 My skating rink is open again! I am jumping (and spinning and dancing and doing three-turns and mohawks and all my moves-in-the-field) for joy! This isn’t a blog about skating. When I surveyed readers about what they most wanted to see on this blog, my passion for skating came out pretty much at the bottom. But this ISN’T about skating. It’s about my gracious God.
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 I emptied my change into the bell-ringer’s kettle—a practice my daughter taught me. As I crossed the parking lot, a little girl of seven or eight came skipping past, clinging to her mother with one hand. In the other a dollar bill fluttered. “I just love doing this,” she said as she headed for the kettle. I smiled to think that her parents are teaching her the joy of giving. (Hopefully that and not that a dollar bill is enough to make you feel good.)
 This week is my big Crossovers Blog Tour! The book is available on Kindle. The teaser is up on YouTube. Print copies were sent to reviewers, and this week several will post their comments. I hope you will check them out and encourage the bloggers (and me!) with your comments. The $0.99 Kindle price will only last through this week, so tell your friends. You don't need to own a Kindle to read the e-book. A free app is available for your computer or your phone, which is where I read most of my e-books. Print copies, signed by the author, are also available from me.  Primeira Igreja in 1982 We were members of Primeira Igreja Batista (First Baptist Church) when we lived in Campo Grande from 1979 to 1982 and for many years after. Brazilians are an ethnic mix and many have the blood of slaves from the Portuguese colonies in Africa in their veins. When we moved to Mozambique, Pastor Jonatan insisted that we were their missionaries and kept us on the rolls. We were more than happy to have our Brazilian friends praying for us through the challenges of communism and civil war there. When we returned to Campo Grande recently, of course, we went back to Primeira Igreja.  Pastor Jonatan 2012 We arrived in Campo Grande in January 1979—the same month that it became the capitol of the new Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. We lived there three and a half years before returning to the US, but in that short time we made friends that have lasted a lifetime. Pastor Jonatan de Oliveira was the pastor of Primeira Igreja Batista in our day. He had a heart for missions. Primeira Igreja supported their own missionaries to many small towns in the interior of the state and Mato Grosso to the north where cattle ranches and soybean fields gave way to the great Amazon rainforest. |