Lights that sprinkle...
January 19, 1997
6pm, 86.5 degrees
FRIENDS & FAMILY,
Last night, Jessica and I were laying on the grass under the cloths line looking at the stars and moon and Christmas lights which we turned on one more time before puttin them away for the year - I asked her, "what are the lights doing?" and she said that they are "sprinkling" - they they went to another preprogramed cycle and she said, "Now, daddy, they are making like a snake..." She has a creative mind and keeps us laughing.
We survived a week of field conference and are glad to be home. This is the week I told you about which will test our endurance. With a wedding on Saturday (6 days from today), we have the church platform roof to put up and much work to do on the young couple's house (the couple getting married). Rainy season is threatening and so this adds a dimension to our preparations with regards to the facility.
Alicia is now 12 pounds and growing; I hope she slows down, because at this rate she will weigh a mere 393 pounds by age ten! For some reason I think that it does level off at some point in the first few months - I once heard that it has something to do with the ratio of the infants head size to its body weight? Not sure on that one though...
I have received assignment to chair an important committee this year which is responsible for missionary placement and long range planning in our field. Pray that I will have God's wisdom as I lead this small group of men in planning for future ministry and new mission stations in Northeast Brazil.
LATER - Ken and family
PS Praise Him with us for some good directions taken by our field at conference and business meetings this year!
ROOF UP!!!
January 23, 1997
Cold spell 83.5 degrees (been cloudy/rained once)
Family & Friends,
Yes, the roof is now on the church; we have been going hard all week and tomorrow have a few wrap up jobs to finish. Law requires that we not dump the water onto the sidewalk, so the front edge of our roof ends on top of the wall which meant we needed a gutter to deal with it. This turned into a rather complicated affair but now we have a cement trough which will take care of the water; waiting for another rain to see how it actually works. The roof we installed was over the stage/platform area at the front of the church (side away from the street - opposite the side with the gutter problem).
Besides all this, we have been working on Ediocelio's house (the follow getting married in two days) for over a month; lots of hot sun, but there were a number from the church who gave free labor helping us get it move inable (no luxeries yet, no running watter, electricity, floors, plaster of fixtures yet!) It has walls, doors, windows, rafters, tiles and a packed down dirt floor filled in up to the level where the concrete sub floor will be poured when funds allow. Septic system dug and mostly build. Makes me tired just thinking about this past month!
GIRLS TO THE DOCTOR: Lori & Alicia went for the 6 week checkup for mommy and the first well baby dr. visit for Alicia. Both are doing very well and the baby is now 57 cm long and 5,300 grams. (Metric time!) I will not say Lori's dimensions... (By the way, I have lost 14 pounds since getting back to Brazil and to work!) We got a list two pages long about vaccinations etc. Pediatrition was enthralled with the child and stretched the visit to almost an hour! In the mean time, I was working at the church wondering if Lori had gotten lost; with four drivers for this car, we have it worked out to ever have to shut the engine off except for refuelling. One guy gets back from discipleship and the next goes to the doctor; then turn it over to someone going to pay bills to return just in time for a grocery store run. By then somebody down the street needs to go to emergency (now that one is hard to program to fit the schedule) then a trip to down town for pipe connections and wiring stuff... I think you get the picture; we are hoping to go solar so that we don't need to do the fuel stops; also, that will give us a built in time to sleep since the sun goes down at 5:30 and the car wouldn't run much more than another half an hour... By the way, we ARE gratefull to Him for provision of a comfortable 1995 Chevy (similar to a Celebrity in size and features).
I want you to know that I am at this very moment skipping prayer meeting to study for my message to be delivered to the fine young couple in 40 hours and counting. Why am I writing e-mail? Good question; better close and get with the program. God Bless - KEN & Family
PS We prayed and thanked the Lord for pizza, which we were about to eat for supper tonight; Jessica then said her verses - Salm twenty-tree, one and two and tree and is there more mommy? "...He guides me in the paths of righteousness. For His Name's Sake, mommy, I remembered His name's sake!" Daddy asked, "Whos names sake?" Jesus, and now I know all about Him; and I have two names for him: One is Jesus and the other is Sake! Did you know that daddy? The Bible calls Him "Sake." How innocent can you be and I suppose that when she prays to "Sake", He will understand... We are thrilled at Jessica's interest in Scripture Memory; good stuff for her hard drive!
Lightening Strike!!
February 2, 1997
Friends & Family,
Gotton quite behind because we lost our modem and who knows what else to the thunder storm. Most of the computer still works though and for this we are grateful. Youth Retreat coming up next week so be praying that we will have a good week of preparations.
The wedding of last weekend went well and our anual business meeting also. Rainy season seems to be here for sure and with it slightly lower temps, higher humidity and less dust.
Hope that you got our news letter by now with the family pictures. If you have not, please send me your current mailing address and we will get it fixed up right away. GOD bless you and your family; keep in touch.
KEN for the Stuckys
JESSICA'S PERSPECTIVE: I took Jessica with me yesterday to pick up something accross town. She said, "Daddy, did we get off the high way? We seem to be on the crinkely way for now." I asked her why she thought that and she said, "The tires seem to be scrunching down on something out there." Indeed we were on the cobble stone street; her descriptions with a limited vocabulary captured the idea perfectly.
She and I were in the back yard cooling off in our swimming tank when she said, "Daddy, can you kick your feet like this?" She proceded to lean back on her floaty and kicked her feet out of the water. "This way it makes your bones stick out of the water." I asked her, "Which bones?" She answered, "the ones under there." "Under where" I asked. She said, "under this here stuff that Jesus made to keep our bones clean." (She was pulling on her skin which was the "this here stuff" that she was talking about.)
A couple nights ago, after spanking Jessica for an act of dissobedience, I was leaning down by her, tucking her into bed and asking her about the discipline. "Jessica, are you going to spit on the bathroom floor any more?" "I don't tink so daddy." "Why did you do it this time?" "Because I tinked it would be fun..." "Was it fun?" "Not too much... Daddy, (she reached over and put her hand on my head) you have really nice hair; it is so soft and pretty and wery wery nice; did you know that?" Well, I don't think she plans to spit on the bathroom floor any more, what do you tink?
Column Building INC.
February 5, '97
no rain in five days grass needs water
mid 80's as usual
Friends & Family,
With the onset of rainy season, we are running against time to get the callender to get the portch up on the up wind side of the house to protect from the elements. Why the race? We have one steel form for pouring concrete columns which will support the roof; we are able to get only one poured each day and there are a total of 13 columns! So, today with my handy man we went for column # 5 only to discover that we had problems with the clasps that hold the form closed. After putting it in place (actual weight of this monstrosity approaches 125 pounds) twice with no success, I had to hack off the old fasteners and do a backyard rigging job for some temporary bolts which can be installed only with the aid of 2 metric (vice grip) type devices for tightening. One hand to hold the ladder and several to keep the form from toppeling until secured and another to hammer mercilessly to get the bolts in place, not to mention the two "metric" wrenches - need I suggest this is beyond the capacities of two amature builders like Caninde and I? After a series of bangs and bruises (ordinarily I have an extraordinary pain tollerance except for, of course, when my wife is squeezing zits on my back for no apparant reason and she often mistakes freckles for the silly ofenders - anyway my end of the 125 pound apparates seemed to be almost 200lbs when it hit my index finger) we did get the thing in place and will fondly remember it for decades to come as the the fatal #5.
If this were not my day off, I would consider the trivialities of our building escapade too mundane to even mention, however, this is to show you how things degenerate when an attempt is made to designate a day off. Wednesday had indeed been the chosen day for about a year now with no apparant success...
Jessica, in the mean time, came into our room where I was further stretching the "day off" concept by reading a pleasure book and informed me that women know lots of "tings dat men don't." Like what, said I and she proceded to tell me that women can make a concotion called "Crumps" which consists of sour cream (we don't have that here), little chunks of meat and bannanas (both locally available), Batatoes and Batatoe cream, some flour (about 6 cups she said). It tastes sort of like crunchels, the same "ting" and then you put in velcro for to make is sweeter and put in ice to stir it up for putting in the oven where it will bring it self up to be real crumps. (I promise, I didn't make any of that up!) When I questioned her what kind of "woman" she said, "a girl one, daddy, don't you know anyting?" She went on to inform me that "girls can make beds and men can step on black tings to see how much they have grown." (I came to the conclusion she was talking about the scale I stand on about 5 times a week; not to see how much I have grown, mind you!!!)
I closing, I must mention that it has been brought to my attention that I misspelled the fruit Lori so careingly picked out for me; a pear may just taste better than a pair. I knew something was wrong...
God bless - KEN
GREAT RETREAT!!!
February 13, 1997
temp 85 hum. 78%
looks like rain for afternoon
Friends & Family,
Camp with 45 people in our homes here on the compound was a success! One young man came to Christ - name is Visconde. Pray for him and his girl friend who are expecting a baby in 5 months. They were both here; she accepted the Lord about two months ago; she's currently being discipled & is growing in the Lord.
We got to bed around 12:30 each night and were up about 6 each morning so we are wiped out. Our guest speaker laid it on the line for the kids and us leaders as well with powerfull messages on the topic "Do Not Love The World" using I John 2:15-17 as the key verses for the camp.
Next count down is the arival of Ron & Rannele Stucky (my brother) from the USA. They will be launching their mission in Brazil on February 26th. Pray for them to have a good wrap up in the USA and for their move to go smoothly; it involves a van/trailer combo trip from Nebraska to Miami!
It was exilerating to see about 30% or our campers raise their hands when we asked how many had never been to camp before and how many had come to Christ in this past year. Pray for long term results to this event.
Alicia is growing more responsive each day; she actually looked at me for more than 5 seconds; smiles and little "talking" noises are part of her bag of tricks as well. Sometimes she sleeps as long as 10 or 11 hours non stop at nights.
BLESSINGS TO YOU IN HIM - Ken, Lori, Jessica & Alicia
Jessica Quote: This morning Jessica & I were at my folks taking care of some business; Dad offered us ice cream and cookies which we ate at about 10:15. We went home and Lori was feeding Alicia on the bed so we both climbed on too to have a family conference. I told Lori that we had just snacked and probably wouldn't need lunch since we normally eat at 11:15 or 11:30. I said, "Maybe we could just have peanut butter on bread." Lori said, "I don't have any bread." Jessica said, "Den we will dust have to have peanut butter on a knife wif no bread..." Then she added, "Can we dust try it right now to see what it is like?"
Gift of HEALING?!?
February 23, '97
86 degrees 80% humidity
5:15 - just before sunset
Friends & Family,
I don't know where to start but I might as well tell you that parenting has brought some extra challenges these days. We faced a scare with Jessica "experimenting" for the first time with drugs; that is several bottles of pills. From what we know, the worst damage was the heavy duty spanking she got after the fact! God is gracious; we are developing an additional level of home child proofing.
By numerous and almost inexplicable circumstances, our 3 HP 3 faze heavy duty water pump (which serves for irrigation of the church lawns and all our water needs) came to a sudden death. Somehow it got left on and heated up the pipes after emptying the 8 thousand Gallon cistern; after several hours of running dry, water somehow came back into the system and flooded the entire pump (which unfortunately sits down in a cavity below ground level); while still running! Needless to say, while a pump is switched on and then experiences baptism to the extreme semi-theological extent, sparks fly. By the time I hit the site of the catastrophe, smoke and rumbling pretty well summarizes what I found. You might say that my inner reaction was similar to what we do to the Holy Sprit when we sin - that's right GRIEF! I was thinking about a 100$ repair bill, stewardship issues, responsibility (or rather irresponsibility) but refrained from outward demonstration - thankfully!
I started by repairing the easy part; I put in a new seal and greased the bearings; next step was to take it to my buddy who rewires electric motors (always for a fee of course) As he was getting ready to cut the old useless windings off the motor, he had a hunch. Take it home and try it again. Well, I did just that and when I got it all hooked us and plumbed etc., I turned it on to discover an incredible howl, smoke and a distinct "welding" sound which motors only make when they are on the verge of a "hernia" equivalent. NO WAY, I thought, this is not going to work; hope I don't burn down the entire shop at this rate (that was not a realistic concern given that the shop is built out of concrete and block - but, it just goes to show how far down the road toward insanity ones mind will take him when contemplating spending $100, a result of mere carelessness!)
You might not believe it, but after several 30 second attempts to make the pump run (I did this once a day for about 4 days) the silly thing dried out enough and somehow "welded" itself to good health; autopsy shows no more cancer cells. No, I haven't the gift of healing, but the Lord has so far spared me the embarrassment of spending the $100. Amazingly, my buddy (who could have made good money out of the deal) is so intrigued with the situation that he almost offers to pay me to come over once a week to test the amps on each phase just to see if he can discover who the "healing" too place. So far he has not even charged me for the good advice of just keep trying it until it "really blows", then we will fix it.
So does your missionary do anything other than keep his kids alive and write strange stories about miscelaneous bits of shop equipment? We have had an unsusualy difficult week of dealing with some serious situations in the church. A brand new couple (she is 20 and he 18 - unmarried) is expecting a baby and there are many implications. Pray especially as we begin pre-marriage counseling with them and take them through our basic discipleship course simultaneously. Pray also regarding the need for a place for him to live; they have aggreed to not live together for these months prior to their wedding. We are considering the possibility of opening our home; time and space will not allow for me to go into the implications of this, but put your imagination to work...
Also, praise Him with us for a few new family members in the past few weeks. More babies; more diapers to change; more blessings to be had; winning the lost for His Kingdom... YOUR STUCKYS ON A FRONT LINE
Kid Corner: Lori took off for her 3:30 p.m. music class a few minutes before it began and gave me the famous last words, "Alicia will sleep for at least an hour and Jessica should be down for a while..." You guessed it, 3:33 Alicia awoke and wanted food NOW! Jessica came running into the room and said, "what is it daddy, what is it?" I filled her in and she said, "oh daddy, I know why she is hungry; it's because mommy left." Kids are sometimes too wise for their own good...
R&R arrived
February 28, 1997
Friends & Family,
Praise the Lord with us that Ron & Ranelle Stucky have arrived in Brazil; their trip was good and they had no troubles with customs, baggage or connections. More later - KEN
Confession is good for the soul....
March 9, 1997
10pm Sunday Night
Friends & Family
Lori & I stepped into the house, just getting home from church; an exhausting day! Our little choir sang for the first time since Christmas; several have joined who CAN cary a tune which is a boost for this formerly weak area. Mind you, when I say choir, I am still talking about a group of people attempting to sing in unison - melody only. (I have been tempted to call it 12 part melody!) In America, few people with no musical ability insist on being in a choir of any kind; not so here...
A very difficult task accomplished - this morning, a lady in her mid thirties stood before the church confessing sin which has brought her to pregnancy. She is divorced and has been rearing her son alone for the past 10 or 12 years. She recently lost her job (director of a city day care for about 300 children) and is uncertain about the future; however, she bravely faced the church and pleaded with especially the young people to keep themselves morally pure. She was very well heard, forgiven and accepted; though she is not yet a member of the church, she intends to go forward from here and make this her church home - pray for her as her family is pressing her toward marrying the guy who doesn't know the Lord.
Since I last wrote, Jessica turned FOUR! She enjoyed her birthday very much and we took a short trip to the Ocean Side for a few hours of sun, sand and wind. She wasn't interested in the water, but really enjoyed playing with the shells and digging in the sand. Ron & Ranelle (Ken's brother and sister-in-law) went with and Alicia stayed home with the grandparents. We got home just before dark and grilled a cut of meat which turned out to make raw cow hide seem on the tender side; the next day Lori managed edibility - crock pots work wonders when used by a top notch cook! Speaking of Jessica's brith-day, exactly one year ago, we were building the new roof for the church with Clinton Wipf & Eric Gross from Huron, SD.
We usually wait till rainy season to build; this time we are trying to get a porch in place on the upwind side of our house; all the bedrooms are on this side and we are continually battered with strong rain coming in the windows and flooding especially Jessica's and Alicia's rooms. Fortunately we have gotton only about 10 to 12 inches this year so far...
Ongoing ministries to pray for: Sunday School Teacher Training Program - going ok, but we are narrowed down to only 3 teachers out of the original 5. Also remember our new Adult Get Togethers which meet the second Friday of each month; the young people and adults will be splitting up for Sunday School hour; we are considering multiplying the youth group into 2 groups (age 12-18 & age 19+); so far they are all together on Saturday evenings. Thrusday night prayer meetings which are held in various homes on a rotating basis have pretty much outgrown the average living room space. We had 30+ in our living room this last week!
Pray especially for the challenges of being consistant in disciplining Jessica; she had afforded us some grief these past months and we have a deep desire to bring her up to His Glory.
IN HIM - KEN FOR THE STUCKY FAMILY
Children's Corner: Jessica received a miniture Doberman Pincher for her birthday; we hope to put all proceeds toward her college fund. She insisted on calling the puppy "Fresky" which sound a bit fruity, but I guess it is her puppy. Anyway, she has managed to get the puppy to lay in her arms on its back like you might hold a doll or an infant. Fresky is obviously enjoying the pampering and just lays there as a lazy as you could imagine. Jessica, however, claimes that "she is werry, werry sad because my "other puppies are mean to it" and that when she grows up she is going to "build it a dog house" so it can be "safe" from all danger. I have so far been unsuccessfull in my attempts to convince her that puppies are meant to bite one another's legs and eat each others ears and behave in other highly unorthodox (for children) manners...
Adoption...
March 16, 1997
4:30 PM Sunday
85 degrees
Friends & Family,
It has been an unusual week for us; Visconde has joined our household. He is 18 yrs old and has a fourth grade education; he is from a city 600 miles away, but came to live in Mossoro with his girlfriend when he discovered she was pregnant. Now they both have come to know Jesus and slow change is beginning to take place.
Of course this presents a dilema since he has no family in the area and Rosa Adriana (Visconde's girl) lives with her mother and her mother's live-in all in a one room house w/o bathroom. They would shut off the lights and take a "can bath" out behind the house - not a good situation. So you have it: two unmaried couples living in a small room of about 150 square feet...
As they began discipleship lessons and shared with us their desire to get married, we decided to take a firm approach and told them we would do the wedding in our church only if they would go through our Pre-Marriage Counseling program (4 to 6 months). We also explained to them that we could only do the counseling if they agreed to not live together until after the wedding. We presented this plan fearing it might drive them away, but knowing it was for their best shot at a successfull marriage.
THEY ACCEPTED! Which posed a new problem: where could Visconde live in the mean time? Rosa Adriana's mom said, that her daughtor could go live with relatives while Visconde would stay with her and her live-in. NOT GOOD. Well, maybe he could live with her relative and she could stay? Nooo... (Most of the male relatives, are on their second or third marriages and unemployed spending all day in front of a TV letting their wives scrounge something for lunch - not exactly the learning curve we had in mind for our new disciple.) Soooo...
As Jesus commanded us to prove our faith by our actions, we were forced to consider bringing an outsider in to be part of our family. With so many implications, this was not an easy decision for us, but we believe we are living in obedience to His Word! Pray for us in this new parenting roll; we are not out of the woods with the young couple and many small challenges still make up the puzzle of their lives which needs to be worked into place before a wedding can be done. Pray that they will be receptive to God's will for their lives and that they will become a strong family light house, shining the truth into the darkness around.
Our arrangement with Visconde includes some work assignments to cover room and board and other hour of work to earn spending money. Just 3 hours after getting his first "Pay Check", Visconde splurged, spending it all on a Bible; he said, "This is GOLD to me; my very first Bible." This is a step in the right direction...
Keeping The Faith in Brazil - KEN, LORI, JESSICA & ALICIA
PS - There has been a menengitis scare one block away... Tragicly it is the very house where Lori and Alicia made a visit just 24 hours ago. Pray for protection for these two and for the whole community, seeing that menengitis is highly contagious...
KIDS CORNER: This week Jessica & I had this conversation:
Jessica..... - Daddy, are we having Sunday School this day?
"this day" is the way Jessica says "today"
Me.............. - No honey.
Jessica..... - Are we having it tomorrow?
Me.............. - No.
Jessica..... - The next day?
Me.............. - No.
Jessica..... - Well then when, Daddy?
Me.............. - We will have Sunday School on Sunday, Jessica.
Jessica..... - When is that?
Me.............. - Yesterday was Monday, today is Tuesday, tomorrow is Wednesday then Thursday,
Friday, Saturday and SUNDAY!
Jessica..... - Wow! Really? Dat's a good idea! Im so happy. Is it real soon?.....
My hair is growing shorter...
March 25, 1997
7:30 am
60mm of rain on Saturday! (1.5")
Friends & Family
In this update, it will be hard to keep from transmitting a certain tiredness... Even to think of the sheer number of people who have come and gone these past 10 days makes me weary. Lori got up at 6:30 to feed Alicia and just went back to bed with a head ache (sp?). I have two workers here doing some minor remodeling which I need to oversee, so I'll stay up - the Bible does say that we should not live by our feelings, right?
MENENGITIS: the scare is over; it turned out to be something else and we are no longer concerned about exposure; thanks for praying. Regarding our "Adoption" of Visconde, today makes two weeks he is in our home. Slow progress, and the church staff has serious doubts regarding him being ready for marriage and fatherhood in 3 more months. Yesterday Rosa Adriana had an ultrasound and they say it is a health big boy so far. (Our Doctor once told me that God has the power to change the sex of the child and often does; for very important reasons, however, He only does so prior to birth...) Pray for this young man to grow in the Lord and to mature quickly.
Central Baptist, a church accross town whose paster is a friend of ours, had a work team from the USA last week. We went over a couple of times to offer assistance and advice with regard to construction. The team has now returned home.
Sunrise on Easter is bright and early in Mossoro; church members will be arriving about 5:30 for our special service on SUNDAY. What time does the sun rise where you live this time of year?
Galen Flickinger, a second cousin from Seattle, will be ariving in one more week. He brings with him expertise in the areas of wood working and playing guitar. We look forward to plugging him right in (not to 220 volts); his 2 month mission should be a busy one.
Don't forget to uphold us in your prayers; we apprecite you who jot even brief notes of encouragement throughout the week; e-mail as indeed transformed the way we keep in touch. This letter now goes out to over 100 individuals and we hope to soon have e-mail access to all of our missionaries here in Brazilian to better coordinate our ministries - Praise the Lord for Technology!
ALL FOR THIS WEEK - Ken, Lori, Jessica & Alicia Stucky
JESSICA CORNER: Daddy, my hair is growing real short. You know what, my toes, my tummy are too! But the rest of me is getting real much bigger! Daddy, my hair si getting so short I need to cut it, because is is getting in my eyes a real lot. Well, just how to you explain to a 4 year old the difference between short and low/downward? Oh yes, she said that her "breath" hurts too. Come to find out, she said her neck was in back, but in front (where your throat is located), that is your breath; well, when you have a "sore breath", you know how bad that can be...
Time to be in bed...
April 4, 1997
Friends & Family,
Last week was one of those weeks... Special meetings started with a wet sponge; we had 3.5 inches in two hours and w/ no electricity had to cancel the first night of our campaign. The second made up for it though w/ two young men accepting the Lord. Easter Sunday Morning we held a Son Rise service at 5:30 am. AWESOME! Good turn out and nice time of sharing and worship.
We have had struggles with our 18 year old "son" so please keep praying that we will wisely set limits. It is not easy to bring some one into your home, even for a missionary...
I will close with an exerpt from a letter sent out by my mom explaining a difficult situation my sister Deb Dick is facing in Africa. As we can not be with them, we do appreicate your prayers on their behalf:
COPY: ...special request for prayer for Deb and family. She has been under the care of a Dr. in Mali, but her health is not improving. So they, together with their field director decided it would be best for them to return to the states to get medical help. They will be staying in Kansas City in a GMU apartment. Brian (3 year old son) has had constant colds and pulmonary problems; this will be checked out during their medical leave as well.
Pray with us that the Drs. in KC will be able to discover the cause of their problems and know how to treat them. Deb says she cannot even explain what she is feeling, it just seems like everything is overwhelming. They do continue to trust the Lord and know that He has a purpose in allowing them to have this difficult time. They are thankful that Sam's mom has been with them and is taking good care of them all. She will return to the US to be with them there as well. Deb also is thankful that Sam is a loving, caring, encouraging husband with a strong faith in God.
They ask us to continue to pray and trust the Lord with them that through this whole situation He will bring glory to His name and that we would all be strangthened in our faith in Him.
END COPY:
God bless you - from Ken and the rest of the Mossoró team
Jessica's Corner: Night before last, I got back from Fortaleza (a grueling trip) where I had
committee meetings, business, hasels and headaches to attend to...
My main reason was to pick up Galen (a second cousin from Seattle) who came down to help for
two months with wood working projects and by playing his guitar for church events. I was catching
up w/ demanding business at my desk when I realized that everybody was in bed and it was an hour
past my bedtime too. Lori was sleeping after an exhausting day and Galen was out as he hit the bed
(I had walked into his room seconds later to hand him a printed e-mail message from his mom and
he didn't respond...) Sooo, I want out and shut off the lights on the porch, living room, kitchen and
hall way and headed back to the office to finish up when I heard something behind me. Jessica had
come in to inform me that it was now "time for all of us to be in bed" because mommy had shut the
lights off. With that statement, she showed how perceptive she is (more so than I sometimes), even
though she confused daddy for mommy; well, biblically, we are one, right....
Skipping CHURCH...
April 20, 1997 - SUNDAY UPDATE
Friends & Family,
What can I say, it would be impossible to fill you in on the past two weeks in just a few paragraphs. Some highlights and lowflows would be: Jessica learned how to swim ("without a floaty" she would want me to tell you). Alicia got her first cold and bad caugh and the chicken pocks to boot and I have a tremendous head cold. Lori is holding the family together...
A week ago today, I finished a preaching series on James and during the final message we got 2.5 inches of rain! I almost went to Genesis 13 (oooops, I just looked it up and I meant Genesis 6-9 - Noaha, not Abraham...) Been needing the rain, buuuuut, it washed out the bridge to Jaguaruana where we were planning to take the youth group tomorrow. So, another youth group from Limoeiro (65 miles but 2+ hours away given the bad roads) will be coming to Mossoro to spend the day; we will likely have 60 kids in our back yard - pray for survival and effective ministry.
A young girl from church was discovered hanging out with an unsaved married man; discipline is not our favorite topic nor our favorite excercise - pray for true repentance and a general cleansing for the whole church; Satan would like to destroy the work from the inside out.
Galen Flickinger (here for 2 months from Seattle) has been a big help especially with the music; he plays guitar and is encourageing two young fellow who have guitars to prepare themselves to play for church services. The first week in May, we plan to take a week off so show Galen around and to get away from the daily grind as a family.
Continue to pray for Visconde who lives with us; he has taken some very small steps forward in his
spiritual life and we are praying for him and his fiance to soon be ready for marriage. Their baby is
due in less than two months and they have so much to learn. He is in desparate need of
a job.
Ron & Ranelle are here for the extended weekend; Monday afternoon they will be headed back to Fortaleza to focus on language study some more. Ron is attending the University and Ranelle is doing a language program with private turtors. I plan to spend half of June with Ron remodeling the house where they will live for this next year. God bless you and thanks for being part of the Mossoro team through your prayers, support and encouragement. KEN & Girls
JESSICA'S CORNER: Daddy, do you need this here piece of dirt for instruction or can I make me a garden? That is what she said to me pointing out a small patch of ground that we had cleaned up in the front yard. Her "instruction" was really "construction" which she has seen a lot of with the building of the church and some remodeling we have done around the house...
This morning she told me that she need a "piece of quiet" and I asked what for? She said, "for to have my evotions and reading." I guess that Lori has asked her to tune it down so she can have "D" evotions...
10 inches anybody?
May 4, 1997
Friends & Family,
Wow, it has been almost three weeks since I sent one of these. Remember, we were gearing up for an all day youth event at our home with an estimated 50 people - yes, we did survive and there were closer to 60 who came - exhausting. I guess that there have been many things keeping us away from e-mail these days.
Sickness in the family has been at an all time high. Alicia is better; Jessica is fine but I am STILL dragging. It all began the 18th of April and I still feel nausea, chills, dizzyness, cramps, itching, achiness etc. Lori has been strong, but I am afraid she will come down soon if I don't pull out of it.
Two months ago we embarked on one of the toughest ventures we hope to face; Visconde moved in with us. His troubled condition failed to improve despite every effort on our part. We set a reasonable cerfew which he violated; we offered work at generous pay and excellent food and living conditions - he failed to turn up at meal times and acted irresponsibly in every respect. We started to drag; things started to dissappear; disrespect and unexcusable attitudes prevailed - our limits came, warnings were repeatedly given and his choices were made... We pity the young couple and we fear for their future but before the Lord we know that we indeed obeyed James chapter two to our full capability. It does hurt to be hated now, but even that we can give to the LORD.
CHURCH SOUND SYSTEM: ours is in tough shape (nearly nonexistant) but a friend is willing to hand carry some equipment from the USA. We are working on the details for this purchase or donation of used components. There are shipping expenses and accessories to be gotten; pray with us that it will fall into place and let us know if you can help.
Our latest church function was on Thursday - 75 people in ONE rented bus headed 35 miles to the beach for a day of food, fun & Sun (fellowship too). One snake story later and about 2 inches of rain later we boarded the bus heading home from the first time ever to be all together just for the purpose of all being together. Of all those, there were about 3 unsaved family members along. God has given the increase and we look forward to another four years of even more fruit and the multiplying of planted seeds of the TRUTH.
YOURS FOR MOSSORÓ - Ken, Lori, Jessica & Alicia
PS 10 Inches? Oh yes, that was how much it rained in ONE DAY in Fortaleza where my brother Ron and his wife Ranelle live! Some lives were lost - it was the biggest rain maybe in history...
Getting the word out...
May 15, 1997
OUTSTANDING NEWS!
The Mossoro team is letting you in on the excitement! We have been fighting with a nearly dead Sound System w/ quirks, pops and fizzels for 4 years... BUT, a gentleman in Houston became aware of our dilema and has donated a sound system worth over 2000$ to the ministry!! (If it were bought in Brazil, it would cost lots more!) Are you excited now?
Now the pain and agony of trying to get it here. If it were air freighted down the shipping would cost about $500; then comes customs which could be up to 100% of the value of the equipment - the government here is not too sympathetic...
Ken could fly to Miami to hand carry the equipment back with him; his trip would cost $737. Are you interested in helping get this donation to Brazil? Your 75$ gift would be over 10% of what we need to get this set up into service where it will be used several times each week reaching Brazilians for Christ. Drop us an e-message and we can give you more details.
The ONE who arranged this generous contribution is the same God who is also big enough to
provide for getting it here. Unfortuanately, sending anything to Brazil by ship is risky - many things
don't even make it... This is probably hard to understand since shipping is a carefully laid out
business in the USA.
This letter is intended to encourage you w/ a HIGHLIGHT in our lives; if the news motivates you to be a part of bringing the project to completion, then this letter has gone beyond the call... YOURS FOR HIS KINGDOM - Ken and three Girls
Sound System Surprises
May 17, 1997
TO: Prayer & Financial Partners Everywhere
As most of you know, the high powered donated sound system is soon to be on its way to Brazil. A Houston Gentleman generously provided a 650 watt system for use in our church - we had been fighting for 4 years with some nearly dead equipment...
Given the shipping inadequacies and high customs for unacompanied baggage coming to Brazil, the best way to get it here seems to be to hand cary it. I have reservations for June 17 returning the 21st - my stopping point will be Miami and I will take advantage of the opportunity of lower cost phone calls and contact our supporters and friends during that time.
So far 40% of the travel cost has been pledged and we are eager to see how God will provide the rest. Consider having a part in reaching Brazilians for Christ. This is a one time opportunity worth thinking about. Any amount will be helpfull: a generous $75 gift would be 10% of the total need.
We will keep you posted regarding the unwrapping of this blessing - thanks for your support, prayers and letters of encouragement. KEN, LORI, JESSICA & ALICIA
THIS SOUND GOOD?
May 22, 1997
Friends & Family,
SOUND this and SOUND that is all we can talk about this week. It all SOUNDS very good when you consider that the Lord has blessed with a SOUND SYSTEM more than ample for our current church building and even for the day we move to a bigger one.
A kind man from Houston, TX made this generous donation and we are deep into the plans for getting it to Brazil. The Lord willing, some componants will arrive the end of the month with a fellow missionary who is hand carrying one suitcase here. The rest? Our biggest obstacle is Customs; unacompanied baggage is subject to high import duties. Interestingly, the most cost effective, safe way to get it here seems to be for me to hand carry it myself. That being the case, you may get a phone call from me while I am in Miami packing it for the trip and taking care of other business. Make sure to send me your phone number if you are not sure that I have it already.
The funds are nearly in place but there will be a few extra expenses with the shipping, cords, cables, microphones, connectors, power supply etc. to have the sound system installed and being used. For those financially involved in this project, there will be a specially edited video of the first service (in which the system is used) and much, much more; this video will be in your hands by the end of August. This is not a gimic, but we do hope you will at least write us to find out more about this blessing. A special THANK YOU to the 9 couples & two single fellows who have pledged toward this project. God will repay!
Another up and one down just to wrap up this letter. One young lady from my youth group attempted to end her life on Saturday. We are working with her and we have reason to believe she is better and will not retry very soon. Pray that we will be sensitive to her needs and that she will grow in her ability to trust the Lord for a very difficult family situation. << that was the down, this is the up >>> Last Saturday, I had the privilage to lead Evandro (a 17 year old high school senior who's sister is in our youth group) to Jesus Christ. He has been coming off and on for some time to church services. He sat on the Front Row Sunday Night!
For HIS SAKE - Ken and family
JESSICA CORNER: The other day Jessica spent a half hour with some of the teenage girls over at the church while they were cleaning the chairs and floor. She came home smelling like candy (she knows that we don't allow her to take candy from anybody).
ME......What are you sucking on?
JES....Noting, daddy.
ME......Are you sure you are not sucking on anything?
Jes.....Yes.
ME......What are you chewing on?
Jes.....Noting.
Me.......Are you sure?
Jes......Yes.
Me.......Did you suck or chew on anthing while with the girls?
Jes......No.
Me.......Why does your breath smell like candy?
Jes......I was eating cookies that mommy gave me (strawberry cookies).
Me.......Are you sure?
Jes......Yes
Jes.......Daddy, the only ting I have in my mouf is my trowt, see?
(and she opened her "mouf" for me to see way in the back her "trowt" <pronounced trow like throw-it>)
First 1/2 cleared customs!
11:23 pm Saturday May 31
Dear everybody,
Half of the sound system has arrived in Fortaleza. We will have further details for you the middle of this next week. It appears that all is set for Ken to pick up the rest and have it all home by early July! Praise the Lord for provision so far. We have two churches considering picking up a portion of the remainding cost in setting up the system. Thanks for your part and keep praying that all will fit together for His glory. It is past 11pm and I have men's prayer breakfast tomorrow at 7am; before that I need to brush up the SS lesson for the adults class. Following the service, there is a congregational meeting called to deal with a discipline issue (Pray for Godly response on everybody's part); then in the evening I preach and then hold a Baptism service after that. Monday, we take 2 construction workers to the bus station at 4:15 am and then drive to Fortaleza to begin two weeks of intense construction on the house my brother and his wife will live in this next year.... Like I said, time for bed! KEN
HOME ALONE!
June 8, 1997
Or at least that is what everyone asks me (Lori) when I tell them that Ken is in Fortaleza till next Saturday, the 14th. In this culture of "multiple generations in one house" there is little or no privacy and CERTAINLY no one is left alone in the house, especially at night. They either think I am really courageous or crazy. :)
Ken is helping his brother put a ceiling on the house that they plan to move into by the end of July. It is quite an undertaking to say the least. Six guys from here went with him to be his crew. Two are believers and the other four need the Lord. Ken was able to take them around Fortaleza today (only one has ever been there) and to church tonight. You can pray for him and the crew as there have been a few "words" slung around by one of the guys which made for some hard feelings. They have only this next week to get the cement poured on the ceiling, so there is little time to be spent arguing and fighting.
I went in to Fortaleza with Ken last week to help Galen, Ken's cousin, get the rest of his souveniers bought and onto the right plane. We sure enjoyed his stay and his musical talent (not to mention the shelves in the pantry! Finally!!!!).
An interesting developement took place this last week. Ken's sister-in-law, Ranelle, is working on getting a visa that will allow her to live in Brazil as a permanent resident. In the mean time she is here on a tourist visa that was supposed to have had an extention on it for the next 3 months, but no one knew that and it was let get expired. Now she has to go to Miami and get the tourist visa reissued (they can't or won't do it here). The interesting thing is, she is on the same flight going and coming with Ken when he goes to pick up the rest of the sound equipment. He is going to take her to the Brazilian counsulate there and help her get this worked out. The Lord is good!
Well, must end with a Jessica "tid-bit". Jessica loves to go over to Grandma Stucky's house after
Sunday School for a bit of chocolate milk and is always finding ways to get herself invited. Today
she said....."Mommy, why don't you stay at church for a little fellowship while I help Grandma
get lunch ready." What next?! :)
That's all till next time,
the Brazil extention,
LORI (for us all)
HOME ALONE PART II
June 22
I think we are going to survive our time away from each other. Tomorrow (Monday) Jessica, Alicia and I travel to Fortaleza (3 hours from here) and meet up with Ken who is due to arrive from Miami Sunday afternoon. It has been an interesting week to say the least.
First Jessica tried on of those "Daddy-is-not-home-so-I-will-try-to-frazzle-Mommy" stunts. She pulled some really heavy wood down on top of her while "playing" outside. Thankfully, she was on the grass so it cushioned the fall and she only suffered scrapes and bruises instead of breaks and sprains.
My main goal was to get everyone over this nasty cold that we have had, so that our time in Fortaleza is more pleasant. Jessica fared the best of us all, BUT last night had a fever. We shall see.....
The women's group at church is having a campaign to raise money for overflow seating. Each lady is supposed to come up with a creative way to make a little money to put in the pot and November we will buy chairs just in time for Christmas (when we have our biggest service of the year). The testimonies of some of the ladies were interesting. One said that she and her husband put all their loose change in a jar for a special occasion. They decided that this was the time to use it. Another said that she teaches some private classes. She taught more than usual last month, so decided to put the money toward the project. We still plan on having a bake sale, garage sale etc in the future. I think they are pretty impressed with what they can do when they put their minds to it.
Today, Sunday, is Ken's folk's last day in Mossoro till November. We have been making loads of plans over the last couple of months. Schedules and responsiblities have been juggled, and end of the year plans have been already been made in May and June. We are plugging in two new helpers for Sunday School, so that will be a big help. After they get back we are wanting to divide some of the classes in to smaller, easier to handle groups.
Jessica is a little distressed about her Grandma and Grandpa Stucky leaving. When Grandma explained that she needed to see her other two grandchildren, Jessica balked. Then a video and pictures arrived in the mail of Jessica's two cousins. She loves to watch the video, but stated plainly that "now you have seen them, Grandma, so you don't have to go!"
Alicia is now beyond the "semi-mobile" stage. We have to really be careful about what we leave on the floor, because she can get just about anywhere she wants to (crawling). Yesterday she pulled herself up into a standing position for the first time. I was really hoping to put that off for a while, but......next letter may have news that she is reading and writing. They grow up too fast!
Well, a "Jessica story" to end this epistle. Because the girls have been sick, we have not gone
anywhere this last week. Jessica was wanting me to know that she needed someone to play with
and I wasn't cutting it. She said she needed a "mate to play with all the days." I'll let you decide
what she ment. :)
God Bless,
LORI (for us all)
SWEET HOME SWEET
July 6, 1997 - SUNDAY - NOT OUR DAY OFF FOR SURE
Friends & Family,
The sights, smells, soft bed, hot shower (w/ 10 inch shower head), 10 barking dogs, and even the termites - it is the familar which we gravitate back to, seems silly, but we are creatures of habit. After 35 days of being gone from home, I am thrilled to be back; Jessica & Alicia are glad to be here too; security. News of troubles with our church people:
1. Ivonete was in an accident where the bus hit a truck and turned over - no one killed and she has one more war story to tell; she is the same one who gashed her leg on a broken toilet in the back yard and who was hit by a ceramic tile which fell through the roof (bumped off by a Tom cat at night) while she was sleeping - several stiches in her head close to the eye!!!
2. Wbiratan claims that he is no longer a Christian because he wore shorts to church and someone talked to him about it and he got ticked off. Later the story comes out that he got saved just so he could go on the church picknick to the beach.....
3. Rosa whom we counseled to break up with the bad news guy is now living with him. Their baby turned one month yesterday. She is being beat on and wonders what went wrong; it is exactly as we told her it would be....
4. Several young people are mad because they want to be the worship leader at our main Sunday Service; we feel that they have some maturing to do before ready for the responsibility so we are holding them back; the fact that they are upset about it shows they are not quite ready...
I will tell you of my travel adventures later, but I wanted everybody to know that the sound
equipment came through very nicely and that we appreciate very much those who had a part in
offsetting the cost of this project! God bless you a whole bunch and be praying for us as our
partners (Joe & Jeanie Stucky) leave for furlough today. Also remember me as I study for a series
on spiritual gifts for the month of July. Eric Flickinger (Ken's second cousin from Seattle) is coming
to give us a boost on the chorus book project and to help get our Computer equipment back up
to snarf.
IN HIM - KEN FOR THE TEAM
ALICIA is upwardly mobile; a whole new level of baby proofing is taking place as we speak! One drugged mouse is wondering around; within 24 hours he will be dead from some low key poison we set out...