O trabalho em Juiz de Fora de A Familia Internacional é uma pequena porção do que está acontecendo e sendo realizado pelos missionários no mundo inteiro. Veja só alguns dos nossos trabalhos: Family Dnieper, A Missionary Journal, Proyecto Puebla, Activated Guatemala, Family Services Association.

The days flipside

Gotta praise some!! Today is one of those days in which the only thing that will save it in every wonderful way possible is nothing else but that!
There are very few things we can do in our own strength that actually matter or will ever last at all, I was reminded of that today. Time goes by and the sun will shine tomorrow so just keep doing your best, and through it all, Smile!!!

Little Wonders

What is our profession?

The other day someone told a friend of mine that he had to relax from the fight a little and just "chill", my friend then told me that it wasn't so much the battle that he liked but it was much more the "euphoria of victory" that compelled him to try again until the victory, the goal was reached and that is priceless because after all that IS our profession, our calling; not just to fight — TO WIN!

When faced with a battle fight with all the strength that there is in you. Fight with every spiritual weapon you have at your disposal, moved by the resolution and determination of a warrior — HIM site "Career Choice"

Embrace the challenges, in order to feel the euphoria of victory! — General George S. Patton

War is Combat. Armies are not formed to dig trenches, build barricades our live in camps; they are to seek out and attack the enemy; to invade his country and inflict the maximum damage in the least time possible. — Stonewall Jackson

Perspective central

Once in a while we get some chances to do things we never dreamed of
and once in a while we wave at them as they pass by.
But every now and then we catch them in their full sway knowing that that and there is what and where the lord wants us to catch and be. Oh so shitty to be a chicken with no head, the other day Dave and I were visiting the location of one of our social projects that we are currently changing locations when this lady from the local slum came by to ask if the services that our institute offered were charged or free and what was the registration process, we told her that the institute was changing locations and was closed, she just proceeded to walk on her way and said "humph, nothing makes any progress around these parts." i was a little shocked at her complacent, lethargic and defeatist perspective on life "around these parts" and told her that if she only changed her perspective a little bit and tried a tad things might not look so gray.
She just looked at me dead in the eye and said "You wanna know something, I've run around all my life and I've worked myself to the bone and do you know where that got me, nowhere! All that gave me was this sickness... (dont know what it was) So now, I don't do anything any more and I certainly don't rush to do anything rushing and working never got me anywhere." I got a little perturbed about what she was saying, but I certainly know what I have to do when I get around to feeling like I'm running around on empty with no perspective. I'm a bit like that chicken with no head and He just reminded me about what this lady had said and told me that if I wanted to end up like her i had to just keep running on my own fuel instead of going to him and my team coaches to get the big picture and perspective enough to really strive for something. Without vision the people parish. I saw that I really need to keep going to the lord and his word striving to catch and go along with the flow of his spirit and the TEAM SPIRIT wherever I am (which is something that I have been lacking recently) in whatever job I've dedicated myself to, because without that vision, I will parish.

Walking backwards?

Yesterday, I was helping my nephew get his clothes on for an outing. He was clowning around (as he often does) and ventured to walk backwards on the bed and lost his stability as he stepped on a book bringing him down to a sitting position and a rascal smile.
I then told him, "If you're going to walk backwards always make sure you're looking back so that you can see the road behind you and dodge the things that might make you fall." he just laughed and said, "yeah, and usually you only start walking backwards if you're looking back, right?"

Sometimes I look at a fun time I had in the past, a moment, a memory, an insignificant trail of events that tell a story good or bad, sometimes a lesson I've learned but I guess if I want to keep going forward I really have to see where these things make me focus on what has past or on what's to come. And then I guess it helps me get a sound notion as to which direction I'm going. And, if I want to start moving forward, focus on whats ahead, not behind.

Love

Kind hearts are the gardens,
Kind thoughts are the roots,
Kind words are the flowers,
Kind deeds are the fruits.
Take care of your garden,
And keep out the weeds;
Fill it up with sunshine,
Kind words and kinds deeds.
— Longfellow


I was reading about a topic I am in deep need to impart for the sake of others which is; Love. I clearly knew that I needed to clean my heart and the process its taking for me got me a little crosseyed, but reading this poem helped me get things really into perspective along with a conclusion.

How healthy is my garden?
Which thoughts are my roots?
Which words make my flowers?
Do my deeds bare kind fruit?

You gave me a garden,
I will strive to keep out the weeds,
So that I grow in Your light
To spread Your words, do Your deeds.

Please give me the strength.

Spoonful of sugar

It needs so little sympathy
To cheer a weary way,
Sometimes a little kindness
Lights up a dreary day;
A very simply, friendly word
May hope and strength impart,
Or just an understanding smile
Revive some fainting heart;
And, like a sudden sunlit ray,
Lightening a darkened room.
A sunny spirit may beguile
The deepest depths of gloom
— Good Thoughts Vol.1: "Love" No.19

Changes

Well, i just recently moved to Minas Gerais and must start by saying it has a been a riveting new experience for me and a great opportunity to have a little fresh new in my life.
Well, its the first time I've been to a place so small that wasn't an island... its a little different here from Rio de Janeiro thats for sure, I was going through a supermarket the other day while thinking "hmm, its not sooo different from Rio after all", until my eyes caught a glimpse of a Playboy magazine that had a part of the model covered by a few strips of white scotch tape in the name of "moderation" and then it dawned on me "yep, I guess we're not in Rio anymore". Here the people are a little more conservative and a bit of a tightwad but very sheepy, sweet, simple, surviving and patient —all the values and qualities a life of solid farming brings to a healthy human being. Loving the changes!!!

Thank you!

Thank you Lord for that little child
That teaches me more than I he
Thank you Lord for his loving smile
That moves me to be more like thee
Thank you that I don't fight alone
There are others here with me
And when the end of my rope did come
These came and rescued me
Thank you Lord for these little angels
simple children in all three
Thank you that they give me a chance
To change and be more like thee
Thank you for the love they emanate
That no one can deny
Thank you for their energy
That would make an elephant fly
Thank you for the smiles they show
Mirroring love when hearts are dying
Squeeze a smile from every frown
Give us joy when inside we´re crying

Do you LUVETT?

Today I heard a negative remark about a very good friend of mine who had enough courage, initiative, sticktoitiveness, faith and extreme love for the lord to step up and do something completely out of the box to fulfill the lords will in his life.
It made me think about how carefully one must guard his ears when hearing about someone or a situation and even more so before he thinks of passing what he hears on to others because of the doubts, untimely burdens and wrong conclusions it might unnecessarily create in the minds and hearts of people who have a handful to fight and stand up for on their own already. And as I was asking the Lord about what He had to say about this new bit of news — because it did seem like something extreme even if it was for the good of others and for the message to be spread — the Lord spoke to me in the most unexpected way simply turning my attention to a little girls entertainment that just happened to be a Luvett show song that said: "A pioneer has the vision to see what none others can see and to believe what none others can believe" independent of the opinions of others and regardless of what my friend was doing being viewed as wrong or politically incorrect, I knew that he truly loved the Lord and the love that this person has for the lord and the faith that he has in the lords promises keeps me firmly convicted that I was witnessing something inexplicably wonderful — the acts of a revolution in a disciples life; I heard of a true pioneer. The example of something that everyone of us wants deep down inside but we´re either too lazy, unchallenged, comfortable, cowardly or simply just unprepared to do. I am determined to one day have that same courage; to be the trailblazer, the Destroyer that goes ahead making way so that the fleet can have a safe and secure passage. May each of us have the strength to make the decisions and changes needed in our lives to reach the goal the Lord has set for us to reach even if we do only take baby steps in the beginning if we take it one step at a time, one change at a time, one decision at a time each of us one day will have the courage to be true pioneers blazing trails in all that is new in the Lord — for others.