as Casa Semear. I told him, and I
still do "I am too limitated". But at the same time I'm happy because,
as Paulo said, the power of God grows in our weakness (II Corinthians
12.9-10).
In the first semester of
this year, God has conducted me into a valley. I never cried for so many
days since I became an adult. I cried of frustration for one day, and
than
in the day after I would cry for joy and hope in the ministrations that I
received from God. What a different time! But what a wonderful time! A
time for changes! In this valley, God showed me my condition, and also
changes that had to be done and the way I should follow ahead. When I
thought there
would be no more way out, God showed me how much He dreams about my
life, my family and the ministry he shares with me. Please, keep praying
for me, my family and the ministry. In the valley, I honestly though
that everything was over. Everything. But no...God's care has been
graciously moving in us. I ask your prayers, that His work will be done
in our lives and ministry.
Time,
comunication and finances:
Beyond the daily
work to keep Casa Semear working, in the last 3 years I
applied to help with some needs of YWAM Base here in Belo Horizonte. I
assumed, because of an emergency, the vice presidency of this Base,
which is made by 7 other houses.
I fail when it comes to planning.
I took the responsibility for other commitments without planning the
time to do
everything that was necessary. As a consequence, I have been failing
even more with communication with friends, partners and supporters. As
time
passed by, I lost some financial help and partners, and it's our fault.
Some of them even wrote us saying that they were not helping anymore
because of
the lack of informations.
Some weeks ago, we needed to replace a
broken glass in Casa Semear, because
the situation was dangerous for our kids. We could not wait, and we also
didn't' have money to pay someone to do it, so I had to do it! The
final
result was not that bad, but it took away from me 3 hours of work; from 6
pm till 9 p.m. For sure that a professional would do the same thing
better and
in half hour. I'm trying to step out of this terrible situation, this
cycle. I have no time because of the lack of money. I have no money
because my time
is not dedicated to communication.
Changing
It was not only about communication that I was failing. Until June we were living in a very small place inside Casa Semear. To have an idea, our daughter (picture), who is already 3, was sharing the bedroom with me and my wife Luciane. This situation was very tiring for us as a family. In April we started the process of moving. We went to the second floor of the house where we have more space and Samuel and Marina have their own room. Nowadays
we've been working to finish this process of moving. We still have to buy some furniture for our living room and rebuild our kitchen.
Please, pray for us. God has been talking to us about staying and we want to live all the changes that He has for our lives and ministry.
I also want to ask your prayers about a very special challenge that I
believe God put on my heart. Since the beginning of the year I've been
planning with pastor Rainer (a deaf pastor from Lagoinha Church) a
journey
to Jordania, passing by Europe (Nederland and maybe England). Our goal is to visit missionaries, deaf leaders and some ministries that I already have relationship with. The journey is going to be on December. It's a huge challenge, but I believe that, if it's from God, is not impossible. There are still a lot of details to deal with, therefore I ask you to pray for us.
to Jordania, passing by Europe (Nederland and maybe England). Our goal is to visit missionaries, deaf leaders and some ministries that I already have relationship with. The journey is going to be on December. It's a huge challenge, but I believe that, if it's from God, is not impossible. There are still a lot of details to deal with, therefore I ask you to pray for us.
Davidson & Luciane
(Samuel e Marina)
(Samuel e Marina)
PS: It's important for you to know that in the end of this year I will leave the vice-presidency of this base.
In the blue box: As missionaries in the YWAMer lifestyle we chose to live, prayers and comunication can not be left behind!
