Oct. 18, 200? - Gone with the Wind

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I guess it probably hits everyone. Those grey days of discouragement.
The days that you ignor the big questions, the hard questions, for fear
that they have no positive answers. The days that you feel
underappriciated and over worked. The days when you question if it is
really worth it. If there isn't an easier way, an excape. For me, these
days had been brewing for a couple of weeks. I think it was the
combination of a few projects that didn't turn out as I had expected
they'd turn out, and people who didn't act (or react) as I had been
expecting. There had been so few pats on the backs or encouraging words.
What was worse, when those words of recognition were being given to all
of my peers, somehow my name was not even mentioned. As weather had
turned dramatically colder, bringing with it rain and a sickness that had
attacked the three of us. I guess the combined effects of all of this
left my resistance down. My physical resistance as well as my emotional
resistance. And I found my self complaining. First to Marla, and then
to God.

"Lord, there has got to be an easier way to live. Living far from our
family, and the things that we like to do. The falling value of the
dollar, the rising costs of living here, the slowing economy in the
States, how can we raise the support need to return? Is there really any
value in us being here anyway? What does the future hold?"

The following morning as I continued reading through the book of Nehemiah
chapter 6 really spoke to me. Nehemiah who was following the will of
God. He was teaching the people of Isreal to truely become the people of
God. And yet in the middle of all of his good work, there were three
powerfull guys who opposed that which he was doing. In verse 13 he
writes: "He had been hired to scare me so that I would commit a sin."
And I began to think of the cases when big descicion are made in the
middle of a storm, and how often those descision lead us down the wrong
path, and lead us contrary to the will of God.

In my questioning and complaining I hadn't question if we were where God
wanted us to be. I hadn't question if we were doing what God has wanted
us to be doing. He has confirmed this in so many ways, for so long now.
But I questioned His reasons, I questioned His results (at least those we
can see after only 2 years here). I questioned his purpose, and I began
to doubt His resourses and His provision. Somehow thinking that if God
would answer these questions, I would be satisfied. Thinking that those
answers would provide the energy, the fuel, I needed to keep going. This
one-sided conversation I was having with God ended in the middle of the
night when He responded with the same words that Jesus spoke in John 4:34
"My food is to do the will of the One that sent me, and completing His
work." Through these verses it becomes clear that Jesus's energy, that
Jesus's fuel was found in the knowledge, in the conviction, that He was
where God wanted Him to be.

Is this knowledge, the knowing I am doing what God has for me to do,
enough to sustain me? Enough to give me strenght, enough to give me
force? In humility, I once again realized how far I have to go in my
growing into the like-ness of Christ. If I am to be like Christ, that
knowledge, that conviction, alone has to be enough to sustain me. It has
to be enough to uphold me. It has to be at the root of my strenght.
When discouragement come like a storm, it is this conviction that should
anchor me. Just as storms pass, discouragement will not last forever.
And when it passes, when the wind stops, I want us to still want to be
found in the middle of His plans for us.


And now a little bit from Marla...

Climbing onto a chair so I could reach the back of the tall
cupboard above the
bed in our little guest room, I found our long unused and almost
forgotten bag of socks, sweaters and jackets. Winter arrived this month
in Londrina, brazil and we are just absolutely freezing to death at 60
degrees. We’ve really begun to wonder how in the world we are going to
survive even summer time in Alaska! Bring on the wool socks and long
johns.

While we were hoping to be putting on those wool socks some time
soon we are still waiting for my permanent visa to be granted. The
government internet site where you are supposed to be able to check the
process has been down for several months. This means that each time we
want to check the process we go to the federal police here in Londrina
and have them access it for us. Last time they reported that it was
approved by the first desk and onto waiting for approval from desk number
two. The good news is that there are only two desks! So we continue to
wait and to trust God that He has a plan and that His timing in all of
this is perfect. Our plan is basically to get plane tickets to the
states as soon as my visa has been granted. We are looking forward to a
fundraising trip lasting somewhere between six months and a year. With
the falling value of the dollar and the addition of Samara to the family
our support account is getting closer and closer to the red each month,
and is urgently needing more funds. We’d love to be making some concrete
plans, you know setting up speaking at churches and visiting many of you,
but as of now we have no idea of any dates. So we continue to wait and
trust and pray that we are faithful to BE where God has us. We sure
appreciate your prayers that God would raise up financial supporters and
also in asking that my visa be granted SOON. I know that our parents
appreciate those prayers as well as they just can hardly wait to get
their arms around Samara.

Samara is 13 months old now, and we are astounded at how fast the
time has gone by. She is a very fun and busy little girl who loves music
and to be outdoors. Her first two words are both in Portuguese (other
than Mommy/Mãe) She says “ow wow” for dog and “bala” for ball. She loves
to go for walks and see the dogs on the street and she is a big fan of
watching her Daddy play soccer too. These days she is really into
playing with refrigerator magnets moving them between the fridge and
another metal cabinet in the kitchen, back and forth, back and forth.
She also has discovered the fun of “dressing up.” She’ll come out of her
room with a pair of pants on her head and carrying one of my shoes that
she wants to put on. Just pinning a dish towel around her shoulders will
entertain her for minutes on end. One of my favorite new things is to
pull a chair up to the counter and have Samara “help” me in the kitchen.
She is quite a little assistant we have lots of fun “working” together.
She truly is a delight and a joy. We are so blessed and thank God for
every day that we get to be her parents.

May 1st was a holiday here and our church and mother church had an
evangelistic retreat for the day at Camp Shalom. The idea of the retreat
was for the church members to invite friends, relatives, co-workers,
neighbors…who do not know Jesus. The morning was spent in a time of
worship, a short message and then small discussion groups, and ended with
worship and an invitation to accept Jesus as your personal savior..
Micah had invited the guys from the neighborhood that he plays soccer
with and six of them came. One of them accepted Christ at this retreat!
I spent the morning time with the 56 kids under age eleven that were
there. We sang songs, told the salvation message using a watermelon as
an example of our lives (black seeds=sin, red pulp=our heart…) Next we
divided the kids by age group and made salvation bracelets. Then it was
time for outdoor games like “red light- green light” and “sharks and
minnows” I was leading the group of four to six year olds and it was so
cute to watch them later as they met up with their parents for lunch to
see them explaining the significance of each color in their new bracelet.
We all had our picnic lunches and then the afternoon was free to hang
out, swim and play soccer. Micah is super excited that these “soccer
guys” are starting to respond to Jesus and asks for wisdom as he spends
time with them both on and off the soccer court.

Something that we hear again and again here is the difficulty that
parents are having raising their kids. They just have no idea what to do,
how to discipline, what types of consequences are appropriate etc. Micah
has been teaching a class on The Family and many people who signed up
were looking for help with parenting, but the class is more about how to
have a healthy marriage. So I was asked to teach a parenting workshop.
Yeah, me with my whole 1 year of experience!! So I went to some experts
for some help… I have a Love and Logic book that I’d let my friend Linda
borrow and she was so excited about the concepts and how much they were
helping with her son that she was just going on and on and on. So, a few
Saturday’s ago I gave a “Love and Logic” workshop for parents or anyone
who was interested. About 25 people came and I did my best to condense
the principles and strategies into about an hour and a half. The goal was
for people to go home that evening with tools in their parenting bag to
help them immediately, practical things that they could implement. Many
of the people who were at the workshop have expressed how great they
thought the material was and how it has helped them to start thinking in
a different way, to not loose control and to have hope again that
parenting can be fun. So yeah, for Love and Logic!


As I said Micah has been teaching a class on The Family that has been
both challenging and fun for him. He is discovering that teaching is lots
of hard work and prep, but also very rewarding. About a month ago Micah
went to a week long training where he learned how to start evangelistic
Bible studies in homes. So now he and Diogo are teaching some leaders
from our church as well as our mother church these concepts and
strategies with the hope of beginning some of these Bible studies for
non-believers in our neighborhoods.


As always we are ever thankful for your faithful prayers and support. We
know that God is using each one of you in a specific and special way in
the work He is doing here in Brazil. Knowing that you are praying really
encourages our hearts and at times helps us keep our heads above water.
And other times we are bursting with joy because we know that your
prayers are helping to open doors for people to know Jesus and that is SO
AWESOME. So thank you for letting God use you to not only bless us but
to be a part of bringing Brazilians into His kingdom. You are appreciated
and we also love to know how we can pray for you so please email us with
what is up in your lives, families, jobs, hearts and ministries. We pray
that God shows you today just how much He delights in you and also we
pray that we’ll be sharing lunch or a cup of coffee with you in person
sometime soon, and yes those will be long johns you see peeking out from
under our jeans.

If you are interested we have posted some videos of Samara on YouTube...
http://www.youtube.com/routon27

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-Micah started the email complaining to God. "why are things hard?"
"Isn't there an easier way?" Then in the middle of the night God reminded
Micah of the scripture where Jesus says "My food is to do the will of Him
who sent me." (I guess that's what is called Christain perspective)
-Still waiting for Marla's permanant visa before we can make plans for a
much needed fundraising trip to the States
-May 1st was an evangelistic retreat where one of Micah's "soccer guys"
accepted Christ.
-Samara is wonderful and fun and a total delight
-Marla taught a "Love and Logic" workshop for parents that went well and
seems to be having some positive results
-Micah is helping train leaders to begin a new evangelistic Bible study
ministry
-We are SO thankful for YOU