Dear Friend,
New Year greetings,
When you
think about your choices in the past you may regret them or not, but remember,
if some choice you made seems to have had a bad outcome, or one that is not
what you had in mind, remember that you probably haven't seen its full effect
yet. What looks like a stone or a serpent may yet turn out to be bread--or even
a three-course meal. Film director, actor, screenwriter, and producer Orson
Welles once said, "A happy ending depends on where you stop your
story." Or, as someone else put it, "Everything will be okay in the
end; and if it's not okay, it's not the end yet." That principle is
certainly true for those who love the Lord and look to Him for guidance,
because He has promised to always work things out for our good in the end.
Last year was an intense year for us and I believe you can say the same, the
battles can be fierce but the victory is even sweeter afterwards. We spent a
wonderful time in Portugal and you can see some pictures here. Our family and
friends were extra loving and kind to us and we enjoyed those 3 weeks greatly. (Click
here to see pictures).
As we came
back to SA people on the Home Affairs called Sara saying that her and her kids
visa were approved until May 2015. Great news for us because it will give us
time to apply for permanent residence and continue the work that God called us
to do here in South Africa. That is a great answer to prayer and a confirmation
of where God guides He provides.
As goals
for this new year we want to continue visiting the prisons and set the captives
free, either inside or outside, and be better and more useful instruments of
God's peace and love to all we meet in our path.
Now these
last weeks of Christmas and New Year we are enjoying having the house full with
Sara's children and grand-children and indeed there is so much to be thankful
for.
We are
praying for you and we count it a privilege to have you as a friend. May God
bless you and support you and give you faith for great victories ahead in every
field of life.
With love
and joy,
Carlos and
Sara
================================
Determination
February 2012
In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done. It was not practical. It had never been done before.
Roebling could not ignore the vision he had in his mind of this bridge. He thought about it all the time and he knew deep in his heart that it could be done. He just had to share the dream with someone else. After much discussion and persuasion he managed to convince his son Washington, an up and coming engineer, that the bridge in fact could be built.
Working together for the first time, the father and son developed concepts of how it could be accomplished and how the obstacles could be overcome. With great excitement and inspiration, and the headiness of a wild challenge before them, they hired their crew and began to build their dream bridge.
The project started well, but when it was only a few months underway,
a tragic accident on the site took the life of John Roebling. Washington was injured and left with a certain amount of brain damage, which resulted in him not being able to walk or talk or even move.
"We told them so."
"Crazy men and their crazy dreams."
"It`s foolish to chase wild visions."
Everyone had a negative comment to make and felt that the project should be scrapped since the Roebling's were the only ones who knew how the bridge could be built. In spite of his handicap Washington was never discouraged and still had a burning desire to complete the bridge and his mind was still as sharp as ever.
He tried to inspire and pass on his enthusiasm to some of his friends, but they were too daunted by the task. As he lay on his bed in his hospital room, with the sunlight streaming through the windows, a gentle breeze blew the flimsy white curtains apart and he was able to see the sky and the tops of the trees outside for just a moment. It seemed that there was a message for him not to give up. Suddenly an idea hit him. All he could do was move one finger and he decided to make the best use of it. By moving this, he slowly developed a code of communication with his wife.
He touched his wife's arm with that finger, indicating to her that he wanted her to call the engineers again. Then he used the same method, of tapping her arm to tell the engineers what to do. It seemed foolish, but the project was under way again.
For 13 years Washington tapped out his instructions with his finger on his wife's arm, until the bridge was finally completed. Today the spectacular Brooklyn Bridge stands in all its glory as a tribute to the triumph of one man's indomitable spirit and his determination not to be defeated by circumstances. It is also a tribute to the engineers and their team work, and to their faith in a man who was considered mad by half the world. It stands too as a tangible monument to the love and devotion of his wife who for 13 long years patiently decoded the messages of her husband and told the engineers what to do. Perhaps this is one of the best examples of a never-say-die attitude that overcomes a terrible physical handicap and achieves an impossible goal.
Often when we face obstacles in our day-to-day life, our hurdles seem very small in comparison to what many others have to face. The Brooklyn Bridge shows us that dreams that seem impossible can be realized with determination and persistence, no matter what the odds are. Even the most distant dream can be realized with determination and persistence.
News From Us
This is our first Newsletter this year, which means that there was no news in Jan. The main reason was that our computer got stolen, but the Lord is merciful and thanks to the generosity of a very dear friend it was already replaced.
Five of our children were visiting for Christmas and we had an inspired and busy family time. We also had distribution of food to the poor and lots of cooked meals, thanks to the generosity of Woolworths that had plenty of food to donate in Dec and Jan. Please pray that they will continue to give a lot so we can keep supplying food for the different feeding schemes going on here in Barberton.
The second school year started very well for Jenifer and Alan. Besides doing very well in their scholastic they are also doing cross country and athletics. This week they were in Rob Ferreira School, White River running with children from five different schools and did very good, Jenifer was first in the 800 and 1200 meters and second in the 400 and 100 in the group of under fifteen girls and Alan was third in all of them for the boys group, so we are very proud of them.
We also love to receive your little notes and comments and look forward to get news from you too. If you have any special request or anything we can be a blessing with, please tell us...
Freedom Within
On our outreach front, besides meeting many wonderful and needy people that make it worth it all to be out there in the front lines we met Carol whose husband is in prison. She was broken hearted and wanted to give him something worthwhile. We suggested the book Freedom Within which she purchased and took it to her husband. A couple of weeks later another lady, friend of Carol, whose husband is also in jail, asked us if we had another copy because her husband was seeing the effect the first book was having in Carol's husband and wanted to have his personal copy.
That created in our hearts the desire to distribute as many as possible of these books free of charge to the prisoners in this area, which is known to have one of the biggest centers of high and medium security prisons in the country. "I was in prison, and ye came unto Me... And, "When saw we Thee ... in prison, and came unto Thee?" ... "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." (Mat 25:35-40)
If there is one thing that prisoners love to do is READ. They have so much time on their hands, they have to have pastimes to keep their sanity, and one of the most common is reading. So it's a great opportunity to feed them the right spiritual food. BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please purchase some of these booklets so we can take them to the prisoners. (To see the content of this booklet sign up your name and e-mail in our blog Cool Waters and follow the steps in order to receive it FOR FREE in your e-mail inbox)
The price for each one is 20 RANDS and you can make a deposit in the following account and write as reference FREEDOM WITHIN.
Bank: ABSA
Name: M F Rodrigues
Account No. 92 2414 9758
Branch Code: 632005, Barberton
Reference: "Your Name" Freedom Within
Love and joy,
Carlos and Sara
=========================================================================
Jesus is better to us than He was to Himself
December 2012
The End of Another Year
Another year is almost passed and this is a good time to look back and just count all the wonderful things the Lord did for us. Sometimes it is difficult to see the blessings between all the difficulties and struggles that we also go through, but if we stop and meditate a little bit we'll find lots of treasures, and some of them buried in the rubble of our trials and tests. So let us just say THANK YOU for the past year and get our hearts inspired for the yet better things that are coming ahead for us next year.
We also praying for you and that you can really relax and enjoy this holiday season. That you'll be able to put everything aside for a little time and truly spend a good time of quietness and rest with the Lord, your loved ones and of course with yourself.
We want to thank God for you and for our friendship and the blessing you have been to us also. We truly appreciate your prayers and support and pray that the next year will be full of good surprises that can surpass all your expectations and dreams. We know that with God all things are possible!
That's Real Love!
Jesus is better to us than He was to Himself! "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" (Matthew 8:20). Jesus never owned a home, He never had a wife or children, and it seems the only material thing He owned was His clothes.
Jesus said that it was enough that a disciple be like his master (Matthew 10:25), and Paul said, "Having food and clothing, with these we shall be content" (1 Timothy 6:8). Yet look at all that Jesus has given us besides that! All the rest are extras.
To Jesus, our happiness is worth more than money. He's willing to let us have almost anything we want as long as it's good for us. Look how Jesus tries to make it easy for us. As long as we delight ourselves in Him, He gives us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4).
About Us
We had a special time with the kids in the crèche that we adopted to help this year. Sara made a chocolate cake and chicken sandwiches for all of them and we all had a good time, as you can see by the pictures - Click here.
Today we had the great privilege of having all the seniors of our kids school spend some good hours in our place to celebrate the end of the school year. See pictures in the Cool Waters blog - Click here.
And talking about Cool Waters, now you can download the "Daily Might" here (882 KB), and/or the "Secrets of the Abundant Life" (55 KB) here. Before there was an error that didn't allow subscribers to download.
Again, we'd love to hear from you, for prayer requests, news, stories, anything you want to tell us.
Love and joy,
Carlos and Sara
=======================================================================
A Smile Costs Nothing but Gives Much
November 2011
We would like your feed back
Dear Friend,
We would love your feedback. Maybe you have some questions or prayer requests, maybe you would like to read about a certain subject in our blog, or maybe you just have some good suggestion for us to improve in the way we are doing things.
So please if any of these is crossing your mind right now please drop a line or leave a comment, it is our pleasure to be a blessing to you and you can also be a blessing to us by giving us some input.
There is always so much we can learn from each other and we are learning to improve in our communication skills.
Litlle by Litlle
Little by little our house is becoming beautiful. We still have some things to fix and renovate but is getting better all the time. We are having our exercise time every day by doing work in the garden. Besides being good for the garden and making looking better is also good for the spirit.
This house was miraculous given to us by a sweet friend in Portugal eleven years ago shortly after our arrival in SA. We know the Lord wants us to to take good care of it and be good stewards. We know He has a good purpose for it to be used to facilitate our work as missionaries here in Africa.
This house is very old and that's why it needs so many repairs to be done. We are working on it slowly, as the Lord supplies, and it’s already looking so much better.
Inspirational
A Smile
Author Unknown
A smile costs nothing, but gives much.
It takes but a moment,
But the memory of it usually lasts forever.
None are so rich that can get along without it
And none are so poor but that can be made rich by it.
It enriches those who receive,
Without making poor those who give.
It creates sunshine in the home,
Fosters good will in business,
And is the best antidote for trouble.
And yet it cannot be begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is of no value
Unless it is given away.
Some people are too busy to give you a smile,
Give them one of yours,
For the good Lord knows that no one needs a smile so badly
As he or she who has no more smiles left to give.
Carlos and Sara - 0835970177
========================================================================
"Success with People" reconciles couple
September 2011
Barberton kitchen Soup
Every week on Sunday we pick up food donated by Woolwords in Nelspruit. We store it until Monday when Julia, one of the volunteers comes to pick it up. (Click here to see pictures)
At the moment they are feeding about sixty orphans and some very poor families and they struggle to have enough food, so they are very thankful for the meat and vegetables that they receive from us every week.
With time we intend to become more involved in this project and incorporate spiritual teaching and motivation as this people can be very dependent and lacking initiative. They really need to know the Lord in order to have faith and hope in a better future.
Reaching Out to Others
We do two or three full days of outreach where we go out and distribute our beautiful devotional books, children CDs, DVDs with Bible stories and books that show them a way to know Jesus and develop a relationship with Him. We also distribute for free or a donation the monthly Activated Magazine which people love and always comment about.
This is our main method of fundraising, but at the same time it is a wonderful way that we have to witness to people, pray with them and help them to get closer to Jesus. It is not the easiest thing to approach people the way we do and many times it can be quite challenging for us both physically spiritually as many people do not appreciate our efforts and don’t want to hear about the Lord, but in the other hand it is also very rewarding and we love to do it, because every time we go out we meet many precious people that are very grateful that we came into their path.
A Short Testimony
Once I (Sara) met a young man and he bought from me the book "Success with People" and didn’t tell me anything about what was going on in his life, but about one year later I met him again in the same place, of course I did not remember him but he remember me. He told me that he had something to tell me and explain how about one year ago he had bought that book from me when he had just break up with his fiancé, but now thanks to that book they got together again married and she was pregnant and he was so happy and thankful.
We have always lots of stories like this one and it makes it worth all the sacrifices and struggles we go through sometimes.
Jenifer and Alan
Jenifer and Alan are out two young children, fourteen and twelve. We were homeschooling them until this year when we decided to put them in school so we could benefit from more free time to do other things and they could make new friends. We moved to Barberton and they didn’t know anybody here.
This was a very good decision we made as they are very happy, made new friends and are very busy all the time, besides the regular school, they have lots of extracurricular activities and sports and they are excelling on that.
They also are involved in a Consider the Poor ministry and every Wednesday they bring bread and milk to a poor creché where they also have some interaction with those children.
We will be posting more pictures of their activities in the cool waters blog.
They are also part of the band in the church, Alan plays drums very well and Jenifer sings beautifully. They have practice every week along with youth church activities and also participate on a cell group once a week.
We truly grateful that they adjusted so well to this new life and are growing so much. (Click here to see pictures of our children)
