God opened an opportunity for both Terry and me to spend a little time with family and west coast friends (and supporters) between August and September. Our daughter (Sara) has been through a very difficult ordeal, and required some attention and time. Terry was able to spend a significant amount of time with her, as they worked long hours together at a provincial fair (doing chair massage), which, as an added benefit, enabled Terry to pay her trip!

Sara is going through a time of searching and healing. We pray God will meet her in very special and strong ways, establishing her path as she moves into adulthood. We have seen her faith challenged--and grow!

It was great spending time with my parents and sister as well! They were very gracious in their hospitality! (We no longer have a home in Canada, so get to eat off the family table! :)

Our son, Sam, is presently traveling with a ministry team to the southern tip of Brazil, and will stop by our place in Londrina for a few days on his return to school in São Paulo. I believe he will have stories to tell for a few years! Check out some of his pictures, and drop him a note, if you like! (Click one of the links below.) I know he would be happy to hear from you!

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Back in Londrina, we are greatly enjoying the cool weather before the long, hot summer hits. Most places (and cars) around here have AC... We have a unit in our bedroom; so you know where I’ll be hiding if it gets too hot!

On the relationship side, God is giving us some very good and hospitable friends here in Londrina, something that is very helpful, seeing that all family and past relationships are quite a distance away! On the other hand, Christians are family!

Our thoughts, thanks and prayers are with you! Feel free to Skype or call us anytime!

Skype: vbinbc
Phone (a call that re-routes to us through the internet): USA: (814) 806-3660 (Remember, we are EST +1hr)

An interesting dimension of moving to a very different location, out of familiarity and routine, to a place with different cultural values and expectations--some stated dramatically, others, most subtle--is that a person is offered a unique window of opportunity to observe and to become acutely aware of his own assumptions and expectations, his insecurities, limitations...and convictions.

Each place brings its own flavour and unique blend. For example, Londrina is unlike anyplace I’ve ever lived before--inland, 4-5 hours from the ocean, a geographically isolated city, rising 20-25 floors above the rolling-hill, red-soil farmland, just at the horizon. In this place climate, language and culture are similar, but unique from anything we’ve know before.

Our past 20+ years, split between British Columbia (Canada) and Caxias do Sul (600 miles south of here), had much more in common climate-wise than has Londrina with the coastal cities of Brazil. For 20 years we’ve survived 8-month rainy winters, and short, humid and occasionally hot summer days. Londrina, on the other hand, has it’s short, dry winters (quite enjoyable actually!) and sweltering, long and hot summers--with rainy nights. That will be a switch, and we are taking this break in the weather to investigate the best options for surviving summer in our vehicle and home (neither of which currently have AC)!

The language in Londrina is, of course, Portuguese, as is all of immigrant-inhabited Brazil...and as was Caxias do Sul, Bento Gonçalves, and Novo Hamburgo, were I spent a large part of my childhood and fragmented, Brazil-side history. However, Londrina was colonized largely by Britians, Portuguese (?) and Japanese, not by Italians and Germans, as were many cities in the southern region of Brazil. So people “speak funny” here...in fact taking on certain ways of expressing themselves, with unique intonations and word usages, at a faster, more rambling pace, with the gender switched on certain words...all things that down south would characterize them as unusual or even “gringo.” In fact, as a child and youth, I learned to avoid speaking thus, to prevent being labeled a foreigner. (As a matter of fact, even my wife is experiencing a new variation of cultural adaptation: locals cannot, no matter how she may try, repeat or understand her name! They can figure out Tereza, Theresa, Terezinha...but what in the world is a “Tere”? ) True, we should probably be a little less concerned about language fluency, as our recent 12 years in Canada have pretty much destroyed our chances of disappearing in the Brazilian croud. I feel that part of my tongue has become twisted without hope of recovery, even through extreme therapy. Even worse than not fitting linguistically or in appearance, however, is the great likelihood that I’ll actually pick up local ideosycracies to carry back with me when I visit Terry’s family and our friends from the south! (I believe that’s part of the “cross” of missionary life...recognizing, along with everyone else, that one is always a foreigner!)

I’ve been speaking as though we plan on adapting to the point that we blend in to the croud. (That cameleon approach has, in some real sense, been a defense mechanism in the past!) At this juncture any such desire is quite laughable, of course. (Being through three successive winters, along with my natural Germanic, epidermal tint quickly betrays any attempt to claim longevity in this place!) In German-town Novo Hamburgo, and rainy, Italian-town, Caxias, we were just another face in the croud. Here, among the robust bronze, I fear, we are more of a spectacle (or a target?).

Adaptation does not end with language and fitting in. I find that living in a place is quite different than cruising through it as a tourist, or even landing in it as a short-term or migrant worker. Over time, a person bumps into more and more differences, like in the area of work. For example, west coast British Columbia seems to be a whole lot more like California (and Rio) in the way people understand the value of work, and much less like Chicago, São Paulo, and Caxias do Sul (a few of the places where I’ve spent some time)--all with a strong industrial core. And then there is Londrina. The tremendous amount of scurrying around (motorbikes weaving through traffic as though being chased by the law, trucks jostling with little imports on the 3/4 lanes of pitted asphalt that wind through the city core, dodging around the occasional brave cyclist or hand-drawn carts of cardboard collectors), all tell you people are going somewhere, in a hurry. Yet, for all the rush, I’m not sure a lot gets done... . Certainly, deadlines, commitment and punctuality do not have the same meaning as they do elsewere in this hemisphere.

All to say that life (missionary life included) is certainly not about being in control or even about conformity and personal acceptance. At some level, it certainly is about having enough familiarity with surroundings so that one is not totally lost and wandering aimlessly. And it is certainly about being established enough in relationship to have earned a fair degree of trust. Above all, however, it seems to me that being a missionary is more about being a servant, than being comfortable, more about understanding, than about making a point, more about discerning the current and direction of God’s Spirit in culture and people’s lives, than of attempting to make a visible mark or public statement, and more about being involved in the process of transformation than of developing a marketable product. The greatest investment we can make is in the lives of other people, who will in turn invest in disciples, thus leveraging the impact of the transforming Gospel truth in our nation. And the greatest place to be, in body and mind, is in the present. Now that’s a cultural adjustment for any mission strategist, or entrepenour, or pastor, or parent!

God’s blessings on you as you work hard to enter His rest, and live intensely, TODAY!

Yesterday, we completed 24 years of marriage! I praise God for the great wife and helper He has given me. Terry is a great friend, advisor, motivator, and friend.

For the past two weeks we've been tending around 1700 chickens while our friends are away for a warm break in the south. (So we put off our celebration a bit!)
Maybe I should have entitled this blog entry, "Counting your eggs, after they are laid," or, "Keeping all your eggs in one basket," or something like that. Nature is full of illustration and insight into human issues.

Perhaps even tending chickens has helped me gain new perspectives on human relationships. For starters: Chickens are fairly senseless, instinctive-type birds, but, so are humans sometimes.

We happen to be tending two breeds of chickens (help me out, if I've miss-spelled their names)!

1) Highliners, a competitive, high-strung, great-bang-for-the-buck, birds...who, however, tend to peck each other to death whenever they feel so inclined. Still, at night they snuggle, once the lights go out!

2) Bovan--a very docile species of bird. This flock is overly-friendly, trailing any human around, climbing on egg boxes to help inspect the production. In fact these birds love to cluster and stack in their nests, sometimes 3 or 4 deep, and often smother each other in the process.

So from either chicken barn we will often find a few casualties...some de-feathered and rudely uncovered. Others simply flat.
No matter, casualties are always dead.

Which brings me back to humans, the way we relate. Perhaps the allegory teaches that we need to give each other breathing space; or perhaps it's about hen-pecking, or not letting things pile up. Whatever the case, after 24 years of marriage, I'm still planning to keep everything in one basket. I suppose you can draw your own parallels and application.

My personal application is that, since I love my roost, and nest partner, I want to find the best way possible to live our next two dozen in peace, harmony and productivity. As I have a required (free) twelve week module with a peer coach, as part of my coaching coursework, I have decided to get some relationship coaching, with a specific focus on our marriage.

After all, marriage is too good to take for granted!

Trust you and yours are doing well!

About two weeks ago I took a plunge, signing up for a course for professional coaching, and I'm excited (and "pumped!")

What is Coaching? Sometimes it is easier to describe something by what it is not. Coaching is different from mentoring and counseling in a number of ways.

• It is facilitative, not directive, and is highly behavioral. That is, it focuses on action, on bahaviors. (It may look at motivations, thinking and feelings, but the purpose is to help clarify appropriate courses of action, not just to "feel good" or "think correctly.")
• It tends to focus more on the present and future than on the past.
• It doesn't focus on giving the "right answer," but rather on helping a person understand his best options, given the abilities and personal resources he has available to him.
• It is relationship oriented: It seeks to give objective, descriptive, non-judgmental feedback that assist a person
• It does not seek to "fix" a person's thinking or values, but it does help him clarify his value-system and reflect on whether or not he is acting coherently. Thus it does assist in helping a person achieve his ideals and personal objectives.

That, of course is only a summary and general description of coaching. But I believe it helps clarify some of my own passion and objectives for this decade of life. I trust it also assists in explaining why we have made some of the hard decisions to move from beautiful British Columbia and our ministry here to Brazil.

Why Coaching?

I could go on and on...but a blog is supposed to be short! So again, I'll summarize and try to focus. I could talk about the facilitative, non-directive personality, and how I find it easier to question than to tell (especially in a pressured or tense situation!). Or I could talk about the merits of having another adult perceive something to be his own idea and desire. (But I could be talking about manipulation, rather than coaching!) So let's talk about the BRAZIL RESOURCE CENTER for church planters.

The Center will exist to promote a MOVEMENT (of church plants) that will impact the life and culture of Brazil, starting in large urban centers.

A movement is like a stream or river...
--it has energy
--it has a destination and direction
--it builds momentum and strength as it moves along
--it defies control. (When dammed, it ceases to be a river.)

Coaching helps clarify the boundaries of the river, and orient fishermen and boaters so that so their best. It draws their attention to conditions: weather, seasons, fish, currents, equipment, and skills. By doing so, it allows all to focus and prepare to do their best. So much for allegory!

In a church-planting movement, I believe that coaching can provide invaluable insight, helping church-planters...
--stay on focus
--find motivation to move ahead
--to encouraging them to stay on top of their game and game plan! In the long term, coaching (and mentoring) will serve the movement very well, a top reason being that coaching discourages dependence on outside resources.

2007 has been a year of transition...

The first stage was moving out of a long-term relationship to World Team (the church-planting mission board in which I grew up in Brazil, and with which I've worked my whole married life). We finished up our service with World Team officially at the end of August, 2007.

Thus the first half of 2007 contains pictures related to work in Bento Gonçalves, one of World Team's smaller fields.

While stationed in Bento we were able to fly to several key cities to study several ministry opportunities. On one such trip, we took Sara to YWAM center in Belo Horizonte. The one that most challenged us was the invitation to join a project, based in Londrina, to resource church planters working in Brazil's largest cities.

We returned to Canada, and were able to sell our home (in less than a week)! The quick sale and move to a small place for our kids allowed us to return to Brazil, to finish out our term with World Team in Bento, where we stayed until the end of August.

The second phase, that is our transition to a new ministry partner, Redeemer's Church Planting Center in NYC, officially began on Sept 1st, 2007.

During the Fall we have been working on the logistics of getting our support channel set up (receipting for both US and Canadian donors), and finding new partners for the exciting new venture in Brazil.

Our return to North America allowed us to get to know Redeemer's church planting center in NYC, our home office. (Terry loved NYC!) During our trip to the East we also were able to visit past supporters, all of whom were very excited about the opportunity God had opened to us.

We are staying in suite in Yarrow, BC (thanks to the hospitality of some great friends), until we have support for our move to Brazil in Feb/Mar 08. (For update or support information, please click here.)

Shortly after returning to BC, I had a week with the Brazilian church-planters in São Paulo for on-going training.

Now back in British Columbia, we are working on our support team and are also are starting to develop some basic web-based resources for our church planters in Brazil. Virtual is nice; face to face will be even better!

That's our quick tour across 6 time zones to southern Brazil and back. (I don't think we ever traveled this much before in a year!)
Hopefully in our next blog we will be getting ready for our final move! (It will be nice to unpack our suitcase. :-)

THANK YOU for your faithful standing with us through your prayers and suport!

We trust you have a GREAT Christmas and New Year!

May Christ's presence be with you richly!

With our thoughts, love and prayers,

Bryan & Terry