{"id":240,"date":"2011-01-20T12:28:28","date_gmt":"2011-01-20T17:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/?p=240"},"modified":"2011-01-21T13:47:31","modified_gmt":"2011-01-21T17:47:31","slug":"changes-and-contentment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/2011\/01\/20\/changes-and-contentment\/","title":{"rendered":"Changes and Contentment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Miles-and-Coleen-December\"<\/a>The year 2011 lies before us like an unfilled agenda. Do you wonder, as I do, what God intends to write on the pages of our lives? How much joy; how much sadness? Do you wonder, as I do, if you are ready for the adventure of 2011, and how you will handle all that awaits you in this New Year? I am currently studying the book Calm my Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. If you are my \u201cfriend\u201d on Facebook, you may have caught some of the quotes that I have shared there. Contentment is a choice, or better, a daily series of choices for each of us. May we choose wisely each day of the New Year.<\/p>\n

Our Christmas season was quiet without children or grandchildren with us, but we shared special activities with our friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, and that makes us grateful. The day after Christmas we shared Sunday dinner with the three couples that we have evangelized and are now discipling.\u00a0 Each of them is precious to us.<\/p>\n

\"Ze-and-Keila-Christmas\"<\/a>\"Nair-and-Indim-Christmas\"<\/a>\"Tiao-and-Ana-Paula-Christmas\"\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Dorm-damage-January\"<\/a>Many of you no doubt have seen the news reports of much flooding in southeastern Brazil. We live quite a long way from where that is happening. We do get a lot of rain this time of year,\u00a0 but usually we are most thankful for it. Miles often has clean up of limbs and tree debris after a big storm.\u00a0 Recently, a very big branch finally rotted through with the excessive rains and fell. Thankfully, it just grazed the edge of the front porch on the boys\u2019 dorm. \"trimming-tree\"<\/a>An interesting fact is that Miles and his brother planted that tree years ago when the property was first being developed. He went ahead and took off another big limb, too, which was rotting and could have fallen on the main part of the house.<\/p>\n

\"front-of-school-January\"<\/a>Change! Does anyone really like or look forward to it? I know that usually I don\u2019t. But, ready or not, here it comes for us, too. As of May 2011 the school for missionaries\u2019 children at this location and as we know it, will be closing. There are no prospective students for the 2011-2012 school year, so it is a good and appropriate time to re-evaluate our purposes, structure, curriculum, methods and perhaps other areas. SIL has been teaming with us in the school the last two years, but they are ready now to centralize all of their educational facilities in the city where both our business offices and theirs are located. Our field leadership is still much committed to the challenge of an adequate and healthy educational environment and experience for missionary children. By December 2012 there will be a field leadership decision made concerning future schooling and if this property will still be used as a school facility or for a different ministry of the mission.<\/p>\n

\"In-the-clasroom-January\"<\/a>Meanwhile, what will we be doing?\u00a0 Until the end of the school year, I am helping one first grade student whose parents work with SIL. Miles continues to work on maintenance. We together take care of guest housing, too.<\/p>\n

We are still involved in several Bible study groups. We are doing Phase 2 (a review of Phase 1 of chronological teaching with emphasis for believers) with two couples twice a week. Coleen and eight other missionary ladies are beginning a Bible study on Tuesday evenings. This is the third year they are meeting like this to study and find it to be a great time of growing in Christ together. She also meets with three ladies from town for the Phase 1 chronological teaching on Thursdays in our home. On Fridays we both are going with a young lady from church to her father\u2019s (and step mother\u2019s) home to teach them Phase 1. Naiara is a new believer and she wants this opportunity to share Christ with her father, while also attempting to build the relationship with her father that she never knew as a child. She wants to be baptized soon and has already decided to go to Bible school next year. She was led to the Lord a year ago by another missionary family who now serves at a school for missionary children in northern Brazil. We were also asked to give some Biblical help and encouragement to a couple. Agma is a believer and is from the church we attend. Her husband, Tiago, is not a believer. His quite extensive use of alcohol also enters into this complicated relationship. They have three adolescent children. Pray that we will have the Lord\u2019s wisdom and understanding to help them. Pray for Tiago\u2019s salvation.<\/p>\n

Pray for us in this time of change that we will be \u201cContent in our Role\u201d as Jesus displayed contentment by serving others. Mathew 20:28 \u201c\u2026just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.\u201d I Cor. 4:1 \u201cSo then, men ought to regard us as servants of Christ, and as those entrusted with the secret things of God.\u201d (emphasis mine)<\/p>\n

Thanks for being a part of our team through your gifts, prayers and encouragement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The year 2011 lies before us like an unfilled agenda. Do you wonder, as I do, what God intends to write on the pages of our lives? How much joy; how much sadness? Do you wonder, as I do, if you are ready for the adventure of 2011, and how you will handle all that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-family","category-ministry","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/miles-templeton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}